Evening Star Newspaper, June 21, 1936, Page 35

JOHN HAMILTON KNOWN AS SURE, SWIFT WORKER Kansan’s Pointed Reply to Farley’s Blast Must Have Surprised Democratic Chairman. BY LEMOYNE A. JONES. \OPEKA—John Daniel Miller Hamilton, the new chairman of the Republican National Com- mittee, was on a train en route to Topeka last Sunday when Post- master General James A. Farley's lat- est barrage of epithets aimed at his favorite target, the Republican party, appeared. He had just passed an excit- ing week in Cleveland, winning the presidential nomination for his man, Gov. Alfred M. Landon, and he was evidently tired. . But Mr. Farley had made the mis- take of centering his attack on the man for whom Mr. Hamilton had won the nomination, branding Mr. Landon a “synthetic candidate” and describing the Landon-Knox ticket as the “weak- est” in he party’s history. That was too much for Mr. Hamilton. The next morning the Democratic chieftain, who has been blasting away at the Republican party for four years and receiving only lengthy, erudite and polite responses, must have received something of a shock. The morning papers announced that Mr. Hamilton had dismissed Mr. Farley’s charges with the explanation that Mr. Farley was “scared to death” because he had lost the East for a year and now knew the West was gone, too, and that he was just “whistling in the dark as he goes by the cemetery.” Let Farley Set Tempo. “If it's going to be a dirty cam- paign,” Mr. Hamilton’s statement con- cluded, “we'll let him set the tempo for it.” In this manner did the gentleman from “a typical prairie State” let the gentleman from New York know that his days of firing away in safety were over. He was now up against a man who could answer him in spades, and could think of nothing he would rather do than just that. ‘The alacrity of Mr. Hamilton's reply and its terse phrases may have sur- prised some of the older party leaders who had elected him two days before almost as much as it did Mr. Farley. But residents of Topeka and of Kan- sas, who had known him for years, merely smiled when they read it. “John'll teach him, all right,” they opined. “That's only a start.” loafed, he worked and won the nomi- nation and the election. That was only the beginning. Work- ing steadily and rapidly, he had be. come a power in Topeka, before tI local leaders knew what had hap- pened. He went on to the State Leg- islature in 1924, and in 1926 became speaker of the lower house. Although Kansas is a bone-dry State, with only 3.2 per cent beer on sale and that because it isn't recognized as in- toxicating, Mr. Hamilton makes no bones about “taking & drink now and then.” Mr. Hamilton has been one to get work done and quickly. Ben Paulon, who was Governor during Mr. Hamil- ton’s terms as a leader of the Legis~ lature, still shakes his head in wonder- ment when he recalls the things Mr. Hamilton used to do in the lower house. Mr. “Hamilton’s race for Governor was the beginning of his political feud with Mr. Landon, although their poli- tics, since neither makes it a personal matter, never affected their friendship. Mr. Landon’s candidate for the Repub- lican gubernatorial nomination, Clyde Reed, won the honor from Mr. Hamil- ton, later winning the election. For four years the battle continued between the two men, and then the two factions decided to compromise on one man. That fan was Mr. Lan- don, but even then 'Mr. Hamilton would not support him for the nomi- nation, waiting until he became the Republican candidate before taking to the stump in his behalf. Since then, however, they have been the closest friends, politically as well as person- ally. Energy Is Thing of Wonder. ‘The Hamilton energy is a thing of wonder to his friends. Although he has been going top speed for the last year pushing the Landon candidacy in all parts of the Nation and winding up his activities with a final big push at the national convention, he did mnot let up. He dashed into Topeka last Monday and was off again Wednesday afternoon for New York, after con- ferring with the Governor and numer- ous national party leaders. Nothing can stop him. the convention an infection developed in a cut on his chin, but he had no time for a doctor. Word finally reached Mr. The respect which his fellow towns-4 Landon and it was only after the Gov- men have for his political astuteness ‘was not won overnight by Mr. Hamil- ton. It is the result of years of pa- tient plugging and hard work, during which he fought at one time or an- other almost every politician in the State, including the man for whom he finally got the presidential nomina- tion. While he may answer Mr. Farley in his own language, he is as unlike the Postmaster General as Mr. Lan- don is unlike former President