Electioneers

(British Commonwealth of Nations')

Electioneers

During the past week the following men and women were in the election campaign news:

Premier Stanley Baldwin, Conservative candidate for Bewdley, made important speeches at Glasgow and Bradford. He said that he was taking the course advocated and approved by the late Mr. Bonar Law in calling a general election. Throughout, Mr. Baldwin based his protectionist policy on empiricisms calculated to prove that his policy was the only one which was capable of ameliorating the hectic economic troubles of the day. "We know how many industries depend on partly manufactured goods and raw materials ; we shall take no step without consultation with those industries. If any monopolies result they will be monopolies at home, and we can deal with them." More remarkable than his policy was the improved tone of his oratory. No longer did he stress his inability as a phrasemaker, but burst into floods of forceful phrases which caused surprise to some and to others a suspicion that his cousin, Rudyard Kipling, had had a hand in framing his speeches.

H. H. Asquith, Liberal candiate for Paisley, had a rough time in his constituency, and was persistently shouted down. The anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation broke up one meeting, which Mr. Asquith was with difficulty addressing, by singing The Red Flag and booing. The ex-Premier did, however, manage to reaffirm Liberal support for the League of Nations.

David Lloyd George, Liberal candidate for Carnarvon, made speeches in Wales and Lancashire. At Bolton, speaking with a microphone in his hand, he said: "John Bright's victory was a Lancashire victory." Then, in aside: "What about Cobden ? Was he a Lancashire man ?" The crowd, of course, heard him distinctly and hooted with mirth; whereupon Mr. George commented: "This is a mischevious instrument. I wondered if you heard it." He remarked that protection was useless, that the U. S. could not keep out British goods, that they would have to put a roof over the country in order to do so, and, even then, British goods would come down the chimney. In another speech he said: "The Government (Protectionist) want us to shoot Niagara. We've asked for time to consider it, but they say: 'No, jump in; you will have plenty of time to think it over between the falls and the whirlpool.'" At Criccieth in Wales, Mr. George became bitter when he referred to Conservative posters depicting him as a "vain talker": "There is no party from which that charge comes with such ill favor as from the Tory Party. Were they of that opinion from 1914 to 1918? My recollection is that they were rather glad to have this 'vain talker' in charge of State affairs in those days.

"When British finance was in a state of panic and arrangements had to be made to save it from disaster; when shells, rifles, machine guns and cannon had to be forged, and great organizations had to be improvised for turning them out at short notice to support our gallant men in the field, the 'vain talker' had his uses.

"When Germany had broken up three of our allies and was on the point of breaking up a fourth; when German submarines were sinking our ships by the millions of tons, the Tory Party was frightened, so frightened that it shirked office and begged this 'vain talker' to take charge and do his best to pull the country through.

"When there was great unrest in this country after the War, in 1919-20, and there were menacing strikes and movements, they were glad to get him. I recollect another poster in which I figured in 1918, also issued by the Conservatives. It was a more flattering portrait of myself than the present one. It was issued in the interests of the Conservative candidate, with the words: 'Support the man who brought victory.'

"I can show you one sticking to an old brick wall in a constituency in the Home Counties, where it was fixed during the election of 1918.

"It was only when they thought their troubles were over, troubles in Europe and troubles in Ireland, and that trade was beginning to pick up, that they suddenly discovered I was a 'vain talker,' and that the time had come for them to have a change. There is no party in the State which has less right to issue that poster than the Tory Party."

Later at Carnarvon he said: "Were it not for the strength, resources and reserves of Great Britain, the Allies would have failed in the War. Our reserve strength was not gone, and if the War had lasted another year, England was the one country of Europe which could have faced the problems without a tremor. I tell you, as the only Minister who saw the War clear through, that free trade enabled us to do it."

Earl Grey, Liberal, former Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, said: "The Conservatives' policy [protection] is like prescribing a pill for earthquake ; but the capital levy prescribed by the Laborites is the earthquake itself."

