Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-12-05
LIBERALS PREFER
LABOR TO BALDWIN
Lloyd George Says Party Has
No Desire to See Conser-
vatives in Power.
b. the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
LONDON, December 5.--England's
Liberal party, which holds the balance
Of power in Parliament, has made nc
deal with the Laborites to keep Ramsay
Macdonald in ONCE, but 1t has no desire
to see Stanley Baldwin become prime
minister, David Lloyd George, the Lib
eral leader, asserted today
His outline of the political line-up
came out of the Liberal war council
and on the heels of reports that he
and Macdonald had patched up work.
ing agi cement based upon the Labor
premiers Forthcoming electoral reform
bill.
Britain" said Lloyd George, sis be-
tween the devil and the deep sea. Our
only practical choice is between the
Labor party. whose avowed doctrine is
socialism, and the Conservative party,
which is ready to plunge needless into
a vortex of fiscal revolution. It's a
sorry choice, but, bad as the Labor
regime is. there is no desire for Bald
win government as an alternative
Liberals Not Jumpers"
The Liberal leader reached across the
Atlantic for an fluStla alton of the politi-
cal situation in England
Conservative critics ask us why We
don't turn the Laborites out" he said.
Let us remind them that there is a
grim feature of the economic slump in
that paradise of protection - Wall
Street 1t is called jumping out the
window The Conservatives urge us
to jump but we are not jumpers. l
don't believe in jumping until,ycu know
wheie you're going to land"
With the alternatives at hand, he said,
the Laborites can be given another
chance and be Judged from day to day
until that time when the electorate can
be prevailed upon to trust the Liberal
party with the government. He had
bitter criticism for the Macdonald
cabinet.
THE government" he said sis an
acknowledged failure. Unemployment
Is not merely a disaster, it is an oppor-
tunity. During such times an able gov
eminent can put to rights things that
cannot be remedied in periods Of pros
perity."
Proposal Causes Stir.
Britains electoral system. which has
persisted without essential revision
within living memory, is likely to be
politics materially changed by an cleo
toral reform bill which Macdonald an
nounced he would introduce before
Christmas.
SO quietly and casually did he make his
statement that its significance was not
fully appreciated at first, but soon the
Hobbies filled with excited members dis
cussing q development which they gen.
orally regarded as the most important
step taken by the LaboritsS since they
assumed once
Competent opinion regarded this as a
drastic Fnove-and one probably destined
for success-to assure continued sup
port from the Liberals upon whose
votes the government depends for its
tenure of life. and who are the party
most dissatisfied with the present cleo
toral system.
What new form the prime minister
will propose is not known, but it was
assumed he would aim at bringing the
number of Commons members of each
party more into line with the number
OF votes cast throughout the country.
May Hold Liberals.
Commentators professed to expect re-
suits from MacDonald's gesture before
the next general election, however. The
government was facing defeat in the
Forthcoming debates on trade disputes,
since 1t was known that some of the
Liberals were going to vote with the
Conservatives. It is generally believed
now that the proposal for electoral re-
forms will hold the Liberal support, in
surfing government victory not only in
the trade debates. but also in other
issues still to come
These expectations might be disap-
pointed. however, If the reforms, when
they are made known. turn out to be
less drastic than is predicted. It was
speech in which reforms we're advocated,
reports arose that MacDonald's plans in
this direction were much less extensive
than these acceptable TO the Liberals.