The Waterbury Democrat., 1933-04-19
Our Daily Washington Letter Washington Curious About MacDonald's Third Visit
BY RODNEY BUTCHER


 forward with great curiosity and of James Ramsay Macdonald, British prime minister.
 He has been in America three times before. Each time he has been different MacDonald--a Macdonald at g. new phase of his spectacular and varied career.
 Almost 40 years ago Ramsey Macdonald first came to the United States, in the, summer of 1897. It was a honeymoon. Mac Donald had just married the gift ed Margaret Gladstone, a niece of Lord Kelvin. It was a wonderful tour for the poor Scots lad, born amid the humblest surroundings, who was entering socialist poli- tics in London.
 There was no public acclaim for the MacDonalds on that visit. In Concord, Mass, they were the guests of Miss l.. s. W. Perkins for a time. Thirty years later, Macdonald made a pious pilgrim age to Concord and lunched with his former hostess, then nearing 87.
 From that honeymoon, Mac Donald returned to London and fame. He was to forge the >inde- pendent labor party into a pow erful unit, and eventually to see his organization become a domi- hating factor in British life.
 MacDonald's Gethsemane
 So times had changed when he returned to America in 1927. He had already been prime minister during one short-lived labor gov ernment. Before that, he had 'gone into the wilderness'' when Britain entered the World war and the labor party went along, too. Macdonald didn't. He resigned as party leader August 5, 1914. He was conscientious and plain spoken objector, just as he had been during the Boer war. Mac Donald grimly hung on, almost friendless. without a party.
 When Macdonald came to the United States in 1927, he came unofficially. His daughter Ish- bel came with him. Macdonald was still an unkepmt, fiery rebel, making staid Americans slightly uncomfortable. His chief admir- CTS here and those who enter tained him were American lib- erals of the stamp of Oswald Gar rison Willard and Miss Lillian Wald of the Henry Street Settle ment in New York, as well as trade unionists and socialist groups. Though the conservative press gave hip a courteous well come, America-his friends won't deny it - disappointed Ramsay Macdonald,
 Smiths Kindly Call
 In Washington Macdonald called on President Coolidge. whom he found cordial. affable, and home- ly"-carefully explaining that he used the word 'homely' in the Engli fish sense as meaning unas- suming and simple. But MacDon- ald was stricken with a throat ail- ment, and was i'll for several weeks. He recuperated only in time to catch the Berengaria for home late in May. It was dismal finish to his tour.
 One thing cheered him up just before the boat sailed Governor Smith made a trip to the dock to shake hands with the distinguish ed visitor, and to wish him well.
 While the Berengaria was bearing Macdonald across the Atlantic, a plane was carrying an- other passenger in the same direc- tion. It was ''The Spirit of St Louis'' and its pilot was Charles Augustus Lindbergh.
 On Aop Again
 Infinitely different was Ramsay MacDonald's next appearance on the American scene. The wheel of fortune had turned, and he was on top. As prime minister he was entitled to full displomattc honors, and his career by that time had deeply impressed the people of this country. Arriving october 1, 1929, he lifted his sonorous voice in a nationwide hook-up in the cause of peace. America list ened with heartfelt emotion, as to a Scottish Lincoln. His journey to Washington was processional, his visit at the White House prolonged and intimate, and the result was a joint pronouncement of his and Mir Hoover's on world peace with spe- cial reference to the British and American navies.
 Now, once more, Ramsay Mac Donald is heading westward. But in the meantime he has passed through the most puzzling and possibly tragic, years of his career.
 He is still prime minister--but with a difference. Whereas re- gently he was a labor prime min ister, he now sits on a precarious throne, the fitular head of 8 na- tionai government with a top-heavy tory majority. The labor party has since cast him out as q turncoat. fl man who wanted to stay "iii'', whafever the cost. They call him