The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-03-01

echoed widely over Italy, and wards the one man who could dangers and disasters to which it, bit by bit.
 enough pluck, in the judgment and control of his colleagues.
 The. danger Of departments faced him, as I said.
 He helped to unify them. He helped to reorganize the Admiralty. He kept an eye on industrial unrest-watched it through his regional commissioners. He summoned an Irish Convention. He anticipated the reorganization >of na- toinal service. The Ministry of La Dor was his idea.
 He was everywhere with energy, foresight. But courage in dealing with his colleagues. Had he and has he that sort of courage?
 Why did the Ministry of Labor con- f1ict with National Service? Why did and does the Foreign Office play by itself?"
 What does the Foreign Office do for propaganda in foreign parts? How does it combat the continually insidi- ous play of German influences that undermine the Allied armies in Rus sia, in Italy, and endeavor to under mine them in France?
 Apparently it spends a large sum of money and omplishes-what? Lit tie or nothing, for we see a German prompted disintegration in Russia and a German stimulated defection in Italy. Meanwhile, by way of contrast, an as- tonishing work of propaganda, under Lord Beaverbrook and Captain Lima, has been achieved by the Canadian ar my on an entirely supporting ba- sis! Here in Scotland we have seen magnificent photographs, skiIful1y dis played of the work of Canadians in the war.
 NIT. Lloyd Georges Weakness
 And similar displays, unequalled by anything organized by our own author ities that I have seen have, I believe, been presented in great cities of the 1 United States and France and other parts of the world.
 Our own achievements remain bur jed for the most part in departmental seclusion.
 But the Foreign Office is not the only department that continues to view a vast war departmentally and to think parochially about the world-catastro- phe. There are others. Why, for tn- stance, do Food Controllers and Food Economy Directors talk instead of act ing?
 We all know of the divergencies and delays that have occurred.
 What is the cause of them?
 I suggest that here we find the Prime Ministers weakness seems to be afraid of ruling; of insisting; of making departments yield to his con- tinual er-pressure. And also he seems to feat failures.
 Look at the War Cabinet. It is com posed of MT. Lloyd George-good; supported from, outside by MT. Bonar Law, man of many sorrows, resolute and fearless.
 There is IIr. Barnes in the War Cab
 inet. Also good. But what can one say
 of others?
 There is, of course, Lord Curzon,
 who has made himself ridiculous, and if possible, more unpopular than ever, , by sneering at the people in London : for towering in the cellars they have : not got. This and other of Lord Cur zon's unhappy expressions can only be : explained on the ground of the vanity of their author-not a title to public
 confidence.
 The contemplation of an appoint ment of this kind leads one to suppose that MT: Lloyd George feels himself bound to group all shades of opinion
 together by including party men ire
 spective of their qualifications. l That is, surely, a false principle. MT. Lloyd Georges unrival1ed posi- ton as the one man who can unify e comes from the fact that, although he : now represents all parties, he has nc j single or special following of his own He must, then call upon able mer 5 from every following, not upon failure:
 from every coterie. Ability and suc-
 cess are the tests for government-no1 e pompous self-importance. l fear that | the Prime Minister is too loyal to in u competent colleagues.
 If he gets rid of them he will bt attacked by them. That is obvious Il just as, we have seen him attacked be
 CeduSS 11S 1ldS SlOSdNOl SN NO 9NOP Ae-AA D ure in the field by securing better CO
 ordination on all fronts.
 This coordination, must empha |. size, is ardently desired by the French IL land the Italian governments And 1t i > desired, too, by the Washington Cab $ inet-on the admission of the Ameri y can correspondent of the Morning Pos U "a newspaper which has attacked th' s premier for his efforts to secure unit!
 of direction. As this croresponden
 ayers, American opinion regards the l. Allied War Council as necessity fol Il the successful prosecution of the war -- It has been said that he 'interferes.
 That being precisely his business, i e seems hard to reproach him for doins T. it, but the charge of interfering witl u the soldiers at least has no sound O.
 applicability here.
 Who has appointed the soldiers il
 this war? Who appointed the general y of Gallipoli? Lord Kitchener-a sol n dier himself. Who interfered with Lort
 Kitchener? Nobody. He was omnipo d tent.
 J. Military Failures # Who appointed and recalled soldier e after Lord Kitchener? The Arm! in London.