The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-04-22
By JOHN $. STEELE

| nineteenth centuries could reNlSlt the
 scenes of their gaieties In life they would probably be so astonished and 1 perturbed that they would return glad ly to wherever their spirits have been | spending the years since they left the ! earth They would find clerks instead of dancers in their bathrooms and | typewriters instead of. pianos in the boudoirs of their duchesses. Their own private apartments are occupied by persons whose pedigree no one knows.
 Tn one case at least the dukes library | is now the private office of man who l began life as a steel smelter and who
 is now minister of labor in Britain's
 war government.
 REAL WHITE ELEPHANTS It would be unkind to say that the dukes are getting rid of white ele- phants, for they have gladly placed 1 their magnificent London palaces at the disposal of the government, but | this is in fact what has happened. It is unlikely that the duca1 mansions
 now taken over for government de- partments will ever be ducal man. sions again. The dukes do not want l them, and in fact for good many years past they have been wondering l what to do with them. The days have | gone when a duke was necessarily a | great figure in politics as well as in 1 society, and felt it his duty to keep up state only little less than that | of the King. The modern duke is quiet. retiring person as a rule, who | takes only a mild interest in poli- l tics when the course of legislation l threatens to shear him of some of his remaining privileges, and he has | no use for magnificent town house. As a rule he lives at his country seat and when he motors up to town to at 1 tend meeting of the House of Lords ! or to spend a few days enjoying the gaieties of the London season he is quite content to put up at one of the many excellent hotels which have ! sprung up in London since the devel- 1 opment of easy travel, and particu- larly of the motor car. making London easy to get into and get out of at
 short notice. In these circumstances the ducal palaces had become real White elephants. Even if they were only used for few weeks or a few days every year they required staff | Of servants to keep them in order Repairs and taxes continued just the same as if they were in regular use and all the thousand and one expenses connected with great house had to be provided for
 
 WAR SOLVED PROBLEM Now the war has come along and solved the problem. The government wanted room to house it's rapidly growing departments, and these great houses, most of them situated in the very heart of the governmental dis trict, and thus in easy touch with all the other government offices, offered the obvious solution. They required a q a +0 oda fr,. thelr new purpose and they were taken over. More are likely to shara tnelr late and before the war is over there will be hardly a duke, or, for
 that matter an earl, with roof of his own over his head in London.
 THE MONTAGU HOUSE
 One of the most interesting of the great houses Which has been taken over by the government IS Montagu house, the Lon don residence of the Duke of Buccleuch It is situated in Whitehall, just under the wall of Scotland Yard, the famous Lon
 don police headquarters, and It's extensive gardens run down to the Thames enl- bankment. A stones throw away are l the houses of Parliament and Westmin- l ster abbey. This has been made the of- | fices of the new ministry of labor. and John Hodge, the new minister, who began life in a steel smelting works, sits in the
 dukes library and runs his department 1 from it. Today the house is a medley of | old masters, telephones, fine furniture and typewriters. Sixteen year-old messenger | girls dart about the stately corridors
 where once the duchess errands were carried out by pompous footmen and smart maids and the great ballroom is filled with little desks at each of which
 sits a girl typing away for dear life. IRONY OF FATE
 ic Montagu house, for it has long been quoted by the anti-ducal demagogues as | the typical example of ducal selflshness The modern house stands on the site of what was once a part of the old Palace I of Whitehall and the Dukes of Buccleuch not only secured a long lease #of the ground from the crown, but until 1884 managed to escape paying poor rates on I it, on the plea that it was part of royal palace. The palace was originally the residence of the Archbishops of York, but
 on the fall of Cardinal Wolsey in 1529 1t came into the possession of Henry VIII
 and since then it has been royal property. In fact, until the house was demolished 1 by a fire in 1898. it was the chief royal residence in London In 1731 John, second I Duke of Montagu, secured q lease of the ground and built a great house on the 1 site. This dukes granddaughter married I the Duke of Buccleuch and so the house passed into the hands of the Buccleueh family In 1858 the then Duke of Buc- 1 cleuch being dissatisfied with the old house, and having secured fresh lease
 of the ground for 99 years. began the erection of the present house, which is in 1 the French renaissance style.
 WOULD SAVE GARDENS
 i At that time the gardens of Montagu house ran down to the Thames and were separated from it only by low wall in ! which there was a water gate. The ducal 1 barge was always kept fin waiting there, l for even 9n those days the Thames was still used as an artery of travel. When l 1t was proposed in 1862 to construct the Buccleuch was one of the bitterest oppo- jnents of this proposal. He declared tlrat l it would destroy his garden and he fought the project tooth and nail in the House Of Lords. Finally the House of Commons threw ont the bill specially introduced to protect him. but he secured $23 GOO compensation for the injury to the ameni- ties of his residence. In 1911 he again made great fight against the acquisi-
 ton by the government of land for the erection of what are now the board of
 trade offices. the patent office and the records office on the ground that these buildings would overlook his garden and destroy his privacy. Democracy had pro- gressed. however, in 50 years and he | never had chance of succeeding in this effort at obstruction. The buildings were erected and he received on compensation