The Washington times., 1914-04-29

george. When IL - oSei, 40
believe it will be. the real power OF
the old aristocratic order will pass
away forever"
The voice Of the little Welsh chan
cellor Of the British empire was low
and clear and his great gray eyes
seemed to be filled with a vision as
he spoke, in his white Elizabethian
country house at Criccieth. North
Wales, of his imminent great plan
to overthrow aristocracy and raise
the masses Of the people to new
power. prosperity, and security
through government regulation OF
land rents and lease rights, the con-
troll of which has been the bulwark
of the privileged classes Of Great
Britain.
A massive head, mantled with IONS
thick. well-brushed iron-gray hair'
a broad, deep forehead; large, Cam
eyes, set wide apart; a straisht
strong nose; plump cheeks hioins
the lines Of wide, powerful jaws: =
large, somewhat heavy, but gooo-
natured mouth, below a thick, snort
tnward-curving mustache. and a fuii'
wide, determined chin.
Is Intensely Human
tn. body is short and compact.
the shoulders wide and the CHEST
deep.
There Is something sinsularlS
frank and unaffected in the person
ality of this protagonist OF BRUSH
democracy, whose name at this mo-
ment Is the alternate hope ana rear
of the masses and the classes IN
Great Britain, and the supreme IN
spiratton of the social economic ana
political condition into which the
nation seems to be swiftly moving.
Mr.. George has a way of avoid
inp vour glance while he talks that
at first suggests defective eyesight
or eyasiveness, but when he mas
finished his thought and turned ms
gray Welsh eyes upon you tne ioon
is true and intimately direct, ana
can change instantly from stern
ness to gentle persuasion -,
Celtic humor and. like a true social
dranatist. thinks in picturesque
moral situations. giving you In
stantly practical illustrations TO
make his ideas clear.
Br1t1Sn BOIL Is III lflc mani O"hS1
by a few thousand privileged per
sons" he said. 1T Is used by mill
ions of industrious citizens-used
for tillage, for dwelling houses. for
merchandise for manufacture. FOR
transport, for every form of public
enterprise, need and necessity.
The tired chancellor-for he had
gone III and worn from London to
Criccieth, and thither I had follow
ed him-looked musingly out of the
window at the glorious Welsh land
scape.
Champion of Nationality.
Here were green fields filled with
sheep and frisking lambs, the
hedges painted with blooming gorse.
wonderful crooked lanes bordered
with white hawthorn. primroses. and
violets-their massive stone fences
shaggy with Ivy.
Beyond was the gray-salt expanse
Of Cardigan bay. with the crumblins
stone towers Of old Criccieth Castle
lifted romantically on the hill where
the wild son Of Llewellyn the Great
was imprisoned in the thirteenth
century. and the strong walls OF
Harleach Castle showing On the dis
hundred years before. David Lloyd
George became the peaceful cham
pion Of Welsh nationality, the men
of Harlech" defended their country
in vain against the English army un-
der the Earl Of Pembroke. six thou
sand being slain at the entrance
gates"
All around was a tumultuous scene
of mountain grandeur. with Sncwdon
towering $3.50 feet, and on the top
the cairn of the Welsh giant, Rhito
Gigas, slain there by King Arthur,
and a succession of bare hills.
sweeping away endlessly from the
sea to the YER frontier of England.
Everywhere. in the shepherd val
leys. the villages and towns.
strong, independent. simple Cymric-
Celtic people who speak the Welsh
tongue and never use English when
they can avoid It.
Earden-girt house. a fiower-sprtnkled.
bird-haunted lane. over which he
used to wander as a barefooted boy
between the grim little Baptist
chapel, with its small huddle OF
slate-covered gravestones. and the
tiny ivy-covered cottage IN which ne
lived with his shoemaker uncle. and
the stone bridge on which his
initials. cut by his childish hands.
are still to be seen.
Occupancy of the Soil.
"The laws that regulate the own
ership and occupancy of the soil
have been in the past framed by
those who owned IT," said Mr..
George.
.Hence the right OF the few to
possess the land without labor In
c.tabIished to perfection. The
right of the myriad to live upon II
through labor has not yet been &C
knowledGed.
.It In this right to which We are
.eekinE now to give statutory rec
nition."
This Is all of our conversation l
am permitted to quote at a CRITICAL
time in British affairs like this
Yet II is impossible to exaggerate
the far-reaching significance of the
deliberate and careful statement,
made while Mr.. George Is actually
engaged in fashioning a land plan
to create an actual statutory right
of the myriad to live upon it
through labor" that the rights of
land owners are to be radically lin
tied by tie social and economic ne
cessities of society.
Sitting at the heart of the acres
of massive. smoke-darkened build
ings in London, where the policies
of the British empire are struck out,
the little Welsh chancellor Of the eX-
cheuuer, perhaps the most astonish-
ing statesman that modern Europe