Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-13
Future of England's Wizard
Continued From Third Pagel

the middle upper crust plus some farm
ers hopeful of protection Tor nome
grown produce. WIN Loro Heoi se' olie
never can tell. s
man of enormous and varleo
achievement. strange and hayward
genius, Lloyd George. He has oeen
great democrat-and a great dema-
Sogue No one would call him an al
TRUST, ready to serve mankind and ms
state without reward. He has no polnI
Of resemblance ~ those austere Ola
Roman statesmen who would come 10
the capital from their estate ana see
the republic through great crises. LABOR
untirinslv in the public cause and tnen
return quietly to their homes. neither
accepting nor expecting reward he
has been a professional politician:
man with q career to make ana q lot
tune to push: man with great mis-.
sion. too, but still always ana az al
times the professional. the laoorer
worthy of his hire.
Has Dazzling Qualities.
He has grown into a world figure by
the exercise of a dazzling combination
of qualities: fervent oratory, blatant
denagogy, shrewd business sense. adrolt
opportunism, lion hearted courage, cool
Judgment. uncanny intuition, pity for
the underdog, hatred of unjustified
privilege. enormous energy. an unrlValeo
fair for publicity and showmanship,
marvellous physical and mental resnl-
ence, biting wit. a superb dlgeston,
nimble and facile intelligence, bread
humanity. the wariness of the trained
nrhter who has scrap every day. and
eonlba tiveness of a Nepolcontc order
all these have marched in the van.
He has declined In prestige and poWer
steadily over the last eight years. Why?
The notorious fickleness Of the great
public the exigencies of the party sys-
TEN. which left him imprisoned among
the dwindling Liberals like lion in
mouse trap: weaknesses in his own
massive makeup
Look at him His upper structure
that powerful torso, that drum OF
chest that magnificent. leonine head
with its vigorous. wild name of white
hairs oddly sustained on short,
slightly knock kneed legs which operate
with a slightly undignified scurrying
movement. They hint. those desperate
legs, at something not quite sound ct
the core about this impressive spell
binder with the charming smile, mag
netic eyes and ruthless, driving, de-
vastating powers of work, who has
played so great part in the island
story.
He was born unpropitiously amid the
gloom and clamor of the northern cot
ton city of Manchester in the Winter
OF 1853. but before he was year old
his father. a small schoolm.ster, re-
turned to his native Wales Ind later
died leaving his widow with. !-year-old
David and no monev. Luck y. she had
a brother, the village sh~:maker of
Llanystunidwy, who took n mother
>~I 49,. o,l oooe+itutad biy,,kolf Toavi6'e
foster father.
This uncle never married. To the
task of educating his sisters child he
gave his time. his energy and all his
money. Lloyd George, prosperous.
famous. secure, living in solid comfort
on his pleasant country estate at Churt.
in Surrey. must have looked back many
times and seen in the smoke of mis-
fragrant cigar those remote and austere
DAYS when they ate fresh meat but
rarely and their greatest luxury was
half an egg each on Sunday morning
It was in this rough school of poverty
that the little Welshman acquired that
profound sympathy with the cottage
folk and the common people and above
all for the underdog in life. which
colors his oratory and which inspired
his main political acts up to the war.
He was the great radical and tower
OIL SCT6nRUIl 10 Tile
dominated England from 1906 until the
war.
Gained Loud Applause.
Down with the dukes!" he shouted
at Limehouse. The people applauded
rapturously. The capitalists and in
dustrialists, new political powers,
grinned. The dukes had lost the teeth
they had once known so we'll how to
use They were finished AS anything
but feudal ornaments anyway.
He iraugurated schemes which
changed the whole social life OF Britain.
He brought in the state systems of in
surance against old age. unemployment
and III health. He introduced the pro-
gressive tax scales which. intensified,
function today. He opened the great
road building era
He had learned how to master facts
and size up a situation in law practice
He was admitted as attorney when he
was 81. and inside four years had
achieved fame throughout Wales in
connection with a remarkable burial
case.
Religion is narrow and fervent in
Wales. Into young Lloyd Georges Of
fee one day came the relatives OF an
old quarryman of Llanfrothen. They
said they wanted to bury the old man
DPSluc IlIS NduSLlGCl ~ bAAS 'NA@NSS
churchyard. but the village parson re-
fused TO allow it because the corpse
was that Of a dissenter Break into
the churchyard and carry out the fu-
neral without his permission ADVISED
the fighting lawyer.
The relatives took his advice. The
parson sued them for trespass ana
damage Lloyd George defended them
In the county court, but was refused
verdict. He took his case to higher
court. and won. He celebrated his VIC
tory BY marrying, and about the same
time was chosen by the local LIBERAL
machine as the next parliamentary
candidate for the Cernarvon BoroughS.
Two years later he was in the BRUSH
Parliament and in that assembly ne mas
sat continuously since lo9U-!onger
than any other British politician living.
He and Winston Churchill were the
most virile figures in British politics
during the 10 years preceding the war.
I,loyd George was chancellor OF the eX-
cheouer for eight of those years and
busy bringing in peoples budgets
which steadily increased the scale OF
public expenditure on social services.
He could popularize anything.
Put Ideas Across.
State insurance sounded complicated
and those who benefited were required
to contribute some of their hard-earned
cash. Lloyd George invented a phrase
that got right into the hearts and heads
of the voting masses. The state was,
he said, giving them ninepence for
fourpence. Roars of applause from
everybody about to receive ninepence
for fourpence from a benevolent state
and chancellor.
He was not so successful With the
image of the pheasant and the mangel-
wurzel which he devised to put over
his Plea fer an agrarian reform. Here.
he said in effect. we're rapacious feudal
landlords breeding for sport pheasants
Lei, ato thu m q n cel- ullrzels qrnWn by