New-York tribune., 1922-08-15

cohouct of the Crimean War, out that
was trifie compared with what was
done in the World War. 1t was Lord
Northcliffe who made known the fatal
inlerior,ty of British shells, even
I1n:ougn they were supplied Dy Lord
Kitchener as War Secretary.
Because of that exposure, made
through Investigations by The
Ilmes's' war correspondent, Colonel
Repington. and because of it's supposed
rejection l,e.i upon Kitchener, copies of
The Times" and Mail" were publicly
burned in the streets of London. All
the same, David Lloyd George was
presently made Minister of Munitions,
and then began that marvellous activity
which placed England far ahead Of
Germany in the manufacture OF shells
and all munitions of war
1t was chiefly Northcliffe, too, who
compelled the retirement of Herbert H.
Asquith from the Premiership and the
substitution of Lloyd George. 1t was
he who did more than any other man
to rouse the British public to a full
realization of what the war meant and
OF the need of putting every ounce of
weight and strength into the prosecu-
ton of 1T. Then he accepted his first
public office and came to America as
the head of the British War Commits
sion, place in which he directed the
activities of 800 officials and 10000
assistants. When he returned to Eng-
land he was asked to become Min
lister of Aviation, a branch of the
service in which he was especially in
terested, but he declined it, believing
that he could do better service outside
of the Cabinet than within it. How
ever. he accepted the post of Director
n
for the remainder Of the war.
He attacked the government severely
for the failure of the Gallipoli cam
paign and for the disasters in Meso-
potamia. He was the chief protagonist
OF the campaign for conscription.
When Winston Churchill was made
Minister of Munitions Northcliffe bit
terly criticized the appointment, and
became hostile to Lloyd George for
making it, and in consequence the
Prime Minister made in a great speech
in the Commons the most savage at
tack upon Northcliffe and his papers
that had ever been made upon such a
man upon the floor of Parliament The
incident was vivid illustration of the
fact that Northclffe never hesitated to
criticize friend or to praise a foe if
he was convinced that the public inter
est demanded it.
At the time of the signing of the
arnlistice and end of hostilities in the
World War Lord Northcliffe was ser-
ously Ill with an affection of the thu
roid gland, for which he underwent an
operation in June, 1919. DESPITE hIs
illness, however. he was able to exert
much influence upon the British gov
ernmcnt during the Peace Conference
in Paris. Early in 1921 his health
was sufficiently restored to warrant
his making plans for trip around the
world. These were delayed for a time
by labor troubles in the printing trade
and also by another exacerbated con-
troversy with Mr.. Lloyd George Lord
Northciiffe made some reflections upon
the motives of Mr.. Lloyd George and
Lord Curzon in desiring to represent
Great Britain at the Washington Con-
ference on the Limitation of Armament
which the Prime Minister resented by
refusing thereafter to impart govern
ment news to the Northcliffe press.
Lord Northcliffe defed this boycott
and at the middle of July set out on
his travels.
His Tour Round the World
He reached New York on July 90 and
expressed much sympathetic and ap-
proving interest in the Washington
Conference. During his tour he sent
to The London Times" many letters
and dispatches on political and other
matters. He gave special attention to
Japan, India and Palestine, and in his
comments on affairs in those countries
was often unsparingly critical of the
policies of the present British govern
ment He suggested the pacifying of
India through recognition of the Sui
tan and the return of Asia Minor to
the Turks. In Palestine he discerned
the elements of serious trouble be-
tween rival nationalities. He reminded
the world that the war party in Japan
never fell asleep, and he regarded the
Far Eastern question as extremely
grave and worthy of the closest at
tention Of the United States, because
of .ts interests in the Philippines
Tie Washington Conference he es-
teemed one Of the most important
and effective international conclaves
of recent years. On his way home he
travelled through Germany without
his identity being known, and made
some interesting reports of his OBJ
servations.
His scathing comments on the Genoa
conference led Mr.. Lloyd George to
reply bitterly, with request to the
rest of the British press to appeal to
the British public not to believe any
thing about Genoa that might be pub
lished in one of Lord Northcliffe's
papers.
In May last the withdrawal of Lord
Northcliffe's papers from membership
in the Newspaper Proprietors Associa-
tion was announced and caused great
sensation. This action was taken be
cause Lord Northcliffe did not approve
the management of papers by men who
had made fortunes in other businesses
and knew nothing of newspaper work
and yet sought to dictate wages and
conditions of employment to those who
had been engaged in newspaper work
all their lives. A little later two of
the directors of the Associated News
papers, Ltd, brought suit against Lord
IIorthcliffe for libel.
On the very day on which these suits
were announced Lord Northcliffe suf
fered a complete nervous breakdown.
He was then in Switzerland, but was
brought home as quickly as possible.
He composed his differences with Mr.
Lloyd George, and the libel suits were
settled out of court. But instead of
rallying his health grew steadily worse,
the physicians expressing the opinicr
that he was suffering from some mys-
terious poisoning the nature of which