Mr. George

Ex-Premier Lloyd George was entertained at the American Club in London by the American Society prior to his departure for Southampton en route for the U. S. Ambassador Harvey, in introducing him, said that he was a great democrat, a champion of Anglo-American friendship, ” the most vivid personality of his own time and one of the most remarkable personalities of all time. . . . The last time he visited Canada he hadn’t enough money to go on to the U. S., but this time he has no excuse. . . . He will have an equally gracious reception from President Coolidge, who has a certain community of interest with him, because the great-great-grandfather of President Coolidge’s great-great-grand-mother was born in Wales.”

He also warned the ex-Premier that in America he would be the object of much curiosity—” a curiosity such as prompted an English girl to ask her governess whether they should go to the Zoo and see the new animals or to Hyde Park and see the American Ambassador in his silk hat.”

Mr. Lloyd George said: ” I shall be neither a missionary nor a bootlegger, I shall neither preach sound doctrine nor smuggle bad whisky.” He said he was going to Canada to express Britain’s great gratitude for her aid in the War. Referring to the sorry plight of the Allies in 1917 and the entry of the U. S. into the War, ” L. G.” said: ” Just then that young Hercules of the West came striding along, fearlessly, dauntlessly, and took his stand here by the side of the Armies of France and of Great Britain. Do you know what that meant? You cannot understand it. I want to say what an old Allied Prime Minister thought at that moment.” He stated that he wanted to see how things were done in America in a land unfettered by traditional hatreds—a land which ” is able to build with both hands instead of having to hold a gun in one hand and a trowel in the other, as in Europe.”

At Southampton large crowds gathered to wish ex-Premier Lloyd George Godspeed; conspicuous among them were Winston Churchill, Sir Robert Home, Sir Hamar and Lady Greenwood, General Smuts. At times the crowd could not contain its enthusiasm, several ladies broke loose and kissed him, the rest of the crowd succumbed to the leadership of the Rev. J. H. Shakespeare (one of the chiefs of the British Noncomformists), who called for hearty cheering, which ended in singing For He’s a Jolly Food Fellow. To his adherents Mr. George said: ” Look after the old country while I am gone.”

Arriving on board the Mauretania with his party (which includes Mrs. Lloyd George, Miss Megan Lloyd George, Sir William Sutherland and Mr. A. J. Sylvester, his secretary), Mr. George was pounced upon for a statement by a well-ambushed reporter. Said the big little man from Wales: ” Mr. Davis, the American Minister of Labor, recently promised me that if I visited the U. S. he would see that I heard some real Welsh music. He knew my weakness. I would go anywhere to hear Welsh music and so I agreed to visit the U. S. after I had been to Canada. I have nothing further to say.”

“But you will have to say a lot more to the American journalists,” he was informed.

“What! I am sure the press of America will not bother me while I am there for a rest.”

When visiting Minneapolis Mr. Lloyd George will be initiated into the Sioux tribe and given a ” Sioux-donym.”