GREAT BRITAIN: Heather v. Cormorant

GREAT BRITAIN

Heather v. Cormorant

Rested and refreshed after a week-end at Lossiemouth, Ramsay MacDonald flew back to London last week with a large bunch of white heather in his buttonhole and posed for his picture in the garden of No. 10 Downing St. Secretary for Dominions & Colonies James Henry Thomas begged a sprig for good luck, so did Stanley Baldwin and the rest. When every buttonhole burgeoned with Ramsay’s white heather, shutters clicked at the entire National Cabinet.

They needed luck. To bolster British finances Great Britain had already been forced to draw some $20,000,000 of the $200,000,000 credit raised last fortnight in the U. S. Superstitious Britons watched for the return of a great black cormorant which had appeared from nowhere the afternoon of Aug. 11, just as Britain’s troubles were becoming acute, and roosted ominously every night for five nights on the cross atop the dome of St. Paul’s (see cut).

Majority. Scot MacDonald and his new ministers were preparing last week to rush their financial program through an emergency session of Parliament. The Prime Minister was prepared for an immediate test of strength, a vote of confidence on the first day. No one doubted that he would get it. Despite the organized Laborite opposition, Conservative and Liberal whips guaranteed him a majority of at least 40.

Sure of himself, Scot MacDonald wrote once more to his constituents in Seaham who had asked him to resign. Said he:

“Our position has been dictated by the determination to keep standards of living, unemployment pay and such like at the maximum possible.

“If you are discussing these things now, free of collapse and panic, you owe this solely to my colleagues and myself who took the action which we did last week.

“. . . In view of one part of your resolution I desire to make it perfectly clear to you, however, that I shall not under any circumstances carry out the above intention [resignation from the Commons] while it involves desertion of duty which I consider to be imperative to protect the great masses of wage earners.”

Privy SeaL The only vacancy in the Cabinet proper, the post of Lord Privy Seal, which some observers had believed was being saved for David Lloyd George, was awarded last week to the Conservative Earl Peel. Ramsay MacDonald’s son Malcolm was made Under Secretary for the Dominions and Colonies. David Lloyd George’s son, Gwilym, was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade.

Affected Juniors. Always dramatic Scot MacDonald assembled the Junior Ministers of his Labor Cabinet and, trembling with emotion, urged them not to stay by him but to consider their political careers:

“You are young and you have all the wurruld before you,” said he. “Do not sacrifice yourselves. I will do that as I am getting near the end anyhow.”

The young Laborites were so affected by this that they forgot that Scot MacDonald was bound by the Coalition agreement to take most of their jobs away from them anyhow.

“Yorkshire Likes Pluck.” As a matter of fact, Scot MacDonald was by no means near the end. Laborite M. P.’s who had deserted him fortnight ago were beginning to feel sheepish. Britons who love a beau geste were deliriously enthusiastic. The Downing Street mailbag was stuffed with telegrams and letters of support, not a few from the U. S. A candy manufacturer sent $5,000 for the Government’s emergency fund. An unknown workman sent $6, half his week’s pay. From Yorkshire came a pencilled postcard: “Come to Yorkshire and we will find thee a seat in the Commons. All York shire labor is proud of you. The dole has been much abused and we workers are tired of keeping those who will not work. . . . Yorkshire likes pluck.” Leaking Secrets. British financial bills are always closely guarded state secrets until dead in Parliament. But last week there were many leaks. The stockmarket rose slightly on news that there would be no tax on bonds in the new economy bill, and that conversion of the 5% War loan bonds to a lower rate of interest would be voluntary. Beside ‘the bitterly contested 10% cut in the Dole, other projected economy moves included a 12½% cut in policemen’s salaries, similar pay cuts for Ministers of the Government, Members of Parliament, judges, civil servants, teachers, soldiers, sailors and service flyers. The 33⅓% duty on imported automobiles, films, musical instruments, watches and clocks is expected to be raised. So are liquor taxes, entertainment, gasoline and income taxes. Projected is a small stamp tax on restaurant checks such as is now in effect in Italy.

Signs of the times appeared in news columns:

¶ The Works & Public Buildings Office ordered that, as a measure of economy, the deer in Richmond Park are no longer to be fed by keepers in gold-braided silk hats; they must wear ordinary peaked caps.

¶ Sir Charles Burnett Buckworth-Herne-Soame succeeded to a baronetcy fortnight ago and last week applied for unemployment insurance—the first British baronet on the Dole.

¶ King George and Edward of Wales let it be known that during the emergency they would return to the Exchequer $242,500 and $48,600 respectively.