Calvin Coolidge. Mr. Coolidge could never have been an oil man and Mr. Farley could never have been a political leader in Kansas. Crowds Cheer Return. Just how much the townspeople think of Mr. Hamilton was shown last Monday, when he returned after a two-months’ absence, during which he had succeeded in winning the nomina- | tion for Mr. Landon. The station plat- form was jammed with cheering crowds, while a red-coated band played Vigorously. The rather tall, well-built man who stepped off the train in a dark Sum- mer suit and Panama hat seemed to know every one by his first name, and was howling greetings all the way to the State House from his place in the impromptu procession. In Kansas al- most every one is known by his first name, and Mr. Hamilton knows a lot of first names. It is not unusual that he should, either, for he has been active in To- peka politics since he returned from the army in 1919. At that time he set up law offices here with Ralph T. O'Neil, a prominent Democrat and a former National Commander of the American Legion, but business wasn't too good, apparently, for, as he ad- mitted recently, “I felt I needed a job.” He went to the late Dave Mulvane, for years Republican National Com- mitteeman, with the suggestion that he be the party’s candidate for pro- bate judge, but Mr. Mulvane only dis- missed him with a laugh and the ex- planation, “you're too young.” That ‘wasn’t enough for Mr. Hamilton, how- ever, and he filed for the nomination. While the organization candidate | ernor had insisted he go to a doctor | that he consented. Even then it was ; only long enough to have the infec- | tion treated, and he returned with & bandaged jaw to place Mr. Landon's name in nomination. As a lawyer Mr. Hamilton's business has prospered over the years. He'has | specialized in insurance practice and | has handled on the side most of the malpractice cases brought against illegal practitioners by the Kansas | Medical Society. In the latter connec- tion he was responsible for driving out | of Kansas John R. Brinkley, the goat |gland specialist, who had built up a tremendous practice, by seeing to it that a license was denied to him. | Never Been Divorce Lawyer. In all his practce, however, Mr. Hamilton has never been a divorce says, good ones and those that are hard up—nor a lawyer for a public | utdlity. | He is one of the most welcome fig- ures at the Topeka Country Club, since he will wager freely on his | ability to beat all comers on the golf | course. Shooting well over 100 most | of the time, he is fair meat for any | one happening by, since he never de- mands & handicap. Throughout his politieal life Mr. Hamilton has had certain theories, which he will not abandon. He has been a liberal (seeing to it in one in- | stance that an amendment to the com- | pensation law, passed by the State | Senate at the instance of industrialists and insurance companies, was not passed by his body until laber amend- | ments had been added), and con- siders himself a practical politician. Right now he has a job to do, and | he’s taking it seriously. He announced | the organization of the national cam- Ppaign so far as officials are concerned | in short order, and is now going out to do one of his usually thorough jobs of vote-getting. “Why,” said one friend in Topeka, “he’ll have them organized right down to the precincts—a Landon man in every precinct in the Nation, and you can bet your bottom dollar on it.” (Copyright, 1936.) Democratic Opponents of New Deal To Delay Fight Until After Election From First Page.) ty, but something alien to the Demo- cratic party and to America. Many of these dissenting Democrats have an explanaticn for their “going along.” They have in mind a pro- gram which to them is convincing and to others is at least plausible. They expect to support Mr. Roosevelt and the New Deal until after the election. If Mr. Roosevelt is re-elected they expect, in the very first session of Congress following the election, to become once more Democrats and free men. They expect, after and if Mr. Roosevelt is re-elected, to check on Mr. Roosevelt, throw the New Deal out the window, restore the Demo- cratic party to Democratic princi- Ples and restore America to an Ameri- can course. Feel Free to Criticize. This is a practicable program. If Mr. Roosevelt is re-elected he will be serv- ing his second term. In a second term every President has less power and prestige, less authority over his party in Congress. For one reason, having filled most of the offices, he has less patronage to bestow or withhold. Also, those in Congress know that a Presi- dent serving his second term pre- sumably will not be a candidate again, Therefore the members feel free to criticize and even flout