Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-23

r, after the municipal elections, any
| further evidence of the approaching
fall of the Macdonald cabinet In
| a England were needed, it has now
been supplied by the figures of the
| Yorkshire by-election. In this final
| testimony it was an industrial district,
which Labor carried a year ago by
nearly 5000, that changed sides and
returned Tory vote by nearly 1000
majority.
But the odd thing about the British
political situation is that while every
one can see that Labors days are
| numbered, the split in both the Tory
and Liberal parties makes the future
seem excessively obscure. That the
Tories will win the next election, and
that by decisive majority, no one
much doubts. But when they do come
to power, will Baldwin remain leader
or will he follow the newspaper COM
bination, which has been forcing his
laggard pace toward tariff?
For the moment the hope of victory,
or more exactly the expectation of
triumph, is tending to silence the Beav-
erbrook- Baldwin controversy. The for
mer premier has come q long way on
toward agreeing to a tariff, even on
foodstuffS. The failure of the Imperial
Conference has. on the one hand.
demonstrated that empire tariff-that
is, free trade within the empires
impossible, but on the other hand it
has similarly proved that new favors
for British exports in dominion markets
can only be purchased by a tariff on
raw materials and foodstuffs in Britain,
thus permitting preference to the
dominions.
May Agrt-. to Truce.
nao aVA Dal Ju,f1n x,aau %k,a,.
agree to truce during the election and
Baldwin may permit his hand to be
finally forced as a result of a new I'M
perial Conference in Ottawa next
Spring. Nevertheless the unity of the
Tory party Is little more than nominal.
The fundamental difficulty with Bald
win lies in the fact that he is the sort
of public man all Englishmen would
like to follow, If only he could lead, but
this is beyond him. He has charm,
honesty, integrity of character, he con-
forms to the best British tradition of
gentleman, but force Is left out and
political wisdom Is missing.
If Labor Is in for terrific drubbing,
1t Is hard to see any means by which
the historic Liberal party can escape
practical extinction. Its membership
has dwindled to a scant so in the House
Of Commons. This small delegation is
sharply divided, one fraction voting
with the Tories to turn Labor out, an
other with the Labor cabinet to keep
it In. and q third not voting at all. And
in and out of the House the split over
Lloyd George continues to extend.
On the issue of tariff the Liberals
will have to line UP with Labor, but 1t
win be Labor that viii lead the fight,
or rather 1t will be the Labor chancel-
lor Of the excheQuer, Snowden. But
here Labor itself Is far from united.
Thomas. and even Macdonald, would
have been willing for political reasons
to make concessions to the dominions,
but Snowden stood f1rm against it.
ModeTates and Radicals Split.
Again there Is a sharp split between
the moderate and radical Laborites and
the latter are Just now flashing out at
the governments handling Of the un-
employment situation. All in all La
Dor finds itself under fire in the coun-
try not only because 1t has failed to
cure the unemployment evil, but be-
cause on the one hand to the minds OF
the business community it has spent too
much in relief, while on the other 1t
seems to the poor to have been mig
gardly.
Britain has made the Labor expert
ment. It made 1t largely because OF |
its disgust with Tory handling of for |
eign affairs. in particular, the American |
naval question. Labor has reached a
settlement with the United States on