OCR Text |
Show ENGLAND MUST CHOOSE ST. VITUS DANCE OF LLOYD GEORGE OR LAW AND SLEEPING SICKNESS By A. G. GARDINER Britain's '.rcotesl Liberal Editor (Copyright, by The Standard- Examiner.) LONDON, Nov 11. The fourth anniversary an-niversary of the armistice finds Lng- limd on the eve of the most singular, general election in her history- It is not so much a straight fight as a street fight In which everybody hits anybody. But the main interest centers cen-ters In the growing antagonism among the leaders of the lat e coalition government gov-ernment The attempt to maintain civil relation is breaking down under I the stress of the battle and recriminations recrim-inations became hotter as the polling poll-ing day nears As lady Bonham Carter wittily says: "The choice Is between the sleeping sickness of lionar Law and the St. Vitus dance of Lloyd George." Law throws responsibility for the failure or the coalition on Li-1 I cieorge. The latter claims Law equal-ly equal-ly responsible with him for the coalition coal-ition policies, or lack of them. He scoffs at the new ministry as green-horns. green-horns. Birkenhead hitting right and left, suggests that Lord Derby Is no statesman, Derby retaliates by BUg-gi BUg-gi Ming that Birkenhead Is no gentleman gentle-man Perhaps both are right. Meanwhile. Churchill. Iat of three musketeers of politics, still Is out of tho battle lino owing to an operation opera-tion for appendicitis. He has written, writ-ten, denouncing the government and renewing allegiance to Lloyd ;err-:.-. ISM replying politely, suggests his astonishment as-tonishment that Churchill could be loyal to anybody and the public shares that astonishment There is a wlde-Bpr wlde-Bpr ad opinion that Churchill was himself only a short time ago favorable favor-able for the overthrow of Lloyd George. M The stock of thu latter is still falling fall-ing as the result of the public washing wash-ing of dirty linen. Curzon has turned turn-ed on him. declaring that Lloyd ;..-' -11.1 not consult him :i? b;n minister before issuing his Near East colonial empire manifesto on Sept. m-ber m-ber 16- It Is now clear that his onlv confed-erat In that amazing performance perform-ance was Birkenhead and Churchill, who are accused of having been the war partv in the old coalition cabinet Nevertheless. Lloyd George continues contin-ues to command great popular thu-slasm thu-slasm but without a political machine he cannot cash that enthusiasm at the polls Meanwhile as the civil war rag-ri rag-ri among the fragments of the machine ma-chine of the late coalition, the Liberals Liber-als under Asri'ilth are making prog-r, prog-r, . They now anticipate that they Will win something In the neighborhood neighbor-hood Of 100 seats. Labor, on the other oth-er hnnd, finds Its cause declining 1 he party has committed Itself to tho principle prin-ciple of a ley on capital In order to reduce the national debt. This has aroused a great hue and cry among the Tories and the Liberals, where it is denounced as a policy of confiscation confisca-tion and a part of an organized war on private enterprise. Labor Is staggering stag-gering under the fury of the assault which was quite unexpected as until very lately many Liberals, and even Bonar Law hlmselt, had treated the capital levj as an arguable alternative alterna-tive to th: present excessive Income tax In the circumstances, It Is Improbable Im-probable that Labor will carry more than 130 seats. Lloyd George will have f0 personal followers. There is a growing belief that the Conservatives will get a clear majority ma-jority and Hoiiht Law will be in a position po-sition to organize any alliances Lloy d George's power will be completely' bhorn. He cannot attack Liberals as he stands nominally as a Liberal and may yet have to -seek shelter under the Old umbrella. It Is most significant that he does not attack Labor, He used ; to praise the bolshcvlkl most voclfer- ! OUSly. -'ow not a word of criticism of Libor policy. There Is speculation as to what this means. If the election destroys the last lingering lin-gering chance for a coalition, with the restoration, of peace, with the Conser- j vatives, It is possible he may bolt to tho left and assay at leading the La -boritc-s Would Labor have him? The rank and file are bitterly hostile, bul 1 the leaders recognize his tactical gen- j lus and might think a deal with him advisable as the present weakness of j the Labor cause is the lack of com-Detent com-Detent leadership and parliamentary Cleverness Lloyd George could supply sup-ply all these qualities in abundance. True, he would hae to eat his words about bolshovlsts, but that Is a familiar fam-iliar diet and would not hurt so hearty a digestion. Those bpeculations, how- ever, belong in the future For the moment, alh minds are fixed on thi j riddle of the polling booth. It may-upset may-upset all calculations. |