the President without apprehending that they will be obliged to eat their words in the en- suing presidential campaign. In other words, during Mr. Roosevelt's second term, if he should have one. Demo- crats in Congress will not feel the same obligation of lip-service which now, and throughout his first term, has held most of them in line. When Vice President Garner cryp- tically reveals (in a personal letter to a Texas friend which unintentionally became public) that he deplores much of the New Deal; when Seator Car- ter Glass of Virginia says the New Deal is “a disgrace to the Nation”; when other Democrats highly placed reveal, some frankly, some by accident or through failure of caution, that thinks that conscience should call upon these dissenting Democrats to divorcs themselves from their party. If they did, let us see what would happen. An illustration is to be found | in something that emerged soon after | unintended publicity was given to Vice President Garner’s letter. Within 8 short time, rumor darting about Washington said that Mr. Garner was to be deprived of renomination at the coming Philadelphia convention; that the vice presidential nomination would be given to Mr. John I. Lewis, the labor leader. Where this rumor started is not a matter of record. But everybody knows that whatever is done at the Democratic National Con- vention will be dictated by President Roosevelt, or will accord with his de- sires. Even the most loose-minded rumor carrier knows that if Mr. Gar- ner were to be displaced by Mr. Lewis, it must be President Roosevelt who would do the displacing. A well-in- formed Democratic commentator, Mr. Frank Kent, calls the rumor “in- spired” and says that it “has been put out in a surreptitious manner by gen- tlemen identified with the New Deal propaganda; moreover it has been done for a calculated effect.” s Alternative Is Cited. Now, from the point of view of con- servative Democrats and conserva- tives generally, what would it profit them to have Mr. Garner resign as Vice President or refuse renomina- tion as Vice President—if his suc- cessor is to be Mr. John Lewis? Would Mr. Garner serve best either the in- terests of the country or his own be- liefs by resigning spectacularly? Or by staying where he is? Much the same consideration ani- mates other Democrats who deplore the New Deal yet “go along” with the program of renominating President Roosevelt and trying to re-elect him. They think that in proportion as they retire from their official places of power, so would the influence they now have be taken over by New Deal- ers. They think they serve best by they abhor the New Deal—when these things happen, much of the public > staying where they are, and exerting as much pressure and restraint on LY lawyer—there are only two kinds, he | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 21, 1936—PART TWO. Peace for Democrats Likelihood of Killing Two-Thirds and Unit Rules This Week Brings Prospect of End of Bitter Struggles Within Party. AR FAMOUS MEN WHO HAVE LOOMED LARGE IN THE MARTIN VAN BUREN. NO. 4, SPEAKER CHAMP CLARK. TWO-THIRDS RULE: NO. 1, PRESIDENT JAMES KNOX POLK. No. 2, PRESIDENT ANDREW JACKSON. NO. 3, PRESIDENT BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. T IS more than a coincidence that Senator Bennett Clark should be leading the fight to kill the famous “two-thirds rule” of Democratic National Conventions. It was that rule which prevented Sen- ator Clark’s father, the late Speaker “Champ” Clark, from becoming President of the United States. The Speaker had a clear majority of the delegates. The rule by which a two- thirds vote had been necessary to nominate Democratic candidates for President and Vice President for more than a hundred years stood in| his way, an impassable barrier as it turned out. That was 24 years ago. Now Champ Clark’s son is to be chairman of the Rules Committee of the Dem- ocratic National Convention which opens in Philadelphia on Tuesday. ‘With the backing of President Frank- 1in D. Roosevelt and Postmaster Gen- eral James A. Farley, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, there will be written into the rules of the national convention, as submitted by Clark, provision for the nomination of presidential and vice presidential candidates by majority vote. ‘The late Champ Clark was Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1912, when he sought the presiden- tial nomination. Although he re- ceived a majority of the delegate votes, he never could reach the two- thirds necessary for nomination un- der the rule of the Democratic Na- tional Convention. In the end the nomination went to the late Presi- dent Wilson. Champ Clark charged his defeat to William Jennings Bryan. Bryan, during the