Llais Llafur

—————————— THE NEW DIRECTOR 1; OF FODD ECONOMY Ii SIR ARTHUR YAPP. By John Davies. I With Lord Rhondda as Food Minis- tor and Sir Arthur Keysall Yapp as his right hand man the country should feel assured that everything possible will be done to conserve the food sup- 'flie Welsh Coal ply of this country. The Welsh Coal liord is especially well known to read- ers of 'The Labour Voice," but the Director of Food Economy is, what the newspapers have described "a discovery of the war," just as the ex- cellent organisation (the Y.M.C.A., which 113 directs), is also a "discovery of the war." Why it should take a war before either could be discovered and appreciated it is difticult to say. But lamentable as it may seem, and cer- tainly is, it is only during the war that the excellence of the Y.M.C.A., and the genius for organisation pos- sessed by its General Secretary, have become patent to the mass of the people. To describe Sir Arthur Yapp as having a "genius for organisation" is no idle statement, but possibly few people outside the Y.M.C.A. know how obvious this is. In order to emphasise this, one has only to consider the truly wonderful way in which the Y.M.C.A. has extended its organisation to meet the needs of the great new army. In a little booklet issued by Sir Henry ¡ Procter, the hon. treasurer of the Asso- ciation, I find that the War Economy Committee of the Y.M.C.A. is respon- sible for 28 divisions, comprising 1,021 centres in England, Ireland and Wales. Scotland has an executive council of its own. These 1,021 centres consist of huts in training camps, station buffets, sleeping huts in London, huts in connection with hospitals, and for various naval centres. £ 60,000 have been spent in providing increased ac- commodation in London for men on leave—spent at urgent request of the military authorities. Thus 5,000 are provided for nightly. All this vast work has been brought into being since the war. The war work of the Y.M.C.A. at home is enough to establish the claim made on behalf of Sir Arthur Yapp as an organising genius,, but in addition to this there is the work in Franco with its 420 centres, Eastern Mediterranean (em- brasing Malta, Salonica, Mudros, Imbros, Tenedos, Brindisi and Tar- anto), with 33 oentres; Egypt, 58 centres; India, 30 contres; Mesopo- potamia, 47 centres; East Africa 16. It needs no vivid imagination to be able to realiso the tremendous organ- ising achievement ali this activity, all improvised by one single organisation in less than three years. The Y.M.C.A. has raised P,932,874 in public subscrip- tions in the period August, 1914-Nov. 1916. It is not my business to record the many activities of the Y.M.C.A. since the war, but simply to mention the more obvious ones in order to make good IllY contention that the man who was and remains responsible for it all has a remarkable talent for or- ganisation, sad that the great gifts Sir Arthur Yapp brought to the ser- vice of the Y.M.C.A. are now in an even more direct way at the service of the nation, and that in a very vital department. I imagine that the choice of Sir Ar- thur Yapp was made by the Prime Minister, and we in Wales know that Mr. Lloyd George seldom makes a mistake in selecting his lieutenants. Mr. Kennedy Jones, M.P., who had charge of Food Economy early in the jrear, was "some hustler," but I ren- ture the opinion that the General Secretary of the National Council of the Y.M.C.A. will prove even a greater hustler. Sir Arthur "yapp was born in 1869 at O rlot-on, near Leominster. lie was engaged for a few years in business at the latter town, where he first came in touch with the work of the association, to whose services he has devoted so many years. The Leominster Y.M.C.A. was in a bad bad way, and the com- mittee invited him to become its hon. secretary. He was then 20 years of age. Devoting his leisure hours to the work, he "made good," with the re- sult that Derby Association invited him to become its general secretary in 1893. He remained at Derby for five years, when lie became the National Council's representative in Lancashire. Whilst here he began the work for which the Y.M.C.A. has since become world- famed—Association work in the mili- tary training camps. Having now, by hard, successful work for the Association become a thoroughly-known and trusted leader, he was invited to become general secre- tary of the Manchester Association, and five years ago he became tho National Secretary. In connection with the war work of the Association a colleague of Sir Arthur says: "Here Arthur Yapp came into his own. Many have given their co-opera- tion, but they would, one and all, ad- mit that, humanly speaking, the pre- sent state of the work in the Empire j is largely owing to his indomitable faith and pluck and to his unceasing labours." An instance of his pluck may be given. The same colleague says: "We remember a meeting at the out- break of war, when he said: "Ve must make good this opportunity. If need be, wo shall sell every bit of property the Association has in order that the men of Ms Majesty's forces may be served.' Thus the man who has been called to high office at a critical time in the history of his country is a man who by his life-work has proved himself a man of tremendous energy; of proved organising ability; of great courage; with a clean vision, and with all dis- ciplined to the service of his fellows. Yes, the Directorate of Food Economy is in splendid hands. —John Davies.

