A CABINET OF BUSINESS MEN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR :]
SIR,—Under the genial influence of the Christmas fireside elderly and prosperous men are prone to display a generous enthusiasm on behalf of a younger generation which they seldom exhibit in the colder atmosphere of a company's annual meeting. It is probably under some kindred influence that Mr. Frank Whitbread makes in your issue of Decem- ber 28th his vigorous appeal on behalf of the younger as against the elder business men for inclusion in the ideal Cabinet of the future. Has Mr. Frank Whitbread seriously considered where be is to lay his hands upon his model young man ? For his standard is a high one. The young man must, before the age of thirty-five, be a "director of an immense business." He must have the "talents of a Churchill," and he must have hair on his head and a fortune at his back. In short, he must be a combination of Whittington, Marlborough, and Absalom. Sir, would a Cabinet of such paragons command the confidence of those who mistrust the little garden of superior minds which at present guides the somewhat scattered fortunes of our Empire ? For myself, I doubt it. And may I, Sir, on behalf of those whose heads have grown up through their hair, call attention to one advantage which they possess ? It is an advantage of which, I imagine, no member of past or present Cabinets will be found to doubt the importance. They are pretty tough. " Which is some consolation,'—as the very old turkey remarked to the farmer who said he would be obliged to kill him for the London market."—I am, Sir, &c.,
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