convention, warned the Democrats that Tammany Hall and certain wealthy New Yorkers were back of the Clark candidacy. And it was through Bryan's influence that the line held against Clark and the convention finally broke to Wil- son. Coalition Fought Roosevelt. Four years ago when the Democrets met in Chicago in national convention Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Governor of New York, was the leading candi- date for the presidential nomination. He did not, however, have pledged to his support two-thirds of the delegates. A ‘“coalition,” composed of Al Smith of New York and several favorite son candidates, was forming to prevent Roosevelt from obtaining the necessary two-thirds vote for nomination. Leaders among the Roosevelt sup- porters, among them the late Senator Huey P. Long of Louisiana, determined to kick over the two-thirds rule and nominate Roosevelt by a majority vote, President Roosevelt as they can, to balance the pressure of the radicals. This, of course, applies only to those dissenting Democrats who are in office. It does not apply to Demo- crats not in office, to Democrats whose leadership is in the fleld of thought rather than in the fleld of organi- zation. And, of course, it does not apply to rank-and-file Democrats, ones whose participation in public affairs is merely that of voters. Upon these rests no obligation of expedi- ency. From their point of view, if they dislike the New Deal their course is to help get rid of it. How best to do that will appear soon after the coming week's Democratic conven- tion. If there is a third party of con- stitutional Democrats, they can sup- port it. Lacking that, they can vote forthrightly against the New Deal in November. (Copyrisht, 1936.) And this plan might well have been adopted had not some of the cooler headed Democrats arrived in Chicago and called & halt. They argued that it was no time to change the rules of a game when it was half played. NO. 5, SENATOR BENNETT C. However, the Roosevelt leaders who | had favored a change to majority e in making presidential nominations, | saw to it that the question should be brought up later—at the time of the | 1936 convention. And this year it CHACO PEACE INNOVATION IN SOLUTION OF DISPUTES Buenos Aires Protocol Opened New Possibilities for Advancement of International Law. BY GASTON NERVAL. HE Secretary of State has sent congratulations to the govern- ments of Bolivia and Paraguay on the first anniversary of the signing of the Buenos Aires protocol which ended the Chaco war. This is in keeping with the spirit of the new Latin American policy of the United States, which has amply shown its devotion to the cause of international peace, both political and economic, in the Western Hemisphere. On the eve of greatly expected re- alignments for the preservation of world peace, Secretary Hull's action will serve to recall the circumstances which caused the Chaco protocol of Buenos Aires to be hailed as a real innovation in the diplomatic golution of international controversies. Apart from the physical factors in- volved, the human lives and the eco- nomic resources which it spared to Bolivia and Paraguay—and that, alone, would have been more than sufficient to enhance its importance—the Buenos Aires protocol contained certain stipu- lations which opemed new and vast possibilities to the advancement of international law throughout the world at large. Adhere to Declaration. In the first place, the two contract- ing parties reiterated their adherence to the so-called “Declaration of August 3, 1932,” barring the forcible acquisi- tion of land as the result of war. That “declaration” had been signed by the representatives of all the American republics at Washington, and was an amplification of what had been termed the doctrine of non- recognition of territorial gains by force, first stated by Secretary Stim- son in connection with the Far East- ern crisis and, later, upheld in the Leticia incident between Peru and Colombia. In other words, Bolivia and Pare- guay specifically and solemnly pledged themselves not to recognize any terri- torial acquisition arising out of the war which they had just stopped. As the war had started, indeed, on the ground of ascertaining rights to terri- tory claimed by both parties, the ad- mission by both governments that gll territorial differences must be settled through juridical means, irrespective of the final positions of their armies, had a momentuous significance. It was the first time in modern his- tory that two nations which had fought tragically for three long years for the possession of & vast area of land formally recognized that their claims must be submitted to a tribunal of law and final sovereignty decided, not by force of