T. P. O'Connor, sole surviving Nationalist, "Father of the House of Commons," in an address to the Irish electors of Great Britain, appealed to them to support Free Trade: "This is the first British election in which you have to record your votes on a purely British issue. Your country is now mistress of her own destinies; her future rests with her own people and her own electors. Ireland does not enter into this contest. We must, therefore, record our votes as residents of Great Britain."

J. Ramsay MacDonald, Labor leader, speaking at London, vigorously defended his capital levy plank. He said he was perfectly amazed by the criticism that had been hurled against it and concluded a speech with: "And I tell you honestly and candidly, that if any party or any person can produce a better scheme I will take that in preference to the capital levy."

Oliver Baldwin, son of Premier Baldwin, Labor, attacked unsparingly his father's Government, but made it clear that he was in no way attacking his father. At one meeting which he addressed he was introduced with A. E. MacDonald as Comrade Oliver Baldwin, son of the present Prime Minister, while MacDonald was the son of the "future Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald." Oliver said the only thing the Government had done was to wrongfully arrest a number of people and then have to pay them compensation (TIME, May 19). "Talk about protection," he continued, "the only protection we want is protection against a Government like that."

WOMEN. There were 36 women candidates, compared with 32 last year.

Lady Astor (Conservative) and Mrs. Wintringham (Liberal) wife of a former Speaker, were the only women successful at the last elections. Mrs. Hilton Philipson (Conservative) won her seat in a by-election.

Miss Ursula Williams, Labor, youngest woman candidate, is a "beautiful girl of 26," not old enough to vote (30 is the minimum age for women). Said she: "My interest in politics is general, as well as feminine Luckily I know something about my constituency, having canvassed it, on and off, for father, since 1914."

Margot Asquith. At a meeting in Glasgow which Mr. Asquith's brother, H. J. Tennant, was addressing, interruptions became so frequent that the meeting developed into a general uproar. At that point Mrs. Asquith, who was among the audience, ascended the platform and announced: "This gentleman is my brother. You have a perfect right to come here, but no right to do what you are doing now. Those who don't want to listen can go."

Lady Astor, Conservative candidate for Plymouth, had a busy time with the hecklers. At one meeting came an impertinent remark from a man which Lady Astor cut short with: "Don't be cheeky, or I will knock that pipe out of your mouth." On another occasion she answered defiantly her Socialist and Communist hecklers with: "I am not going to haul down the Union Jack for the Red flag. It is all very well to say we got our money from the slums. I offer anyone -L-500 (about $2,175) if he can find any slums which Lord Astor owns." She sard she did not believe in class consciousness and knew enough of human nature to know that there was greed, jealousy, immorality and selfishness among all. ... "If you go around the world thinking everybody is greedy and a liar, look into your own heart first." Later on she remarked that "they (the Labor Party) say: 'Tax the rich.' Well, the rich are being taxed, alive and dead, and it's quite right. One reason why death duties are better than a capital levy is that all the millionaires don't die at once." To this a heckler demanded: "What will you do when you die?" Amid laughter and cheers she flashed back: "I am going to send you my son." She declared that she would hold her seat only until her son was old enough to be a candidate.

Rowdyism. At several points rowdyism assumed serious proportions. In Glasgow, H. J. Tennant, the Liberal candidate, was forced to seek police protection, while Miss Violet Robertson, Conservative for the St. Roller constituency, was spat upon, "kicked in the shin" and "treated insultingly" by a crowd of hooligans. In London H. Hogbin, Liberal candidate for Battersea, was forced to cancel all his meetings because he could never make himself heard. Even the pleas of his opponent for fair play failed to help matters. Lord Curzon was another victim of the rowdies. There were many other incidents of "howling down" meetings. The Labor Party at its London headquarters admitted that some of the "more exuberant" had got out of bounds and a manifesto deploring such tactics was issued.