The Brecon County Times Neath Gazette and General Advertiser for the Counties of Brecon Carmarthen Radnor Monmouth Glamorgan Cardigan Montgomery Hereford

KAISER RULE. The Sort of Thing the Germans Call Freedom. [By OBSERVER."] [The Kaiser, in a recent speech, contrasted German principles and Anglo-Saxon prin- ciples. German principles, he claimed, mere based on right, freedom, honour, and morality; Anglo-Saxon principles on the desir-e to make all the peoples of the world work as slaves to the Anglo-Saxon race. It is possible that German principles, in theory. may be based on right, freedom, (Oc., lnit in practice there is a difference well indicated in the following article from the pen of one who has lived in Ger- many and studied closely the conditions described J The working-class political organisation in Germany is the Social Democratic Party, and its leaders comprise not only workmen, but lawyers, journalists, and other middle- class people who are dissatisfied with the autocratic regime that controls the Empire. The Party has done a great deal to dis- seminate ideas among the mass of the labouring population, and at one time it was feared in high quarters that it might grow strong enough to enforce drastic changes. It was this fear that instigated Bismarck to carry through the Anti- Socialist Law. Gradually, however, Germany's rulers made the discovery that the Social Demo- cratic Party was a kind of lightning con- ductor—that the effect of its work in attracting and marshalling the discon- D tented was to prevent action rather than to promote it. Accordingly the Govern- ment concluded that they might safely allow the Party to spring up again, to hold meetings, to issue its literature, and to organise elections. The secret of this harmlessness was the anxiety of the Socialist leaders to avoid alarming the authorities, lest their organisation should be suppressed. Hence, although the Ger- man workman might grumble, he has never, for the last thirty years, made any attempt to show that his revolutionary enthusiasm could go beyond talk. How the Kaiser Treats Democracy. That talk alone can never bring about changes in Germany will be realised from a glance at the workman's political posi- tion. It it true that he has a vote for the Imperial Parliament (Reichstag) and has returned a considerable number of repre- sentatives to that assembly. But the Reichstag is not a Parliament in the sense in which we understand that word in Great Britain. It has no control over the Govern- ment—which is appointed by the Kaiser. It cannot initiate laws—that right being strictly confined to the Imperial Council, composed of representatives of the Govern- ments of the different States forming the German Empire. It has indeed one power-that of refus- ing to pass the Annual Budget, which is mainly concerned with the funds for mili- tary and naval expenditure. But this weapon iiivariiioly breaks m ^ts iicmd when its use is attempted. Directly the Reich- stay declines (as it has done upon one or I two occasions) to pass votes for increased armaments, the Kaiser invokes his power of Dissolution. He then takes up the role of a party leader, issues a manifesto de- nouncing the Social Democrats as traitors I to the Fatherland, and demands from his I people a repudiation of all their works. To this appeal the German population have always responded in the desired sense. Torn between loyalty to his Sovereign and loyalty to his party, the German workman has in the issue obeyed his master's voice ''—the natural result of his prolonged school and barrack-room education. I Throttiing the Elector. Besides the Reichstag, there are the various State Parliaments, the most impor- tant being that of Prussia—for whatever tune Prussia sings, the rest of Germany must chorus. The Prussian Parliament is elected oil what is known as the three- class system. The electors are divided into three groups—the rich, the middling well off, and the workers. Each of these classes in each constituency elects one-third of the Electoral College, which body in its turn chooses the representative to Parlia- ment. Under this scheme, the workmei, are naturally able to secure only a mere handful of representatives, because the rich and the well-to-do together have double the power of the industrial voters. For instance, in the town of Essen, Ilerr Krupp's single vote elected one-third of these who compose the Electoral College, and a few hundred bankers and hotel- keepers elect another third, while the remaining third are chosen by the thou- sands of workers toiling in Krupp's factory. b The political power of the German work- man is also strictly limited in other direc tions. Municipalities are governed by experts and Councils elected on the three or more "class" system-which means that the mass of the population can never hope to be fully represented on them, since the votes of a few rich men outweigh those of thousands of working people. 0 Quoted from "If the Kaiser GovernQd Britain.' by William Stephen Sanders.

