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Page 38
Lord Inverforth made it clear, first, that the stores were to be sold at
a commercial value, and, second, that he would protect the taxpayer
against extortionate claims on the part of contractors. As regards this
second difficulty, pressure was brought against him from the very
highest political quarters to admit certain claims and to avoid legal
action. His reply was, "I will resign before I initial those claims."
He fought them all, and he beat them all. He saved the taxpayer millions
of pounds.
As for the disposal of stores, he has already brought to the Exchequer
over �500,000,000, and before these pages are printed that sum may be
increased to something like �800,000,000.
The least imaginative reader will perceive from this brief statement
that a veritable Napoleon of Commerce has presided over the business
side of the war. Where there was every opportunity for colossal waste,
there has been the most scientific economy; where there was every
likelihood of wholesale corruption, there has been an unsleeping
vigilance of honesty; and where, at the end, there might have been a
tired carelessness resulting in ruinous loss, there has been up to the
very last moment an unremitting enthusiasm for the taxpayers' interest
which has resulted in a credit contribution to the national balance
sheet of �800,000,000.
I have left to the last this not unworthy feature of Lord Inverforth's
labours. Those labours have been given to the nation. He, at the head of
things, and the chiefs of the Disposal Board under him, have refused to
accept any financial reward. One and all they deserted their businesses
and slaved from morning to night in the national interests, and one and
all they gave their services to the State.
What has been Lord Inverforth's reward from the public? From first to
last he has been attacked by a considerable section of the Press, and
has been accused in Parliament of incredible waste and incorrigible
stupidity. Let it be supposed (I do not grant it for a moment) that he
made mistakes, even very great mistakes, still, on the total result of
his gigantic labours, does not the public owe him a debt of gratitude?
Has he not been an honest man at the head of a department where
dishonesty had its chief opportunity? Did he not strike a death blow at
Germany when he secured, with a suddenness which ruined his rivals in
the field, the wool-clip of the world? Is there one man in these islands
who thought for a moment that the overplus of stores would fetch a sum
of �800,000,000?
I will say a word about Slough, which is still the favourite cry of Lord
Inverforth's critics, who have held their peace about the "dumps" since
the publication of the White Paper describing the sale of stores.
Slough was the work of the War Office. It was begun badly. Mistakes of a
serious kind were made. It might have been a financial disaster. But
Lord Inverforth is a chivalrous man. He has never disclosed the fact
that he inherited Slough. In the face of violent criticism he has
maintained a dignified silence, letting the world think that he was the
parent of the idea, and bending all his energies to make it a success.
He has had his reward. Slough has been sold and the transaction shows a
profit for the taxpayer.
During the last years of his administration I saw a good deal of Lord
Inverforth. He was anxious to get back to his own work. He asked again
and again to be relieved of his duties--the machinery he had set up
being in excellent running order. But the Prime Minister begged him to
stay, and he has stayed, against his will and against his own interests,
and all the time he has been subjected to a stream of malignant
criticism.
Let the reader ask himself whether the case of Lord Inverforth is likely
to encourage the best brains in the country to come to the political
service of the nation. Is there not a danger that we may fall into the
American position, and have our great men in commerce and our
second-rate men in politics?
I regard Lord Inverforth as one of the few very great men in commerce
who have the qualities of genuine statesmanship. I am not at liberty to
give my chief grounds for this belief, but before long the world may
know from Lord Inverforth's commercial activities on the Continent that
more than any other man in these islands he has seen the way and taken
the step to reconstruct the shattered civilization of Europe.
On many occasions I have discussed with him the future of mankind. I
have found him the least anxious and always the most self-possessed
observer of events. Quiet, patient, practical, and imaginative, inspired
too by humane motives, he cherishes the unshakable faith that Great
Britain is destined to lead civilization into the future as far as human
eye can see. He places his faith in British character. Rivalry on the
part of powerful nations, even when it is directed against our key
industries, does not disturb him in the least. While others are crying,
"How shall we save ourselves?" he is pushing the fortunes of the British
race in every quarter of the world. And where British trade goes, on the
whole there goes too the highest civilizing power in the world--British
character. It is significant of his faith that he has ever worked to get
the British mercantile marine manned by men of the British race, and to
this end has led the way in improving the conditions of the British
seaman's life.
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