The Government, he went on, having protected the owners, did
very little to protect the consumers. It seemed to be indecent even to mention the price of coal when the consumer was concerned ! The owners and the miners had " combined to pillage the public." Finally, Mr. Lloyd - George's attacks on Mr. Ben .Turner (" whose quota of responsibility is greater than his standard of capacity ") and on the • Attorney-General were considered so malignant that the Government abandoned their plan of putting forward at this stage some offers drafted to meet the Liberal criticisms. No doubt Mr. MacDonald and his colleagues felt with the Frenchman who said : C'est impossible a causer avec un monsieur comme ca. Those who arc outside the Labour Party may reflect that Mr. Lloyd George's attack on Mr. Ben Turner had wit and that wit should always be forgiven ; but Mr. Lloyd George must know as well as anybody that the Labour Party has always been slower than the older parties to put up with satirical ridicule. This is a defect which time may remedy. Our complaint is that Mr. Lloyd George did not treat a very serious situation seriously enough.
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