In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 115, 17 May 1930, Page 28

In the Public Eye

Viscount Eridgeman, Towards . the end of last week Viscount' Bridgeman, who was First Lord of the Admiralty in the late Baldwin Administration, opened a debate in the House of Lords on the proposed treaty resulting from the Londou Naval Conference. He declare^ that certain clauses placed Britain in an invidious position, particularly that relating to the reservation allowing Britain to increase her naval strength if any other Power, not a signatory to the Treaty, should build to an extent '" ' ■ likely to threaten Britain's strength on the seas. Apart from this, however, he did not appear to be ab.le to find much wrong with the Treaty. Viscount Bridgeman was raised to the Peerage among the "Eesignation Honours," and prior to that was known as Mr. W. C. Bridgeman. He is a man in whom Conservative England has the greatest confidence, and occupied a seat in "the House of Commons for nearly 24 years as Unionist member for the Oswestry Division of Shropshire. After he left Cambridge University in the 'eighties, Lord Bridgeman was successively assistant private secretary to Lord Knutsford, the then Colonial Secretary, and afterwards to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, one of.the political giants of the Victorian era. Lord Bridgeman served for seven years from 1897 on the London School Board, and was elected to the London County Council in 1904. First returned to. the Commons for Oswestry in 1906, he held that seat with a substantial majority up to his transfer to "another place." In-the second year of the war (1915) he became a Lord Commissioner .of the Treasury, Assistant Director of the War Trade Department the following year, later Parliamentary Secretary, to the Department of Labour and to. the Board of Trade, Secretary of Mines in 1920, and an Ecclesiastical Commissioner a little later. As Home Secretary under both Mr. Bonar; Law and1 Mr. Baldwin, as Mr. Bridgeman, he .played a dominant part in Irish politics. His action in ordering the.deportation and internment in Ire-, land of Irish prisoners in England was declared to be. illegal by the Court of Appeal, and an indemnity Bill was passed by Parliament for his protection. When he became First Lord of the Admiralty in 1924 the first thing he did was to revive the Singapore Base proposal, which ho afterwards made the central; idea of his naval policy, but this-has since,been considerably modified/by the. Labour Government. M. Gregory Sokolnikoff. During the.;preseht week the Soviet Ambassador,, M. Gregory Sokolnikoff, and his wife were received at Buckingham Palace,by the Queen, an indication that Eussian ; representation at the Court of St. James has become "a vecog- ""■ '" ' nised and accdmplished fact. M. Sokolnikoff, whose real name is said to be Brilliant, was born of Jewish parents in 18.88. When only 17 years old, he was arrested and banished as a Social Democrat, but escaped to Paris, where he studied law, ...-.-.■.-.-_■--—--.-""" graduating in that subject , and economics. In 1917 he was chairman of the Bolshevik Delegation' which signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which ended the war between Russia and Germany. His appointment as Soviet Ambassador in London.was made under what is known as the Henderson-Dovgalevsky agreement jind the name of M. Sokolnikoff [must fcave proved acceptable to the British" Government because he, at any rate, hasj hitherto shown a measure l\ discretion in, his international relationships. . . Moreover, although he served for ;a while as. a Bed Army leader, the Ambassador to Great Britain has devoted most of-his activities to State, finance, and industry. Dux-ing-his term of office at the People's Commissariat of Finance, he took a prominent part in reforming the basis of Soviet currency by the. institution of the "chcrvonotz." He was also an advocato of the N.E.P. (new .economic policy). Subsequently, however, ho suffered an eclipse * when Trotsky, to whose faction he was considered .to be favourable, was deprived of his authority- by Stalin; M. Sokolnikofi's technical knowledge was nevertheless utilised in recent '> times by : his appointment as head'of-the Soviet Naphtha Syndicate. It wan in this capacity that he negotiated an* agreement with leading British and American oil companies. M. Sokolnikoff's success as an Ambassador''will certainly be measured , in Moscow' by the' extent to which he secures 'British trade credits for his Government—^not now an easy or enviable mission. He has, however, undertaken many difficult missions, including his representation of the Soviet Government at The Hague Conference of 1922 and the International Economic Conference at Geneva in 1927, and ■'will1 probably succeed in his present task. It is said that M. Sokolnikoff was once degraded for supporting the Opposition,: but he mads the requisite submission to the Stalin faction, and has since been accepted as a member of the Central Executive of the Soviet Republics. Mr. WiM-Cormack. An interesting development occurred this-week at-the inquiry into the Mungana1 arid ;Chillagoe mining affairs, in which the former Labour Premier of Queensland, Mr. W. M'Connack, is prominently 'concerned. He has been ' -'i .'■....'. : successful in securing an injunction restraining the Eoyal Commissioner, appointed in connection' with the inquiry, from producing or enclosing the whole or part of Mr. M' Cormack ?s .bank account. The . legal position will now be ' '..'■.: . . . argued before tho Full Court. In the prime of life, with a tall and,robust frame, Mr. M'Corma'ck has had a life-long experience as a Labour organiser and political representative. "Bill" M'Cormaek appeals to the casual observer as an ideal Labour Premier. He is a fluent and a powerful speaker who has acquired the ability to express his views among critical workers of the back country of Queensland. The resignation of Mr. Theodore, followed by the inability of Mr. Gillies to deal with an acute situation ■created by the railwaymen, led to a rearrangement of the Cabinet, in the process of which Mr. M'Cormack advanced to the Premiership, which promotion was confirmed by a General Election. The trouble which overtook tho Labour Cabinet last year had been brewing for a long time, and many factors aontributed to the party's downfall. . For instance, it was pointed out by Australian papers that the militant section of the railwayman, were under - ... . . - -j

