April 6, 1916 
LAND & WATER 
15 
tu admit that the lust War Loan was a c.jinpaiativc 
faihire. It produced only three huudrcd millions. Tiie 
second War Loan produced six hundred millions, being 
the- vastest loan operation the world has ever witnessed, 
combined with a gigantic scheme for converting and 
liquefying hundreds of millions of Consols. There w^ere 
many" gloomy forebodings among the wise men of the 
city. They "thought his proposals were revolutionary. 
But they worked without a hitch. 
A Great Business Man 
The truth is that he is a great business man as well as a 
great financier. He can hold his own with the highest 
banking authorities in the City. His scheme for utilising 
American securities was so daring that it took away the 
breath of many of our greatest financial experts. A story 
is told of a conference between the Chancellor and the 
bankers. It may be true or it may not. It is sa.id that 
the bankers came to the conference in a hostile and 
sceptical mood. It was a critical juncture, but Mr. 
McKenna's nerve rose to the occasion. He convinced 
and converted the conference, and came out of the 
duel triumphant. It must be admitted that no amateur 
lawyer-politician could have performed that dazzling 
fc-it. The Chancellor knew his subject. He had sur- 
veyed every inch of the ground. He was fortiiied with 
facts and with reasons. And it is safe to say that the 
fruits of his audacious foresight will not all be gathered 
in till a later stage of the war. 
It is worth remembering that Mr. McKenna was one of 
Sir Charles Dilke's yomig men. He won his spurs as 
the honorary secretary of the Free Trade Union. His 
first parliamentary victory was gained in a rather 
meticulous duel with Mr. Austen Chamberlain over a 
preferential duty on unstripped tobacco ! " C-B " 
a shrewed judge of men, promptly made him Financial 
Secretary to the Treasury, where he evolved the 
machinery for Old Age Pensions, a faultless piece of 
work. From the Treasury he went to the Board of 
Ivducation, where he secured grants, for Secondary 
Schools, organised medical inspection, and opened the 
training colleges to Nonconformists. 
But these things were but the prelude to his titanic 
work at the Admiralty from igo8 to 1911. To it we 
owe our command of the sea in the present war. Public 
memory is short, but it is well to realize that we are 
indebted for our naval security to Mr. McKenna's far 
seeing resolution In March, 1909, he disclosed to a 
startled House the facts which a searching analysis 
of the German naval estimates had revealed. There 
had been a large increase in the German annual instal- 
ments. He showed that the increase could only be 
explained by one or other of the hypotheses or by 
both combined. Either the rate of German construc- 
tion had been greatly accelerated or the size and 
cost of the German ships had been largely increased. 
Both hypotheses proved to be true. The acceleration, 
at first denied by the Germans, was ultimately con- 
fessed. But the degree of acceleration was insuflicient 
to account for the increased expenditure, and the 
second hypothesis was quickly verified. The new 
German ships proved to be of far greater size and power. 
They were armed with 12 in. instead of 11 in. guns. 
At the Admiralty 
There were sharp differences in the Cabinet as to the 
number of Dreadnoughts to be laid down. Mr. McKenna 
clemanded eight. Se\eral powerful members of the 
Cabinet \-iolently opposed him. But Mr. McKenna carried 
his programme. The Iron Duke. Sir "John Jellicoe's 
flagship, was one of the ships he laid down. 
It was expected that the famous eight would be armed 
with 12 in. guns; but when the full intentions of the 
(iermans became known to the Admiralty, and after two 
ships had been laid down, the designs for the other ships 
were revised, and 15.5 in. guns were introduced. For a 
long time the secret was kept, and when the war broke 
out Germany had in being no heavier armament than her 
12 in. guns. It was Mr. McKenna who evolved the power- 
ful D and E class. Mr. McKenna was the first to arm a 
submarine with a quick-firing gun. 
It is not generally known that if he had remained 
at the Admiralty wc should in i()i4 liave had rcadv 
a Heel of Zejipelius- So long ago as ii)ir he gave 
an .order to Vickers to build the first Britisli Zeppelin. 