PHEW! AND BANG! [British Official. A snapshot of British gunners working a 6 in. Howitzer on the Western :front during the Kaiser's battle." They are ramming home a shell. In the sweltering heat the gunners strip for comfort but they still wear their gas masks ready for any emergency. -i

BACK TO WOODEN" GUNS" ■ {British Official. A uerman mtnnenwerfer captured by our troops. The barrel is made of timber bound with galvanized iron wire. It throws 10 inch tin canisters filled with high explosives. timber bound with galvanized iron wire. It throws 10 inch tin canisters filled with high explosives. I

IA SHEAF OF WAR STORIES. I Great Deeds Performed by all the Services. Italian Middy's Adventure. It was in the Mediterranean. A trans- port laden with troops with lights out was plunging through rough seas Ahead, its escorting destroyer was making sudden bolts into the darkness of a stormy night. Suddenly came a cry from a look-out man in the destroyer. She swerved violently, and the torpedo from an enemy submarine went past her. Quickly the destroyer sig- nailed to the transport to go full speed for port, and then, turning to where she I judged the submarine must be lying, opened fire and dropped depth charges. Almost simultaneously the submarine had launched another torpedo, and the adver- saries became linked in disaster. The tor- pedo struck the old destroyer almost amid- ships; she cracked in two and began to sink. At the same moment the submarine, her hull pierced in several places by shells or shattered by the depth charges, rose to the surface and then went down for ever. From both vessels the crews threw them- selves in the water. The midshipman was carried deep down by the suction of the sinking destroyer, and when he came up he was battered and stunned. When his breath came back he shouted to his men, but only three heard him and managed to join him. He counselled them to float as much as you can, wait for the dawn, and then we may be able to see how the coast lies. Don't lose heart. Aren't the enemy in the sea too? Presently one of the miniature rafts which destroyers carry floated towards them, and they clung to it. An hour passed, in which the midshipman cheered his companions with humorous- heroic advice. With the dawn a boat came into sight. It was one of the small boats of the destroyer with some twenty sailors in her. Then happened the cruel blow of fate. An officer leaned out of the boat, and in guttural tones asked them if they surrendered. It was one of their own boats, but it was full of enemy sailors. Worn out, frozen, and helpless, the mid- shipman shouted No! To his men he cried, "What will you do?" They all answered, No surrender!" One, in mockery, even called to the boat near by: "Reverse engines!" They tore two pieces of wood from their raft and, using them for oars, tried to increase the dis- tance between them and their only apparent chance of life. The Germans in the boat did not try to seize them; they left them to sink and made off. Then the four began an almost hopeless effort to drive their raft towards the distant shore. For six hours they swam, and at last found themselves off a rocky shore, on which the waves burst. They abandoned themselves to tlic flood and were flung violently ashore. The End of a U-Boat. The Germans are appealing for volun- teers for their Navy, and in their adver- tisements is the significant phrase, No compulsory submarine service." This means, of course, that the German authorities are aware of the feeling amongst their own people that the U-boat campaign is not popular. There are, of course, stout-hearted Germans willing to risk all for the chance of winning their way, but even the bravest of them are coming to understand that, when they set forth to sea on a piratical expedition, the odds now are heavy against them. Here is a story of the end of a large U-boat that left harbour in April, just before Zebrugge was "bottled up" by that brilliant action of our Navy. This U-boat, creeping out to sea, collided with a mine, and the heavy internal explosion which followed shook the vessel from end to end and threw the more delicate mechanism completely out of gear. Water began to pour in aft between the plates forced apart by the explosion, and all efforts to bring the submarine to the surface failed. The only chance of escap- ing alive was to force open the conning tower and forward hatches, and trust to the compression of air in one part of the vessel to force each man, torpedo-like, clear to the surface. The chances against success were very remote, for water was continually rushing into the U-boat, and at a depth of over 20 fathoms the pressure on the hull was very great. The men were forced by the on-coming water to remain forward. The commander and the engineer officer took their places in the conning tower. An endeavour was made to open one of the torpedo hatches, but the outside