Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-07
BY FRANK n. sIMoNps.


~ ARELY has any British general
election had more Importance
IN both at home and abroad than
Il that which is now fixed for May
80. On the result of this test
the relations of Great Britain not only
with Europe but with the United States
may hinge. In the matter of Europe
Labor victory is likely to bring about
the evacuation of Germany, new rec
ignition for Russia and marked modi-
fication of the Anglo French association
which has dominated continental affairs
for nearly five years. In the matter of
America defeat for the Tories would
at least make possible an adjustment
Of the naval issue, which, as recent
by Tory cabinet dominated by admi-
rality influences.
1t would be hard to exaggerate the
extent of the Tory failure in the five
years since Stanley Baldwin defeated
Ramsay Macdonald in the panic cleo
ton of 1924. On the crest of a carefully
manufactured Red peril the Tories
carried more than 400 of the six hun
dred and odd seats of the House of
Commons, while Labor was cut down to
$50 and the Liberals to a Scant 40. For
practical purposes there was not even
an opposition to hamper the plans of
the victors.
And yet. aside from the Locarno pact,
which was a consequence of Mac
Donald's labors rather than new con-
struction of Sir Austen Chamberlain,
the Tory record is one of utter failure
at moments almost touching national
disaster. Due to the mishandling of the
coal question, Baldwin, who began by
bestowing a subsidy on the coal oper-
ators, ended by permitting himself to
be driven into course which made q
general strike inevitable. And that gen.
eral strike, while it was an immediate
catastrophe for Labor, proved a lasting
misfortune for British industry.
Thanks to the advice and activity of
q small group of extremists, like VIM
ston Churchill, the Tory cabinet took
the line that it would be clever strategy
to permit and even assist Labor toward
q strike which would cripple its funds
and destroy its credit with the country
For the. moment the strategy was emf
nently successful, but in the end the
mass of the British people perceived
that the strike was not only a supreme
national disaster, but disaster which
could have been easily avoided by Tory
leadership.
England's Devastated Regions.
And after five years the Tories have
failed not merely to solve the coal prob
lem, but, what is more serious still, to
find any real amelioration for the
larger problem of unemployment. Last
Winter the figures rose sharply to nearly
1,500, 000 the highest point since 1920.
Whole regions we're smitten with misery.
thousands we're condemned to live on
government doles and private charity
Britain began, 10 years after the war, to
disclose devastated areas as impressive
as those in Flanders or Picardy.
Following the coal strike, Baldwin
and his associates adopted purely
negative attitude. The government
stood aside and left it to industry and
business to pull through or go to the
wall And despite all the gains that
have been made in certain directions in
what are called new industries, such as
automobile building, the great key in
iron, textile and rail-
ways-laave been and remain in a con-
dition which must awaken national
anxiety and involve national suffering. |
Complete as has been the failure in |
domestic policy, the laundering of the |
Baldwin cabinet in foreign affairs has |
been even more astounding. In dealing |
with the United States one mistake has |
followed another. The mishandling of
The Geneva conference, due to the de-
termination Of the admiralty backed
by Churchill, to retain real naval
and if possible to avoid even |
the appearance of asserting to nominal
parity. brought Anglo American rela- |
20 81 SFa okrv cix
the Civil War.
The high-water mark of this foreign |
policy of universal affront was GER
tainly the Anglo French conditional I
agreement over naval program. This |
was founded supon the &C.
ceptance by France of all the theses
advanced at Geneva by the British and |
rejected by the United States. France,
like ourselves, had hitherto insisted |
upon total tonnage as the measurement |
Of secondary craft, the British upon
and limitation by cate
CORY. Now, the French accepted the
British idea Of so many big cruisers and |
50 many smaller. And in return the
British dropped their opposition to con-
script armies, to the training of the
whole male population, by agreeing with
the French to exclude trained reserves |
AAOAA bAtC OOAN0A6WO11S VA o4AlCA OtACA49VkAs 1
Antagonism Spread.
This clever bit of maneuver was
equally successful in arousing European
md American resentment. Berlin was
Is INDIGNANT as washington, while for
Rome the new animation of Anglo
French intimacy was q sl1attering blow
10 Italian prestige and prospects. For
The moment Europe and America alike |
this masterpiece as the In
dication of new Anglo-French entente |
which bound France and her allies to |
support Britain against the United |
States in all naval discussions and Brit
ain to support France against Europe |
In all military matters
This new triumph Of Tory diplomacy |
was q little too much for British public |
opinion. Enthusiastically the British peo-
pie were unwilling to undertake an en-
during naval competition with the !
United States, and were only q shade |
less determined not TO play the obliging
and negligible ME. too to French
European policy. Thus an explosion OF
public sentiment swept the Anglo
French compact into the discard and
upon the authors humil-
iating and unreserved condemnation.
The state Of British public opinion
has been disclosed in many recent cleo
lions. Districtx ssilich have been Tory
~ vast majoritisS have fallen to Labor
candidates. Even the apparently MORT
bund Liberal p&rty has begun to cap
ture seats.
Today on tie eve Of campaign,
Tory prospects have sunk so low that
the betting odds disclose something like
parity between Tory and Labor chances
to obtain the larger number of seats In
the House Of Commons and the. steadily
GROWING conviction that neither will