It was built, but its back was broken by an accident 
when it was launched. The true story of that accident 
has never been told. Unfortunately, "Mr. McKenna left 
the Admiralty in lyii. and nothing more was done in 
the matter of Zeppelins. 
Mr. McKenna, like Mr. Asquith, is a master of state- 
craft. He understands the art of managing men. There 
were no quarrels while he was at the Admiralty. No greater 
proof of his gifts as an administrator could be conceived. 
He is not an explosive and destructive statesman. He 
prefers to build upon the existing foundations. He once 
said, after being some months at the Admiralty, " I have 
found many customs and regulations which seemed ripe 
for abolition, and then on closer examination I have dug 
out the reason for them. ' There is or there has been a 
leason for every Departmental tradition. The point is 
to find aut the reason before you sweep it away. This 
is often very difficult, but it is always worth while." 
This explains the mixture of courage and caution 
which is found in the McKenna's rule at the Treasury. 
He can put his foot down firmly and keep it down, but 
he cultivates an open mind. He makes up his mind 
very slowly, but once made up it closes like a vice. He 
is broad in his outlook. Although he was ojiposcd to 
\\'oman Suffrage, he ne\er lust his lubane patience under 
persistent and acrimonious attacks. No man can stand 
fire more serenely. ■ The first illustration of this quality 
was his attitude as Home Secretary towards the agitation 
for interning enemy aliens. He was the target of many 
violent criticisms, but he never flinched before fire that 
was in reality aimed at Lord Kitchener. He never 
revealed the fact that he himself desired to intern all tho 
enemy aliens, and he never defended himself at the 
expense of the War Office. 
Loyalty to Colleagues 
It is now common knowledge that the War Office were 
reluctant to undertake the burden of internment, for 
the simple reason that they had no accommodation, and 
could not spare soldiers to guard the internment camp. 
Loyalty to his colleagues is Mr. McKenna's dominant 
characteristic. It is a characteristic which he shares 
with Mr. Asqvuth. It explains the close bond between 
him and the Prime Minister. Without internal loyalty 
the Coalition Ministry could not stand the strain of war. 
That it should have stood it so long and so well is a proof 
of public spirit in one statesman which matches the 
publtc spirit of the nation. 
In council Mr. McKenna is irreplaceable, for his supreme 
quality is judgment, calm, cold, and impartial. Nothing 
else accounts for his disciplined rise from obscurity to 
power, O/ving nothing to a platform popularity or to a 
good Press. There is dramatic irony in the fact that he 
was placed in the Treasury by the agitation over the 
shortage of shells, the authors of which/ builded 
better .than they knew. Prophets predicted that Mr. 
McKenna would resign over Conscription. They were 
wrong. They misjudged his jndgniient. He does not 
wage war as a party man. He is like Dilke in his power 
of looking ahead. It is with to-morrow that his spirit 
wrestles. He is no stickler for absolute security in such a 
struggle as this. He recognises that war abolishes the 
canons of peace, and that it is the duty of the statesman 
to be bold to the verge of temerity where the stakes arc 
so high and the cause so sacred. His five hundred million 
Budget is worthy of Pitt in his most daring mood. It is 
a blow at the heart of Germany. 
A word about the private character of the Chancellor 
may not be out of place. He is the most domestic of 
men, devoted to his brilliant wife and to his charming 
chiklren, M chael and David, w'ho invariably appear at 
the luncheon table in Smith Square, and who are humo- 
rously nicknamed, " Kultur " and " The Hun.'' Mrs. 
McKenna works as hard as her husband, and is his right 
hand in public life. Thanks to her, the Chan:cllor bears 
the burden of office lightly and almost gaily. It may 
interest Dr. Helferich to" know that his redoubtable 
antagonist is physically and mentally unabashed and 
miabated by (ierman frightfulness, and that he faces the 
coming vear of war with smiling confidence and ironic 
assurance, based iipon the knowledge that he is rowing 
bow in the winning boat. 