pressure proved too great. The doors remained immovable. After some of the men had drowned themselves in despair of escape, one of the crew succeeded in forcing the aperture of one of the torpedo chambers, and, as the mass of water increased, the air pressure at last became sufficient to enable them to force open the forward hatches and the conning tower hatch. The men who were still alive were shot up to the surface, and scarcely had they reached the sea level than the pressure of air burst their lungs, and with a terrible yell some twenty of them sank like stones. The shrieks drew the attention of the crew of a British trawler which was passing the spot, and she at once hastened to save life. There were only two survivors. A Bayonet Charge. Congratulations to the Australian Imperial forces on the V.C. just awarded to one of their brilliant young officers, Lieut. Percy Storkey. He led a platoon in an attack on an enemy trench, and scored a brilliant success. On emerging from the wood the enemy trench line was encountered, and Lieut. Storkey found himself with six men. While continuing his move forward a large enemy party- about eighty to 100 strong-armed with several machine-guns, was noticed to be holding up the advance of the troops on the right. Lieut. Storkey immediately decided to attack this party from the flank and rear, and while moving forward in the attack was joined by Lieut. Lipscomb and four men. Under the leadership of Lieut. Storkey, this small party of two officers and ten other ranks charged the enemy position with fixed bayonets, driving the enemy out, killing and wounding about thirty, and capturing three officers and fifty men, also one machine-gun. Supreme Fearlessness." Sergeant Albert Mountain, a Leeds man, serving with the West Yorks Regiment, t) ZD found himself, with his company, heavily attacked by the enemy. At first they hastily dug themselves in on a sunken road, but owing to intense artillery fire they were obliged to vacate the position and fall back. The enemy in the meantime was advancing in mass preceded by an advanced patrol about 200 strong. The situation was critical, and volunteers for a counter- attack were called for. Sergeant Mountain immediately stepped forward, and his party of ten men followed him. He then advanced on the flank with a Lewis gun and brought enfilade fire to bear on the enemy patrol, killing about 100. In the meantime the remainder of the company made a frontal attack, and the entire enemy patrol was cut up and thirty pri- soners taken. At this time the enemy main body appeared and the men, who were numerically many times weaker than the enemy, began to waver. Sergeant Mountain rallied and organised his party and formed a defensive position from which to cover the retirement of the rest of the company and the prisoners. With this party of one non-commissioned officer and four men he successfully held at bay 600 of the enemy for half all hour, eventually retiring and rejoining his company. He then took command of the flank post of the battalion which was in the air," and held on there for twenty-seven hours until finally surrounded by the enemy. Ser- geant Mountain was one of the few who managed to fight their way back. The official record says that the sergeant's supreme fearlessness and initiative un- doubtedly saved the whole situation," and now he is Mountain, V.C. That is his real name and title, although he really joined the Army as a Bantajn New Use for German Language. There are in the American Army many men of German ancestry. A company largely composed of these men marching b towards the front met a column of German prisoners returning from it. The Germans were slouching along despondently, with the cheery American jokes of their escort falling harshly on their ears; their heads lowered as this fresh detachment of their detested conquerors came into view along the road. But their heads were lifted in amazement on suddenly finding themselves assailed trenchantly and abusively in their mother tongue by the newcomers. The tor- rent swept them with contempt, for their obedience to such a misconceived hound as the Kaiser, for their taking sides with Prussian devils against all decent people the world over, and for making themselves the scum of the earth by their methods of fighting, so that their relatives in a free country had to come 4,000 miles to wipe them off the face of it. Right Spirit But Wrong Way. A young Worcester man has had a strange experience of the war. He J01** up early, received a blow on t e ea the butt of a rifle, and in 1915 obtained Royal'Welsh Fusiliers, but wasisent tohos^ pital when an ammunition box fell ou h.s toes which were amputated, bourne next smu'cro-led himself on board a transport, and spenTsome weeks in the trenches ■» posin^ as a serge^t-major. The trick was discovered, and he was tour sent to England, and commended for In. courage!