AUTUMN ROSES. (A Soliloquy.) Sweet blooms on winter's threshold, My praises you command, Your loveliness is twofold Since death breathes o'er the land; With charms of mystic power Each one of you is blest, Like brilliant gems you glitter On waning summer's breast. Forerunning blasts of winter Come wafting o'er each face. To them with smiles so tender You bow with winsome grace. While shining hours get shorter And clouds become more dense. You seem to grow much brighter, Your splendour's more intense. The woodland leaves are falling In withered, writhing throngs, The bees no more are humming, The birds have ceased their songs: But you from shady bowers Keep smiling brave and calm, While tombs of parted flowers With perfume you embalm. The graves of fallen roses Bear shrouds of clammy smirge, And o'er them icy breezes Now moan a solemn dirge. Grey Summer dies a-weeping, Its harp with frost is strewn, While you, I hear, refraining The melodies of June. You're like the stars of heaven Enlivening frowning skies I guess you've strayed from Eden Arrayed in thorny guise! Or, are you orbs of essence From spheres where beauty reigns ? Your halos of effulgence Suggest celestial strains. Each morn the blooms of summer With pearls of dew were crown'd, But you of tints much purer In nets of ice are bound. On them we showered praises, Superb were they in form, Much more we love you roses That flourish in the storm. I fear more biting breezes Will crawl some silent night, And smite you from your perches With gusts of fatal blight. Your clan of bush and hedgerow Have fallen 'neath its" blade, Would I be spared the sorrow To see your glory fade. Ah! see on hills assembling The elements of strife, In garbs of mists conspiring To end your joyous life. If ere the break of morning To fragments you'll be hurled, You've done your duty smiling To brighten this old world. T. Morris Walters (Butts), Mount Pleasant, Brynamman (Carm.).

£ 50,000 FOR DISABLED SOLDIERS. A handsome offer of a gift of £ 50,000 has been made to Mr. Hodge, Minister of Pensions, by a Manchester gentle- man who desires to remain anonymous, the money to go towards the cost of institutional treatment of discharged soldiers and sailors who have been dis- abled in the war.

THE TRAGEDY OF A PEOPLE ?ii P 1 E I "SkRWA." (T.C. Du.iiiii). (dLu:r«<; ::1i vor.»hy L;i-.ra- ry. 1 3 net.) tl ,\or- gato. • The Serbians are a people who have been turned by circumstances from peaceful herdsmen into warriors, strug- gling continuously and with undaunt- ed courage and perseverance against the oppression of alien races; and everyone reading this fascinating little volume which has just been added to the Home University Library must be- lieve that a race with such a past can- not succumb to present adversity, but will arise again to take that place in Europe to which its history entitles it. Christians since the 9th century, the Serbs have occupied a country which has from time immemorial been the meeting ground of Christian West and Pagan East; and bitterly have they suffered for that fact. Under Dushnn in the middle of the 14th century they rose to power and influence, the king- dom comprised nearly all the countries of the Balkan Peninsula and the foun- dations of a great civilisation were be- ing laid, but the brilliance lasted for only for a few years and their fatal de- feat by the Turks at Kossovo in 1839 was the beginning of many centuries of subjection to other races. It is a far cry from 1389 to 1805, when Kara George led the revolt which was eventually to bring about the independence of his country, and throughout these years the history of Serbia has been an almost continuous record of oppressions, massacres, and ingratitude on the. part of those for whom the Serbians have bled. Used by Hungary as a buffer against the Turks, the Serbs fought and died and suffered martydom just as they have fought and died and suffered in the defenoe of their beloved country against the aggressions of Austria in its "Drang nach Osten." Set out as it is in this little volume, the history of Serbia since the Con- gress of Berlin in 1878 seems even more I tragio than that of its past, for the cold-blooded plotting of Bismarckian politics, against which a small nation and individuals are powerless, replace the more elemental forces of the earlier centuries, and we see a high-spicited people used as a pawn in the game of European politics, which shall bring gain to others, to them only suffering. With the foundation of the Prussian- Magyar Alliance and the beginning of the dream of a mighty Central Europe stretching from the North Sea to the Bosphorus, the fortunes of the inde- pendent and constitutional kingdom of Serbia became precarious. The absolute monarchies of Central Europe could not tolerate the existence, across the road to the East, of a democratic State, whose suffrage basis was wider than ours, and which had a ftfrm of proportional representation which we have not yet dared to adopt. Such a State had to be crushed if the Central Powers were to attain their ambitions, and the whole period is full of -it- tempts in that direction, culminating in the brilliant victories over Austria and the final horrors of the disastrous I campaign of 1915. To fully appreciate the tragedy and wickedness of it all, the whole history of the people should be read, and Miss W aring's volume offers an opportunity which none should miss.

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I SOLVING THE PENSIONS QUES- TION IN AMERICA. I The United States army is attempt- ing to solve the soldiers' pension in a very simple manner. Their War De- partment has instituted a form of State insurance. Every soldier on enlistment takes out all insurance I policy towards which he pays a small premium monthly by deduction from his pay. Should he be killed in action I his next of kin draw the insurance, while should he be so seriously wound- ed as to prevent his obtaining subse- quent employment the man himself is paid a monthly allowance under the .scheme. It saves a lot of worry, at- tendant at pension commit-too meet- ings. contentious cases and possible litigation.

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 CURRANTS AND SULTANAS. I T'no Food Controller has taken over I ?i! currants an<l sultanas now afloat and shipped to the United Kingdom. Pei'?us ow?ig fcuch shipments luit?? I furnish before Octobcr 20 full particu- lars to the Ministry. Mwaooiii i«* m Printed and Piihlished by "Llais Uaflll'" Co. Ltd, Ystalyfera. in the Co-unty of Olainor-ati, Oct. 20, 1UL7