From Our Own Correspondent.
Edinburgh, Aug. 1.
It is significant of the whirligig of modern political life that the majority of those present at Mr. Baldwin's meetings in Glasgow and Edinburgh had never before seen him in the flesh. When he arrived in Glasgow he was ""lost'" for some, minutes;'the friends who gathered to meet him could not pick him out of the rest of the gathering. Even at the luncheons he was shepherded with difficulty; the committee men, it was afterwards explained, were too anxious! In spite of his strange surroundings however, he passed through the ordeal with flying colours, and left a very favourable impression behind him.
Somewhat shorter in stature than the average, the new Prime Minister pleased Scottish supporters more by his quiet strength than by his inches. With no affectation or fussing he impressed his hearers, by a frank, open demeanour. To Scots ears also his dialect was rich and broad enough to seem homely and less English than the cultivated accents affected by some of our own Northerners. A grave-faced man, with a touch of sailor-like bluffness and shrewdness, he might be taken for an admiral in mufti. There are few mannerisms about Mr. Baldwin. Perhaps the most noticeable is the habit of bringing his jaws together with a snap—and they; are—powerful-looking jaws. The mouth is firmly moulded, and at the conclusion of a brief but telling sentence it closes with a jerk which.seems to say with finality, 'And that's that.' He makes free play with his hands, generally clutching his fist. but rarely pointing the finger or throwing wide the arms as Mr. TJoyd George is fond of doing. The voice is musical: his sentences roll out gracefully. yet with a scrupulous regard to plain, simple language. Never use a bie word if a small will do," has been practised by Mr. Baldwin. His delivery is slow and deliber rate. never wavering or _halfing for the correct phrase. Indeed, his oratorical style is a delight to the Press stenographers. He took his hearers neither to the mountain top nor to the valley below, but in a straightforward manner reviewed the political and industrial situation. Ié was essentially the address of a business man, delivered with a due sense of, responsibility, a fine grasp of essentials, and a calculated conciseness and clearness. He was the plain man with a plain direct message. Every argument was weighed, and! every sentence went home. His sincerity was transparent, and his scathing rebuke to "stunt-makers" of either a coming boom or a phantom famine was none the less. effective. be-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.