A LOOK ROUND. "The Prince of Peace." [ [BY SENTINEL."] THE Kaiser keeps a tame dog to ■ bark for him, one Karl Rosner, a Berlin newspaper man, whose duty it is to describe for the German people his attitudes and to record the precious words which drop from his lips. Of course, he is only allowed to repro- duce those which the Kaiser thinks will p have the effect he desires at the moment. | When the German armies were pressing I On to the Somme. it was the All-Highest Nvho spoke. This is my battle he aid, as his Germans were mowed down like ripe corn by the fire of the British Machine-guns. We commented at the time on this ogre-like boast. Now the attitude is changed. Standing amid the zn troops whom the French and British Have fought to a standstill, he is The Prince of Pence." who sends his own doctor-to bind up the wounds of British prisoners, who proclaims that Germans love justice, freedom, and mercy, and Promises that when the enemy is beaten, we Germans will preserve our conception of Christian duty towards the ill and wounded." We who are accustomed to accord titles like All Highest" and Prince of Peace to God alone are sickened by these blasphemous claims by one whose hands are dripping with the blood not only of millions of fighting men, but of innocent women and children too. Peceiver or self-deceived, William IT. '8 to us the embodiment of the greed, hist, and cruelty which have turned Earth into a Hell. The Scriptures speak of those who "have their con- sciences seared with hot iron." That describes exactly the Prussian War Lord, who can say: We will so wage "oar and so treat those beaten in battle that we may be able to recall with a clear conscience and without remorse every day and every act of these hard times." Will the Kaiser, will Hindenburg, will J^irpitz, indeed recall with a clear conscience and without remorse the tfturdered men and oatraged women of Belgium, the half-million of slaughtered Armenians, the twelve thousand victims of the U-boats, the hundreds slain in London and elsewhere by the bombs rained from the skies, the helpless pri- soners, starved, tortured, mobbed, and spat upon in the streets and camps of Germany? If so, we can only look "I)on them as hardened and impenitent tnurderers, fit only to meet the mur- derer's fate of death with ignominy at M-Je hands of the common hangman. The Kaiser has never been a prince of Peace." He confessed, the very next breath after he ^'lauiied the title that his aim throughout his reign had been to maintain his army at the level to which his grandfather had raised it, and to develop it still further. He wished t,o maintain peace just so long as Ger- many could obtain all that she wanted I without drawing the sword. These are the morals of the highwayman who demands "Your money or your life." If you give up your money peaceablv, he spares your life. Why shouldn't" he? ] f you resist, he tries to take your life and your money too. That is William's idea of being a Prince of Peace." War was forced on Germany because the whole world would not bow down to Germany's will. Now, the Kaiser has told us that we can have peace whenever we like; but we can have it only if we recognise the victory of German arms.. That is to say, we can have it if we give Germany everything she chooses to want. No thank you! Another German, Dr. Paul Lensch, in a book recently pub- lished..has said, quite rightly, that the struggle between two different views of life which cannot both exist at the same time. The British and Ameri- can love of freedom, he tells us, is unsound, and must be replaced by Ger- man discipline and submission to the State The British workman, he thinks. will become A very useful person when he has got his ideas of liberty out of his head and becomes the sort of tame slave that Prussianism has made of the Ger- man. He will soon find his place," says this wonderful Socialist doctor. Do we like the prospect? Well, we ought to be very thankful to the Prince of Peace," his tame dog, and learned professor, for letting us know what they have in store for us if we accept their kind offer of a peace based on "the victory of German arms." None of us would think life worth living on such terms..