Foreign News: Jeeves to the Rescue

Sir Thomas Jeeves Horder, physician to James Ramsay MacDonald and Physician in Ordinary to the Prince of Wales, hotly denied at his fashionable No. 141 Harley Street office last week what he called “reports that the Prime Minister is in poor health.”

The reports have been that Scot Mac-Donald is suffering from “cerebral anemia” or brain fatigue. Even the cautious Times has discussed the subject guardedly. Recently at Oxford, extremely polite Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, lecturing on “The Machinery of Government,” created a sensation by the following remarks which were understood to refer to Scot MacDonald, though Lord Cecil did not mention his name: “Too many [Prime Ministers] have appeared to lose the faculty of decision. That seems to be one of the faculties that wear out soonest. To decide makes a considerable strain on the nervous force and the strain increases with apprehended unpopularity of the decision. Then ensues a search for some means to avoid effort. Postponement in its various forms is welcomed. Some so-called compromise is adopted which leaves all difficulties unsolved. Or a royal commission is appointed. Or the state of business in the House of Commons is declared to make action impossible. Or the matter is simply adjourned.”