IN THE PUBLIC EYE

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1922, Page 12

IN THE PUBLIC EYE

POINTS ABOUT NOTABLE PEOPLE.

In connection with the recent assassination of Dr. Rathenau in Berlin, some Paris papers hold that the way has thereby been made clear for Herr Stinnes to realise his object of restoring the German Monarch. Before the war. Stinnes's private wealth amounted to 35,000,000 marks—gold marks, of course. His for-, tune to-day is rather more difficult to estimate, because if is scattered over so many com^ani'i*! and in numerous countries. But financial circles, which follow his feverish activity with very considerable interest and attention, say that he .is now worth 140,000,000 marks—gold. He has therefore quadrupled his wealth during the war and since. In paper that fortune equals 7,000,000,000 marks, so that Hugo • Stinnes is a millionaire in paper marks 7000 times over. Asked recently why he worked night and day piling up millions, he replied: " It is for my children!" He has two sons and a daughter..

In becoming Senior Grand Warden in Freemasonry, the Prince of Wales is carrying on the tradition of our Royal House in connection with the craft; Since Frederick, Prince of Wales, was made a Mason in 1737 every Heir Apparent,, except two, f ai^d almost all princes of the blood have been Masons. King George was. one.of the exceptions, for, like his uncle, the Duke of Edinburgh, he felt that the continuous sea of travel of his younger days debarred him from active participation in Masonry. King Edward, on'the other hand, was an active Freemason, and the Dulse of Connaugllt is his successor as Grand Master of the Order,. while Prince Arthur of Cotinaught is a Past Grand Warden., .

Dr. John Shaw, who-has devoted.most of his professional career to cancer, research, and. for. many years has advocated the ,treatment of the disease without operation, is one who holds that the offer of prizes for the effective non-opera-tive treatment of cancer. within five years implies two fundamental fallacies: (l).that cancer.has hitherto not been curable without operation;- (2) that operation has been an . effective treatment. He recently stated: " I can present to the authorities of the hospital abundant proof that I-have cured.cases of cancer of the breast without operation. Let the surgeons. of, the „ cancer foundation make their diagnosis of operable cancer) but let the patient have the chance of-being treated without operation by myself, should she elect this alternative. I venture.tb believe that the time would not.be far distant when operations for cancer would- appear as anomalous as blood-letting to the practitioner of today." , ...

Sir William Roberston, who.Was chief of the Imperial General Staff for. half the period of the war, gives as the principal reason for writing his book, s'From Private to. Field-Marshal,'1 the' fact" that ' 'it describes the climbing of a soldier from the bottom to the top of the military ladder; and even in this feat there is. nothing remarkable beyond the fact that it happens, to be the first of its kind in the annals of the British Army;" Hez-e is the chronology of this remarkable promotion: Enlisted, 1877; lancecorporal, 1878; corporal, 1879; lancesergeant,: 1881; sergeant, 1882; troop-sergeant-major, , 1885 ( second lieutenant, 1888 j lieutenant,. 1891; captain, 1895; major, 1900; lieutenant-colonel, 1900; colonel, 1903; major-general, 1910;, lie-utenant-general, 1915; general, 1916; field-marshal, 1920.

Mr. Arthur Griffith, the Irish leader, is a Dublin man, and, uhlike most-Irish workers and thinkers, a completely urban man, curiously, unfamiliar ' with the country and with country people, He is by profession a-political journalist —by trade ..a compositor; and. recent events'may prove him a statesman.'Griffith is the' only one of the present-day Irish leaders whdse activities, go. back to Parnelland his era. As a very young man Griffith was in the. Parnell fight, but after that, fight had been lost. Griffith went to South Africa. . He .Worked in the mining fields around Johannesburg, and he was one of the few Outlanders who was for Paul Kruger.

Herbert George Wells, the novelist,: at the age of 56, finds himself in the. possession of the ear of the world more unquestionably than anyone. who ever lived before him. "Who is Wells's opposite liumber?" was asked of other nationals, but there was no response. No other publicist stands in his position. He has reached his world-platform without politics, without a press of his own, and. with no aid from. his. personality, for little is known of-him by. the publio except that he once served in a shop; that he took the B.£lc. of London University; that he is married, with several children; that his house is near Dunmow; that lie never speaks in public, and is very rarely interviewed. To tlie public Wells is his writings. lii these he' has shown a range of understanding and sympathy reaching from the humblest and most limited intelligence of our civilisation in "Kips" and "Mr. Polly1' to the complex type of the advanced scientist. No writer in dur time has hitd bo comprehensive a sweep. •; •

Herr EBerf, President of th«. Gerinau Republic, has introduced into Wilhelmstrasae a. new kind of official reception. It is the "beer-evening." ."Responding to tihe President's invitation to drink 'a glass of beer with him," the! report of one dignified Berlin newspaper says, "a. very .numerous company assembled!, at his residence." For beqr. has an honourable standing.in the Fatherland,.and it makes' its old! appeal to all classes flow that it has returned to its pre-war specific gravity. Most of the guests, by the Way, appearedl, so the . report says, in "the.cut." That is. Germany' 3 latest term for full evening dress. Am evening coat is generally called! ai "cutaway," which is fondly believed1 to b'e> the' English term, hut the ax-o- of philological economy has been applied to the word.

General Wu Pel Fu represents the1 old Chinese aristocracy, and has lilod&r'n, liberal views. He1 passed. his' literary examinations in the old - ChiiiesO style when he was twefity-on6; ah'di theft received, a • military education iii the Kai Ping Military Academy, whence lie was graduated! with honours. He took a leading part in. the attacks oh ' tlie military coalition of two 'years ago", when the Aiifu Club was "broken tip,' and its leaders were imprisoned. His military education appears to liave been quite practical, for he is a successful) lender." In 1931 he'attacked the Hunan rebels, and! drove them out of Hupoi back intn their 6\vii feritories. At Ichang lie 6utflariKed the -Szechiia-a forcc-s, which wei-o acting ind'ependeiitly of Dr. Sun Vat Sen, and crushed; them through a strategic ope'i-ation which-wes praised by American observers ns' tho finest ever employed by a modem Ch.in«se" general: It is -said that-this victory saved tlus' Bepubiic from disintegration.