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'OL. XXXV. No 18 ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1924
LAB OR AT THE HL I BRITISH POLI'
EIGHT PAGE
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he Development Of The English Labor Party Traced From The End Of The World War To Its Recent
Fall
,v A
Explanation Of The Coalition Compromise Which Put Ramsay MacDonald In Power
Activities
Of The Labor Government In Diplomatic Circles
Editor's Note - This article at-
tempts to describe the events leading
up to the recent British political
crisis.
Nine months of Labor government-the first
which Great Britain had ever seen-were brought
to a (lose Thursday by King George, after a confer-
ence with Premier Ramsay -MacDonald. The disso-
lution of Parliament and the subsequent breaking
up of the government had been expected for some
time; the actual issue which brought about the dis-
solution, however, was of so trivial and unimportant
a character that people had not looked to it as a
possible crisis in the government.
In more ways than one the present government
has been a source of surprise. The weak child of a
union of the Liberal and Labor parties, .Premier
MacDonald's government has suffered from the very
first from those drawbacks which are the inevitable
result of an unnatural coalition. That he has been
so eminently successful, not in carrying out the
policies to which he is committed, but in keeping the
machinery of government moving smoothly, has
been a surprise. From his very accession to office,
an early death for his rule was predicted. Some
people declared that its life would be counted in
weeks. The fact that it has accomplished so much
and that it has lasted even for nine months is a
tribute to Ramsay MacDonald himself more than to
any one faction. A man of smaller calibre would
have broken under the tremendous task of conduct-
ing a government so fundamentally weak.
In the following article an attempt will be made
to trace as briefly as possible the rise of the Labor
movement in Great Britain, its subsequent attain-
ment of the reins of government, and finally its
overthrow.
The real beginning of the Labor movement in
England came at the end of the World Wa.r. Imme-
diately following the conclusion of peace, there was
an inevitable period of industrial depression, during
which factories all over Great Britain closed, and
work could be found nowhere. "The gravity of
this situation," as a recent editorial in The Daily
pointed out, "wil'. be realized when one stops to
think that mn'anufacture is the very life blood of the
land, and that if manufacture is curtailed the coun-
try cannot exist. There has not been since the early
days of the Industrial Revolution enough food raised
on the island to feed the inhabitants; it has lived on
the produce of other countries." So when Industry
came to a dead stop during the period following the
war, the effect can be imagined. Thousands, re-
turned from France, released from the armies and
ready to go back to work, could find no work.
In this period of general industrial stagnation,
the influence of Socialistic and other radical doc-
trines gained a strongholdamong the laboring
classes. They were desperate; no work was ob-
tainable; and without work there could be no bread.
Necessity made them more self conscious politically
than they had ever been before. Lured on by hope
of relief through legislation, they gave to the Labor
party support which it had never had before. At
this time, the biggest point in Labor's program was
the advocation of the Capital Levy, a plan by which
a percentage of all capital would be levied, to be
used for the relief of the working classes. This meas-
ure, although economists as a rule consider that its
effect would do more harm than good, has. had a
powerful appeal, and has continued to be one of
Labor's big policies. The reason why, with a Labor
government, the Capital Levy has not been made a
reality during the past nine months, will be made
clear later.
In the election of 1922, the Labor party took to
the field with the Capital Levy as its cardinal point.
It was defeated overwhelmingly, however, and the
Conservatives were swept into office. At this time
the Labor party had nowhere near the following
which it h.s now. Throughout the entire election,
in fact, its platform was not given serious consider-
ation at all. The electoral fight was based on Lloyd
George's policy concerning the settlement of the
Turkish trouble, and the Lausanne treaty. When
finally the Conservatives, led by Bonar Law, went
into office to replace Lloyd George's Liberals, they
went in, not on the strength of any stand in home
questions, but solely because of their opposition to
the Liberal's foreign policy.
