Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-06
Will Britain Go Labor?
Continued From Third Page.

(COnIlnueQ Edkc.J
back at 1924 as they survey, with q
tolerant smile and sense OF faint
| disilluSion, the callow indiscretions Of
youth.
The bolshevik bogey is now among
the discards of the political armory
The immense and inevitable clash be-
tween the forces Of organized labor and
the forces of constitutional govern
ment has taken place, the former has
been utterly routed and labor has
switched from a war to a peace policy
Today the leaders of capital and labor
are sitting at round table conference
with the greatest capitalist of them all
Lord Melchett. of Mond Nickel anC
Imperial Chemicals. in the chair.
British industry has passed the dam
ger period and is pulling out on tide
of reconstruction, amalgamations anc
new money.
Foreign policy is in a transition
phase. The period of dangerous strain
in India is over. The crisis in China
which at one time looked like involving
England in war and providing the
Labor party with splendid no-more-
imperialist- slogan, has passed
The European situation has been large
~ CicdISu up
Thus the end of 1928 saw the party
leaders marching over the frontiers Of
an old era. and passing with theil
forces into new and largely unknown
country, in which an electorate rein
forced by 100000 new woman voters
the 1929 battle will be the first in which
women have voted on equal terms with
men-aWaitS them with bouquets OF
bricks (Which, none knows or Is likely
to know for certain until battle il
joined.
Cracks In Tory House.
Tory optimists expect a victory but a
reduction of the famous majority to
80. The rest anticipate either a Labor
victory. or a Liberal-Labor coalition
For there are ominous cracks appear
ing in the walls and ceiling Of the Tory
house.
one of the pillars, Lord Birkenhead
has abruptly deserted politics perma-
nently for the more lucrative realms OF
big business and high finance. Some
say that he had to resign because he
wrote publicity for big West-End store,
and that was the last straw for a long
suffering and highly respectable Tory
party.
But it is likelier that he removed
himself, calculating that he was worth
more in his new sphere as a retiring
member of a live government than as
merely an ex-miniSter of a defeated
party.
Austen Chamberlain has had break
down and besides has angered the
country and the Tories own supporters
by making a complete middle of the
Anglo-French naval pact business and
prejudicing the future Of Anglo Amerl-
can understanding and friendship. The
first lord of the admiralty is retiring on
the plea of age and strain. And one
third of the Tory M. P. are not stand
ing for election again.
Papers Swing Against Them.
Then there is the swing against the
Tories of the two biggest and most in
fuential popular dailies, the Mail and
the Express. which until recently
were profoundly anti-Labor. These two
papers are fighting one another tootf
and nail. and to find them on common
ground in politics is astonishing anc
significant.
The Express runs cartoons ridicul.
ing Baldwin and emphasizing Mac
Donalds triumph at a recent by-elec'
breathing friendliness and deprecatins
any reference to the Labor leaders un-
popular war record. The Mail goe!
even farther, as this extract from
| November article shows:
THE Labor party has greatly In
creased its hold on public confidence
Speech after speech by Labor leader:
shows that the party is now under the
| firm control of its moderate elements
| This is excellent news for the country
The Labor party Is beginning Il
| look as if it will deserve the victory al
the next election, which the Govern
ment, through the flappers' vote (equa
franchise), has already made practi
cal certainty for it, ..
I'm certain respects distinct benefit
might accrue to the country from the
| arrival in power of a Labor govern.
ment, particularly II 1t secured the ad.
hesion of Mr.. Lloyd George and Other
eminent Liberal statesmen. so as to be.
come in effect Labor Liberal govern.
ment."
And this is the rabid Tory paper
which in 1924 got hold of a copy of the
Zinoviev letter, circulated 1t to every
newspaper in London and killed thu
Labor government and Macdonald
| stone dead!
Protective Policy Adopted.
Finally-and this is of especial inter.
est to America and to every country
selling goods to Britain-the Tory party
is now definitely committed, as a re.
suit of its last and final general con.
ference, to extend the protection pol.
icy Officially called safeguarding t.
1