Evening star., 1931-12-29

| Defeat for the Labor government Of
Australia, at the hands of the voters,
Is viewed by Americans as similar to
the political turnover In Great Britain
The new premier, Joseph A. Lyons, is
held to be seeking more conservative
| methods than those of his predecessor
James Scullin, although Lyons was a
member of the Scullin cabinet. The
parallel to MacDonald's campaign is
recognized.
'"The decision to have done with the
Labor government was emphatic" says
the Buffalo Evening News, recalling
that affairs have been in bad order
for some time, primarily because of ex-
tensive ventures in public ownership"
That paper points out that "the rail-
roads and all other kinds of utilities
are in the hands of the government"
and that many factories and stores
also, and even hotels, are there pub
licly owned" The Evening News adds
that "in its endeavor to rehabilitate
industry and finance the new govern
ment enters upon a long and difficult
task"
LAS in England" observes the Louis
vile Courier-Journal, "a coalition of
the moderate forces inflicted an en-
phatic defeat on the radical element.
AS in England, the champions OF
sound and sane financing were led by
former Laborite. Lyons, however,
was not the Ramsay Macdonald in the
contest He might bet be compared
with Philip SnoWden. He was the
treasurer for time in the Scullin
cabinet. He was the orthodox econ
omist in a doctrinaire ministry and he
led the fight in the government for
sound financing against the inf1a-
tionists on the one hand and the debt
repudiationists on the other. 1t was
due to him that a huge conversion
loan was successfully carried out to
meet obligations of $104,000,000 that
were maturing, and Australia did not
default on its London and New York
debts because of this action. Lyons
was virtually il control during the
absence of Pr :. .er Scullin when the
latter ATTENDED the imperial confer
ence in Londcl, and he kept the gov
ernment in t,2 ways OF moderation
until he quit the ministry some six
months ago"
Australia has strengthened interna-
tional confidence" in the opinion of
the Hartford Times, which sees "an-
other illustration of democracy in action
and profiting by the experience of loss"
The Times continues: The temptation |
is strong to heed radical advice when
conditions become unfaVorable, but when
the new theories have been tried and
found to be bitterly disappointing there
is an even more pronounced return to
conservatism. Fortunate is the nation
which reads history at more than a
chapter at a time. The laws Of eco
nomics, as these apply to the science of
government, have become so fully es-
tablished that nation can do them |
violence only at its own peril
When people are scared" observes |
the Newark Evening News, they be- |
cCme conservative, but the retiring |
premier, Scullin, could not become con-
seryative enough for the panicky public, |
which deserted the impractical idealiSm |
of Australian Socialism for hard-boiled, |
Strait-laced John Bullism. Today Aus
traha is enormously in debt, forced to |
find money for current expenses, as we'll |
as for interest and retirement payments, |
or old borrowings from market that |
cannot buy its wool or wheat, beef or
mutton. Australia'S really hard times |
are scheduled to begin only now, with the |
new governments need to cut salaries |
and raise taxes, postpone improvements
and generally to revere farthings where |
once sovereigns were tossed about"
* X x X
For some time" declares the Balti-
more Sun, lit has been recognized that
Scullin was doomed. He has been open
to slashing attacks from not only the
regular Nationalist opposition, but the
extreme Laborite, J. T. Lang, premier of
New South VALE and the ex-Laborites
like Lyons and .Tenton. The deficit of
the federal government and the six
state governments continued to mount
and the effoxts of Labor, in face OF |