The Amman Valley Chronicle and East Carmarthen News

Our Note Book. By RRNGER. PROFIT AND LOSS. "We are in a to-day when we can look back over the events of four years and form an estimate of what the war has brought about in the world. Opening a kind of profit and loss account, we can see what a terrible amount of death and destruction has resulted from it, and it is possible, on the other hand, to identify certain compensations that may even be termed gains. It will seem to some people strange that. I should suggest that the world has gained anything from this sicken- ing struggle of millions of humanity against other millions, but the point may become clearer by an explanation of my meaning. fll (July a word or two need be said about the bad-side of the War—its suffering, its wicked deeds, its waste, its irreparable mischief. This is all too well-known to everybody. lears will pass before some of the wreckage is made good. What remedy can there be for families who have lost their breadwinners? How can a father be replaced who has fallen in battle; will not the children be perma- nently injured by his death? Those are the losses of war that cannot be made good. Yet it is true that the results of the great confla- gration will, in many remarkable ways, benefit civilisation. One blessing can be identitied without difficulty-the war has made all war to appear so hateful in the eyes <■>1 mankind that there is now a prospect 'of the extinction of war itself as a practice among the nations. The lesson has been learnt that war does not pay, that there is no room in the world for rulers who delight in bloodshed, that the very machines of war are so dangerous and destructive that other methods must be found to settle disputes between Governments. T?t. ,s f.?f.??r sain. AnQther undoubted blessing is that the victory of the Allies has made it possible for many oppressed peoples to shake off the tyranny of their oppressors. It is evident that happier days are in store fur the Poles and the Armenians, for the Roumanians in Transylvania and the Italian inhabitants of the Trentino, for Alsatians and Lorrainers, and for the various races that live in Syria and Palestine and other lands where misrule has been rampant for centuries. Finally, a third gain from the war is manifest to us in the growth of true friendship between English-speaking people all over the world —friendship between us and our American cousins, and closer ties between the British Colonies and the Mother Country. Thus, in the midst of the sorrows that the war has caused, we build firm hopes for the future. It is reported that Dr. Havenstein, of the German Economic Department, has been protesting that the Germans aire not. only failing to support their ninth War Loan, but are seeking to withdraw their deposits and to hoard notes. We in this country understand very clearly that the hoarding of currency notes is an unpatriotic act and ■also wasteful. The only proper way of hoarding them is to invest them in national securi ties. There is an idea prevalent in many people's minds that the Government has ordered that pigs must be killed before Christmas.

THE OUTBREAK OF PEACE. THE REFLECTIONS OF "fl." All the thinking people in this country- and many who are possibly not very accu- rately described as cucli-are now turning their attention to the important problem of how we are to settle down comfortably and sensibly after the War. It is a serious question it is even a formidable and menacing question. If we do not face it wisely, we may suffer many grave evils. We shal do well, therefore, to consider what is the duty of the country, the duty of these in authority, and the duty of the private individual, in the emergency that now presents itself. The Government has taken certain steps in the way of getting ready for peace. I propose to mention here only one of tho- steps—the creation of a new Department under the Ministry of La bour. This Depart- ment is called the Civil Department of Demobilisation and Resettlement. It deals with such questions as the re-employment and resettlement of sailors, soldiers, airmen, and civilian war workers. The Labour Ministry has, of course, had its Employment Department for some time Labour Ex- changes worked under it, and unemployment insurance was arranged by it. Now this Employment Department is joined on to the new Department of Demobilisation, and in due course other Departments concerned with labour will be added from the Admiralty and the Ministry of Munitions. Thus the ma- chinery has been set up for grappling with the dislocation of industry caused by the Peace, a dislocation that may easily prove greater than the dislocation that was created in 1914 by the War. Why may it be greater? Firstly, because (Continued in column 6.)

A PRINCE'S FLYING TRIP. a liimis/t Official. An aeroplane starts for Prance with Prince albert, son of King George, at the back.

AFTER FOUR YEARS. [British Official. Refugees who have been in the grip of the Huns for four years are taken into safety by the British.

TWO VIEWS OF THE MOLE AT ZEEBRUGGE. [?/'<?t,/t0;ctf? j The hole that we made in the Mole by ramming it with a submarine rlled with explosives. J e 0 [B,ril;sh Official. A general view showing one ot the Mole's big gun defences.

OUR NOTE BOOK—continued. This is not true. There is no Order of the kind. It has been recommended, because of the shortage of feeding stuffs, but no instruc- tion has been issued. If you have a pig, you do as you like about it; its life or death rests in your own hands. During November the Ministry of Food is to liberate 12,500 tons of currants, raisins, and sultanas in time for use in Christmas puddings. It is hoped that the shops will distribute them fairly among their customers. There would be about half a pound per head in the ordinary course, but this will not be quite the case, because some quantity will be needed by manufacturers. Now that there is so much talk about the Russian Bolsheviks and about the possibility of Bolshevism spreading to Germany and Austria and other countries, it is worth while to recall what the Prime Minister said on the subject in Manchester a little while ago. "The Bolsheviks," he observed, "say, 'Let there be peace.' When asked, 'What manner of peace ?' they say, That is quite imma- terial let there be plenty for everybody,' and when you say, Where does it come from ? they say, That does not concern us.' What is the result? You have had neither peace nor plenty in Russia, and you [ will not get it here if you have men of that type." » I Throughout the war period we have been sickened with reports of German atrocities in many countries. One of the latest of these reports comes from Canon H. D. Rawnsley, the poet of the Lake District. He describes the shocking condition of six Serbian prisoners who were sent to a hospital. His informant, a lady, ordered a cup of tea to be given to each of these living skeletons, while they were waiting outside the hospital. A Prussian officer came on the scene and inquired who h.ad given them the tea, and. when told, he stormed at the lady for daring to break the rules. It seems that their admission papers had not been signed. "Somebndy," he said, will have to be punished for this." He ordered ten lashes to be given to each of the dying men, and in his brutality he mercifully hastened their end.

THE OUTBREAK OF PEACE—continued. the ships are needed to bring home the soldiers and cannot immediately be used for the transport of the enormous quantities of raw material that are wanted. There is a double shortage at present, for shipping has been reduced by the U-boat sinkings and a lack of raw material is known to exist in many of the leading industries. Secondly, the dis- location is affected by the demobilisation of women war-workers, many of whom will have to go, although they have been well trained for their present jots. We shall get safely through the crisis if we bravely adapt ourselves to the new conditions. Knowing that the outlook is serious, there- fore, every man and woman of patriotic spirit will try to continue to observe the rules and injunctions that have been laid down for war-time. They will save in all directions, and exercise the greatest care in using food, coal, lighting, etc., while taking due notice of the importance of avoiding the waste of any material that has its uses.