Evening Post. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1930. THE IRON CHANCELLOR

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 126, 25 November 1930, Page 8

Evening Post. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1930. THE IRON CHANCELLOR

Reviewing two biographical sketches which, appeared about the beginning of the year, the "New Statesman" of 30th January drew a striking contrast between subjects of ; these sketches which it considered to I "stand out in public estimation as the j leading personalities of the British Labour Movement." ■ Mr. Snowden, said the reviewer, is always clear-cut, incisive, unromantic, and far more likely to err on tho side of undue precision, than of any vagueness of thought or phrase. Mr. MacDonald, on the other hand, excels in diffusing atmosphere. He is lofty, romantic, appealing, but often far from definite in* his practical guidance. While Mr. Mac Donald seems to be thinking usually of the ideal, Mr. Snowden is more often busied in kicking energetically at the obstacles in the way. The one loves an audience he can pall "my friends"; tho other seems more at home among adversaries and enemies of the light. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, moderate as he has shown himself in practice, has still about him more than a faint smack of the class-war; whereas the Prime Minister seems always to conceive of Socialism as a stago in the onward march of humanity as a whole. His conception is organic, as well as evolutionary and gradualist. This discerning contrast was illustrated with singular aptitude in two adjoining columns of our cable news on Saturday. In one the speech by which Mr. Mac Donald brought the first stage of the momentous deliberations of the Indian Round Table Conference to a happy close was reported, in the other the speech in which Mr. Snowden roused the ire of the Conservatives by the barren results of their, cross-examination of I him on the fate of the safeguarding and other duties. ' . I Regarding Mr. Mac Donald's coni duct of the Indian Conference it will |be enough to quote the tribute of "The Times" that the Prime Minister proved himself a tactful, sympathetic, and infinitely patient chairman, and to add that by these qualities he seems to have been as successful "in diffusing atmosphere" as he was at the Naval Conference. The wrath of the Conservative Press' is sufficient proof of Mr. Snowden's success in diffusing an atmosphere of an opposite kind. Mr. Snowden might indeed point to the bitterest of the cabled comments as veiling a compliment of which any man might be proud. The "Morning Post" says that the Chancellor selected the most shifty and most obscure language at his command, but his plain intention emerged to sweep away the rest of the safeguarding duties and reduce and damage the M'Kenna duties as far as ho could. 'As a sldlful exponent of the obsolescent art of .invective, the "Mornling Post" usually makes very good reading, but on this occasion its normal skill is so conspicuously lacking that it makes better reading for its enemies than for its friends. Its invective is worse than a "dud," and serves rather as a boomerang. Mr. Snowden, it seems, selected from his vocabulary "the most shifty and most obscure language" that he could find, but the supply was so meagre and his power of deception so feeble that "his plain intention emerged" just as clear as daylight. Here is an honest man; indeed, if this is the worst he could do when he deliberately set. out to be shifty and obscure! Far more likely, as the friendly "New Statesman" says, to err on the side of undue precision than of any vagueness of thought or phrase. Far more likely, as the hostile "Morning Post" adds in effect, to go straight than' crooked,- even when he is doing his level best to be as crooked as he can. In the face of. a storm of obloquy which had in part a somewhat similar origin Burke remarked to the electors of Bristol: — In every accident which may happen through life, in pain, in sorrow, in depression, and distress —I will call to mind this accusation and be- comforted. If Mr. Snowden were not constitutionally indisposed to take either himself or his critics too heroically he might derive a similar comfort from the Balaam blessing of the "Morning Post." But, whatever he may think or feel about it himself, the appearance of a man so straight and so strong among the ordinary crowd of supple, majority-worship-ping politicians is an inspiring spectacle. ■ The example' of Mr. Snowden's moral strength is rendered the more impressive by its contrast with his physical infirmity. The .impression thus made upon the House of Commons when he entered to deliver his Budget speech was admirably described in our cabled report: — Instantly a wave of sympathy went out to him, as his spinal affliction gives him so much pain that it makes him walk slowly and stiffly. The Chancellor is universally, liked. When he entered

ho was walking on two sticks. The Conservatives were willing at heart to cheer with, the Labour Party. The speech itself was described in the same report as at once provocative, common-place, mechanically efficient, uninspired, and drastic, but unimaginative, and in its provocative it confirmed the "New Statesman's" judgment that the Chancellor of the Exchequer, moderate as he has shown himself in practice, has still about him more than a faint smack of the- class-war. Mr. Snowden did not handle the unfortunates who were to provide him with an additional £31,500,000 from increased incomelax and super-tax as though he loved them. To the war profiteers he referred with the satisfaction of one who had long been on their track and had at last caught them up, but it was impossible for him to contend that the bulk of the wealth into which he was driving h is knife so deep was ill-gotten. There was more than "a faint smack of the class-war" here, and some of the victims of the crippled Chancellor may have been reminded that the ancients depicted punishment with a lame foot to indicate that its pace was as slow as its methods were sure. Another characteristic feature of the Budget speech was the reply to the cheers which greeted the announcement of the retention of the M'Kenna duties. Tako care, Mr. Snowden retorted, I may change my mind yet before Parliament is finished. It was to the M'Kenna duties that the Opposition were again directing their inquiries last week, but we need not pursue the matter now, for the interest of the discussion is quite eclipsed by that of the new role in which Mr. Snowden makes his appearance to-day. To the Dominion delegates at the Imperial Conference Mr. Snowden must have appeared a sinister figure, since he was obviously the strong man who determined a hesitating Cabinet against conceding their demands. But addressing them at Farnham on Saturday, he delivered a message-well calculated^ fill them and everybody else with hope. A few weeks ago the agreement of Mr. j Snowden with the Federation of British Industries on any vital point would have seemed the unlikeliest thing in the world, for, by a referendum vote which was taken last month, the federation condemned Britain's | Free Trade policy by a majority iof 96.1 per cent. —perhaps the most 'striking evidence of the change of public opinion on the subject that we have yet had. But the F. 8.0. has since declared that even.under exisl- . ing conditions there are already signs of improved trade, and this yiew Mr. Snowden has now confirmed with most encouraging emphasis. He expressed tho belief that tho dark clouds hovering over many industries would soon disappear, and that within a year trado would have taken a turn for the better. <' There is no need to despair about British trade," declared. Mr. Snowden. He also considers that when the change does come "it will come with considerable rapidity." That a man who is so precise and guarded in his statements that he is associated in the public mind'with gloom and pessimism talks in this way- there is very good reason to believe that he is right, and as the economic maladies from which! the whole world is suffering are to a large extent psychological in their origin, such a belief is exactly the medicine that we need.