POLITICAL “SCREAMING" IN LONDON.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10601, 9 March 1895, Page 4

POLITICAL “SCREAMING" IN LONDON.

Thk London County Council elections seem to have resulted in an exact balance of parties. When details come to hand we expect to find that the contest has been characterised by great bitterness. The Spectator accused the Progressives of injuring their own cause by too much “political screaming,”but from other sources we learn that the “ screaming ” was not confined to one party. The Moderates, so-called apparently because they are immoderate in their opposition to municipal reform, were very extreme in their denunciation of the party of progress as Socialists and Revolutionists whose aim was the plundering of the rich for the sake of pampering the poor. Inflammatory statements of that kind produce a powerful effect upon the bourgeoisie , whose chief ambition it is to be classed as persons of substance, or associated with the wealthy classes. The Conservative screaming, just as much as that of the Progressives, is, therefore, accountable for the changed constitution of the London County Council. A well - known Democratic clergyman, the Rev Hugh Price Hughes, in a speech delivered in January last, made a passing allusion to the County Council elections. The people of London, he said, must do their utmost to create a just social order, in which everyone who is willing to work shall have the opportunity, He asked them whether the London County Council was to he punished because it had taken to heart the misery of the poor. He was very sorry to say an attempt was being made to frighten the struggling ratepayers and the timid citizens by calling those who controlled the existing policy of the County Council Revolutionists and Socialists. It was very easy to make assertions. Let them judge men by wbafc they were and what they had done. What had the London County Council done that would justify any man in withholding his support from the Progressive majority at the ensuing elections? They had ensured the Trade Union rate of wages for their workmen, and had improved the dwellings of the poor, and bettered the conditions of life generally for i4;ho.»xoassogi Heswas-afraid jaome..of.

the rich would do their utmost to crush the Progressive policy of the London County Council, but if the poor knew the interests of their own family, and if' the poor did their duty, the best friends the working men of London ever had would once again be returned to power to carry on their Christian and humane policy. There is no sign of “.screaming” about these remarks, and if the election campaign had been conducted or. the lines indicated by Mr Hughes,, there would not now be occasion to deplore and condemn the action of the majority of the electors of the County of London in inflicting a reverse upon the friends of economic justice and municipal reform.