arms, but by the wis- dom of organized international justice. It was the first time that two parties ta an armed conflict implicitly admit- ted, st the conclusion of the same, the futility of their efforts and sacrifices at war and the necessity of letting law prevail upon mere violence. Of course, on previous occasions there have been wars which ended without victors or vanquished. It is almost axiomatic to say that in a mod- ern and prolonged war all, in the long run, ere losers. But this was the first time that, even as the firing ceased at the front lines, the two contending parties renounced “the spoils of war.” Besides discarding any settlement of the territorial question by force, the Buenos Aires protocol established the machinery required for its own fulfill- ment. It provided, first, for a military commission to arrange the details and definite terms of the truce, the lines at which both armies should remain and, later, to supervise demobilization and maintenance of the military status-quo, the two countries having bound themselves to prevent any new armed aggression. ‘The protocol provided, then, for a permanent peace conference at Buenos Aires, with the participation of sev- eral neutral American republics, un- der whose auspices delegates of Bo- livia and Paraguay would proceed to drew the terms for submission of the territorial controversy to arbitration, it direct .negotiations between them failed. The Court of International Justice at The Hague was named the earbiter in case of arbitration, and the Ppeace conference was instructed not to adjourn until the arbitration accord had been reached. ‘The same peace conference was en- trusted with the task of promoting ar- rangements of an economic and com- mercial character between the two parties and between them and their neighbors, in order to cement their future friendship on bases more sta- ble and more practical than hereto- fore. Special Comniission Created. Finally, the protocol called for the creation of a special commission of jurists to investigate the origins of the waf and determine the aggressor. In this, as well as in the previous clauses, the student of international law could. easily recognize the first formal attempt of a novel method of outlawing war by making illegal its gains, and by stressing a sense of re- sponsibility to the community of na- tions at large in the preservation of international peace. ‘The success of this first attempt is involved in the final carrying out of the Buenos Aires protocol, beside the specific interests and rights of the two disputant parties. Hence the concern and solicitude with which the statesmen of the New World have been following -the progress of the Chaco negotiations, particularly since the signature of the additional pro- tocol, of the beginning of this year, CLARK. looks as though the ancient rule, which was set up in the days of An- drew Jackson. is to be thrown into the discard. The call for the convention, issued by Chairman Farley of the Democratic National Convention, places the question of the two-thirds rule squarely on the agenda. ‘The rule requiring two-thirds vote of the delegates to nominate a presi- dential candidate is difficult to de- fend, even among its friends. The Democrats of the South have been the stoutest supporters of the rule in the past. They have considered it gave the South, which is always Dem- ocratic, a veto power against candi- | dates brought forward by delegates | of the Northern States which usually have gone Republican. It has been urged in support of the two-thirds rule, too, that a candidate who can command a two-thirds vote of the Democratic National Convention is invariably the proper choice of the party. Southerners Not United. A canvass of Southern Senators and members of the House today, however, shows that they are not a unit in favor of the continuance of the two- thirds rule. Senator Harry Flood Byrd of Virginia, one of the Old Dominion’s delegates to the national convention, plans to vote against a change to majority rule. He admits, however, that there has not been a rush among the Southern Democrats to support the old two-thirds rule. Senator Con- nally of Texas, who heads the Lone Star State's delegation, expects oppose the abrogation of the two-thirds rule, for the Democrats in State con- vention instructed the delegation to oppose the proposed change in the rules. Senator Bailey of North Car- | olina, on the other hand, believes that the majority rule should replace the two-thirds rule, and so do some of the other Southern Democrats. In the light of the statements made by the Southerners, it becomes doubt- ful that a real battle will be staged over the two-thirds rule. Unless there is a strengthening of the