Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-22
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
I. C.. NJ.
j. RAMSAY MACDONALD: Labor's
Man of Destiny. H Hessell Tilt
man. Frederick A. Stokes Co.

New York, Washington, the Camp
E.-the-Woods with President Hoover.
Then. off to Canada. j. Ramsay Mac
donald, England's prime minister. How
ever, by way of radio and camera,
telegraph and press. this little minute
of time and mile Of journeying spread
across the country in an effect Of per-
sonal contact between the people Of
England and those of the United
States. The mission itself-no matter
what in exact terms, since it was one
of friendship bent upon more certain
understandings, more definite accom-
modations, more far-reaching co-opera-
ton in measures that concern vitality
the world as whole.
On every hand welcome came out
to meet this man from England. HIS
doings and goings and sayings were
cleaned eagerly from every possible
source. News items, pictures, his
passage along the streets-these spread
far and wide, all means of gratifying
curiosity that was clear friendliness
Not the top hour of our beloved Mr.
Edison's heyday of triumph blurred
for a second this other interest. Not
even the absorbing ecstasies and
agonies of the sport season took any,
thing from the Zest of welcome that
waited upon the great English minis
ter. And now at exactly the right
time there comes the record OF his
whole life to meet very general de-
sire to know more about him.
X
"Iabor's Man of Destiny" is the au-
IF
AIDS career. 1t stands, therefore, as
a record of fact with such derivatives
and implications as the facts alone war
rant and provide. Such is the effect OF
Mr.. Tiltmans study. There is not 70
be found here airy of the familiar
stresses of political partisanship: Nor
does one meet the adulation that sue
cess can hardly escape. A plain story
that is, q plain story, if one covering
high. personal achievement on the one
hand ard the rise of new party In
English politics could really be plain
and simple thing to recount.
The United States has largely mo-
nopolized the idea of equal oppor-
tunity for ALL" citing in proof thereof
innumerable cases of eminent success
for those of lowly circumstance who
have seized vigorously upon "oppor-
tunity" as it was passing by. To be
sure, the slogan is in the main with
out even the color of truth-but that
is not the point here. The point Is
that in the person OF Ramsay MAJ T.
donald, at least, England also offers to
all alike the rich rewards of effort.
Lossiemouth, fishing village off the
Scottish coast, was the birthplace OF
the boy. A hard place, wild seas on one
hand, stubborn soil on the other. Every
body poor Everybody in the bond OF
labor that had no holiday to it. All &C
cepted this lot as the natural order
that is, all accepted it but the "Lossie
Loon" as the village folks had come to
call this long-legged youngster. He was
a fighter, born. Instead of agreeing to
the grind of poverty and work. he
fought it, digging down under things to
find out why In a big and open world
there should be the very poor here, the
unbelievably rich over there. That
puzzle made the beginning fight Of the
'Lossie Loon" 1t is the puzzle which
the prime minister of England is trying
to work out. That question facing the
lad in the fishing hamlet became the
theme, the life quest of the man: Not
rebellion against poverty wholly as
such. Rather, a battle against the in
equities that exist among men, spiritual
inequalities as well as the more obvious
material inequalities.
Reading here, you will find that this
Is all there is to Ramsay Macdonald, all
there ever has been. A fighting ma
chine of amazing capacity and power,
advancing against intrenched ease and
privilege in behalf of the political man
hood of toll with its sequence of a larger
sharing in the advantages of productive
life.
** y
The early chapters of this book are
vital ones, as well as fascinating ones.
Here you discover the boy stuff of
which the man is made. A worker in
defatigable. A student Unsuitable. AS
worker and as reader never letting go
Of the problem of life that he SO early
set for himself. In many ways, much
look at, young Lochinvar" coming
out of the West. Not a doubt of that.
However, he didn't seem to know it.
Doesn't yet. just an aside this, but a
most interesting one as we'll. Page of
the book in hand is submitted In EVIL
dence of fact that men, as a rule,
repudiate, though secretly not dis
pleased with the proof in hand"
However, to get along 1t was great
day with the boy when he came upon
Henry Georges Progress and Poverty"
a book whose hold is even yet strong
upon Mr.. Macdonald. Having later left
his home for London, with hunger a
steady companion for a while in that
city, he found work of sorts, enough
to keep him alive while he followed
every sort of lead toward the problem
of poverty-that was his exclusive en-
grossment. The Fabians, that brilliant
group, captivated him, captured him for
while. But augmentation was not
his notion of the best fighting equip
ment. So he made speeches; he stirred
up the somewhat open-minded among
workers. In word so energetic was
he, so not-to- denied, that, as a mat
ter of course, in the measure to which
he became noticeable at all, he became
obnoxious, finally thoroughly hated. BY
this time labor in England was begin
ming to be bit self-conscious, was get
ting together in a way. However for
long the way" was not more than ges-
ture OF independence, carrying nothing
at all of either working program or
means Of carrying 1t through had there
been one. And in the meantime young
Macdonald was edging toward the only
avenue of approach to his particular
battlefield So he entered politics, be-
coming more and more strongly the ad-
vocate of labor in its claims to meas
ure of independence and directive
power. And here is the story of the
birth of the Labor party. Here is record
of Ramsay Macdonald's part in that
event; the record also of his suisse
quent relations to the two dominant
parties in England. to his final triumph
in the political field of England, to his
notable stand in relation to the World
War. to his later successes in behalf
of English labor, by way of its partak-
ing In the affairs of governmental
this leading to his present political
leadership in the empire These achieve
ments are fairly we'll known But for
their clear restatement one cannot do
better than to read this carefully COL