Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-07-19
WORK AND WORRY
MAKE ASQUITH
OLD MAN
Premier Only Five Years, He
Is Now Numbered Among
EngIand's Aged
VENERABLE IN APPEARANCE.
Prospect of His Retirement
Causes Speculation as
to the Future
VENERABLE IN APPEARANCE
.IBy Latest Mail

Empire for only five years, younl
compared with most Of his great pred
ecessors, Mr.. Asquith is now general!
spoken of as one of England's ole
men.
i He is only 81 years of age-foul
years younger than Arthur Balfoul
and 20 years younger than Gladstone
at his best--yet there are indefinitely
| associated with him in the public
mind all the characteristics of ex
treme age. To some extent this is
due to personal appearance. The
shock of snow-white hair, the lined
and furrowed face, the rather bent
figure, the gravity of measured utter
ance-all give venerable impression
Add to this the reiterated rumors OF
retirement and the history-making pc
Rod during which he has held the
highest Office under the crown and
! you will realize why the prophets and
the papers busy themselves with what
will happen when Asquith ceases to
! be premier.
The premier's age is also accen-
tuated by the unusual youth of those
ministers Of his cabinet who are
mainly in the public eye. Lloyd
George is only just so; Winston
Churchill is not yet So; Home .Secre-
tary McKenna, the butt of the suf-
|.fragettes, is no older than Lloyd
George. Few of them, except Mr. As
quith, look their years. Lord Morley,
the one exception in the cabinet as re-
CARDS age, is "A, but he is still active
and still delights in the f1ippant satire
of a retired journalist against the
follies of the politician.
Has Handled Crises.
There is excuse for Asquith's pre-
maturely aged appearance. No prime
minister has ever crowded into five
years such a combination Of foreign
complications and domestic change as
has fallen to the lott Of tho present
head of the British government. Time
sitter time since Asquith succeeded
Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman this
country has been on the verge of a
for which Bismarck, Crispi Salisbury,
Gladstone and Disraeli made endless
preparations have come and gone
'fhe conflict for which the great pow
efs of Europe braced themselves has
so far been averted Turkey has been
practically wiped out of Europe but
no continental nation has cut its
throat on her grave. To pilot an en-
pire through storms like these, even
with a foreign minister such as Sir
Edward Grey, has given the man at
the helm many sleepless night. II
there had been no legislative revolu-
lions in progress at home Asquith
would have had good excuse for the
hair that has turned so white
In the same five years the prime
minister has practically abolished the
house of lords, made home rule for
Ireland a certainty, insured the ma
tion against sickness and unemploy
ment, supertaxed the millionaires, in
stituted old age pensions, disestab-
lished the Episcopal Church in Wales,
and put the house Of commons on
salary basis. This is a mere snap
shot of the legislation for which he
has assumed responsibility.
imperiIed BY Suffraeettes.
During the progress. of these epoch
making measures he has been exposed
to the most harassing and .disconcert-
ing of all ross-fires-the attack of
the suffragettes. From the day he
took the leadership of the government
Asquith has scarcely even had a
minute when he could feel safe. In
his own home, in the houses he has
visited, at the dinners he has attend
ed, in the streets of the capital where
he is more truly ruler than the king
himself, he has to be guarded day
and night from assault at the hands
of the militant women In Asquith
they recognize an implacable enemy
and vital obstacle to their objective.
II is to some extent due to this out
spoken refusal of compromise that
Mr.. Asquith owes the respect in which
he is undoubtedly held throughout
the United Kingdom. When he cut
the claws of the house of lords he
was denounced as traitor to his king
and country. When he supported
Lloyd Georges national insurance and
oId-age pension schemes he was
dubbed a socialist and a syndicalist.
let TCOuo9 IACiC 10 PlOD1DlS Az Aah
in English politics who possesses to
the same extent the confidence of the
people of this country. Conservatives
who can scarcely mention Lloyd !
George without expletives. look upon /
Asquith as sound" They think he is
unpatriotic in allowing va
rious of his ministers to continue in
office, but for the head of the Liberal
government himself they have frank
He has continued those |
high traditions Of personal honor and
courtesy so long associated with the |
leader of the house of commons. He |
has refused to knuckle under either to i
the Labor party or to the Irish party |
Just as he has opposed his own sup
porters on the question of giving