the leadership of Mr. Rhymer, and be twecn him aud Mr. M'Cormack there had existed strained relations for som< considerable time. The ex-Premier ha( been all for constitutional methods whereas the big railway unions wen firm believers in direct action. Mr M'Cormack "was at one time himseli a militant, but he has become mcl lowed *y political experience, and ii was with a good deal of perturbatioi that he realised that a large portion oi his party was sliding and refused theii suppor/t at the General Election Queensland has but repeated the poll tical history of many other places where the political institutions of the country are represented in the Parliament of the country. The party hac been in power so long that it was suffering from the internal dissensions which always arrive in time, and internecine struggles brought about defeat Mr. M'Cormack simply reaped the reward of his own effort, and it was merely his misfortune that he happened to be in power when the crisis came. He is a master of political tactics, and he chose the election battleground with the skill of a masterhand, hoping that after the fight he would be returned to office without the encumbrance- of the militant section. In this he failed, and so went out of office. Mr. Daniel Moody. Every little while there is a recrudescence of "Lynch Law" in. the United States^ when some miserable prisoner is taken from a gaol and summarily hanged, or burned, or dealt with in some equally uncomfortable manner. Texas is the latest State to come under this method of lawlessness, and Governor Daniel Moody has been finding his hands more than full in dealing with th /O problem. When asked by the police what they should do", Mr. 'l Moody said, "Hold them if you can, but, do not shoot anybody.'? The cablegram which announced this did not clear the air, however, as it did not say whether the police had been able to "hold" the unruly crowd after they had lynched one negro, or whether they had been compelled to shoot. Although Mr. Moody has been described in the past as a "callow and inexperienced politician," it is probable that his two years in office as Governor of Texas' hag taught him many,'things, and that he has now learned how to deal with a crisis. Mr. Moody first became known as a public man yi Texas in 1921, and in seven years he had mounted from the obscurity of a legal practice to the political leadership 'of the State, a rise so rapid that he captured the popular fancy. He first came into the Public Eye so far as the world at large is concerned when he ousted Mrs. M. A. Ferguson, commonly known as "Ma," who, with her husband, had ruled Texas for several years, until they were both impeached.- From r the first Mr. Moody, clashed with ithem, and political warfare between these two parties kept State politics very much alive during a period of two years. Governor Moody was born within 36 miles of the town of Austin, in Texas, and the older genei*.tion remember him as a lad who delivered milk, worked in a grocery store, and later worked his way through a j law school as an electrician's assistant. Youth' undoubtedly stands at the head of affairs in Texas to-day, as Mr. Dan Moody and, his wife are both young. When he defeated Mrs. Ferguson in J927 he was only 33 years old, being one., of the youngest men ever elected to such high office in the United States. He is a great, churchman, and a day or two before his,inauguration, as Governor lie addressed his Sunday school class at the University of Texas counselling "Christian use of the" Bible." Mr. Moody, although a Baptist by birth and training, had then been a teacher of the Univqrsity Methodist Sunday School class for two years, and he announced that though the duties of Governor would occupy most of his time he intended to address the class every Sunday. '"'■'■'. Professor J. B. S. Haldane. To be accused of plagiarism does jiot fall to the lot of the average man, though many people inigh,t. possibly be accused of "copying," but when one prominent man accuses another of this offence- then the rest>o£ the world pci> ' * force takes notice. During the~ present week Prof essor J. B. S. Haldane made this accusation against Lord Birkenhoad in connection with the latter's book, "The World in 2030," which, according to the professor, is "in parts merely a copy of his own ■■ book, ■ "Daftdalus, or Possible Worlds."1" Both are imaginative histories of the world, Professor Haldane's book dealing with interplanetary communication, while Lord Birkenhead's subject is limitless motive power. ■ Mr. Haldane, who is a nephew of the late Lord Haldane, attained publicity some years ago when he allowed himself ■to be vivisected instead' of a dog. This was referred to in the House of Lords by Lord'Haldane during a debato on experiments on animals. Mr. Haldane told his uncle that "there'is an experiment which has to be made and should b* made on a dog, and it cannot possibly ho made under an anaesthetic. There is only one way for-it, and I went up to be vivisected." Lord Haldane said that this showed that somo of the experiments stopped from being made ion .animals by law are experiments which human beings with a desire for knowledge are ready to undergo. Professor J.; B. S. Haldane, who occupies the Chair of Chemistry at Cambridge, has been the subject of delicate experiments at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, conducted by Professor F. Fraser. The ordeal through which he/passed included an-artificial method of producing in him acidosis—an acidic state of the blood which occurs. in\ diabetes. This having been obtained, blood was taken from one of his femoral arteries by Professor Fraser, who used it to determine.the exact change that had taken place •in the blood's alkalinity. This change, ■of the most minute quantity, was determined- and the details published in the medical Press. Several attempts to produce acidosis in himself had previously been made by Professor Haldane m the laboratory of his father, Professor J. S. Haldane, at Oxford. He had consumed quantities ,of , certain acids, but, owing to the.resistance of the human body to any disturbance of its internal environment, he failed. The acidosis . produced in himself by consuming ammonium, chloride was sufficient, it was stated, to cause him to pant as if he was running up a steep mountain. In allowing his body to be the subject of such experiments, Professor Haldane is follow> ing the example of his father (a brothor of Lord Haldane), who had an artery in his right wrist frequently openod after he had breathed quantities of carbonic acid, gas,. the blood being taken for analysis.