The annual conference of the Labour Party opened at Birmingham
on Wednesday. The proeeedings began with a speech by the chairman, Mr. Turner, who ranged over a great number of subjects of industrial interest. He expressed his satisfaction at the unrest which culminated in the railway strike of last summer, and commented upon "the alarming spectacle of a foolieh Home Secretary " calling out the troops. [Mr. Turner, we suppose, thinks that the troops caused the riots, on the analogy of the man who regarded beds as the chief enemies of mankind, for the majority meettheirdeaths in them.1 Perhaps the most interesting feature of the day's proceedings was the speech from Herr Molkenbuhr, the secretary of the German Social Democratic Party, who attended the conference as a "fraternal delegate." Herr Molkenbuhr declared that the German people were not Imperialists. The Imperialist section was only a small one, though unfortunately at the moment it possessed the money and power of the German nation. The Socialist victories at the recent elections were due to good organization, in which an important part was played by the Socialist daily Press. But behind the organize,- tion lay the protest of the German people against the burden of armaments.
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