The new government was short lived. Bonar
Law, the Conservative premier, resigned and Stan-
ley Baldwin, another Conservative leader, accepted
the chancelorship. One of the policies which the
diehards had taken with them into office was that
of protection. They favored a strong protective
tariff, believing that it was the only possible remedy
for England's industrial depression The risingLin-
fluence of Labor, however, forced the issue. Labor
had always claimed that protection protected nobody
but the capitalists. Its substitute was Free Trade,
that is, no tariff.
The result was the election of December, 1923,
in which Baldwin took before the people the issue
of Prntetion versus Free Trade.
t
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s
Labor party all through the pre-election fight was
their time-honored advocacy of the Capital Levy,
which, not that the issue had become so real, had
ceased to appeal to the more rational minded of the
radical party. MacDonald, the acknowledged leader
of the party, even went so far as to declare himself
in favor of dropping the issue, but the more radical
wing of his party refused to hear of it.
The result of the December election is common
knowledge. The vote stood as follows:
Conservatives, 5,500,000.
Liberals, 4,265,000.
Labor, 4,500,000.
This result astonished the world! That Labor
would poll such a large minority had not been con-
ceded by any but the most hopeful. It was obvious
that no one of the three parties would ever be able
to govern alone, that there would have to be a coali-
tion between two of them. Baldwin, however, on
the strength of the fact that his was the largest of
the three substantial minorities, elected to try his
hand. But he went into office realizing that his rule
would be short lived, and only a stop-gap.
From then until January 23, when MacDonald
became Prime Minister, it was merely a matter of
days before Baldwin must resign. Speculation ran
high as to the final coalition which would take
power: whether it would be a coalition of Labor and
Liberals against the Conservatives; or a coalition
of Liberals and Conservatives against Labor. In
either case, the Labor party had attained to heights
of which it had dared only dream. On the one hand,
the privilege of being the official Opposition; on the
other hand, an actual voice in government. There
was no general fear at that time as to the result
of allowing Labor the reins of government, for it
was generally admitted that the party contained
some of the best brains intBritain. The leaders were
not as a class laboring men, but were, rather, intel-
lectual Laborites,, fully capable of carrying on the
complex business-of government.
On January 16, MacDonald delivered in the
House of Commons the first speech ever to have
been made in that body by an actual Labor leader.
At that time he stressed the fact that if made prime
minister, his rule would be one of sanity; that his
two primary objects were to restore normal life in
Europe and to. institute a wise and conservative
home policy. He disclaimed any desire to attempt
any radical experiments in government.
By January 18, a large part of the Liberal party
had been won over to the idea of a Liberal-Labor
coalition. Winston Churchill, however, together
with his substantial following, still refused to en-
tertain the idea. But, as it became increasingly evi-
dent that this coalition was the only possible one,
he gradually began to swing from his former stand.
It was finally decided by the Liberal party that a
Liberal-Conservative coalition] would be absolutely
impossible. Following this, Stanley Baldwin re-
tired as Prime Minister on January 23, and J. Ram-
say MacDonald, leader of the working classes,
stepped into power.
It is always safe to say of a statesman that he
faces problems more momentous and more difficult
of solution than any man who ever held the reins of
government. So we can say of Ramsay MacDonald
that he faced a more difficult task than any prime
minister that ever occupied Number 10 Downing
Street. Saddled with both the duties of Prime
Minister and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs,
together with the task of steering the labor party
through its baptism of fire, without a majority in
the Commons to stay him in his work, Ramsay Mac-
Donald entered upon his period of power with every
indication seeming to point to his early fall. But
for nine months he governed Britain, and gave them
a better nine months of government than his pred-
ecessor. It was a task from which the two major
parties shied; Liberals had no desire to shipwreck
themselves upon the dread shoals of the Ruhr ques-
tion, the housing question, the employment ques-
tion, the Irish question, the international questions,
and all the myriads of problems that were to face the
incoming party; Conservatives welcomed the oppor-
tunity of slipping out from under a difficult situa-
tion, and tha chance of going to the country later
with the plea that they were not responsible for
what happened. Thus Ramsey MacDonald took
upon himself the task of forming a government, a
thankless job which more experienced statesmen
shunned.