opposition to its abrogation, the two-thirds rule may be thrown out by the Roosevelt Democrats without a falter in their stride. Along with the two-thirds rule is likely to go by the board the so- called unit rule, under which a State delegation is voted in its entirety, ac- cording to the will of a majority of the delegation. Without the unit rule, it would be far more difficult to obtain a two-thirds vote for a presidential candidate than it has been. the unit rule remains in effect, it is easy to understand that under a majority rule for nominations, the (Continued on Tenth Page.) settling the delicate problem of the exchange of war prisoners and paving the way for an early resumption of diplomatic relations between Asun- cion and La Paz. Secretary Hull has interpreted the sentiments of all the foreign offices of the Western Hemisphere in con- gratulating Bolivia and Paraguay on the first anniversary of the Chaco peace and in pledging anew the co- operation of the mediatory powers represented at the Buenos Aires con- ference in bringing about a final and Jjust settlement of the remaining ques- tions pending between the two parties. The recent establishment of revolu- tionary regimes' both in Paraguay and Bolivia lends added significance and timeliness to his appeal that “the same spirit of good will that has been shown so0 far continues to prevail.” (Copyright, 1936.) A / But if | KING EDWARD KEEPS FIT DESPITE HEAVY STRAIN Britain’s Monarch, Who Will Be 42 on Tuesday, Can Claim Personal Credit for Condition. BY C. PATRICK THOMPSON. an already flat stomach, lies listening for a minute to bird sounds in the gardens beyond his wide open windows, and then gets out of bed alertly and goes in to the shower. The bath room scale, which he uses religiously every morning, tells him that his weight stays steady at 146 pounds. Lean, fit and 42. It may be the grace of the same God whose name is invoked when his titles are called that King Edward VIII has survived all the hazards of war, world travel, hunting, steeplechasing, big- game shooting. skiing, flying and bacilli, and is living vigorously to cele- brate his 42d birthday anniversary— June 23, 1936. But for the leanness and fitness he can claim personal credit. Providence had nothing to do with making him the streamlined King of a streamlined age. He made himself that way. He could have made himself lean, but not fit; or fit, but not lean. Either | would have been easy, but both—this was a problem. King Edward’s prob- lem being woven.into the umversali problem of maintaining the human machine as an efficient instrument into middle age and beyond, to stand up to strains and stresses which stead- ily increase as the rhythm of life speeds up, the story bears telling. Glimpses of Past. There are three phases to it. But, first, four flashbacks by way of preface. ‘The old French town of Bethune in | May, 1915. I came out of divisional headquarters. The town seemed dead. But just then footsteps clattered on the cobbles. Isaw a thin boy in baggy Guards’ plus-fours, which did unkind things to his bean-pole legs, emerge from the chill mist. A tall Guards' sergeant walked 6 paces in the rear. I saluted. The tall escort glanced sideways, and 1 could have sworn that for a fleeting instant he invited the sympathy of a fellow human whose duty also called him forth at this ghastly hour. The Prince of Wales, not long since arrived in the war zone, was taking his morning constitutional before the day’s routine began. Time: 5:55 am. Sixteen years later. Eleven of us for dinner. Our host warned us that the Prince might be tired. He had had a week of heavy public engagements, taking him all over the country, and this day he had dashed 130 miles north to hunt—he needed the exer- cise—and he was dashing back to keep his engagement to dine, and then go on to see a fight. Banquet Turns Jolly. We sat down rather in the mood of people invited to the bedside of & dis- tinguished convalescent. Inside 10 minutes, however, we were a gay party. The Prince was in high spirits. He | ate little, drew out his companions— even got Arnold Bennett to forget his stammer and discourse on the beauties of the soft-fronted dinner-shirt, then a novelty (the King always wears one, American-fashion, with dinner-clothes now; but that time the man of letters was a dress jump ahead of royalty). ‘We arrived at the fight at 9:15. The Prince took an expert interest in every | angle of the preliminary and the big bout. We rose at 11:15. The Prince asked his host to excuse him. He would have liked to go on and su but he had promised to put in an ap- pearance at a charity ball. So on to the ball he went and danced till 2:15 | am. Early next morning he caught | the northbound express; and at 