LEAST OF TWO EVILS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 34, 8 August 1925, Page 7

LEAST OF TWO EVILS

PRESS VIEWS ON THE DEBATE

DIFFICULTIES EMPHASISED.

(AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND CABLE ASSOCIATION.) LONDON, 7th August.

Political writers agree that tho House was greatly impressed by the speeches of Mr. Baldwin si ml Mr. Churchill, and especially draw attention to the hitter's declaration thai* a strike, would have meant a loss to the revenue of at least sixty or seventy millions, apart from the indirect effect on trade, credit, and exchange.

The editorials practically unanimously express thj! opinion that tin; (lovernjiKMit- had choHfii Iho k'vser of two evils, ami (.'lujihasitu the uucci'tuiuty uf the future mill tho necessity of ensuring a

the protection of the public against t similar hold-up. The "Daily Telegraph" says peac« can be obtained if there is the will to peace, though tho task will be one of extreme difficulty. The "Morning Post" says that if a section of the community can organise for the purpose of intimidating the refit, the rest can organise to resist such intimidation. The "Times" says the attack fell rather flat. There was something unreal about it, because no_ one was able to show, or even to suggest, any alternative in the way of preventing a stoppage. The composition' of the commission is the essence of the matter now. The whole success of the Government's policy hangs upon that. The "Daily News" remarks the real issue was. expressed in Mr. Lloyd George's blunt statement that the reconstruction of the coal industry is essential, and the Government must make up its mind ultimately to force such a reconstruction, if necessary, upon . tho parties. The "Daily Herald" says : "Mr. Baldwin stands revealed as the opponent of the great mass of the producers, who by their industrial and political "power arc seeking to make their lives less tragic and. more befitting human be-, ings. The whole trouble in presentday affairs lies in the fact that a minority of capitalists control the economic forces of society, and thus largely control the lives of men." The "Manchester Guardian," in an editorial, draws attention to the suspicions already rooted in some people's minds that Mr. Baldwin will be unable to hand the mining industry back' to unfettered private management. The "Guardian" adds : "The Conservative Government may well be found to have taken a bigger step towards the nationalisation of a vital industry than even a Labour Government would have dared."