Evening star., 1932-08-07

1000 controller-had to go to Salter for
them. He allocated vessels. The German
submarines complicated things for him,
TorpedoeS exploded against the side
plates OF his precious ships. One after
the other, shattered hulks sank into the
depths OF the sea. The states allied with
England got into desperate Jam. They
were short OF food, munitions, war sup
plies, all OF which had to be carried over
the Seaways. The pressure of events
forced a merger of interests, and Salter'S
department expanded into the allied
maritime transport executive, with the
ferryboat owners son at its head
He had now outgrown his national
orientation and was working on an in
ternational scale, balancing the con-
hlctlng demands of Britain, France,
Italy, Rumania, Serbia, Australia, Can
ada, South Africa, India and a few other
nations. He had to decide the relative
Importance OF calls for urgent supplies
in bulk from a hundred different quar-
ters. In Whitehall he had the whole
planet reduced to the compass of his
map -plastered office. In that quiet room
he controlled vast fleet plying all the
OO~~~
tail in his head and could tell you where
any ship was at any time of the day or
night, putting his finger on the exact
spot on map stuck all over with little
flags. The evolution of Arthur Salter,
man OF international mind and action,
solver of complex international economic
problems, author of Recovery: The Sec
ond Effort was under way.
Back from a mission to America, he
was put in charge of British interests on
the Supreme Economic Council, and it
was from that body that he moved on
to take up the post on the newly created
League Of Nations which was to make
him virtual exile in Geneva for the
next 10 years.
If you see him as a dry-as-dust ex-
pert, dismiss the mirage. He long ago
recognized that the manipulation of men
is as important as the handling of
matter.
Once he was presiding over a par
ticularly difficult committee, represent
ativeS of a dozen different nationalitieS,
each one concentrating upon holding his
national interests to the death. All day
they sat and argued, until the inter-
prefers were nearly dropping and the
delegates were nearly dead. Salter re-
mained curiouSly inactive. The dele
gates reaSSembled after dinner. Salter
continued to regard them benevolentIy.
Late at night, however, he rose and
quietly went from man to man. He
argued for few minutes with the two
men whom he saw held the key to the
situation, the men whose profound diff
terenceS looked like inSuring a deadlock
To the aStoniShment of the weary, the
two old enemies agreed upon a compro-
mise. Their will power had been snapped
away. A draft report was got out. All
signed. 1t was another triumph la
Salter
ON another occasion committee was
losing itself in a fog of talk and
Salter had his reasons for wanting to
adjourn and talk in private with key
man. The representative of an impor-
tant state had been on his feet for IS
minutes, talking ambiguouSly. When he
sat down the representative of a rival
state asked: What does he say?" Up
got the interpreter and caught Salter'S
eye. "The honorable gentleman was say
ing that if we do not adjourn now we
shall be too late for lunch" Salter led
the way out
He is decisive in his talk, wonderfully
lucid in exposition, a good lecturer and
the possessor of radio voice and per-
sonality as sharply defined and attrac-
tive as Bernard Shaw'S Few of those
who hear him on these occasions or have