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Page 33
For the best part of his manhood Lord Rhondda was a political failure.
The House of Commons, which prides itself on its judgment of men,
treated him as a person of no importance. He represented one of the
largest industrial constituencies in the country, was always returned by
an overwhelming majority, and was known to be in his own district an
administrator of far-reaching talent; but because he could not speak
effectually, and because the House of Commons--that most self-satisfied
assembly of mediocrities--did not take to him, he was never offered by
his political leaders during all the long years of his patient service
even an under-secretaryship.
This was the man who saved the nation from one of its greatest perils
during perhaps the most critical period of the war.
As one examines Lord Rhondda's administration of the Ministry of Food
one discovers an interesting and surely an important fact in the
psychology of our public life.
His triumph, which was one of the greatest in the war, lay almost
entirely in the region of personality. For his gravest difficulties were
not so much in the office of the Ministry as in the great and grumbling
world outside, where toiling men and women stood outside provision shops
for hours in the rain and cold only to be told in the vast majority of
cases when their turn came that supplies were exhausted for that day.
By the power of his imagination Lord Rhondda saw that the first step
towards saving a very perilous situation was to convince this vast world
of seething discontent that absolute justice should characterize the
administration of his office. To this end, satisfied that those about
him were men of devoted zeal and real talent, he set himself to the
creation of a public opinion favourable to the discharge of his duties.
And by a stroke of inspiration he saw that to achieve this tranquillity
of the public mind he must give his own personality to the world. His
character must become a public possession. A man, and not an office,
must stand for Food Control. The instinct of the Briton for justice and
fair play must receive assurance from a moral personality.
Therefore no member of the Government was more accessible, or more ready
to be interviewed and photographed, than the Food Controller. It was not
vanity, but foreseeing statesmanship, which opened his door to the
humblest newspaper reporter who visited the Ministry. His personality--a
moral, just, fearless, and confident personality--had to be conveyed to
the mind of the public, and every interview he gave to the Press had
this important objective for its reason. He saw the morals of an
economic situation, and he solved those economics very largely by making
a moral impression on the public mind.
The work of his office was carried to victory by Sir William Beveridge,
Captain Tallents, Professor Gonner, and other very able men in charge of
rationing; but this work must have failed had it not been for public
confidence in Lord Rhondda's integrity; and, moreover, Lord Rhondda's
character played no small part in firing that work with a zeal and
passion which were excelled by no other department of public service.
Men not only worked hard for him, they worked for him affectionately.
His choice of Mr. J.H. Clynes was inspired by the same idea. He had
heard this labour member speak, and had been impressed by the moral
qualities of his oratory; he knew that in choosing him to represent the
Food Ministry in the House of Commons he might be sure of the confidence
of Labour, both there and in the circles of trade unionism. He was not
deceived. Mr. Clynes was the most loyal and impressive of lieutenants,
who, on one occasion in particular, saved a difficult situation.
Lord Rhondda realized the moral qualities of statesmanship. He appealed
to the highest instincts of his countrymen. This was his greatest
achievement.
He was in many ways a lovable man. The quality which chiefly drew
people to him was his extreme boyishness. The remarkable beauty of his
face always seemed to me an expression of this delightful
boyishness--his smile deepening this effect in a most charming manner.
He loved life with a boy's fervour, regarding it always as an
opportunity for winning success. The difficulties of work, like the
difficulties of a mathematical problem called out the athletic qualities
of an otherwise shy and almost effeminate nature. He loved to pit his
brains against other men, rejoiced to discover obstacles in his path,
never despaired when things went against him, and infinitely preferred
the battle for success to the success itself. In this, too, he was a
boy; he had to win a fight fairly and honourably to enjoy the victory. I
believe him to have been one of the most honest and straightforward men
that ever made a fortune in business.
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