The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-05-27
Barometer of Public Opinion
"Thc Real Kitchener" Not Man OF Ice
and Iron.

"A legendary figure cold and silent was
Englands famous X. Of X" during his me-
time and the tragic mysterious way IN wH,ru 49,
ne went to his death added TO the Iesendary
quality OF tho fame that he gained throughou
his NE. Contemporary rumor ana GOSSIP
aided by his own curious aloofness, as one re-
cent biographer puts ~, made OF him for l2ns
time "a man Of mystery and romance lis
long absences from England in strange cor
ners OF tho earth where he spent most OF his
life in Egypt Palestine, South Africa. ana IN
ala were not without their effect on the public
mind II may he significant that he was so
frequently cartooned as huge expressiohIees'
granite sphinx
writos "A commentator in the London Daily
Chronicle an official life Of kitcher lust pub
lished in England shows "a very different Zig
ure." The work is by Sir George Arthur' IN
three large volumes In the course OF this au.
thoritatve biography, we sit with the man or
iron In hs tent deser, weld aud in his
r~orr nt the office. and We find him man
Of flesh and feeling who had his dark DARK hours
and his moments Of anxiety, his little senu-
ments, and his big friendships The London
reviewer continues;
Three volumes may seem TO set the reader
read every word would not have the less.
To the picture Of the real as opposed TO
khe legendary Kitchener Lord Salisbury con
tributes some good strokes in an admirable
preface After writing of this stern soldier
who shed tears upon the spot where Cor
don rad fallen he man who would upon some
excuse Of pretended business spend hours
In order to do an old friend kindness,
the man who was surrounded by staff who
'"orshppcd him" he touches his simplicity
his deep sentiment and his natural patriotism.
and continues:
But the moral fineness of Lord Kitchener's
character showed itself on another side in
noteworthy cleanliness Of mind None will for
get the words In his address in 1914 TO the
troops urging them to treat all women with
perfect courtesy This was matter OF no sur
prise to those who know his attitude toward
women-a chvalry Of mind belonging TO a by
gone age, which placed them on pedestal
II recall at play in London his resentment a q
some note of coarse disrespect whore he con
sidered there should only he reverence"
The reviewer notes that In 1874. AZ the height
ot the persecution Of rituasts Kitchener
Joined the English Church union, the extreme
high church body, and in 1875 after his first
cid OF the Holy Standard of which he re
NAMED member to the end of his life
And so. with a big Jump, to the recent war,
back to Egypt, and called to the war office.
The German menace had long been present in
his mind As tho biography relates;
An insignificant entry in pocket-diary
records Kitchener's engagement to lucheon at
the German embassy on July 81. From some
rather sad words dropped by the amhassad dor
Kitchener then and there was persuaded of the
imminehce OF the European war. He ad-
rsed that friends who were in Germany
should return Immediately You can use
my name when you telegraph This sea
sonable hint served to bring home many
English travellers who would otherwise have
been forciby detained
We learn now that when the expeditionarv
force first went across Kitchener all for
a concentration at Amiens, the original plan,
m enforced British retreat A conference took
place in his room on August . are told.
He listened carefully TO the views OK
pounded by the French and British staffs and
then repled that he had understood and &C.
"eptod that the concentration OF troops was to
he at Amiens. lie protested strongly against
\ concentration SO far forward as Maubeugc
Nothing he urged could be worse for tho
morale OF our troops than that the result Of
their first meeting for over so years with a
European enemy should he compulsory re-
trement which he regarded tho too likely
sequel TO detraiuinE so far forward
But ne was overruled. The British army
went 10 Mons and on that fair Sunday morn.
ing exchanged it's first shots with Germany on
the banks Of the canal and thereafter fell back
over ground that has become a part of Rrit-
lSh sentiment and history.