South Wales Weekly Post

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This v r will make the whole world poorer to a substantial degree. Here and there a ration like America (unless ultimately in- volved as a belligerent), a particular class favoured individuals, may draw profit from the extensive conflict, but the net effect uni- versally will be such impoverishment as not a century of subsequent recuperation can neutralise.^ For the present generation the war means all round heavier burdens. Mr. Lloyd George, speaking under the guidance of the best financial experts, declared in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon that the war expenditure of the Allies up to the end of the present year would not be less than two thousand millions,, more than a third of which must be borne by this country. In the invisible struggle between tilj resources of the' two great combinations --as v7tt] as battles fought on land or sea or in the air—Great Mri+a.in, the greatest of creditor nations, could for a period of five years stand expenditure at the present ruin- ous rate by means solely of its foreign in- vestments France, the next richest in tnie reside' could, from the same source, draw sustenance for between three and four years. Russia, with enormous potential wealth. Tbut limited immediate capacity to com mand gold, needs advances to satisfy- war requirements. Until 'the grip of winter is relaxed on her ports she has capital in wheat and other cereals, and a multiplied- of other exports not for the moment realis- able. Under the agreement negotiateri rfeney in payment of equipment and the rvnitions of «-ar is to be found bv Britain and France pending the bringing into the market the canital in kind held back by the ice in the Baltic and the dosing of the Hhck Sari. I", tl-ie Turks have on its throat-the narrow Par- danellpq. But Russian credit stands high at even the most stringent period in is- tory Russia has not once failed to pav ;n full tb* interest on its loans—and no diffi- culty is experienced in discounting its bills. For that which the Government of the Czar undertakes to pay is as good as paid, a' temporary aocom- j modation for a solvent* customer that can bp rei;<»d upon in .« evei obligation. In a, financial sense Great Britain, Fra.nce and Russia constitute an invincible alliance —the strongest conceivable. And credit in a world-war is a deadlier weapon than any visible on land, on or under the sea, or in the airj For it lies at the back and is essential to all other powers of attack and defence. Austro-G ermanv, in regard to this, are in a condition of hopeless inferiority. The tact is confessed in tile panic search for gold, the •'appeals to patriotisih for manifestations of its earnestness in not only the surrender of gold pieces for paper notes, but also of goM objects, even wedding rings, for melting in the Imperial Mints. For as the exports available to exchange against imports-the latter indispensable to the effective mainten-, ance of war—shrink, the drain upon the re-; serve of gold increases, since foreign credit- I ors will accept no other, form of payment for their goods. The financial strangle-hold is consequently no less suffocating than that of the Allies' cummand of the sea, which contributes to its effect. Ti-e oi--it has become more than a Triple Entente since the wai began—has, by means of the recent confer- ence in Paris, organised its resources on business lines. Every one of the three powers is to raise Joans on individual cred it, but the cost of goods bought in neutral country is not to be appreciated by competi- tion between the Allies—who henceforth will buy- conjointly—and loans such as have been iijade to Jie-igiuifl, Jtouniauia ann {-igrvia will in the future be a collective con- oern. By this arrangement Great Britain, France and Russia will contribute in equal proportions to tiie financial backing of any other ANy actually engaged in the war, or later involved. The combined resources of the leading partners leave no room for doubt regarding au ample supply of the munitions of ° war into which money advances are translat-e:1,ble under the present abnormal conditions. Loans raised for Bel grain, Rou- ma.nia and Servia are set out in £ s. d., but ti ,.iey reach the borrowers in food, guns, rifles and ammunition. The French 76m. quiokfirer, the surprise of the war, is outpoint-ed and outranged as a. weapon compared with the English gold sovereign. For the latter readies to the very vital parts of the enemy. But the end of it all is impoverishment for the fa-elHgererrts, differing for each only in degree. In these i.slunds a heavy price will have to be paid for immunity from future attack upon our freedom and the privilege to spread British ideas of liberty and justice all over the world. Prepared- ness for a war long foreseen as inevitable, prevented by the success of pro-German assurances that nothing was to be feared from Germany, might have averted it. Friends of Germa.ny in this country cer- tainly convinced the Potsdam War-lords that Great Britain could be kept immobilised and asleep until challenged to a fight for its lifie by an enemy in possession of the channel! ports, and the greater part of the French Navy. But as events shaped them- selves we happily find ourselves allied with powerful friends, and the outcome is a war promising the smashing of the Prussian militarism that for over half a century has been a menace to the peace of the world.

