Evening star., 1941-05-18
Britain Turns to Beauerbr00k
Press Lord Given Dctatoral Power Over Production
BvR dL.No

TOR the second time, In an hour of
l. national tragedy, Britain has turned
for rescue to dynamic and ruthless
parsonage from the Western Hemisphere
the Right Hon. William Maxwell Att
ken, first Baron Beaverbrook.
When the German campaign in the
low countries year ago betrayed Eng
lands weakness in the skies, he was ap-
pointed Minister of Aircraft Production.
The resulting increase of output was
described four months later in the House
of Commons by Prime Minister Churchill
as so astounding and splendid" as to
look like magic"
That magic" now has been invoked
to remedy dearth of mechanical
equipment which was disclosed by British
reverses in North Africa and routs in
Yugoslavia and Greece. On May 2
Lord Beaverbrook was named Minister Of
State, an Office till then nonresident,
and one carrying dictatorial powers
over production of guns, tanks and war
materia; in general Thus, according to
London interpretations, he has become
in effect Deputy Prime Minister, second
in authority to Churchill alone.
Newsboy Who Made Good.
The temper, savage IN its realism, with
which the Minister of State approaches
his new job was indicated by an editorial
which appeared in his Daily Express
"a hours after the appointment was an
nounced. Bunk merchants are at it
again." snarled the Express Among
other fairy tales we read yesterday were:
l. The German Army is rotting in Hol-
land; 2. There is mutiny among U-boat
crews; g. Russia is going to fight Ger
many. On the contrary, we have been
licked in Norway, licked in France,
Belgium and Holland, licked in Libya
and licked in Greece. Believe nothing
good in this war until you see it and
until you earn It,"
Whether or not Lord Beaverbrooks
countrymen are guilty of further ex-
ample of the wishful thinking damned
by his newspaper, they are disposed to
draw hopeful signs from the fact that
he is the author of tactical handbook
on the subject, but his career has been
OF sort to stagger Horatio Alger himself.
Multimillionaire at 80.
The third of nine children of an i'm
poverished Canadian dominic, newsboy
at g. at 20 a penniless insurance agent,
millionaire five times over at 80, and
year afterward member of the British
Parliament; the hidden Warwick who
set Lloyd George on the road to Prime
Minister, and in the process annexed
a peerage; then the creator of modern
propaganda and Britain's No. / press
lord;s nexts a titan graphing with Air
Marshal Goering for empire of the
heavens; and, finally. economic autocrat
of tina United Kingdom--such, In brief,
has been the rise of EngIands miracle
man."
In print is his definition of success: "a
constitutional temperament bestowed by
the gods" Among other boons, some
falry endowed him with an aspect price
less to public man. A spindling body
and Gargantuan skull, face of India
rubber and broad mouth gaping with
goblin's grin-these are materials at
sight of which cartoonist leaps for
his pencil. Here is the Beaverbrook
whom the most famous member of his
staff, David Low of the Evening Stand
ard, delights to caricature as gnome or
insect and who unwittingly sat for the
burlesque Lord Copper in Scoop" Evelyn
Waugh's satire on Fleet street.
Known for Eccentricity.
Partly because of his own impish
humor, and partly as coloration protect
ing colonial from insuIar snobs, Lord
Beaverbrook has taken advantage of his
brownie-like appearance to rear a fame
for eccentricity that is outstanding
among people rich in odd characters.
Tales of his f1ibbertigibbet pranks are
legion. Many involve his country place,
Cherkley, in Surrey, which is renowned
as the ugliest mansion in England
On its lawn, before the blackout,
glowed a lighted cross, not to mark a
grave, but to remind the owner he is
Presbyterian. Thither he used to invite
the staff of his London Daily Express
to sing hymns with the boss. There one