Evening star., 1913-07-13

this hapless secretary. who has somehow
kept tumbling up from high Office to high
office, each more important than the last.
is now being talked OF seriously as the
successor to the premiership. Mr.. Asauith
having intimated plainly that he cant
stand the strain much longer. Will Nc
kenna get 1t?
Quite a lot of people would like to know
the answer to this question, most of all.
perhaps, the militant suffragettes, whose
previous mild contempt for McKenna has
turned to impacable hatred now that he
actually has taken steps to suppress
them. not to mention George Bernard
Shaw, who recently suggested that the
home secretary should be examined by "A
commission of medical experts on the
ground that he is laboring under the de-
lusion that he is the car, and Sir Victor
Horsley the famous scientist, VINO has
lust accused McKenna of first attacking
his veracity and then declining to come
into the open and substantiate his
charges and finally of intriguing against
him at the Royal College of Surgeons.
Mr.. McKenna'S remarkable success as
a failure is the more surprising because.
prior to his admission to the cabinet. he
had given every sign of being the pos
SCISSOR of lot of resolution. If not cour-
age To begin with, he came of stern
stock his father being one of brilliant
group of brothers, of mixed Irish and
English blood, each Of whom rose from
humble beginning to a prominent place In
the world OF commerce. and his mother
was an Englishwoman OF unusual char.
acter In whose veins ran the blood OF
Fox, who wrote the famous book OF
Martyrs
Reginald McKenna. moreover. In his
younger days was a mighty athlete. who
rowed bow I'm the famous Cambridge
eight Of 1887, and won both the grand and
today, he never has allowed himself to
get out Of condition, and always has
practised stern self-discipline. Afflicted,
In his early days with sl1ght stammer'
ed, he read aloud for an hour every day
and gradually conquered the impeachment
In his speech. He Is practicallya tee
totaller and a glutton for work, and 1t is
shown in each of the departments which
he has bossed-getting down earlier and
going away later than most of the clerks
has not had happier results.
At Cambridge. he was famous as
a mathematician as he was as an athlete.
carrying on the highest possible honors In
his favorite subject. and as Secretary OF
the Treasury. his first government post,
he literally overwhelmed questioners un-
der an avalanche Of figures. Like most
of the members OF the Asqu1th cabinet.
including the premier himself. he Is
lawyer by profession, but when once he
had made up his mind to take up politics
as a career he gave up without hesita-
ton a good practice and thereafter de-
voted himself to the role OF legislator.
At the outset. in 1892, he headed a for
lorn liberal hope against the safe unionist
seat of Clapham and ran a bad second
to P. NJ. Thornton. local idol. but was
rewarded for the plucky fight he made
by being made the official candidate Of
his party in North Monmouthshire. which
would elect q dog to parliament if only
IL were liberal one.
Once In parliament as member OF the
party. that then was in opposition. Nc
Kenna soon showed himself an adept at