Evening star., 1932-01-03
Continued From First Page.)

wiry frame and steely mind seemet
tireless. His earliest speeches gave {
tremendous sense of grip and evoked
even the praise of the chief OF tht
Tory opposition, Balfour.
Often he would be up at In tht
morning, working on his briefs; ther
off for a busy day in the law courts
after which he would go down to tbs
House Of Commons and work there 1ol
eight or nine hours, advising his col
leagues about technicalities Of the Law
in regard to various bills and making
explanatory or fighting speeches in tn,
House. He had no home life over al
this period. His wife died after the!
had been together only three years
Golf, motoring, hunting, law and poll
ticS-there was his life.
Thus tolling and concentrated, hi!
elevation was very rapid. Four year'
after he entered Parliament he wa
made solicitor general, and two year!
later Asquith promoted him to attorne!
general, with a seat in the cabinet
Then came the war. AS pacifistS LloyC
George and Simon were rather expected
to resign. But they managed to recon
cile their principles and stay on, anC
in the cabinet reshuffle in 1915, {
prelude to the Lloyd Georgian coalition
Simon had to be looked after.
At that time he could have had tn
most glittering prize within the reacl
Of a political lawyer-he could hav,
taken peerage and the lord chancel
lorship. But he chose TO plank tina
office on the unwilling shoulders Of (
judge, refuse a peerage and take OF
the home secretaryship, the mos
thankless job in the cabinet.
Why this apparent self-sacrifice'
Well, he is a wary and far seeing man
who never loses his sense of proportion
and of judgment A peerage woult
have taken him forever out of tn,
arena of the House of Commons anC
sidetracked him in the upper chamber
and although as lord chancellor, heaC
Of the bench and bar Of England, hi
salary would be $4,000 (Which salar.
would last just as long as the govern
ment lasted, with life pension o
$4,000, after occupying that exaltet
post he would not be allowed to return
to ordinary practice at the bar.
And he then was only AZ, ambitious
with higher Office in prospect, proved
professional earning capacity of 5000,
900 year and 30 years OF active lif,
before him.
Condemned for Stand.
But q man like Simon, Noncon
formist, humanitarian, an intellectual
without rude natural force, hostile tt
conscription and to all those arbitrar!
methods which the bigger, rougher mer
Jumped together and called "the more
effective waging OF war" could not bt
comfortable for long in q cabinet o.
the Warlike
Then came time when Kitchener
Asquith and Lloyd George were all con
vinced of the necessity for conscrip.
ton. Simon at last had to declare fol
or against and he went into opposition
Nor was it passive opposition. On thu
contrary, he was active and virulent
and if he had been man of bigger
personality he might have managed tt
unite under his leadership all the de.
featist elements in Britain and spill
the country.
However, at that time England wa!
in just such another patriotic fervor a!
at the last election, which confoundec
Lloyd George and Henderson ant
swung the Baldwin Macdonald Simon
Samuel coalition into power. Simon
could do nothing effective, and as soor
as his constituents had the chance the!
deprived him of his seat in Parliament.
Even in that phase he retained hi
real friendships, including his friend
ship with the greatest jingo and mill
tarist Of them all, winston Churchill.
One would have expected Simon tt
keep quietly out of the way and thu
war. However, while protesting tina
a man of his age and training coulc
not be of much use to the military
nh Aa ntt hi ealE
ants commission, donned uniform anC
went out to general headquarters.
After being with the quartermastel
generals section for few days he wa!
transferred to the Royal Air Force. HI
did some advising on the bombing o.
German towns from the viewpoint O
international law, but whether that ad-
vice had any effect whatsoever on the
determination of the air chiefs eithel
to bomb or not to bomb is problemati
cal. He also took advantage of hi.
proximity to Paris to run down there
and marry charming widow and takt
a week or SO off for their honeymoon.
Returns to Practice.
Further, while still holding his maj.
esty's commission, he appeared in hi;
professional capacity in the law courts
back in London-which caused the acic
question to be asked, what would hap
pen to a private or even an ordinary
officer who was a barriSter in civil life
and attempted to follow this interest
ing precedent?
In short, in the army he still re.
manned the privileged politician, ano
his enemies did not allow him to for
get it.
After SO days he doffed his uniform
and returned to his practice. rumor
spread around a wrathful army that he
had been granted the distinguished
service medal, but a newspaper denial
was at once published. 1t was, stated
the corrected report, only the o. B. E.,
an order for noncombatantS.
HE did more useful service, from the
viewpoint of damaging the enemy, in
one memorable day in the Central
Criminal Court in the Fall of 1917.
A young British officer, named NAL
coin, had left the trenches on getting
news that Russian civilian was either
trying to seduce his wife or had in fact
done so. The officer went around to
the Russians rooms. A shot was heard
ana the Russian was found with bull
let through his heart.
1t looked clear case, and the public
prosecutor treated it as such. There
was sympathy with the officer, but what
could be done? In England there are
no degrees of murder, and there Is no
appeal to the so-called unWritten law