WAR'S LEADERS

Manawatu Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 2753, 20 September 1923, Page 8

WAR'S LEADERS

IN HUMBLE POSTS. 10,000,000 CRIPPLED MEN. FORMER RULERS IN STRANGE PLACES. A little over nine years ago the storm of the world war broke upon Europe. In" France, Belgium, Germany and Russia crowded troop trains long- lines of infantry, batteries of artillery, and creaking- supply trains were pouring towards threatened frontiers. On August 4th Germany invaded France at Cirey; Russians crossed the German frontier. To-day 10,001).000 crippled men throughout the world remain as testimony of the mad holocaust that followed. But what of the captains and the kings—the great figures who flamed as leaders before the world in war days? Correspondents in Europe have surveyed world capitals in the past week ) seeking the great of yesterday. They have found them in strang-e places. A few still hold high offices; many are disgraced, outcasts or exiles. REPORTS OF ACTIVITIES. :Hero are reports of their varied activity: Alexander Kerensky, who for a brief span of days ruled, amid terror." and revolution. Russia's 138,000,000 people, is editing a tiny newspaper in Prague. Once he slept in the bed of tine Czar; to-day his home is an attic above the Danube. General Wrangel, who led the forlorn hope of his "white" army in fierce fighting as he was beaten back upon the Crimea, is camping out in an old French chetaau at Fauger. He is penniless, doing chores to keep his family in food. Grand Duke Alexander, brother of the late Czar, is writing pieces for a magazine, In which he explains that women of the world must unite to save civilisation. Marshal Foch, commander of Allied armies, is engaged in winning allies for France. He has just returned from a trip to Poland and Czecho-Slovakia, Rene Viviani, whos voice once roused the world to fight for France, is quietly practising law. "TIGER" WHITES BOOKS. George Ocmenceau. "The Tigs-," planned to spend ihe ninth anniversary of the war working on a booW of philosophy he expects to finish in 1;'. years. King Constantino was greeted with shouts of the multitude when he rode into Athens in war days. He is dead, in dethroned exile, of a broken heart. Young King Karl of Austria is dead, an exile also. Czar Nicholas "the little white father," lies murdered, in an unknown grave. Sultan Mehmcd VI., another on his Stamboul throne, is a refugee in Mecca < having fled from his kingdom; Emprcss Zita sat beside Karl upon the throne of Austria-Hungary. She is to-day in Geneva, attempting 1 to pawn the last of her jewels. Mr Bonar Law, sick and broken, has been forced to retire, as Premier of England. Mr Lloyd George, "the Welsh Wizard." is to-day an ordinary member of Parliament. SAWS WOOD AT DOORN. Kaisor Wilhelm 11. saws wood at Doom, Holland. Perhaps he still dreams of empire. The Crown Prince, one-time dashing general, fishes and helps the village, blacksmith on the lonely sand dunes of Wiehengen, in Holland, far from the glories of Unter den Linand the Kaiserhof Hotel. Premier Nltti, of Italy mourns the loss of his home, which was burned by Fascist!, who threatened his life as a betrayer of his country. Benito Mussolini, who fought in the trenches while Nitti roared in Rome, now fills his office with the black shirt legionaries.

Admiral Beatty, of the North Sea fleet, is to-day First Lord of the Ad miralty. Admiral Jellicoe. the other victor of Jutland, is now GovernorGeneral of New Zealand.

Field Marshal Haig works on behalf of the ex-soldior organisations, and is director of the Haig and Haig whisky firm. IS GOVERNOR-GENERAL. Lord Byng, of Vimy, is GovernorGeneral of Canada. Field Mahshal Viscount Allenby—Allenby of Jerusalem—is now Governor-General of Egypt. Von Hindenburg, war lord of Germany, lives quietly at Hanover, now and again attending demonstrations of the Monarshist Party. Ludendorff owns a quiet villa outside of Munich, where many visitors come and go. He writes a bit. Ludendorff is 'one of the big figures behind the scenes in the Bavarian Fascisti move.ment.

Captain Paul Koenig, who brought the Deutschland across the Atlantic, has done well, being a director of the North German Lloyd Line. Von Tirpitz has picked Baden for his home; Von ilackensen, terror of Servia, lives in East Prussia. The Kaiser's sons, other than the exiled Crown Prince, live among the past glories of Potsdam.