Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-07
Lady of British Cabinet

leave husband and child to the care Of
paid labor while she seeks outside work
because It Is more intellectual. Femi-
rists like Viscountess Rhondda, head OF
the Six Point group. who left her hus-
band In suffragette days in order to
agitate with the militants and 60 to
prison, and who advocates theories ex-
actly contrary to those of Margaret
Bondfield in regard to the place Of paid
labor in the modern civilized home, are
distinctly cool in reference to the doyen
Of the wonnaTlS trade union movement
Tact is not and never mas been Miss
Bondf1eld's forte. She Is fortnight, be-
lieves in saying what she thinks. and
cares little whether she pleases or
9rieves. For she is always convinced
of the fundamental truth and justice
of her statements. and regards those
who differ from her as unfortunately
wrong-headed. For her there Is no
other side to question.
Speaking Of the slowness Of the
growth of the peace spirit. for instance,
she announced that the vitality of the
war spirit was due to the persistence
with which the leaders Of governments,
religion and society glortfy war. The
leaders Of religion distinctly resented
that.
Ridicules Russian Customs.
She went to Russia with a British
labor delegation to get at the truth
about conditions in that nightmarish
land. She came back and reused loud
laughter among sympathetic audience
when she described how In the land Of
Lenin, Trotsky, Stain and company
people are compulsorily bathed If they
do not have a bath of their own accord,
and how the superintendent and chief
engineer Of railway were sent to prison
for not finding out the source Of unrest
which had led to q strike and prevent
ing the said strickland had had the
prison term deducted from their
holidays!
She found In Russia nothing that
can materially help us" but declared
that If she lived in Russia she would
still support the government as the only
possible government.
This pleased the labor crowd, who
thought it a skillful presentation of the
case. But it Infatuated the enemies Of
Communism and especially the pillars
of a church at which she had been
invited to preach. said the churchmen.
strong supporters Of God. king and
country:
This woman wants to use our pulpit
in order to disseminate her Socialistic
doctrines. Mark. also. that although
she has Illuminated against capitalists,
she has never said word to
condemn the scoundrels who rule in
Russia and who have suppressed re-
ligion, defiled and robbed the churches
and slaughtered and imprisoned priests
and prelates and openly propagated
atheism"
Margaret Bondfield did not enter into
argument with these critics. When 1t is
advisable to avoid battle or definite
declarations she is q past mistress OF
the art of talking without saying any
thing and evading the dangerous point
at issue.
Her Views Cause Clash.
There was another storm when she
addressed a church gathering and adj
vised her hearers to study the literature
on industrial conditions issued by the
International Labor Office at Geneva.
Her view was that industrial conditions
are q matter of religious moment. but
the view of most of her hearers was
that religion is religion and business is
business. And so there was a clash.
"Homemaking," she announced one
day, lis the real vocation of a woman"
That brought the feminiSts down on
her like load of bricks falling from a
height. What is this back-to-the-
home shriek?" demanded one promi.
nent woman leader. Margaret Bond
field seems to have gone to sleep around
1900 and only Just, awakened"
There was also a hot period when
she got wrought up about stenographers
and said that she had come across girls
who because they can wear pneumonia
joined a noble profession. But often
they are inefficient and responsible for
more profanity than any other class"
The Clara Bows of England voted this
a bit thick and said so in no uncertain
tones. But Margaret didn't argue.
What she had said. she had said. She
just let the clamor wear itself out.
In the Summer of 1918 the British
Trade Union Congress sent her to repre-
sent them at the annual convention of
the American Federation of Labor. That
was, in a sense, poetic justice. She had
been scheduled to go in the second war
year, but couldn't get visa.
Visitor at Buckingham Palace.
Not that she was a pacifist or a de-
featist. Indeed, she ranged herself with
the school of Arthur Henderson, the
new foreign secretary (who was taken
into the Lloyd George war cabinet as
Labor's representative, and against the
Sch0OI OF Macdonald (Wnlcn, Dilnoly
pacifist, advocated defeatist policies) +,
and during the war was regular visitor
TO Buckingham Palace to assist Queen
Mary in her schemes of relief.
In 1928 there was some dispute in the
inner circles of the Trades Union Con-
greSs as to whether she ought to be
elected president for the year. AS senior
member Of the general council it was
her turn: but there were some who ar
gued that 1t was not right to put a
woman, however distinguished. however
long associated with the trade union
movement, at the head of the worlds
largest proletarian movement
The latter view did not hold. and
Margaret Bondfield was duly elected
the first woman president of the Trades
Union Congress. She managed that un-
ruly body very ably. Scarcely was that
Job over than she was involved in her
official capacity in a great boilermakers'
dispute, involving 10000 men, which
had defied settlement for six months.
She promptly interviewed the fountain
heads in the dispute and got under way
negotiations which ended six weeks later
in an amicable settlement. Her pres
tige was notched up quite q bit after
that.