The appointment of the cabinet gave indication
of the probable character of the government. Only
one Socialist held a place on the cabinet, the Labor
party was represented by the most moderate of
the group, the Liberal party had a most generous
sprinkling of representatives, holding the lion's
share it is true. In his choice of cabinet, MacDon-
ald exhibited the same canny political sagacity that
characterized his fall from power; he realized that
the first trouble, and worst embarrassment was his
party; and the necessity of quieting any socialist
outbursts on the part of his cohorts. The Labor
party, indeed, has been as meek as a lamb; some
feared the possible outcome of the experiment of a
labor government for England, but they did not stop
to realize that the laborites owed their primacy to
the Liberal party, and had to look to that party
for continuance in power. So it was that many of
the extreme Labor planks which have been the key-
notes of all Labor political propaganda, the Capital
Levy, and the nationalization of industries, have not
been discussed. Before his appointment as Prime
Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, in discussing the pos-
sibility of a Labor victory outlined the policies of
his party as follows: "To establish European peace
on an understanding of human men and women,"
who have no cause for war, no cause for enmity,"
to use the League of Nations "without reserve as the
main instrument of securing international justice";
to recognize Russia and so end "the pompous folly
of standing aloof from the Russian government"; to
encourage trade "from the coasts of Japan to the
coasts of Ireland. to deal with the unemployment by
creating a Labor Department; to break any trusts
which he found increasing the cost of building ma-
terial and so hampering a solution of the building
problem." All these, Ramsay MacDonald numbered
and outlined for himself as a program upon which
he intended to act. A stupendous program indeed!
How nearly he has realized his ends is not ex-
actly plain. The work of the labor government can
however, be summed up in a few main policies. The
conference of the premiers held in London at the
invitation of MacDonald, at which the nations of
Europe sat, and at which the United States was
represented only unofficially is perhaps the out-
standing and most productive work of the adminis-
tration. It was at the instigation of the English
premier that the council met. In a letter to Premier
Peincare in February, he pointed out the need of
reaching some agreement in the Ruhr. While thor-
oughly sympathizing with the French in their dis-
appointment over the failure of the Germans to pay,
and the failure of the joint guarantee of the United
States and Britain to go through due to the oppo-
sition of the United States Senate, still he stated
firmly that the economic good of England and the
world was jeopardized by the fact that Germany
could not get upon her feet. The disarrangement
of the markets due to the seizure of the Ruhr and
the slowness of Germany in recuperation was play-
ing havoc with commerce and international .peace.
The conference met in London. Though its recom-
mendations were somewhat set at nought by Ger-
many's impudent demand for reservations regard-
ing the evacuation of the Ruhr and disputed points
regarding the French and Belgian railway, it has
paved the way for much that is now promising to
lead the world to universal peace.
In the international field too, the Labor party
has stood for definite policies. The outstanding
policy, and the one upon which Ramsay MacDonald
finally met his doom was his recognition of Soviet
Russia. It was one of the first official acts of the
new minister. James O'Grady, a labor member of
parliament, was offered and accepted the post of
British ambassador to Russia. The agreement be-
tween the island empire and the great state of Mra;-
sia is a two-headed artice, a c mmerisi treaty and
a general treaty. The commercial treatyranted
reciprocal treatment, each country granting to the
nationals of the other the same commercial privi--
leges granted to any other nation. One clause rather
contradictory in its context holds the Soviet gov-
ernment responsible for transactions of Soviet trade
deleiations which are to be subjected to British law,
but "in view of the responsibility .of these transac-
tions which is assumed by the government of the
union, neither it nor its representatives will be
called upon to give security for complying with
orders of courts."