One of the most remarka-ble features of the war has been the fact; that France and Russia, as well as Germany, gained most of their success, as measured by the occupation of territory (intrinsically a quite deceptive method of judgment) in the end of August and the opening of September. In that period the Russians held quite half of East Prussia eastwards, from a line drawn south- westwards from Konigsberg, from which they were about fifteen miles distant. The French, on the other hand. were then in occupation of quite one-third of Southern Alsace, holding Altkirch and Mulhausm, aoo prng down the eastward slopes of the Vosges towards Strassburg it,self, whilst in Lorraine they had advanced .to a, point that threatened the railwav oommunication between Met* and Strassburg. Those treacherous early da-vg How roev were the hop?s th?- excited hew swift and bitter the d?Ilu?<mment' Hitory will note when the une comes that "D h' I time comes that F?nchstrat?v at the OUit-j 6?at 'was %een a„ itg worst, ? German ?t its b ¡;;t. the 0 \O}" e -erman at. 1, Jute tt  ?P?'<? bevond recognition I tUJ. e1' "res,, of d f t d.. I   defat ?? ???. the  aomidered hopel?Iy, drunk wIth suc-  the last f- 1_. Within the last few we4ek5; there ha-ve ?- (',<m1>4'1 a.VM a e "1 nd cf .».«* French SLSTt^S!, nc mv,aSlOn of Lorraille, j a movement of much greater significance than the sentimental and political raid into Alsace, a glaring examplie of the folly of permitting emotion to conquer the reason in warfare. We are gradually realising certain facts- of the most important nature. The German war machine, executing With remorseless precision the long planned cut raid upon Paris through Belgium, awaited, coldly calculating, an onset of the French und-er conditions that almost assured disaster to the latter. Nothing is more, honourable to our Allies, nothing more wonderful than the heroic tenacity that they exhibited after receiving a staggering blow t,hat would have shatteied the morale of the traditional Frenchmen, "more than men in the hour of advance, less than women in the hour of retreat." It may be stated briefly, with no com- ment upon the judgment of the proceeding, that on the 14th of August General Cas- telnau launched across the borders of Ger- man Lorraine his army of the 9th 11th, 15th, 16th and 20th Army Corps, with re- serve and cavalry division—a fourth of the standing army of France. On the 17th the French drove in the covering troops of the Germans and fell into the error that th'3Y had defeated the main army. On the 19th and the 20th there occurred at Mor- hange and Chateau Salins, well inside Ger- man territory, the first great battle of the war, and an unquestionable German victory upon the largest scale. The French ad stumbled into a trap. They were heavily outnumbered: there were masses of Ger- man heavy artillery with which their Nwn light field guns could not cope there was a most strongly entrenched position. Mr. Ashmead Bartlett, in the "Dailv Tele- graph," describes the French losses in the vain assault as "terrible," and the 20th Corps, heroically sacrificingits,elf to cover the retreat, is said to have lost 20.000 killed, wounded and prisoners, and most of its artillery. The Germans, in hot pursuit, drove the shattered French back to the long range of heights termed the Grand Crown of Nancy," and in their turn passed to the offensive—a daring and well planned scheme that, if successful-, would have meant a new Sedan for the French, and the destruction of Joffre's nVht wín. From the 1st t" thp contemporaneously with the battle of the; Marne, there raged a tremendous battle, in which the German losses can only be vaguely calculated from the fact that some forty, thousand lay dead upon the field. They had massed four hundred heavy guns, and the French had nothing with which to reply to them. "The French infantry were at one time greatly discouraged by the enemy's heavy guns, which blew thair entrenchments to bits once they had found tho range. '\Vhereme our heavy guns?' they asked, and there were even some who seemed to have acquired the idea that they had been betrayed." But, nevertheless, they held to their pooition with an iron tenacity. Thfly died where they stood, They-fought day and night without sleep, or food or-water. Their tie-Id artillery mowed down the German in- fantry as it swarmed to the assault with the dogged stubbornness with which the Germans attack. ,It hurled back the enemy from Nancy, exhausted and reel ing, with enormous loss, atad it saved Joffre's flank. But for Ca.steln.au the victory of the Marne might have been gained in;vain. These were terrible incidents. Once the French guns annihilated in the fog one of their own regiments that had sized a German posi- tion in a fourth of the time expected. Onoo a French regiment, massed in thick columns, found itself when the treacherous fog lifted within point blank range of the enemy's trenches and from that blotted-out corps j alone 700 graves were hilled. Once a Bayaria,n brigade wa-s annihilated by the hurricane from 48 French field guns, throe thousand being found dead in one wood.. The mighty combat drew at last. to its close; weary and baffled, the German sul- lenly retired, leaving to Nancy another crown, sanctified by the blood and heroism of her triumphant defenders.

