A BABE IN THE WOODS

Prophets, as Mr. Golding said last night, are notoriously sure of themselves, and the revolutionary rise of the labor party to office in England has given them an unusually attractive subject for dogmatic predictions. If the idea was ever held that by radical and unconstitutional policies Premier a destroying flame of conservatism it has for some months been ridiculous. But that the labor government will soon begin to weaken has been the general American opinion.

In the labor movement represented only a revolt of the workers this prediction could probably be accepted without question Mr. Golding has pointed out, however, that the new party has many roots. By "focusing the dissatisfaction with acquisitive society" it has gained the support of men of science arts, and letters, so that in it the tires of idealism which once warmed the blood of the old liberal party have been rekindled. And in an Donald's ministry would at once kindle age of reconstruction it would seem that it is such a spirit that is best fitted to hew new paths. The fate of the labor party rests rather in its methods than in its principles.

At the same time, though the party is in office it is not quite in power and it must perforce rule with the tacit consent of the two traditional parties. The fact that its leaders agree with Sidney Webb on the "inevitability of gradual-ness", that Premier MacDonald is a constitutionalist, rather than a Marxianist, make it probable that this consent will not soon be retracted. Unlike its neighbors across the Channel, England's greatest revolutions have taken place in the quiet course of constitutional development. It is a testimony to the permanence and strength of the labor movement that it has sought and gained power by the traditional mode of election. And since it is conservative in its methods if not in its ideals, the alleged "socialistic" party should attract those liberal elements which have in recent years become diffused among the older organizations, thus gaining the strength necessary not only to retain office but to drive actual control.

But since the Englishman in politics is admittedly empirical the immediate fate of the Labor Ministry doubtless rests upon the results of its present program. By initiating a strange foreign policy that has been characteristic recent governments Premier MacDonald has appeased at British longing which Mr. Golding declares has gone unsatisfied since the early nineteenth century. There remains the vexing problem of unemployment. If any thing is likely to wreck the immediate political fortunes of the present ministry it will be popular impatience with an unavoidable slowness in reshaping the economic forces now depressing English industry.