MASTERS OF THE PRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 293, 8 December 1923, Page 17

MASTERS OF THE PRESS.

LORD BEAVERBROOK. i HIS DYNAMIC FORCE. (Specially written by F. W. Doidge.) Lord Beaverbrook contemplates visiting Australia and New Zealand early next year. Of all the public men of the present day, it is doubtful if any has had a more romantic career than this young man, scarcely more than 40 years of age, who has already had three careers and succeeded magnificently in each of them. Lord Beaverbrook's father was a Presbyterian minister who went from Scotland to New Brunswick. As the family income was not a large one, young Max Aitkin started work as a clerk at the age of 14. Meteoric Rise to Fortune. He had scarcely left his teens behind him when he embarked on his career as a financier. His rise was meteoric. He built miles of tramway lines and several large water power plants. Ho became the foremost industrial force in the country, and for a time dominated the industrial world of Canada. Within a space of ten years he had made two fortunes and had he decided to devote his whole career to moneymaking it is conceivable that he would by this time have hecomo one of the richest men in the World. Max Aitkin, however, was made of finer 6tuff than that. A millionaire at the age of 30, he plunged into British politics. It is probably the life he loves best. He overthrew the Coalition Gov. ernment of 1916, and brchight Mr. Lloyd George into power. He realised one of the greatest joys of his career when his life-long, friend, Mr. Bona* Law, became Prime Minister in 1922, As Minister of Information during tho war he proved his great ability as an administrator. He has refused moro than one offer of a portfolio 6ince. Newspaper Successes. Not content with two careers, Lord Beaverbrook turned to a third. Tho "Daily Express" had had a thorny financial existence until Lord Beaver--rook entered into proprietorship. Dur. ing the first two years of his association with the paper he had to put hundreds of thousands of pounds into its coffers to keep it alive. Within % period of five years he turned it into a national journal with a million readers—and able to pay its own way. He established the "Sunday Express," and confounded the critics by proving that a half-million readers could ba fond for a clean Sunday newspaper. One_ reason why Lord Beaverbrook's growing power in Fleet Street should be welcomed is because he is not in tho newspaper business to make money. He emphasised this fact recently, when making an after-luncheon speech at tho Hotel Cecil. To the paper worker, tho newsvendor, and the general public, this is good news. Lord Beaverbrook is not in the newspaper business for what he can get out of it. The Beaverbrook Personality. So much for the career of this remarkable man. What of the man himself? It has been my privilege to know him intimately for a number of years. His published photographs always belie him, in that they give the impression of a man metallic hard. On the contrary, he is intensely human, and extraordinary soft-hearted. He has the figure of a boy, kept lithesome by constant exercise. And he has all a boy's love of fun. His eyes fairly sparkle with merriment, and he has the friendliest smile of any man I know. Here is a man who is frankly glad to be alive; who get 3an intense Joy out of work, and a full meed of pleasure out of play. And he radiates energy. After an hour in his company one "oes away with the feeling of having been completely revitalised. 1 think°he could galvanise a glacier into action if he tried. His personality is dynamic, his brain power enormous. He excels in the capacity of "think straight." He is a man who always wants fact 3. To offer him a half-truth is to seek annihilation. Would Galvanise a Glacier. Perhaps a little incident I can recall will serve to give an insight into the character of the man. Whatever he does, he does well.. He plays tennis like a demon, and he dances superbly. Last year, when the season was at its height, I arrived at Deauville. It was midnight—Deauville's dizziest and most delirious hour. I was shown up to Lord Beaverbrook. bedroom. The son of the Scottish minister was in bed, deep in a book. The book was entitled "The Life of Jesus." Knowing Lord Beaverbrook as I do, I would suggest to him that he adopt for his papers the motto: — For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do. For these are the sentiments which will always guide him in his association with Fleet Street. ~