New-York tribune., 1921-10-30

GSner goes back, in his quest for
the primary reasons for Kitchener's in
ADEQUACY IN moments of grave national
peril, to phase OF his life a. a
Sehoolhoy. He tells us that the youth.
IN spite Of his scientific training ard
his genuine love for figures, revealed
q mtad with ragged edges, (which led
to tae confusion of mis- own ideas and
to chaos in much that he undertook ="
Wordsworth's dictum that the child ia
father OF the man seems to apply TO
Kitchener, whose abilities in the han
ding OF simple problems of strategy
and tactics were ample for all demands
and accidents; witness his superb efi-
clency in the stroke at the Mahdi.
Esher's prose in Illuminating this epi-
sode in Kitcbener's career is Of tn.
order of history at its coneise best
when he thought of war it was after
the manner Of Darius slow-moviur
hoFdes concentrating slowly upon their
ooJectives with fatal method. He took
no heed Of the lightning stroke of Ma
poleon. He revelied in the making Of
the desert railway, in the accumula
tioa Of vast stores, in the professions
! Of men, ordered like an Egyptian
frieze. The battles Of the Atbara and
Omdurnun we're episodes, inevitable
but tircsome"
The man who could meet successfully
/ the difficulties of war compressed into
small areas and who always had been
granted time to perfect plans OF com
ing operations in the field was ex-
pecsed IN 1914 TO be able to shift his
views and conceptions over to the huge
terrain of = war waged on lines al
most utterly foreign TO the knowledge
Of the British War Office And Kitch-
cner was no longer the alert, quick
minded soldier OF the days of Khar~
toum. There was in him a certain Brit
ish rigidity that prevented his bending
to reach out and take up suggestions
Of immediate value, chance hints and
shrewd guesses as to the probable
course the war would assume.
| Kitchener was in g trying position
at the outset The idol of the people,
d wave OF whose hand meant an I'M
pulse IN recruiting, he sat at g table
with men who were able and willing
TO question his motive and his judg-
ment. There was, too, the insidious
ribbon Of red tape, graz ually twining
him and hrs colleagues in coils of mill
tary precedent and procedure.
Kitchener often put finger on the
critical spot on the map, for instance,
certain battie-phases Of the French
front. But this chance stab at truth
vas blurred in effect by his blindness
IS to the need of guns and ammunition.
: TO marked degree the old school
dominated in London, while Paris,
sensing menace, had kept pace with the
development of the machinery Of war
on lines that travelled with those Of
Berlin. When the hour came for
coalescing the mental and mechanical
equipments of the two channel coun-
tries Britains adherence to a rapidly
fading page Of war history was fctter
sivc advance shoulder to shoulder.
There were British officers at the front
who had their eyes opened to the dan
ger of dilatory acceptance Of new con-
ditions and new provisions, but they
seldom got vivid word through to the
little group in control.
On November 6, 1915, Kitchener
lunched with Gallieni. 1t is signin-
cant. the fact that he was at this date
made acquainted for the first time
with French methods of repelling air
ettacks, then unknown in England.
Later, in the dingy room he occupied at
the top Of the British Embassy, he
stood witch his back to the fire while
letters from Sir John Cowans and Sir
Herbert Greedy were read to him.
There was an interval of silence. Then,
after mentioning the dislike felt for
him by his colleagues, he said;
"Asquith is my only friend" His eyes
were full of tears. 81 am an old man,
and cannot change my habits, 1t is
too late"
On the next page OF this book we
have the whole matter of Kitchener and
the war summarized in a paragraph:
"Hc was well aware that the mass Of
his countrymen, all the world over, be-
lieved in his disinterested patriotism
and strong-handed grasp OF the wars
essential meaning, and that they, with
the King at their head, trusted in his
leadership. The common people were
not concerned with the Fabian process
ses, the mediocre reasoning, the stolid
approach to obvious conclusions, which
irritated his colleagues. These un-
happy qualities destroyed the sdmira-
ton, The affection, almost the respect,
which the statesmen and politicians, who
were his closest colleagues and the
companions of his task, once had felt
for him.