The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-11-01
He Must Patch
 Things BetlUeen Italy And Britain
BY MILTON BRoNNER

(NEA Service Staff Correspondent)
 London, Nov. 1.-If the peace makers are blessed - and there is divine authority for saying 50 = then the sixteenth Earl of Perth will soon have his name enrolled in that glorious list.
 For his job is too smooth down the ruffled feeling of Benito Musso- lini, to get the Duce to let by-gones be by-gones, forget all about sanc- tions imposed by the League of Ma tions under the urging of England during the Ethiopian war, and agree to come to peaceful settlement of all outstanding questions between Britain and Italy.
 It is ticklish work because things between Italy and Britain got into a bad snarl. Mussolini was angered not only about the sanctions, but also because Britain led those who refused to acknowledge his conquest of Ethiopia.
 Then there was war-torn Spain in which Italy openly intervened on the side of the rebels. There was the bombing of the British ships from the air and from submarines, which many attributed to the Ital- ians. There was the Rome-Berlin axis, which openly aligned Italy against the great western democra. cies. There was the threat to Brit ish communications by ships through the Mediterranean. Yes, Lord Perth has plenty to keep him busy.
 Come From Old Family
 If Italy and England are about to become good friends again. Lord Perth will consider it his best life's work. His present title makes him unfamiliar to most men outside Britain. For years he was famous as Sir Sric Drummond. Born in 1876, a son of the 14th Earl of Perth. an an- cient Scotch family whose high titles date back 300 years, Drum mond was educated at Eton and then got a job in the Foreign Oflce in 1900. Twelve years later he got an amazing step up. For three years he was private secretary to Premier H H. Asquith. Then for four years he served in the same capacity to two Foreign SecretarieS-Lord Grey and Lord Balfour.
 When the latter came to Amer ica in 1917 on a mission to stir Americans to enthusiasm for the winning of the great war which they had joined. Drummond was at his elbow. He sat there also when the peace-makers made the famous Treaty of Versailles. The treaty set up the League of Nations. The statesmen decided that one of the most important things about the League would be the selection of the perfect Secretary General.
 Said Tiger" Clemenceau to suave Balfour:
 why not your quiet scots- man?"
 Big Jobs For Him
 So said, SO done. Drummond be- came the first Secretary General of the league and remained in that post until 1894 when he voluntarily resigned. He was not allowed to rest long. The British government con- sidered his knowledge too valuable to be wasted. He had listened to hundreds of speeches in the assem- bly, and council of the League of Nations. He had sat in hundreds of committees. He knew intimately most of the statesmen of Europe through this medium. So the gov- ernment promptly appointed him Ambassador to Rome.
 Sixty-two, tall, gray. well dressed, quiet in manner, shy in speech. Lord Perth has gotten on well with the Italians from the start. They re- alized here was a man who was on to all the diplomatic curves. He knew all the men who were playing the diplomatic game. Italy before the Ethiopian trouble was tradition ally England's friend. Lord Perth made 1t plain that his mission in life was to restore this amity.