THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1936.
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The
Father
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN, the "Maker
of Modern Birmingham," noted states- man, creator of the Liberal-Unionist Party, and leader of the Tariff Reform Party, whose centenary is being celebrated
Phone 24758, 27778. 27779. in London and Birmingham to-day, was one
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of the most noteworthy civie administrators of modern times and one of the Empire's biggest men.
Two of his sons, Sir Austen Chamber- lain and Mr. Neville Chamberlain, inherited their father's political, genins.
Chamberlain was a Londoner by birth and a citizen of Birmingham by accident. His work in conjunction with Joseph Nettlefold in devising the modern form of scrow made him a man of substantial menris by the time he was thirty- eight, and enabled him to retire from business. He became Mayor of Birmingham at the age of. thirty-seven, and held office for three years, o | mayoralty which is, perhaps, the most notable instance of individual municipal achievement in the history of English local government.
☆
THE popular conception of Joseph Chamberlain, based chiefly on the history of his political career, is that he was a hard,, dispassionate mau, merciless in crushing all opposition to his will
of
Fiscal Reform
who grimly pursued to the bitter end any objec, Joseph Chamberlain à portralt taken early in his
Hongkong Telegraph.tive on which his mind was fixed.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8, 1936.
A NOTEWORTHY
CENTENARY
.
gifted
NOTES OF THE DAY
political cirer.
JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN
Born in London: July 8, 1836, . Mayor of Birmingham: 1873-76, Became Liberal M.P.: 1876. President Board of Trade: 1880.
Objected to Gladstone's' Home Rule Policy and left Cabinet:
1885.
Colonial Secretary: 1895-1902.
Started Tariff Reform Campaign and left Cabinet: 1903. Retired from active polítics: 1906. Died: 1914.
L
It was
But this was only one side of the man who before his death had earned the affectionate so- briquet of "Joe." Away from the strife and turmoil of politics, in those intimate and personal relations of private life which the Birmingham' and London will public eye seldom is privileged to observe, his character revealed to-day pay fitting tribute to
rare qualities of mobility and Joseph Chamberlain, noted charm. He was a brilliant and British statesman, the centenary witty conversationalist. of whose birth falls on this date.
In British possessions overseas, Chamberlain will be best remem- bered for his work, as Colonial
When so much is said of diet with an acute sense of humour, Secretary, on behalf of the Em-of underfeeding and overfeeding; which quabled him to enjoy a pire, in the future glory of which it is little short of wonderful to joke against himself. he had unquenchable faith. It hear that there is a people ini At the same time, he Waa is natural, however, that his Europe to whom indigestion is peculiarly sensitive, evincing an memory should be kept green in practically unknown. This is said almost feminine capacity for Birmingham, of which city he of Denmark, and the cause of this compassion towards the weak was three times Mayor. His blessed immunity is reputed to be and the unfortunaté. S. MOUTRIE & Co., Ltd. services carned for him the title the general use of rye bread. It is just this sensitiveness, I think, commentator, that of "Maker of Modern Birming not the food of the poor only, but says ham One of the features of the is eaten by all classes. Now, a at times made him appear Birmingham celebrations will be sound digestion is at the root of arrogant-and-intolerant-of-cri
ticism. When he felt himself in if indigestion special meeting of the City good health, and
the right, he resented criticism, Council, where, in 1903, Joseph could be got rid of there would be because it seemed unjust. And, Chamberlain made the first end of many grievous ille above everything, Joseph Cham- speech in his campaign advocat Even the much-talked-of rheumat berlain detested injustice. ing preferential tariffs for theism might be banished-for all Among those who knew him
say to the con- as Dominions. Members of the that doctors can
a man and a friend, he in- trary. So definite ' Chamberlain family will be pre-
statement spired a loyalty and devotion sent, including Joseph Chamber about the effects of eating rye luin's two sons, Mr. Neville bread should not be lightly set Chamberlain, the Chancellor of aside; nothing should be that! the Exchequer, and Sir Austen promises such beneficial resulta. Chamberlain, a past Secretary of One thing in support of the asser- State for Foreign Affairs. tion is that there are no Joseph Chamberlain was a native joyous enters to be found than the Danes. They acem to eat with of London. He went to Birming- ham at the age of 18 to look more than a mere physical delight. Anothor point is that in Sweden, after his father's interests in a
where also rye-bread, in the form screw-making business, and
that has within recent years be- within a short time he was in
come known in England-bread charge of the commercial side of
in the form of this. hard, the firm. He showed no active
dry cakes-one may see teeth ini interest in politics until he was
perfect order. eveu, and white.' nearly. 30, but later he became Has that not something to do with concerned in the cause of popular the healthful practice of eating! education and in November, 1860,
rye-brend?
