The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-06-01
.BALFOUR'S RETURN
INTO POWER
Stock Of Available Timber Is Getting
Scarce and He May be
Made Prime
Minister.
ALWAYS IN POLITICS
Spent Most Of His Life Dodgins
| Mantraps and In That Way
Became 30
Wise.
ALWAYS IN POLITICS
[By Ed. L. Keen, London correspor

dent of the United Press.1
LONDON, May Although the
conservatives are making ready for
an early return to power-it might
come almost any time now If they
can successfully pull off snap d.
vision in the house Of commons-they
are by no means decided as to whom
they want for prime minister An
drew Bonar Law has been the party's
official leader since Arthur James
/ Balfour quit the job less than two
! years ago, and logically he should get
the plum, but even his best friends
! are not confident that he would make
an ideal premier.
| The trouble is that the present OF
| position has very small stock of
leadership timber capable of holding
4 the party together, hence it is quite
likely that Balfour will be found to
be the best available man when the
4 time comes. This suggestion is, of
course. exceedingly displeasing to the
/ forward section Of the party, head
u 6Q w I1dlcDulsfe NSnllii
/ berlain, and F. E. Smith, which was
responsible for separating Balfour
from the leadership in 1911; but as
it was the forwards" who SO badly
/ split ND the organization and caused
| its overwhelming defeat N the 1906
election. their influence is not expect
ed to be very potent in the selection
/ of tho new leader Furthermore, it
1 is said that Bonar Law himself would
not oppose his former chieftain's re.
4 turn to power.
Balfour is of type of politician I'M
! known in America. A member of sew
eral of the oldest and most blue
4 blooded families in England. he is SO
aristocratic that he can afford to
4 scorn titles-an even be slightly
4 democratic. He is of the old Tory
stamp. the kind that assumes, without
any sense of snobbishness, its right
to control just because 1t is of the
governing class
Born Go years ago Balfour has been
I, In politics, or statescraft, almost from
! the cradle. He entered parliament in
1854 and was appointed private secre-
! tary to his uncle, the late marquis of
Salisbury, then Lord Beaconfield's for
eign secretary. With such training
and backing it is not surprising that
he soon forced his way to the front,
and was entrusted with many deli
4 cate missions and important cabinet
posts, in all of which he displayed
marked ability. He succeeded his uncle
as premier in 1902, which post he held
until the conservatives were driven
from power by the liberals.
Yet despite his great diplomatic
and administrative qualities he is
4 known as man of indecision-h MS
| greatest fault AS one writer said OF
him recently: 'sBalfour shares with
the sphinx the dictinction of being
! the premier riddle of the plaret- a
riddle by the side of which George
! Bernard Shaw and G. K. Chesterton
become very obvious persons. For he
! is the incarnation of paradox. A lead
err without followers. A politician
l without politics. A philosopher with
out philosophy.
The last expression perhaps gives
the reason for his indecision. Bal.
four really ought to have stuck to
philosophy, at which he would have
made a greater name than as states
man But he turned aside from the
career to which his inclinations ran
not for the sake of money. for the
Cecils and Balfours have fortunes
large enough for many future genera
/ tions, nor for rank and fame, for Bal
I four could be earl, marquis or even
i duke tomorrow, and he has the entree
into the most exclusive circles In the
world. He simply became states
! man in obedience to the traditions OF
his family which say. IF we don't &C
and take charge of things what the
deuce will become OF the country"
/ In this spirit Balfour entered pub
lie life and his failures. due to indie
cision, have all been in politics, as
] distinct from statescraft He would