Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-03
Britons UnhonUred and Untitled

King George VS. New Year honor list
just promulgated in London, re-
calls the celebrated bull Of an Irish
NJ p referring to a session of Parlia-
ment during the grouse-hunting season
Mr.. Speaker" he exclaimed, "the House
fairly swarms with absentees!"
So does the latest list of knights bar
onets and peers created by his Bri-
tannic majesty. The unhonored person
ages far outstrip alike in number and
in eminenre the roster of those who
may here, tier prefix Sir to their
names or afiix Bart" after them.
The British public appears to be dis
appointed n particular that none OF
the twelve physicians who recently min
istered to The King in his grave illness
is elevated to the nobility. The honors
system in Britain provides for recogni-
ton of women's services. 1t was thought
that King Georges nurses would be
remembered in the New Year shower
They. too. are among the missing.
London dispatches single out George
Bernard Shaw. John Galsworthy ana
Rudyard Kipling as among those whose
names are conspicuously absent from
the honors list. Evidently it was also
expected that Sir Austen Chamberlain.
foreign secretary. might be raised to
the House of Lords, though British d.
plomacy in recent times-note the An
glo-French naval fiasco-has not been
noteworthy for acumen.
As a matter of fact, Britains on
countless notable occasions have de-
clined royal honors and titles Mr..
Gladstone might have been an earl. but
preferred to live and die commoner.
Joseph Chamberlain could easily have
aspired to peerage. David Lloyd
George. at the zenith of his power at
No. 10 Downing street at the end OF
the war, would not have sought in
vain any titular distinction within the
crowns gift There are innumerable
subjects of the King who prefer the
distinctiveness of untitled place in the
community on the ground that titles,
because Of their frequency, have be-
come cheapened in value. Canada by
law prohibits citizens Of. the Dominion
from accepting titles.
In the United States-as the Repub-
lie is about to observe-we bestow Gov
eminent jobs on more or less worthy
citizens as rewards for either party or
national service. "Honors" in London
take the place of patronage in Wash
ington. The are OF the same general
kidney
Some WORTH: denizen from our West
ern prairies becomes Mr.. Assistant Sec
rotary of Something -or-Other or Mr..
Commissioner This-or- That. His coun-
terpart in John Bulls islands becomes
Sir Arbuthnot Frothingshire, X. B. E.,
or words to that effect. They have each
arrived by the same route. In the
American case. a grateful President be-
slows thanks upon deserving political
worker. In the British case, sagacious
sovereign, acting on the advice Of an
even more vigilant prime minister, by
accolade gives some loyal subject new
handle to his name.
Even the humblest of them may hope
to climb the ladder which leads into
the upper crust. That is why We read
today that the newest peer of the realm
is Sir Jesse Boot, chain" drug store
proprietor He is honored for his serv-
ices in promoting education" Boots
chemists shops" dot the London land
scape in all directions Perhaps Lord
Boot has made the peerage for keeping
London a community where men are
men and drug stores are not restaurants.
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