The general treaty confirmed all previous Anglo-
Russian treaties, recognized the three-mile limit of
territorial waters; specified a fishing agreement;
relegated to the stronghold of time all claims, coun-
ter-claims and debts relating to the period of
August, 1914, to February, 1924, when Soviet Russia
was recognized by the British government. The
Soviet government declined to withdra* its decree
by which it agreed to satisfy British bondholders in
all cases where the Imperial ,Russian Government's
guarantee had been given. The second dealt with
compensation to be awarded 'to British nationals.
The Soviet government promised to negotiate with
British owners and incorporate the agreements
reached into a treaty. The British government then
agreed to "recommend to Parliament to enable it to
guarantee interest and sinking fund of a loan to
Soviet Russia."
Ireland has occupied the attention of the late
ministry as it has occupied the attention of almost
every minister that has held the position since
Gladstone first turned the searchlight upon the ills
of the Emerald Isle. It can safely be said that
Ireland has been the scene of more failures and
more falls in the political world than any spot in
the vast empire. The Irish have kept England
constantly stirred; in their wild desire for inde-
pendence,' they considered neither expediency nor
possibility; when they finally got their independ-
ence, England must have breathed a sigh of relief.
There are some who think that a little moderation
would not hurt the Irish, neither, we might add,
would nytroglycerine.
The Orangemen and the Green met again on
the traditional field of honor, with the result that
Ramsay 'MacDonald, suffering the fate of other
prime ministers who attempted to settle the trouble-
some problem, fell. It was not, however, the Irish
dispute over boundaries in which President Cos-
grave of the Irish Free State and Sir James Craig,
premier of Northern Ireland crossed swords: it was
not the obscure case of a country editor charged
with sedition which caused the downfall of the
Labor party, the first to rule England.
The Labor government's fall is laid, generally,
to Ramsay MacDonald's clever political strategy.
"The Labor party brought on the crisis," said Prof.
Joseph R. Hayden, of the political science depart-
ment recently, "over a relatively unimortant issue
in which the majority of the British people would
sympathize with them, rather than wait until mat-
ters came to a crisis over a more delicate and more
important issue. MacDonald, by declining to re--
sign and advising the King to dissolve parliament,
has appealed Labor's case to the people, and in a
way which cannot but rebound to his credit in thie
coming election.
In August, John Campbell, editor of a Com-
munist weekly, was arrested for publishing an ar-
ticle deriding the army, and opposing its use in in-
dustrial disputes. The Labor goverunient gave iin-
struction to release Campbell, saying that the artilo!
was not seditious in its nature. Parliament in a
vote last Wednesday censured the action, thus, by a
technicality, expressing lacko of confidence in the
government. MacDonald then had the choice of re-
signing or of asking the King to dissolve Parliament.
He choose the latter.
"MacDonald must have realized," says Professor
Hayden, "that if the crisis came over this minor
issue he would have the sympathies of the British
people, and that if the crisis came over some more
important issue, such as recognition of the Soviet,
Humanity
From Behind
The Desk
Some of the Thousand and One Questions and Problems Confronting the Union Clerk
"Have the pins come in yet?" "No." "Well when
are they coming in?" "I don't know," and another
freshman goes away from the main desk of the
Union grumbling because his beloved pins have not
yet shown up. This is a typical conversation that
has been carried on between a man working at the
desk and a freshman thousands of times this year.
Evidently the freshmen place a high value on their
little Union pins for they inquire for them numer-
ous times each day and are very much disgruntled
when they fail to receive them.
Another favorite question that is put to the
man working at the Union desk "Will you cash a
check for me?" The answer is invariably, "For how
much?" "Oh, two or three dollars." "Have you got
your Union card?" "Sure, if I haven't I ought to
have," and the student starts pulling out his wallet
and check book. "No, by gosh, I left it home. Can't
I get it cashed without my card?" The answer is,
"Yes, if you will have it O. K.'d in the office."
"Where is the office?" He is directed to the office
where sometimes he has his check O. K.'d and some-
times he doesn't. If he does he probably comes
back with a grin of triumph and proudly presents
his check.
