The New York herald., 1920-01-11
BY r. p. O'CONNOR.
Special Correspondence Of the Herald
Copyright, 1920. by the Philadelphia
Public Ledger Compdny.J
I,.,.
LONDON. December q.


Copyright, 1920, by The Philadelphia
Public Ledger Company.J
LONDON, December p.
when Mr.. Lloyd George went down 70
the Manchester Reform Club he had 10
face about as critical and unfriendly an
audience as ever it was his bad fortune
TO meet. The Manchester Liberals are a
very robust race, and they are especially
robust on the issue OF free trade against
protection. for their great cotton industry
depends entirely on that system of free
trade which permits them 70 get cheap
food from all parts of the world; and
through cheap food they are enabled to
give the lower wages that reduce their cost
of protection TO q level that enables them
to compete with All the world in the pro-
duction of cotton goods, though an unce
{ cotton cannot be grown within the bor-
ders Of the great county of Lancashire.
OF all the people who were present at this
critical lunch TO Mr. Lloyd George. there
was one above all others whom he wanted
to capture. If he caught him nobody else
really counted II he failed to catch him
then his mission 10 Manchester was
failure.
That man was c. p. Scott c. p. Scott is
one of the great and even decisive forces
in the public life OF England, though few
. men in such a great position are so little
known to the general p1blc Everybody
knows the Manchester Guardian, but few
people know c. p Scott, and yet c. p.
Scott is the Manchester Guardian in just
as real a sense as in my early days c. a.
Dana was the New York Sun. Many men
drift into journalism because they find ii
the readiest way of making living when
they are young and pennileSs and have not
the money to pay the big costs and to live
through the delay before business comes.
But Scott took UP journalism as the main
and only business OF his life almost from
his birth.
This was doubtless partly due to the fact
that cousin of hiswas the chief proprietor
of the great daily of Lancashire; but it
must also have been from sheer inclina-
ton, for he was we'll enough off to choose
another profession, and he had all the adj
vantages OF a university education at OK
ford. But as far back as 1872 he came to
the Manchester Guardian, and there ne
has remained ever since. rarely leaving
the city. rarely leaving his office. except
for comparatively brief interval when
he yielded to the temptation, TO an Eng
lishman, of becoming member of Parla-
ment- That was. a foolist and even n dis
astrous interruption In an otherwise per-
leVtiy tndElilOlllouS ana wei ordered llte.
AS great editor Scott began; as a great
editor he has lived; as a great editor he
will die
The Manchester Guardian is one of the
very best papers in England. Its leaders
are sober. well hlformed, written by uni
Nersity men with close touch on life;
above all. they are honest. They represent
a consistent, perhaps even a rigid school
Of doctrine; often they are in violent
a. n he nd ,i,,, ef,,,,
opinion OF the English people as a whole;
but they always remain consistent with n
body of doctrine which is adhered TO with
: the same rigidity as a system of theology
Often the Manchester Guardian has risked
its whole existence on standing by con-
victions which are repugnant 20 the whole
mass Of popular opinion. his was the
cas- mainly during the Boer War. when,
in spite at first of English defeats and
then Of English victories, the Guardian
stood by. the cause of the Beers.
4 great property bringing in a princely
income, IL was supposed 10 tremble IN the
balance between continuance and bank
ruptcy. But the Guardian went steadily
and boldly on its way and damned the
consequences. As matter of fact. I do
not believe that the commercial position
Of. the Guardian. ever confronted anything
ike serious danger, and for the good
reason that whatever might be its editorial
vagaries-as they appeared to "A country
iririamed with war passion-it always re-
nlained a great newspaper-a great pur-
veyor of news, that is to say Manchester
is Al business city, and every Manchester
business man knew that If he wanted to
GSet the fullest, the latest and the most
ireliable news with regard to business he
could find it only In the Guardian. He
raight swear AZ the leaders, but he had TO
read the story Of the Stock Exchange and