The Washington herald., 1916-06-18
SEEN AND HEARD
BY GEORGE MINER

and Mr.. Charles NJ Schwab had been acquaint-
anees for number of years and since the war
had become quite close friends. The master of
armies and the master of iron had high re-
! spect for each others abilities. 1t was with
| Lord Kitchener that Mr. Schwab made most of
his huge contracts for munitions, and in this
way they were thrown into close relationship.
The very first contract that the war lord and
/ the steel magnate made had curious history.
1t was shortly after the beginning OF the war,
when Mr. Schwab had gone to England for the
express purpose of selling A deal was
made for the Bethlehem Iron Company to sup
! ply the English army with a very large number
of field pieces The sum involved ran into the
millions. 1t was carried and perfected in
great secrecy. Nobody was present when the
matter was discussed and the papers drawn
UP and signed by Kitchener, Schwab and his
! lordshps private secretary. At that time, great
! stress was put upon the neutral attitude of
| the United States and the prohibition against
| supplying either side with war materials.
When the duplicate set of papers was drawn
up and signed, Mr.. Schwab put one copy in his
pocket and saw Lord Kitchener lock up the
other in his safe. The combination of this safe
was known only to Lord Kitchener. Then Mr..
| Schwab hurried to America to set the wheels
/ going He neither wrote nor cabled a woro
concerning the contract nor did he mention it
to any
! No sooner did he reach this country, how
ever, than he was summoned to Washington to
explain about the contract he had signed to fur
nlsh the English government with rapid fire
| guns in alleged violation OF the neutrality of the
| United States
The State Department had been anonymously
tipped off to the existence Of that contract Mr..
! Schwab knows that the leak did not come from
him and that saw those papers in his
pocket. Lord Kitchener very much upset
when he learned what had happened. For a
year he used every possible means to trace the
leak, but he was able to find it.
Probably nobody in the world has been more
spied upon since the war began than was Eng
/ lands master soldier He knew il, too, and it
worried him not little. That is one reason
why, as the war dragged along from months
| INTO years, he became more and more taciturn
and reserved. He knew that his every word
and action were being reported 10 his enemies.
For that reason, even his unmportant little jour
| neys were always shrouded in the deepest mys-
! terry.
have heard it stated on very good author
| Ity that to mislead those spying on him Lord
! Kitchener took leaf out OF Emperor Williams
book and frequently employed double who
would be posing in London while the real Lord
Kitchener was in France or Russia 1t is said
! that on one occasion the double occupied the
war office IN Downing street without the mem
bers OF the cabinet even suspecting the fraud
| But as rule, Of course, the imitation Lord
! Kitchener stayed in his lordshp's house or was
! travelling in the Country while he PLAYED the
! part. 1t will be remembered that Lord Kitch-
ener was occasionally reported to be suffering
from tonsltis and was confined to his room.
! These are alleged to be the occasions when the
genuine Kitchener was hundreds Of miles away
and, incidentally, enjoying excellent health By
this means the head of the English army was
enabled to make many visits to the front that
| the public knew nothing about
Lord Kitchener was very easy man for any
fairly good actor to initiate in both manner and
appearance. Thousands of Englishmen look
very much like him and could easilv be made IN
| to an exact resemblance Then, again, his reserve
and habitual silence made it all the easier for
the double to get away with the fraud There
was little danger of committing himself in con-
versation.
Although Kitchener was so stern and was
such rigid disciplinarian he had very courtly
manner in the presence of women He almost
]
when l thought he was actually trying to smile
| The last time I him he was at dinner
! party in a palace of house on Carleton Ter.
race He made a speech after the dinner and
talked about William Penn, Very much to my
surprise, it was good speech for seldom in.
| deed do you find soldier who can get Up on
his feet at dinner table and talk without max
lnga good deal of ass of himself
| Kitchener hated details. He couldn't be
! bothered with them. and insisted that interiors
should perform them without making single
| blunder, for most of all he hated inefficency
and timldlty. He a machine man and he
expected the little wheels to run just as reg
ularly as he did. He would not overlook stu.
pidity or blunders.
Once an inferior in reporting to him said
81 think that"
Don't think" said he: telegraph" 1t has
become byword among the Tommies since