Evening star., 1950-02-21
Still WhirIwind al 10,
Lady Astor Campaigns
For ; Sons in Britain
BY the Associated Press

BY the Associated Pres.
LONDON, Feb. 81. - Busiest
mother In Britain this election
campaign is American-born Lady
Astor.
Still energetic and gay at 10,
she's helping three sons fight for
conservative seats in Thursdays
parliamentary elections.
The former Nancy Langhorne of
the Greenwood (Va.) Langhornes
can help them plenty. She
knows all the campaign tricks.
After all, she was the first woman
| to win seat in Britain's parlia-
ment. She was elected in 1919
from Plymouth and held the seat
for Is years until her retirement
in 1945. She was and is a con-
servative. She's stumping her
sons districts as though she were
running for election herself.
Socialists "Old Geese"
Swinging her eye glasses in one
hand, she licked off the family
political situation with the other,
Nov there's Jakie-that's j. J.
he's 80 and fighting for a seat
in a Plymouth division. He's the
youngest, you know. Then there's
the oldest, William. He's AZ and
campaigning in High Wycombe.
In between is Michael, who's "a.
He's battling for the seat he won
in 1945-Surrey, Eastern division"
There's SO much to do, so
much to say about those old
geese. the Socialists" Lady Astor
said in an interview as she paced
in front of a roaring wood fire in
her Mayfair home.
II wouldn't be discouraged If
the Socialists won this election"
she conf1ded, because they are on
the way out anyway.
Every one but a blind man can
see that socialism and democracy
don't work. Even If the Socialists
should win this election. they're
bound to 90 out eventually be-
cause they can't keep England
shackled. Socialism would end
either in dictatorship or starva-
ton"
Says Nations Tone Is Down.
At an age when you'd think
most mothers would be content to
sit back In an easy chair and
proudly watch the progress of
their children, Lady Astor still is
fighter for social reforms.
And I'm a good fighter, too"
she laughed, because I never lose
my temper or allow myself to get
steered away from the issue"
"The whole tone of this coun-
try has gone down under social
ism." she remarked. About the
only thing that's gone up is bet
ting, drinking and the chase after
amusement"
What did she think of national
ization?
If you want less or worse of
something nationalize," she
flashed back. Il believe in temp
erance and think, for example, it
would be good thing to nation
alize the drink trade. But these
socialists won't do that"
Basis Of Socialism Wrong"
why are we so worried today"
Lady Astor asked. why are we
spending so much for defense?
Because of communism. of course
and the Socialists are the blood
brothers of communism.
Il don't mean to say that I
don't believe in social reforms and
in the labor unions. But the So
cialists have married themselves
to Karl Marx. The first thing he
did was to separate politics from
God and then separate men.
We've got to put religion into
politics and not the reverse.
Socialism is a lie. The So
cialists can't make men materially
equal. The whole basis of social
ism is wrong. These old geese
don't believe in socialism. Look
at (Aneurin) Bevan and EN-
manueD ShinWell. What they
really want is communism"
Lady Astor said the Socialist ''in