compressed this news. Instead of submitting it to the Censor who would
have denied it publication, Northcliffe published the despatch and with
it the revelation of Kitchener's long and serious omission. He not only
risked suspension and possible suppression of his newspapers, but also
hazarded his life because a great wave of indignation arose over what
seemed to be an unwarranted attack upon an idol of the people. But it
was the truth nevertheless.

At a time when England was supposed to be sensation-proof this
revelation fell like a forty-two centimetre shell. It was an amazing
and dramatic demonstration of the power of the press and it created a
sensation.

Shell shortage at the front had full mate in a varied deficiency at
home. Ammunition contracts had been let to private firms at excessive
prices: labour was restricting output and breaking into periodic
dissension: drink was deadening energy: in short, all the forces that
should have worked together for the Imperial good were pulling apart.

Northcliffe began a silent but aggressive crusade for reform in his
newspapers, while Lloyd George let loose the powers of his tongue. A
national crisis, literally precipitated by these two men, arose. The
Liberal Government fell and out of its wreck emerged the Coalition
Cabinet. This welding of one-time enemies to meet grave emergency did
more than wipe out party lines in an hour that threatened the Empire's
very existence.

The reorganised Cabinet knew--as all England knew--that the greatest
requirement was not only men but munitions. A galvanic personality was
necessary to organise and direct the force that could save the day. A
new Cabinet post--the Ministry of Munitions--was created. Who could
fill it was the question. There was neither doubt nor uncertainty about
the answer. It was embodied in one man.

The little Welshman became Minister of Munitions.

Lloyd George had led many a forlorn hope by taking up the task that
weaker hands had laid down. Here, however, was a situation without
precedent in a life that was a rebuke to convention. To succeed to an
organised and going post these perilous war times was in itself a
difficult job. In the case of the Ministry of Munitions there was
nothing to succeed. Lloyd George had been given a blank order: it was up
to him to fill it. He had to create a whole branch of Government from
the ground up. All his powers of tact and persuasion were called into
play. For one thing