Evening star., 1929-06-30
COMPLEXION OF BRITISH
GOVERNMENT MANY-HUED
Estimate by Diarist Shows Members of
Group Came From Every
.. Walk of Life.
BY CAESAR SAERCHINGER.

BY CAESAR SAERCHINGER.
TN estimating the political complexion
of the new British government the
diarist of the Evening Standard
4 says that it consists of two eX-
members of the 1. L. P. and two
present members, two Fabians, six ex-
Liberals. two ex-ConServatives. eight
representatives of trade unions and one
member of the Cooperative party" 1t
might be said on this evidence, that it
runs from red through all the shades OF
pink to faded blue.
There are, of course, other ways OF
Sizing up the group of men who have
undertaken to rule the worlds biggest
commonwealth for the next two years
or more. AS the avowed representa-
tives of the working class they are
perhaps not as "proletarian" as one
might expect. In fact, only out of ~
are or have been out-and-out working
men, Six more belong to the white
collar brigade of clerking, shop-keeping
and small officialdom, and one is a
working journalist. The rest are den
nitely what the Englishman does not
mind calling upper class"
Four of these are lawyers, four are
professional economists and scholars,
one an ex-general. The remainder are
sons of gentlemen" who have devoted
themselves to politics. One hesitateS
to call them professional politicians,
since that is a term Of depreciation in
America. In England politicians are
not people who make living out OF
politics but those who can afford to
spend money on 1t. They are in the
majority in any government consti-
tuted by the Conservative or Liberal
parties, but even among the Labor
party there are such "swells" as Lord
Arnold, Sir Oswald Mosley. Sir Charles
P. Trevelyan, Capt. Wedgwood Benn
and Noel Buxton, whose ancestors have
labored so that they might devote
themselves to the gratifying and orna-
mental career of public life.
The Big Five.
The cleavage between the English
classes is fixed in school and 1t sticks
all through life, irrespective of success,
position and power. BY this token the
members of the new government are
almost equally divided into upper and
lower class Fifteen of them have been
educated in upper class schools and
universities, IL others have had to be
content with common school educa-
ton, or no schooling at all.
These IL, however, comprise most OF
the important members of the cabinet,
big five." These five men-Ramsay
Macdonald, Philip Snowden, Arthur
Henderson, j. H. Thomas and j. r.
Clynes--are all sons of laborers, and
most of them have labored with their
own hands at the manual trades. Hen
derson was an iron molder, Thomas an
engine driver, Clynes textile worker,
and so was Tom Shaw, the minister Tor
war. William Adamson was a miners
son and himself went down the SHAFT
when he was IL. P. o. Roberts, the
new minister of pensions, was COM
positor and later an official Of the Typo
graphical Union.
Ramsay Macdonald himself started
life as a farm lad, became a pupil
teacher at IL, and after coming to Lon
don made his living as an invoice clerk
getting $3.75 a week. In spite Of his
humble beginning, he is recognized to-
day as one of the great intellectuals OF
the party, the greatest idealist and its
logical head.
More than any of his working class
colleagues, he has stripped off the work
ing class manner and become one OF
the most polished and diplomatic men
in public life. His personal charm
must have been great factor in his
success, and If he is an idealist he Is
also ambitious and autocratic. When
he was 80 he married niece OF Lord
Kelvin, and for II years his wife helped
to groom him for the great position he
would one day occupy. Even America
can show no more striking case Of the
self-made man.
The Snowdens.
Philip Snowden. the chancellor OF
the exchequer, Is a Yorkshire weave
er's son, and by dint of his great head
for figures got into the civil service
where he spent seven years. There he
studied economics and became q Social
list. Snowden Is all head and no body.
A little man, he walks about on two
sticks, having been crippled in a bicycle
accident many years ago. His brain
bristles with figures and facts. In spite
of being Socialist, he Is a personal
friend of Lloyd George and has In
common with him a fondneSs for music
This is shared by his wife, who has
the reputation of being one of London's
musical hoSteSses.
Culture, indeed, is by no means alb
sent from the Labor cabinet, for Mac
Donald is credited with considerable
understanding of art. Clynes shares
the Snowdens' enthusiasm for music
and p. O. Roberts is an amateur vio-
Iinist who doesn't mind sporting his
musical gift In public.
A surprising number of the Socialist
cabinet are active churchmen. Hen
derson is stanch Methodist. and
war debt payments are for shells ex-
ploded over a decade ago.
The reindeer industry OF Alaska
thriyes mightily. The total number Of