The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLED. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1923. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 84, 14 August 1923, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLED. TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1923. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

The new British Prime Minister, Mr Baldwin, speaking at Oxford in

Juno, attributed the victory of the Conservative party at the general election to two factors. First, the natural desire of the people to return to a form of Government which they could understand; and secondly, to "a phrase of Mr Lloyd George," a phrase of six words, and six words only. Mr Baldwin said:—"One morning people opened their newspapers and read that Mr Lloyd G orge said that Mr Bonar Law is honest to the

verge of simplicity. The British people said: 'That is what we hava been looking for.'" If these sx notable words did really turn the , British electorates to the support of, Mr Bonar Law's Government it is ?a splendid tribute to the discern-j

meat and integrity oi: the people. It is to the credit of both of the statesmen concerned that Mr Lloyd George should be able to cast the gleam and that Mr Baldwin should catch its light, and so frankly acknowledge the accuracy of the summary given of Mr Bonar Law's character, and its extremig worth. Mr Baldwin sought no higher characteristic for himself. He went on to say:—"Although I cannot hope to emulate my late leader, Mr B.nar Law, if those six words can be said of me when the general ehction takes place, I shall te a proud mall as an individual and I shall have every confidence in the success of the party I am leading." To put the crown upon simple honesty: To set brilliance upon one s'd?: To discount mere diplomacy—the art (of which is often still to deal in subterfuge, if not to conceal: To trust a public man and pick him out as worthy to be a leader of men, because he is honest to the verge of simplicity; all this is a tremendous testimonial to the leading characteristic of the English race which has earned for it, in business and politics alike, the respect of the world. There is a moral grandeur in independent integrity which has been said to be "the sublimest thing in nature." Mr Baldwin had something to say of the home domestic difficulties. There were two danger spots. One, the decay of the agricultural position; the other, the "massing of vast numbers of men and women in what are nothing less than congested areas, and where the growth of these areas has been so rapid, and taken place with so little thought, that people are living lives in surroundings where it is almost impossible .for decent living to be led." The one, ho said should be met by raising the standard of life of that "highly skilled man" the agricultural laborer; the other, by more "evenly spreading the population * in conjunction with the Dominions of the Empire."