Our London Letter by M. Ellsworth Olsen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA · Sep 25, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 39.

Our London Letter

By M. Ellsworth Olsen

(From Our Own Correspondent)

LONDON is rather quiet at present. Society people have gone to the various watering-places, and business is largely at a standstill. Parliament is still at work, however. There is to be no autumn session this year, and the government is trying to get some of the most urgent measures passed into law. There is a Public Health Bill which gives power to the Local Government Board to deal with the proper supervision and inspection of the food supply. Mr. Burns will probably see this bill thru. Then there is the Deceased Wife's Sister Bill, which has been reappearing annually at Westminster for some time past, and has hitherto either been talked down or in some way prevented from passing both Houses. The present government has decided to give it facilities, and as it has passed its second reading in the House of Lords, there can be little doubt of its ultimately becoming law.

A Deceased Wife's Sister.

It is a curious fact, bearing powerful witness to the essential conservatism of England, that it has been, and will be till this law is passed, illegal for a man to marry the sister of his deceased wife. She is regarded in the same light as a blood-relative. The notion is based on a wrong, and, in fact, ridiculous interpretation of certain Old Testament scriptures.

The House of Lords, standing as it does for vested rights and privileges, is quite naturally mutilating the Land Bills sent up to it by the Commons, and Lord Rosebery has made a fighting speech against the Scottish Land Bill, and greatly pleased the Conservatives. It is probable that Parliament will bring its present session to a close the latter part of next week.

Mr. Victor Grayson, Socialist.

By far the most sensational event which has happened since the general election was the return to Parliament, recently, of Mr. Victor Grayson as a member for the Colne Valley division of Yorkshire. He is the first out-and-out Socialist to sit in Parliament. He went into the campaign without organized support from any political party, and won by a large majority. It is hard to tell which party is the most surprised, the Liberals or the Conservatives. Certainly the Conservatives are the most alarmed. Mr. Grayson's program is briefly summed up in the following paragraphs:

Mr. Grayson's Socialist Platform.

"I am a Socialist, and believe that there can be no freedom or security for the working classes while the land and means of production are owned and controlled by a small, privileged class."

"The Right to Work.—I deem it a stinging disgrace to a community professing to be civilized and Christian that there is always a great number of men and women unemployed."

"Old-Age Pensions.—I can see no difficulty whatever in providing an adequate Old-Age Pension Fund. I am convinced that the wealthy classes, who already draw huge pensions, will never consent to a pension for worn-out workers."

"Votes for Women.—If returned, I am prepared to give the most immediate and enthusiastic support to a measure according to women the vote on the same terms as men."

"Free Maintenance of School Children.—I am in favor of free maintenance of school children, the cost to be charged on the National Exchequer."

"House of Lords.—I am in favor of abolishing rather than admonishing this ancient assembly."

"Now is the time to strike a blow at capitalism and landlordism, and for the down-trodden and oppressed. Workers, Unite! You have a world to win, and only your chains to lose."

Some Facts of Grayson's History.

Mr. Grayson is only twenty-five years of age, but has seen a good deal of the seamy side of life. He ran away to sea when he was fourteen. He has seen the inside of the casual wards, has broken his allowance of stones, often working till his hands bled, and has begged work from house to house. Later he was indentured as an apprentice by a firm of engineers in Liverpool, and served six years with them. After that he studied at the Liverpool University, going from there to Manchester University to qualify for the Unitarian ministry; but he did not enter the church, having decided to transfer his religious enthusiasm to the active propaganda of Socialism. "The Socialist and Labor movement," he says, "has me body and soul."

In appearance Mr. Grayson reminds one of the typical visionary. He has light hair and blue eyes, and an open countenance. He gives one the impression of being thoroly in earnest. Of his election he says: "The very first joy that comes to my mind is this—that this epoch-making victory has been won for pure, revolutionary Socialism. We have not trimmed our sails to get the half-hearted vote. We have proclaimed our Socialism on every platform we have spoken from."

He Represents the Spirit of Revolt.

The appearance of such a man at Westminster is indeed deeply significant. He is the living embodiment of the spirit of revolt which is making itself increasingly felt in Great Britain, and will have to be reckoned with. He calls himself "the member for the starving child." He says he represents "the low-browed, stunted, haggard man," and the others who have wrongs that need to be redressed. He regards it as his duty to remind the House of Commons of "the people outside who are dying of starvation."

Socialism is having a wonderful growth in Great Britain. Says a prominent London daily: "A huge wave of humanism is flowing over the country, and the old political parties must either adapt themselves or be swept away. It is the merest fatuousness to try to injure Socialism by ludicrously misrepresenting it. Over all the land, able, earnest men and women are giving themselves up to the cause. Its intellectual system satisfies the reason, while its burning religion of humanism commands the heart. Night after night, day after day, in season and out of season, in the workshop, in the church and chapel, at the street corner and on the country hillside, thousands of its preachers are explaining and winning converts."

Labor Riots in Belfast.

The labor riots in Belfast point to the same general situation of unrest and dissatisfaction among the working classes. Five thousand soldiers have had to assist the police to keep order.

In the House of Commons only the other day, Mr. Haldane, the War Secretary, was giving the news "from the front." He explained how this regiment had been ordered into action, and how it had behaved, where another had been stationed, and so forth. One might have thought that a civil war was raging in Belfast, and, indeed, the situation was a most serious one. The trouble began the 26th of June, when the dockers employed by four steamship companies went on strike. There was a sympathetic strike of carters, a lock-out by the master carriers, and then a strike of coal porters. Negotiations were of no use, as the masters would not recognize union officials. Finally four hundred constables marched to the police barracks and demanded more pay.

All the rowdyism of Belfast was roused to action, and there was fierce fighting between the mobs and the soldiers and police. One Sunday evening a mob numbering thousands fought stubbornly with a mixed force of cavalry, infantry, and police. Some were killed and many injured. A large mob attacked the police barracks, smashing the windows, throwing stones and bottles at the soldiers. They were finally driven off by a force of riflemen who charged them at the point of the bayonet.

A Mob of Thirty Thousand.

Later the mob recollected to the number of thirty thousand, and made a fresh attack. The situation was so desperate that the soldiers were ordered to load their rifles, and they discharged two volleys into the dense crowd. Some were killed outright, and many were wounded. The hospitals were filled to overflowing, both with soldiers and members of the mob.

The situation has quieted down now, but there is no knowing when the conflict will break out again with new fury. Social conditions are not promising. Society is walking on thin ice in these days, and not much is wanting to reproduce in Britain some of the most terrific scenes of the French Revolution.

International Congresses.

There have been two International Congresses in London in the last few weeks, dealing respectively with Housing and School Hygiene. These international gatherings are increasing in influence and in numbers, and give eloquent witness to the spirit of internationalism which seems to be permeating the world. The members of the Congress on School Hygiene advocated that children in the schools be taught Hygiene and Temperance, and urged the need of medical inspection in all the schools under public control.

Summer School of New Theology.

The promoters of the New Theology have been holding a summer school at Penmaen-Mawr, in Wales. The attendance numbered something like 200, mostly clergymen. Mr. R. J. Campbell naturally was chief teacher; some other leaders in the movement took a fairly prominent part. There was more or less disagreement on various matters, leading one of the chief promoters to tell a newspaper reporter that there was no such thing as an authoritative or official version of the New Theology. But with all their differences, the new theologians are, with possibly a few exceptions, at one in their adoption of the extreme conclusions of higher critics, and this first summer school devoted to the propaganda of the new faith is an event of some significance in the religious world.

M. ELLSWORTH OLSEN.

London, August 21, 1907.