3:30 p.m. he was descending & coal mine. | Three men climb into the south- | bound express. Two of them look— |and are—all in. Who wouldn't be, after four days’ tramping through mud | and slush in mining villages, talking to | miners and their wives, entering | miners’ cottages. lunching on biscuits and cheese, dining in rough mining- | town hotels? They sink back thank- fully in the cushions of their com- | partment and close their eyes—Sir | Godfrey Thomas, thin, fit, 40, the | Prince of Wales’ private secretary and state department, and Sir Noel Curtis- Bennett, 6-foot, 44, athletic, boss of all Britain's official sports activities and picked for his sports contacts with the people to take care of the Prince dur- ing that celebrated un-policed and un- escorted 1926 tour of the coal fields where the miners were on strike and Bolshevik agents had been busy. ‘Writes Out Report. In his compartment next door sits the third of the trio, the Prince of | Wales, very wide awake and still on the | job. He is tapping out a four-page | letter on the portable typewriter rest- | ing on his knees. He had promised | Premier Baldwin a report and wished to get it done right away, because he | had a date to keep with his horses and | a fox next day. King George V is dead. The new | King marches through sleet and a bitter wind with the funeral proces- | sion from Sandringham to the station and from the London terminus to Westminster Abbey. He stands guard at midnight on the last day of the father’s bier from Abbey to station next morning, and again from Wind- ance test, slow, funeral marching, and he had in all a dozen miles of it). mental strain. In 10 days he has not averaged five hours' sleep a night and has been on the go all the time. His face shows the ravages of fatigue in deep lines and pouched eyes. But those who have state business with him record their astonishment to find him equable, poised, accessible at all hours—no valets stalling ministers and others with finger-on-lip word of a wornout King sleeping—and with un- flagging brain. The people, too, see & sleep-starved man whose body seems completely subservient to his will. How does he do it? The answer at one time was, mainly, riding and squash rackets. But he rides little now, and he has not played squash at one of his four London clubs in two years. Now trace him up from 4 to 42. Had Full Measure of Sport. As a boy he took his full share of exercise and sport. He learned to swim in the pool of the Baith Club in town. He played cricket and foot ball, did a bit of rowing and a lot of cross-country running, rode very little (he never went through the cav- alry training school, as his army brother, the Duke of Gloucester, did), and learned to get up at 6 am, and like it. Also, he was drilled on the barrack square. His physical exertions kept him thin. He was 20 when he went to France in wartime, but he looked a A - | boy. E AWAKES, as usual, at 6 am,, stretches sinewy limbs, tenses | lying in state, marches behind his| sor station to the castle (an endur- | A time of intense physical and | He was filling out all through the war years, making bone and muscle and sinew, but little flesh. He came back eventually, 14 pounds | heavier, but still as spare as a stecple= | chase jockey. He had given small | thought to exercise. His strenuous life was exercise enough. And then he started in his long empire tours, and his rounds of pub- | lic duties; and he began to make some weight, as men will who slow down physically after leading abnormally wearing lives in youth. Napoleon, hollow-cheeked and lath-thin as a citizen-general, grew stout and de- veloped a politician's paunch when, as emperor, desk works and cere- | monials took more and more of his ) time. The Prince of Wales could have gone the same way and, as | King, now own the curves unblushe | ingly displayed by his grandfather, | King Edward VII, who loathed exer- cise and loved the physically easeful | life. But he had a harror of fat: and he started to do something about it. His first efforts were crude. He put on heavy sweaters and took hefore- | breakfast runs round the gardens of | Buckingham Palace—a mile circuit. In Winter he hunted hard, riding big horses all the time, and taking all the fences in his stride (if and when his horses stayed under him). He spent all the time he could at the hunting quarters he had built at the Craven Club at Melton Mowbray And in and out of season he played hard squash rackets, always in wool- lies, to work up a sweat Warned After Trip. | When he came back from that | round-the-world tour, which included | a stay with President Coolidge at the | White House, his first place of call |on leaving Buckingham ‘Palace, { whither he had driven from the