The Independent Labour Party, which "comes of age" this year,
began to celebrate the occasion at Bradford last Saturday with as much rejoicing as might become the son of a mere lord of many acres. Mr. Keir Hardie, who was the first chairman of the party, presided. He said that as a result of its twenty-one years' work the party was breaking down sex and class barriers, although it was only at the begin- ning of its undertaking. On Sunday Mr. Philip Snowden said that astute Liberal politicians were advertising specious social reforms in a "vocabulary borrowed from the Socialists." Mr. Asquith had said that the differences between Liberals and Socialists were trivial, but really they were vital and funda- mental. By way of commentary on Mr. Keir Hardie's assertion that the Independent Labour Party was breaking down sex barriers, women suffragists continually interrupted the speeches. Mr. Snowden gave up speaking in despair, and Mr. Ramsay MacDonald was hit by a bag of flour. We congratulate him on the wit which prompted him to say that it was the first time that an opponent had tried to whiten him.
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