Still another question which hundreds of stud-
ents ask is, "Can't I get a dance ticket until the
preference goes off?" or "Who has the preference
next Friday?" There is a schedule of preferences
for dance tickets for the entire year posted on the
bulletin board but few students will believe what
they read.
"Can I take ladies in the main dining room to-
day?" Once more a member of the Union will ask
about something that is fully explained in the rules
which are posted conspicuously about the building.
He 'will be told, "No, ladies are not permitted in
the main dining room." "Well, I took some in there
last year and I don't see why I can't do it now."
"Was it on a football day?" the clerk will. probably
ask and be answered, "Yes." "They do go m there
on those days because there is not enough room in
the ladies' dining room."
An so the clerk continues answering questions
lined up before the counter three deep waiting to
be served, an old grad will come up and begin to
reminiscence.
"Yes sir," lie will say. "I graduated in '76. A
few years ago that was, eh? There weren't any new
buildings then like there are now I can tell you.
No sir, we used to have all our classes in one build-
ing and the campus had a picket fence around it,
too. I remember-" and he will launch into a long
account of some youthful exploit of his college days
which has probably been re-enacted a hundred times
in the clerk's own time but to which the old grad
expects him to listen while scores of people wait
impatiently to buy their package of Camels or ask
another question.
Football tickets are dispensed entirely from
the offices of the Athletic association but one would
gather an entirely different impression at the main
desk of the Union on a football day. Fans who
have decided at the last minutes that they will see
the big game come up and ask for a ticket to Ferry
Field. When told that they are not:sold there they
will say, "I know that but always have some here
don't you?"
When answered to the contrary, wrath begins
to mount and they retort, "I got one here last year.
Why can't I get one today?" He will be told that
there might have been some turned in to be sold last
year but that this year no one has done that.
Whereupon the irate fan will become soft-soapy and
flash a twenty dollar bill as an inducement. When
this fails to work he turns away disgusted and
raging.
Another of the favorite bones of contention on
the days of the big football games and which causes
the clerks an endless amount of trouble is the ques-
tion of rooms. The Michigan Union has 49 sleeping
rooms accommodating about sixty people. When
anywhere from thirty ot forty thousand alumni re-
turn to Ann Arbor to see a football game and ninety
percent of thom remain two 'days or more, and when
about seventy-five per cent of these want to stay
at the Union it's not difficult to see what the result
will be. The experienced alumni apply for a reser-
shock. They seem utterly unable to believe that
the Union's immense capacity of forty-nine rooms
will not be able to take care of their application, the
seven thousandth one that day.
But on the whole people are not as bad as they
are painted here. Very seldom is there a case of
real dishonesty, in fact last year among the count-
less checks the Union received on accounts that had
been overdrawn there was only one case where it
was known that the intention was to defraud. The
others were merely cases where a student had over-
drawn his account because he did not keep his check
stubs balanced. The same thing is true of the din-
ing room liusiness. Although the dining room
checks are given to the customer in the dining room
and it is up to him to pay it when he leaves, in only
rare instances does he go out without paying his
bill and then he probably forgets it. ,
In the case where a person asks endless and
foolish questions he is usually sincere and unthink-
ingly expects the clerk to be able to supply him with
all the information he is after. If he is looking for
the address of a girl, -he is doubtless nervous and
there probably never occurs to him the incongruity
of searching for her address at the Michigan Union
-a men's club.
When it comes to the matter of cashing checks,
there is an excuse for all the requests. First of all
the Union is their club and it should cash their
checks. Unfortunately, it is impossible for the
Union to carry enough money in its cash registers to
cash the checks of all its members. And then too,
as many students explain "It is such a long way to
walk down to the bank."
Nor can one blame the old grads for wanting
to talk about their college days. It is human na-
ture to look into the past and re-enact the escapades
of our youth in rosy-hued narrative, always ending
with the statement that either "Them were the
days," or "Those days are gone forever."
It is also natural that old alumni who come
back for the football games should want to stay at
the Michigan Union. In most cases it is the first
time they have seen the building which they helped
I