(4 of 5)
Significance. Intangible but a tremendous factor was James Ramsay MacDonald's personal election victory at Seaham Harbor. He and Daughter Ishbel were in the air flying to London when the Seaham Harbor count was announced: Candidate MacDonald 28,977 votes; Candidate Coxon (Laborite) 23,027; Candidate Lumley (Communist) 677.
Thus the Prime Minister's majority was 5,273. Two years ago it was 22,097. But the lesser victory last week, against apparently hopeless odds, was infinitely the greater. In his own estimation Scot MacDonald was confirmed by Seaham Harbor as still a Laborite, though cast out of the Party. The moral force generated in a Scotsman by such a vindication is of utmost significance, will propel the harassed Prime Minister through many a difficulty, sustain him in his none too robust health.
Lunching in London last week J. Pierpont Morgan was seen to nod portentous agreement when a British speaker declared: "Of course we are in for a tariff. If we use it for bargaining purposes it may prove extremely useful." This undoubtedly was the broad significance of the General Election. Britain, traditionally a free trader, will slip with her Conservative landslide into a policy of tariffs. But the British Isles remain isles. They must always import much. While adjusting her new tariff nicely to possibilities Mother Britain can bargain shrewdly with nations like the U. S., France and Germany, all eager to continue selling her as much as possible.
Pound 6 Dole. Apart from tariffs, the National Government was believed certain to place the pound on a stronger and perhaps stabilized basis. Later the Conservative element may dare again to cut the Dole—already cut by the National Government when first constituted (TIME, Sept. 21).
Snowden Chorus. That even the 9-to-1 Parliamentary victory of the National Government does not mean the end or destruction of the Labor Party appeared clearly from a study of the popular vote. On this basis Labor went down only two to one, sufficiently disheartening, but great parties have survived greater blows. Philip Snowden, because he has resigned from Parliament and the Exchequer, because he thinks of retiring into the House of Lords, uttered from detached heights last week these words:
"Millions of men and women have voted for candidates with whose general political views they were not in agreement on the sole ground of showing the world that Britain is determined to stand four-square and bring the nation through its difficulties. . . This is not the end of the Labor Party. It will rise again, but only with new leaders! . . . Britain's position in the world will be immeasurably strengthened by this election."
Millions on Bets-Stock exchange brokers declared that some $3,900,000 was won and lost on election bets called "majorities." Viscount Rothermere alone was said to have won £100,000 ($388,000 at current exchange). Dutch bankers, convinced that Britain was going to the Laborite dogs, sold majorities heavily, lost most.