Evening star., 1932-11-26
Mr.. MacDonald's Position.

Late reports from London disclose a
situation of which little has been heard
in the United States respecting the po-
sition of Prime Minister Macdonald. 1t
appears that periodical warnings by his
physicians that he must spare his eyes
and conserve his strength and energy
have been seized upon by political enc
mics as signal that he might soon be
eliminated. Even some Of the devoted
friends Of the former head of the Brit
ish Labor party seem to feel that the
time has come to end the fiction that
Great Britain is ruled by non-partisan
government simply because it's head Is
a one-time Socialist who has been re-
pudiated by his own party and no longer
has any personal political following left.
Any one who would have said. saw
three years ago, when Ramsay Mac
Donald became for the second time the
chief Of a Labor government in Down.
ing street, that he today would be at
the head Of q government sustained In
office by an overwhelming Conservative
majority in the House of Commons
would have been looked upon as being of
something more than merely unsound
political judgment. The national gov
ernment" brought into power in the
early Fall of 1881 to grapple with the
situation precipitated by the departure
from xha cold c+opdard hoe oor.iaa -,
under Mr.. MacDonald's premiership
with fairly all-around satisfactory re-
suits. But now criticism is beginning
to be hurled at it, or rather at Mr..
Macdonald personally, because of in
effectual results attained by him, es-
pecially In the field Of foreign rela-
tions.
The Geneva Disarmament Confer
ence has proved abortive thus far.
Britain's role in the Manchurian crisis
has been nebulos. The debts nego-
tiations with the United States, as cur
rent events are proving, brought no
benefits, from the standpoint of the
British people. Even in the domestic
imperial realm the Macdonald "na-
tional government" has garnered no
laurels, unless the much-maligned
Ottawa conference is considered a
feather in its cap. India remains a
dilemma that is apparently insurmount-
able.
One day last week Viscount Cecil de-
nvered an address at oxford that is in
terpreted as body thrust at Mr.. Mac
Donald, though no names were men
toned. The address was entitled "The
Machinery of Government" 1t dealt
chiefly with the physical and mental
strains imposed upon ministers, par
ticularly prime ministers, in modern
times. One passage has been seized
upon at London as being too ruthlessly
accurate description of Mr.. MacDon-
aid for it to apply to any one else. Said
Lord Cecil:
Even when the actual health of the
ministers has not been affected, too
many of them have appeared to lose
the faculty of decision. That seems to
be one of the faculties that wear out
soonest. To decide makes consider
able strain on the nervous force and
the strain increases with apprehended
unpopularity of the decision. Then
ensues search for some means to avoid
effort. Postponement in its various
forms is welcomed. Some so-called
compromise is adopted which leaves all
difficulties unsolved Or a royal COM
mission is appointed Or the state Of
business in the House of Commons is
declared to make action impossible. Or
the matter is simply adjourned.