The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-12-09
LORD KITCHENER
SHUNS LIMELIGHT

AHeAtdd OF StauulnS IN the llllSHsAt d.
some of his less gifted "confreres" DO
and explaining n pathetic tones that old
/ England is bound TO SO TO the bow-wows
unless it takes his advice. Lord Kitchener
| will so a mile out of his way 10 avoid an
inquisitiye reporter or interviewer, and
when he is suddenly confronted with the
photographers camera be pleads for
mercy on account of his "inexperience. -
or some such naive words.
There is one thing-Lord Kitchener
never gives advice until he is asked to do
so. He believes that it is the business OF
an officer to command and not to advise.
and. what is more, he believes in sticking
to what he coneeives TO be his duty. just
as cobbler sticks TO his last
| Lord kitchener for some time past
practically has been out of a job II is
one OF the drawbacks of the military pro-
fession that as soon as you have served
your time as a journeyman. as il We're
you are debarred from setting up in bust
| ness tor yourself, as other journeymen
may do. Lord kitchener now is an ex-
| pert at commanding armies, but were he
10 start an army OF his own and 60 on
the warpath there certainly would be
protest raised in SOne quarter or another.
owing to the great popular prejudice
| against that sort OF thing.
Kitchener's success primarily is due TO
the fact that he always has taken his
profession seriously. He recognizes that
an army must have brain as well as
muscle, and ne has done his best to sup
| ply his share OF the goods. The average
| British officer, as rule. is more re-
markable for pluck than intelligence
/ You have only 10 go 10 any gathering
either public or private. and hear a
/ half-pay retired major or colonel airing
his views on life in order TO learn what
| nonsense really Is.
| AS a young man Lord Kitchener did
not bother much about lawn tennis parties
or polo matches, and II he had to choose
/ between the study of tactics and an in
vitation 10 picnic from a fiuffy-haired
girl, the tactics got it every time 1t is
said that the great Napoleon spent all
/ his spare time with his nose on the
map Kitchener did the same thing
| He not only learned how 10 down the
| foeman with a straight thrust but he
| also learned how TO build a railway so
/ that you could chase the foe for days in
case the thrust had not quite done
him up.
Most Of Lord Kitchener's work has
been done In the East, chiefly owing 10
| the fact that there has been no war
worth mentioning in any other quarter
/ OF the world belonging to the British for
some time. And, though all England ad-
/ mires its valiant field marshal, il cannot
be expected 90 get UP a war Just to keep
| Kitchener busy at his trade AS a young
man. IL is true Kitchener managed 20
work himself into the outside edge OF the
! Franco-Prussian war, but. just as he was
| beginning to enjoy the fight. hostilities
were suspended and the palayering be-
| gan that cost Napoleon bis throne. But
as Kitchener was no talker, even then,
he had 10 look for another job
Kitchener's great achievement, as We
all know, was the recovery of the Sudan
for Egypt. When he was given the job
I he did not at once rush out Of his tent
with a ringing battle cry and wave his
sword excitedly. He just sat down and
began 10 figure out how much il would
cost 10 build a railroad along the line OF
the route, and how long il would take 10
do it. Had he been an officer OF the
average type, probably he would have
voted that sort of warfare a horrid bore.
and ne would ar once have started 20
climb over the trouble instead of WALK
ing around it
If he had done as some of the British
officers did in the Boer war he would
have just trusted 10 British luck and
British pluck, and he would have gone
down in the first rush. 1t would have
been. perhaps. magnificent and the world
would have applauded. but England
~Trsn H.
field marshal as well. So it would ap-
pear that Kitchener is right and that an
officer is paid for something else than his
readiness to commit a picturesque suicide
when in a tight corner.
From his long res dence in the East
Kitchener has come 10 understand some
thing OF that very difficult problem-the
Oriental mind When you are dealing with
a gentlemanly Arab, who believes that
if he dies fighting for Islam he will hold
superior rank in Paradise it is no use
threatening TO kill him if he does not
behave. The whole business of his life
is waiting for death, and he would far
rather die from a Christian bullet than
from internal cramps in his desert home.
One of the things that many people OBJ
ject 10 is the fact that during the Sudan
campaign Kitchener shelled the Mahdrs
tomb. As a matter of fact, this simple
method of demonstrating To the sons Of
the desert that their dead chief could
not work the miracles for which they
were waiting patiently undoubtedly
lessened the death roll on both sides of
the scuffie.
Lord Kitchener never took the trouble
to explain TO his critics. IL would have
taken too long and too much valuable
time. and he had no guarantee before
hand that they possessed the necessary
intelligence TO understand the questions
al issue War, after all. is not a quiet
social game in the parlor. 1t is rough
enough sport. in which two peoples set
out with the idea of being very rude TO
each other.
Kitchener's great speciality is the same
as that of "Bre'r Fox which. as you
all remember. was TO LAY low an say
muffin" When he speaks ii is only on
matters that are within rs own immedi-
ate experience. If he has framed a
scheme for running the government of
Great Britain, he has so far never al
lowed that fact 10 leak out. He is in
the military department, not in politics.
and he sticks closely TO his own country.
If the truth were fully known, Il is
just because he sticks so very closely 20
his own counter that he is not as popular
as be might be in Official circles. There
was talk recently of putting him at the
head of the war Office, but there are so
many "slaekers' there who in that case
would be sent out to find another job il
Kitchener had the running of that de-
partment that the great aim OF all par
ties ever since has been centered in the
effort to keep Kitchener out of Office as
long as possible.
Whom he was commander-ln-chief in