sta- tion with his father, was the Bath Club. For days he had been withe | out facilities for exercise beyond those | afforded by a ship's deck and gy nasium. He wanted a game of squash. But he was taking too much out of himself. Sir Harry Preston, sit- ting beside him at a Stadium Club fight, ventured to tell him so Harry, the arbiter elegantium of Brit- ish sport, himself a claimant for the | amateur light-weight boxing cham- pionship as a youth and now renowned as the youngest 73-year-old man in England, advised the Prince that he was setting himself a pace he could | not hope to keep up after 40. The | Prince was then 28. | A year or two later something hap- | pened that made the Prince think again. At Oxford after the war he had lived with Wing-Comdr. Sir Louis Greig, the Scots naval surgeon, who | was his brother of York's controller. | Louis Greig was a fine all-round ath- | lete who played for Scotland in inter- | national foot ball matches. He thought he knew all about the tech- | nical business of keeping fit. However, as the years passed he had | to give up foot ball. The bones get | brittle, and after 33-35 a man may break one in the rough-and-tumble of rugby foot ball, when earlier he would escape with a strain or bruise. Greig | was afraid he would make fat, and he | started a daily run in sweaters to keep the flesh down. Result, a strained heart. | Jerks Good Exercise. | That gave him a problem to solve | He found the solution in a series of | physical jerks, a ten-minute session | done night and morning as regularly and habitually as a man brushes his | teeth. That, with some riding and | tennis and golf, did the trick, and did | it without taking any of the mental or physical energy needed for a good | day’s work, and social, court and offi- cial occasions when a man has to look fit and fresh (and feel it, too, if he wants to survive). The Prince discarded his sweaters and his runs. He went on playing squash, but in a singlet and shorts. He adopted the night-and-morning physical jerks routine. He found that a man can burn off superfluous tissue exercising naked: that the use of heavy sweaters is a snare and a de- lusion. He rode harder than ever. But pres- | ently he had to give that up, too, for | state reasons (after all, eight or nine | fox-hunting folk regularly get killed, | and a score badly damaged, every sea- | son in England). What could he do to fill the gap, now that he had sold his horses, given up his hunting box? He | decided to take up golf, a game he | had never gone in for; and se by way of golf he came to gardening. He needed a country home within easy reach of town, and close to a golf course. For a couple of years he leased friends' places; and then he made his own country place at Fort Belvedere, on the edge of the park and forest of Windsor. and close to the mighty pile of Windsor Castle, chief seat of the English kings for a thou- sand years. Fort Belvedere lies in a belt of un- spoiled country 35 miles west of the capital, and within easy run of half- a-dozen golf courses. The King plays regularly on the Sunningdale course. He drives over with Cora, his favorite Cairn terrier, plays a round, drives back. He practices a good deal. James Braid—known among golfers as “the doctor” because he is good at curing faults—has coached him. His handi- cap used to be 16; it is nearer 10 now, Lack of care in putting and impetu- | osity with his iron shorts are his weak- nesses. But he may yet get down to | a single-figure handicap. i Likes Digging in Earth | In his garden he does not merely | discuss technical matters with his gar- | deners—he knows a lot about gardens | now. He himself takes a spade and goes digging, and planting. He has had a swimming pool built there. i When he leaves Saint James and | moves over to Buckingham Palace he | will have his father’s tennis court, | which he can convert for squash, and | the big mile-round walled garden; and he may later install a small gym- | nasium. But for his regular exercise | he will still depend on “the Fort,” as he calls his country place. | He has a passion for Fort Belve- dere and makes no attempt to conceal it. He told a friend lately that the fort is to him what Sandringham was |to his father. It is his home. When | the question of possible alterations in | interior arrangements and personnel at Buckingham Palace cropped up, the King told the functionary with whom he was conferring that he did not ex- pect to be at the palace more than four days a week, even in the season, and so would not require pages of the backstairs and other officials whose | origin dates back to the ancient days | of sword and buckler and danger of & stab in the back. “The fort is so close | (Continued on Tenth Page.) ¢ Sir