The sun., 1919-09-28
BY SHAW DESMOND.

BY SHAW DESMOND.
The pigmy giant who has swung the
millions of the empire, standing on
"the best platform in the world" was
acting once more, perhaps for the last
time, the role OF Man of Destiny. The
message which unlocked the strong
box of Government policy in Lloyd
Georges three hour speech at West
minister was not only a message to
England, but to the world-at once a
prophecy and warning. 1t was a
fiashlight on the British Empire. In
tensive. Illuminating.
You have to hand 1t to the little
man whether you love him or hate
him and most people do one thing, or
the other to personality that always
has inspired extremity of feeling. Here
was this diminutive, passionate Celt,
as full of fight as bantam, as per-
suasive as an Irishman. who alone
had inspired the millions of the Brit
ish peoples through shadow as
through sunshine, of whom Luden-
dorff has reluctantly written: HE held
mined to win; here he was sending out
pulsating sentences to his people and
to the world through the silver trum-
pet Of his voice: 81. the condition
of the nation Is grave :. we are
spending more, we are earning less,
we are consuming more, we are pro-
ducing less =: we have to. pay an
advance balance on trade of $500, 000,-
o00-we must bridge that chasm for
at the bottom of II Is ruin the
nightmare Of unemployment A.. we
are debtors to the West in the
United States the British sovereign is
worth only It's. 3D." And then, char
acteristic Of the man himself as of
that invincible pugnacity of the Eng
lishman who refuses to be beaten:
but that low exchange means some
thing like is per cent tariff against
import OF goods from the States,
which, added to freight. leaves no
profit for United States manufacture
we shall win through"
Again and again the red line" OF
America, which shows ever more clearly
through the national policies. ran across
the speech.
10 tic tongue OF inc
empire to-day, by Its greatest word
painter. First. the British Empire IL
living Off the hump, to coin a phrase;
secondly, 1t is inoculated with the after
the war inertia bacillus lastly, because
of its age old experience and pugnacity
it's going to make the fight of its life
to recover its old predominance. John
Bull. the old bruiser, is not down and
cut until Father Time has counted the
last unit of the ten over him. He is
blackened and bleeding, while Youth
eager. radiant, rushes in for the knock.
out. but he will fight as long as he can
think. And he is still thinking.
Great World Drama Is Unfolding.
The way that England has taken this
utterance, its warning as its prophecy
should be of more import to America
than anything else that at the moment
is happening on the planet j. great
world drama Is unfolding. in which some
of the principal actors have not yet
made their appearance. and the last act
of which no man can foresee. All that
the man of vision can feel is that the
gods are walking the earth. invisible
that "the hour Is big with fate"
How has England taken TT The utter.
ance had Its appeal to four sections
to Big Business" to Labor, to Ire
land E. I'D to one man, like
Lloyd George hin self man of destiny
Lord Northcliffe. who Is a section as a
law to himself.
Those great business men, those lead
ers of the herd whose Businesses are In
the Midlands and the black North and
who are really the silent manipulators
Of the Westminster marionettes who. like
the rest of the world to-day. must bow
to ruthless economic, are puzzled What
they feel about the speech is that Il
gives no lead. that the Government has
no concrete trade policy, and what they
feel about Lloyd George is that he is a
great orator, a splendid nfouthpiece for
into consciousness. but not a
business man. And here again the
American red line shows itself, for the
keenest disappointment Of the business