Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-25
BY C. PATRICK THOMPSON.

TIER Gaining UlIl Tic llidh AlOiil
~ the Prudential" for two dec
"A AIDES. England has now christ
4 \ ened him the economy king
this tall, 1.-THE man of facts and
figures active despite his graynesS and
80 years; trim, monocled, with COM
manding nose and thin, long mouth
buttressed on an outthrust chin, a
charming manner masking a brain
which works in the realm of business.
economics and finance with the chill
precision Of well tempered lathe tool
cutting steel.
He is an insurance and investment
expert
During the war he modified Ameri-
can dollar securities in Britain to pro-
tect the sterling Observation-Disclosures OF
millions of dollars worth of securities.
He was put in charge of the British
Army and Navy Canteen Boards, with
the rank Of deputy quartermaSter, In
the Summer Of 1917 to get that gigantic
gtate-run business out of a colossal
mess The war was over, and he was
q knight before he was through with
one of the toughest tangles an account
ant was ever confronted with
Recognized as one of the brightest
financial geniuses in England, he was
repeatedly called in by the government
and the big bankers to tackle some
knotty problem which defeated the or
binary run of men available. He was
created baronet and he wore himself
out using the steel tool Of his brain on
gnarled ore.
And yet, until he gave his name to
che famous report which. for the first
time, told England that she was headed
Tor a budget deficit Of 5000, 000, 900 (the
critics, agitating for the overthrow Of
the Labor Socialist ministry on the
ground Of extravaganza, never in their
inf q
90 900 900 f1gure) and recommended
steps to meet the deficit, he was little
known outside of insurance and init
mate big business circles, and not one
man in a thousand would have recog-
niZed him in the street.
Name Was Unknown.
Even large and knowedgeable persons
whose activities did not overlap into
the aforesaid circles would blink when
his name was mentioned and reflect
and say vaguely: May? George May?
All, yes, that's the man from the Pru-
Dental. of course"
That was how the newspapers knew
him when he abruptly broke out as
front page news days after the preSen-
tation of his report Frantic editors,
hunting for personal data, discovered
that he had always refused to see re-
porterS, that he was unapproachable
on moated estate and that he had
kept so strictly to his small but alb
normally powerful world. except for
one wartime phase. nothing had been
written about him before.
The wartime phase was when he was
called upon to save the British govern
ment in critical period when enormous
payments had to be made In the United
States for purchases of war material.
That was good story-how the
chancellor of the excheQuer, Reginald
McKenna, the Liberal politician who is
now head OF the Midland. one of the
big five banks Of Britain, came to May
and said he wanted $50,00O,0O0 Pit once
to meet commitments across the At
1antic and May said: Certainly. Here
you are"
The newspaper version was not quite
accurate. but 1t was dramatic; and
about the only material in newspaper
morgueS when, Is years later. May was
suddenly hot news again in national
eense-thiS elusive, mysterious, unspec-
tacular, but potent man.
I mention these things because it
gives the keynote OF Sir George May
both as a man and as a behind-the-
scenes power In England. and because
II uluminates an interesting and vital
cart Of British psychology. both in nor
NAL times and times of crisis. Pub
hc1ty does not play a fraction of the
part In British business that 1t plays
IN that Of America. Nine-tenths Of the
men who count in British economic and
financial life are not even names to the
British public.
Fail to Get Interview.
For one thing, British newspapers
have only recently discovered anything
romantic about business life and enter
pr1se-the Prince of Wales has done
aatk 80. nlynx, g
1maginations; and for another thing,
the big men won't be seen Secretive-
ness Is as much Of a cult among them
Is 1t was among the same set in old
Pierpont Morgan's day
Every newspaper in England sent men
TO get" Sir George May after his re-
port had made national history and the
front pages Of the worlds press. No
body got" him. The sleuths failed to
bring back even a new photograph.
He Is an actuary-in the sense that
President Hoover is a mining engineer.
There is more to that human building
than its base. An actuary has to be
brilliant mathematician and also a
practical man. In England you have to
pass four examinations before YOU be-
come full blown actuary and a fellow
Of the Institute of ActuarieS. 1t takes
about 10 years to get through the lot
and more fail than pass. II is the stiff
est Of all professional tests
George May took these four obstacles
like champion hurdler. Examinations
hold no terror for him. He was 40 when
he thought 1t would be a good thing if
he strengthened his capacity for deal
ing with the real estate and property
SIDE OF the investment departmental
which he was then the presiding genius
by qualifying as surveyor That eX-
animation is pretty stiff, too. and the
course takes about four years. Nav
however. was eating up the preliui-
naries, and would have qualified but
Tor sudden failure Of his eyesight tof
this, more later
But all this does not explain the Nav
phenomenon completely. either in rrla-
ton TO his rise. his unique relations
With the financial and business mag
mates or in connection with his laborS
for the British government From the
hrst he had something more than
technical abilities: an impressive pres
ence, great force Of character, an I'M
c2nny Judgment which at times amounts
almost 70 intuition.
Resembles Great Lawyer.
In his capacity for mastering facts
and rapidly sizing up a situation he
resembles a great lawyer. He also has
. brain that works more than a trifle
GaSter than most other mems.
Where other men with the same tech
nical qualifications work laboriously
and INTELLECTUALLY. May makes a Jump
and gets there while the rest are still
working and thinking. He viii sit on
committee with his chin on his chest
slumped, apparently asleep. All around
tim argument wakes and wanes, With
Oul Ale I4AMMe 10 pay any heed. At
hast the chairman says: Let US hear
what Sir George has to say. What IS
woS1r opinion May2'
The tall, hSSOn figure straightens