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a
guined election to the Town Coun-
cil of Birmingham. In 1873 he
more
was elected Mayor of Birming- about 50 acres; and in their place ham, at that time a large and un-constructed fine shopping streets. prepossessing industrial town. "By God's help Birmingham He was twice re-elected to
the shall not know itself," Joseph office. During his term a com- Chamberlain said, and he spoke plate revolution took place in municipal affairs, and the town truly. To-day the gas under- was raised from mediocrity. to taking has developed into the great importance in the world of largest of its kind in the world; municipal government. He was the electricity supply and trans- responsible for the schemes for port undertakings have been ac- acquiring the gas works and wa- quired; over 12,000 municipal| ter supply. While he was Mayor, houses have been erected since also, the Town Council approved the War; and Birmingham's a scheme which, at a cost of death rate is now lower than that{ £1,500,000, swept away a collec- of any other large industrial city tion of slum tenements covering in the country,
for the bitter virulence which marked the attacks of his politi- cal enemies.
THE first time I met Joseph party given by the late Dr. Rob
Chamberlain was at a dinner
who may be preferred," he de- clared; "but I confess it was different when I was on the other side. Fifteen years ago I certainly was resolved to be Pre- mter in a Liberal succession. If I had been, you would have seen established that condition of Liberal Imperialism of which Rosebery and others futilely dream at the present time."
During further conversation he strenuously denied the charge of being a recent convert to Imper- ialism. "Why," he exclaimed, when I was in the Cabinet of 1880 I was then-particularly in respect to Egypt-accused of being a Jingo. In regard to the maintenance of England's Im- perial position, I have never held any views other than those which I advocate to-day."
Some time afterwards I heard an interesting story which fully confirmed Chamberlain's claim to consistency in the question of Imperialism. In 1857 John Bright, after losing his seat at Manchester, came down to Bir- mingham to contest an election there. Joseph Chamberlain, then barely twenty-one and an. ardent Radical, nlready stood on the threshold of his great public career. Bright, the Tribune of Free Trade, undoubtedly would have been received by Chamber- lain as his ideni of a party lender but for one circumstance. He had voted against Lord Palmers- ton on the question of the Chinese War. Fiery Radical though be then was, young Chamberlain. "ould not reconcile this action with his
Im- own, inborn perialist sympathies. According- ly, he strained every nerve to. keep Bright out of Birmingham.
.
WHEN Joseph Chamberlain son Roose in April, 1900. · It was left England in the cruiser. my good fortune to be placed Good Hope on the difficult mis- next him at table, and I well re- sion of tranquilising, South member his energetic comments Africa after the conclusion of on a rumour (then being widely the Boer War, it wasTM BLUE canvassed in the Press and known at the time (and perhaps elsewhere) that he contemplated is forgotten now) that twelve succession to the Premiership, years before he very nearly Emphatically he denied having embarked on a similar voyage any ambition to become a but under very different circum- Unionist Prime Minister. stances.
"I um ready to serve under which more than compensated Arthur Balfour or anyone else'
SIDE GLANCES By George Clark
In the spring of 1889 the Governorship of the Cape be- came vacant. Chamberlain, whilst 'n prominent supporter of the Government, held no minis- terial office. Lord Salisbury thought, with excellent reason, that here was an ideal man at hand for the position. It would be incorrect to say that the Governorship actually was of- fered to Chamberlain and de- elined; but certainly he was given. to understand that the opportun- ity was given to understand that the opportunity was open if he cared to embrace It. Acceptance, however, would have meant his retirement from the Parlia mentary scene at a particularly critical stage of British political history. Thus Chamberlain dis- missed the prospect from his, mind.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to speculate on What Might Have Been' if Joseph Chamberlain hud been established for five years in residence at Cape Town, within |travelling · distance of Kruger. I am among those who believe that with such a man on the spot the issue of peace or war might never have arisen: or that if and when it was forced, England would not have taken the field in the slip-shod, unprepared, Ill-in- formed condition which more than once during that long and bitter conflict imperilled her Im-
"Oh, some friends went away for the summer and asked us to perial supremacy in
Africa. keep him,"
South: