Baldwin's Tin Box

Only one Briton, Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, has $1,250,000 to administer at his discretion for the purpose of drawing the Mother Country and other parts of the British Commonwealth even more closely together. This huge sum was given by an anonymous British donor as a thank offering for Mr. Baldwin's masterly success in keeping Mrs. Simpson off the throne of England. For some time, Lord Baldwin has been expected to make a tour of the British Dominions Beyond the Seas, to see about spending the $37,500 annual income from this Imperial Trust. But the Earl has been in no hurry. On the day he ceased to be Prime Minister, he discarded formal morning suit, heavy gold watch chain, and stiff wing collar of Statesmanship, and retired into natty brown and grey suits with colored shirts and soft collars to match. Last week a local horticultural show was staged on the grounds of the Baldwin estate, and neighbors gathered, wondering if the Earl in his address would at last announce his Empire tour.

"I am going to give speeches a rest.

I shall do a job I wanted to do last year but could not," said Lord Baldwin, and all present braced themselves for the announcement. The Earl then capped his climax: "I am going to go through my papers for the last 18 years. Those papers are reposing in a tin box, and if there is anything in them which will hang anybody then I will destroy them. ... It will keep me quiet for three months."

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