The Washington herald., 1917-03-25


tended by ministers and military and
naval advisers, who are summoned to
advise the members. Lord Derby and
Sir Edward Carson, the political chiefs
OF the army and navy. are not such fire.
quent visitors as Sir William Robert
son and Sir John Jellicoe, administrative
chiefs Of the fighting services. and 1t
should be said that Lloyd George has
been most careful to pledge himself not
to trespass into the sphere Of strategy.
He has before him the warning of Win
ston Churchilps dash to Antwerp and the
Dardanelles misadventure.
Is Big Improvement.
The advantages Of the new system Of
government are obvious and have already
manifested themselves in many ways.
Under the old regime the policy Of walt
and see" was paramount Difference Oh
opinion in the unwieldy group Of twenty
three cabinet ministers was always pres
ent, and SO precarious was the position
Of the coalition that Asquith was under
constant temptation, to which he general
ly yielded, to postpone important decis-
ions rather than override reluctant col
leagues and face the breakup in the gov
ernment that might follow their restgna-
tions. For since the tradition of English
politics bound every cabinet member to
support as his own a policy adopted by
the cabinet whatever his personal views,
conscientious minister overruled on a
point which he considered of vital i'm
portance had no choice but to resign.
And the. Asquith government was al
ways on the ragged edge Of disaster: It
included bitter personal enemies and men
of the widest divergence Of politics and
outlook, and Asquith, with most of his
colleagues, believed in his own ''indis-
pensability'' and hence considered himself
justified in temporizing to keep himself
in power. even with issues as vital for
the prosecution OF the war as conscrtp-
ton and munition output.
Decisions Prompt Now.
The present system Of control by Lloyd
George and four colleagues-one of whom
is usually not present another represents
a single class of the community, and the
other two have been much absent-does
away with the principal difficulty that
hampered Asquith. There is no longer
any difficulty in reaching prompt deci-
sions, no matter how important or rev.
olutionary they may be-
Another vital difference between Lloyd
George and Asquith is one Of viewpoint.
The late Premier's whole career showed
that he was a true democrat who inter
preted his functions as an expression OF
the will Of the people. He was accord
ingly most careful never to take any rad
ical step before being certain of popular
approval He delayed conscription until
certain Of general consent" a phrase
always on his lips. He believed 1t dan
gerous to attempt to coerce the people
into accepting decisions. the need for
which they could not understand, even
though the censorship made II impossible
that the general public should compre-
hend in 1915 the necessity, for instance to
Introduce conscription or give up the
war
Drives Rather Than Leads,
Lloyd George sees differently. In his
view. the people Of Britain are ready to
be driven. not led. SO long as they are
told the interests of the country are al
stake. He has said again and again that
Enslishmen will put up with any priva-
dons' any invasions of their ancient lib
critics, so long as the war is won. And
he is acting on that belief, so far with
complete success. The response of the
people to the appeals made to them indi-
cate that Lloyd George is right and As
quith was wrong, and that the British
are as capable and as willing as the
French to drink the dregs Of sacrifice.
They will be put to sterner tests this
year than any Britain has ever faced
The new Prenier's Job, assuming that
am right in believing that he is the
boss, and can carry his colleagues with
him IN anything he desires to do, Is
simply to win the war. The ADVANTAGES
he possesses over his predecessor are
great. But he is also faced BY certain
serious disadvantages which are inevi-
table under the form of government he
has set up and which are necessarily most
serious at the beginning Of a new regime
before there has been time to straighten
matters out.
How Old Plan Worked.
Until the constitutional revolution of
December. the principal function of the
cabinet was to coordinate the work of
the various great departments. The chiefs
Of the great offices of state met around
the table in Downing street and discuss
ed their differences with the prime min
lister, representing no department, to rec
oncile their disputes. Under the Asquitn
regime, the President of the Board of
Agriculture could put forward his case
for more men to till the land to prevent
a reduction in the food supply, and the
war minister could argue the need for
more soldiers. If the two men were un-
able to agree as to how many farmers
should be taken from the land for mill
tary service, their disinterested COL
leagues, and especially the prime min
lister, were there to listen to both and
then settle upon common policy which
both would be bound to carry out
But now neither the War Minister nor
the President of the Board of Agricul-
ture is q member Of the cabinet. And
recently Lord Derby and Mr.. Prothero
raped one another in public speeches be-
cause Of misunderstanding over 60, 900
recruits. which the agricultural authori-
tiles thought the army had promised t.
send back to their fields, but which, the
War office understood, had only been
lent" to the Board of Agriculture for a
certain time Prothero announced that
Derby's demand for these men filed him
with dismay; Derby publicly answered
that man who floats loan should not
complain when his loan Is called.
Must Prevent Friction.
This anecdote, which might be parallel
ed by many similar, illustrates the diff
Guilty that faces Lloyd George. He must
somehow prevent friction and reconcile
disputes between departments, although
the old cabinet machinery for smoothing
out differences has been scrapped.
1t L. obvious that II the departments
were to operate separately with no con-
Meeting link but Lloyd George and his
four colleagues much confusion would re-
suit because each department would not
know what was going on in the others,