COMMUNISTIC SPEECHES.
While it would doubtless be easy to attach undue importance to the bellicose utterances of Mr. Cook and his revolutionary forecasts, it would, perhaps, equally be unwise to ignore the blending of Communists with Exti emists and the leavening of both influences in the ranks of Labour as a whole. We know that in this country the ft- e ing prevails that there is quite enough common sense and determination on the part of the British nation as a whole to keep these forces well under control, _but on the other hand it must not be forgotten that there is such a thing as standing for certain principles; especially by Governments, and, moreover, that one day we may find that our credit at other centres has been affected materially. Remember that it is barely a year since sterling experienced an appreciation due in no small measure—so it was said—to the displacement of a Labour Government by a strong Conservative Ministry. A good deal has happened since then, however, and at the end of a twelve- month it is disquieting -to find almost a record number of unemployed and the activities of the Labour Extremists as pronounced as at any time in our history. Our industrial difficulties may find their origin quite as much in defective organization by Capitalists as in the shortcomings of Labour. The point I would suggest, however, is that the more compli- cated and the more serious the problem, the more, dangerous may any Communist or Bolihevist influence become. - A. W. K.
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