ise of some, he took no extreme view, but
considered it his duty as a Minister first of all to keep the railways
running for the benefit of the community as a whole, and then after
that to secure some arrangement, if it were possible, by which the lot
of the railway men could be bettered. He flung into the struggle for
compromise the whole of the ardor which for years past he had devoted
to combat, and after ceaseless struggles with both sides during some
days and nights lie was successful in fixing up a scheme under which
the railways were continued in operation, and the men got a good deal
of what they asked for. All sections praised him, and the new Lloyd
George was acclaimed as something of a revelation.

His tenure as president of the Board of Trade was his first experience
as Cabinet Minister. He, nevertheless, established innovations the
thought of which would have given respectable and long-established
statesmen a shudder. He cared not a rap for convention. He was not in
the least afraid of his permanent officials, who so often control their
department and their political chief with it. A Cabinet Minister in
Britain is hedged with a certain divinity and is almost unapproachable
except under stated conditions. Lloyd George bewildered people with
his approachability, his unpretentiousness. During the strain of the
railway struggle he would exchange a cheery word with the waiting
newspaper reporters as he passed them on going in or out of his office,
an unheard-of thing for a Cabinet Minister to do. The second day was
cold and inclement when he stopped among them as he approached the
Board of Trade entrance. "There is no need for you gentlemen to wait
outside here in the cold. Come inside and I'll find you a room," he
said. He caused a comfortable apartment to be set aside for them
during their vigil, and each afternoon he caused tea and cigarettes to
be sent down to them to beguile the long period of waiting. Here is
another little story of his early days of office. A railway smash at
Shrewsbury resulted in the death of twenty people and the injury of a
great many more, and in accordance with the usual practice the Board of
Trade sent down immediately an inspector to investigate the cause of
the accident. But on this occasion not only did the inspector go down
to Shrewsbury, but his chief, the president of the Board of Trade,
also, quite a novel course for a high and mighty Cabinet Minister. I
was