MR. LLOYD GEORGE AT SEVENTY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 101, 23 January 1933, Page 8

MR. LLOYD GEORGE AT SEVENTY

At seventy years of age Mr. Lloyd George has publicly declared that he is done with leadership. To this announcement, however. h._ haV added a rider to which even his political opponents and his pu> critics will subscribe. “There never was greater need for bold leadership.” he says, “than there is to-day.” . P His has been a remarkable and brilliant careel. I ° completed over 40 vears of uninterrupted service in the House or Commons, representing the same constituency, and on no sing e r ° + has his seat been in jeopardy. That is an unrivalled ecor . - only that, but—unless it be Mr. Winston Churchill—no o her po iticia of his time has spent so large a proportion of his service in Min sterml office. It has been, said of him that he was, and probably still is, oi e of the best debaters in the House of Commons. At heart a radica., with a passion for destroying and rebuilding and a genius to coni' manding the attention of the multitude and swaying his audience., to his mood, he was in all essentials a demagogue. Many things were socially wrong with the world as he saw it. and he built his popularity with the multitude by decrying wealth and property as social sins. He was the originator and mainspring of the mischievous doctrine that wealth should be systematically raided Ur the benefit of socialised State services. The Victorians governor, themselves at a cost of about 5 per cent, of the total national income. Mr. Lloyd George set in motion political movements that have steadily forced up the cost of government to over 30 per cent. . In an admirable pen-picture, Mr.' Harold Laski points out that the Lloyd George of the post-War period was a different person from the Lloyd George of the Edwardian epoch. The latter, he says was a genuine radical, who saw in the remaking of English social life the key to its regeneration. The former was a demagogue intoxicated with power. “There was,” says Mr. Laski, “no limit of sacrifice he was not prepared to make in order to keep it Principles and friends wei e sacrificed effortlessly upon the altar of his ambition. He made promises as reckless as his subsequent betrayal of them. From these the British people have an image of him that has remained wholly unchanged.” . Withal, it must stand to his credit that he saved Englanc in t e darkest hours of the War. There can be no question about that Until the shell shortage gave him his opportunity, the Government s management of the War was diffident, halting, and.weak. The pub.ic confidence in its political leaders was beginning to waver and the was a growing feeling that things were going badly with the VI ar. As Minister of Munitions, and as Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd Geoige energised the war machine, and completely transformed the temper ol the nation. He was the big drum of the circus, and his slogans and dramatic decisions restored the ardour of the nation and revived t <. spirit of the troops. For this surpassing achievement much of the less.ci editable aspects of his career may be forgiven. That his latter end is that of a spent political force is due to the fact that men no longer feel that there is. as Mr.' Laski puts it, “a causal relation between his inner self and the principles he avows. Greatness without constancy of moral purpose and sincerity in the choice of means rarely,” he adds, attains to permament success.”

To-day’s news from the Far East is not reassuring; Japan’s action in establishing administrative offices at Shanhatkuan, in Chinese territory, and the general warning issued to China, shows plainly tna. she will not readily withdraw from her latest encroachment upon t le disputed territory. Diplomatic parleys are still in progress at Geneva, hut on the fundamental issue, Japan’s right to intervene in Manchuria. Tokio’s representatives refuse to concede anything. he piesen danger is that Japan’s provocative warning to China may inflame Chinese public opinion and increase the difficulty of controlling the situation pending agreement at Geneva, assuming that agreement is possible. * *

It is something gained toward a general easement of the world a financial difficulties that the United States has at last agreed to the request of Great Britain for a formal discussion of the British War debt. Contemporaneously there is also to be a discussion with British representatives specially appointed concerning world economic problems in which the two countries are mutually interested. The Presidentelect, Mr. Roosevelt, has made it clear 'that France and other debtor countries will not be precluded from submitting proposals for consideration, and this in spite of the French Chamber s recent iefus.il to pay the December instalment due, and notwithstanding the unfavourable reaction upon American public opinion as the result of France s default. The stalemate which threatened to paralyse the financial functions of the debtor countries would now appear to have been ended, for it is inconceivable that the impending discussions will be abortive. The War debt conversations are to be kept separate from those on economic questions, but it is clear from to-day’s reports that Mr. Roosevelt hopes to receive in return for any concessions that may be made with respect to the debts an understanding that his plans for trade agreements with the debtor countries will be considered in a similar spirit. For this distinctly favourable turn in the course of events the world has Great Britain to thank. She has made good hei bond, and to mark his appreciation of the fact Mr. Roosevelt has given her first place and the earliest possible date for arguing her case.