——— ——— In the. mad frenzy of the German attack upon the Russian centre covering Warsaw, and the Austro-German efforts made regard- less of loss to dislodge the Russians from the Carpathians, may be discerned evidence of anxiety, verging on desperation, to secure a decisive success before the spring pre- sents a situation modified if not absolutely transformed in favour of the Allies. Appa? ent!y the idea was to win through to War- saw at all costs, and establish such a posi- tion in Galicia to tile disadvantage of Russia that a great body of troops could safely be transferred westward to co-operate in dealing a reeling blow to the Anglo French Belgic armies before these are strengthened by the new formations, the proportions and military value of which Germany has so far failedto ascertain, and in consequence is the more apprehensive. But the plan has miscarried. The at- tempts to pierce the Russian centre have finally failed, despite a prodigal sacrifice and wastage of human life, and in the Car- pathians the soldiers of the Czar remain unshaken and triumphant attests of unprecedend obstinacy and fury. Only in the Bnkovvina have the Muscovites yield.ed .ground, in a terrain of political rather than military importance, where the results can be reversed whenever ltussia chooses to send adequate forces. Here, as in East Prussia, the strategy of the Grand Duke makes light of the ruSes laid down in war-books, and discloses the same originality a.nd disregard for orthodox methods, as Russian units dis- play on battlefields, thereby confusing and as a rule defeating—the enemy. The Petro- grad correspondent of the Morning Post" prepared us for this opportunist and highly effective method of warfare at the first ° on- set of the struggle. mere concern for  O Mer-- concern for prestige or appearances would be permitted to keep a Russian force 1Jl an advanced and disadvantageous position when a stronger was available in the rear, from which battle could be offered. The retreat from and abandonment of Lodz illustrates this feature of Russian strategy. In the German Press the event was iubilantlv acclaimed as a great victory for General von Hindenburg. It was only gradually that the conviction was later driven home to the Teutonic mind that, the Russian withdrawal was effected so stealthily and in such perfect order that the Germans did not know that the city was empty of Russian troops until many hours after the latter were on their way to the prepared po- sitions in the rear. Afterwards the enemy learned to appreciate the soundness of the dispositions of the Russian High Staff in the failure to produce any impression upon the protective line drawn around Warsaw. The historian of the war is likely to fasten on the fighting in Poland as the occasion when German militarism received one of its dead- liest wounds. 1 The scheme for hitting out lustily in South Galicia and in Poland to attain results en- abling great forces to be detached for ser- vice against the Allies in Flanders and France has foundered irretrievably. Its principal output is the proof that the Rus- sian soldier individually is as superior to the German as the Russian Army is superior to tiie German. The idea of German invinci- bility in the field is a burst bubble. The German possession of strategic railways fa- cilitating the rapid transfer of troops from one front to another has compelled another retirement of the Russian Army from East Prussia, but it fails in securing the main object of exposing Warsaw to attack or causing a relaxation of the Russian hold on the Carpathians preparatory to an advance in force into Hungary when winter gives way to spring. And th& spring is the crucial period, con- templated not without good reason with grave misgivings by Austro-Germany. Tur- i key, from which much was expected, has proved as a reed broken to the hand. In the Caucasus the Turkish Army has col- lapsed beyond recovery. In a military sense it has been wiped out by Russia. The in- vasion of Egypt has resulted in an utter fiasco. The exigencies of a desert 120 miles wide allowed only of an advanc in divisions with an interval of at least a day between eacn to eke out a limited water supply. The overthrow and retreat of the first division upsets the whole plan of campaign. For the remnants of the first division will die of thirst unless admitted to the wells, by this time reached by the second. And the effect will react along the whole of the desert march, as the falling of one brick affects a row set on end within striking distance of each other. No other attack on Egypt need be expected until a railway is laid across the desert. Turkey, as. a belligerent, is practically played out. And any day internal re- volution may reduce its value as an Ally to the minimum point. Austro-Hiuigary, too, after the pounding it has received from Russia and Servia, is in nearly a bad a case. The Hapsburg Empire raises arm-id forces by the million, but of these only the Ger- mans and the Magyars—the latter mamly because of their instinctive pugnacity rather than loytlty--CaD be relied upon to fight in earnest: Soldiers surrender themselves as prisoners by the thousand because they have no stomach for sacrifice for a flag they either detest or has no meaning for them. And meanwhile the unnaturalness of the union between Austria and Hungary is be- ing emphasised by the latter's reluctance to permit its reserves of cereals being drawn upon to satisfy the urgent needs of Austria. It is an open question whether the condi- tion of Germany h better or worse than sug- gested by the actions of its Government and the modified tone of the German Press. For the Potsdam War Lords are capable of imitating the boxer who feints exhaustion to mislead his antagonist. Substantial re- sults would bo secured if the impression were produced in this country that Germany was at the end of her resources. For there might be an abatement of effort and a sorious falling off in recruits. In dealing with an enemy so astute and unscrupulous as Ger- many this possibility should net be over- looked. The readiness to the shortage 'in food &no mot?ala nee t?ya for projectiles is &UspidQ.U5, having lga.rd to tho fact that all the nespapers are under the control, of Government pensors. The other view is that matters have reached such a strait that concealment is no longer pos- sible. The threat of war against all merchant .siLips trading to and from Britis.h ports sng- gests an enemy driven to a corner like a rat. It has faill to torpedo a transport— though transports by the score have been passing for months between British and French .ports—for the sufficient, reason that these made the voyage at night when sub- marines are blind. and therefore impotent, so that the implied forbearance is wholly mythical. The chances are that when the paper blocka-de of the British 'seacoast is at- tempted, Germany, not Britain, will have cause to rue the consequences.

—I.. Strategy in the West has been drowned for months in floods of rain and seas of mud, and generalship has almost ceased to operate under the conditions imposed by trench warfare. It has been a soldier's war here for months past, in which the ? higher leading has counted for very little, and the soldierly virtues of the rank :!nd I file, and the regimental lieutenant and ca i?tain, for a vary Fe<Lt deal. But in the East there has been throughout the winter a. succession of changes, so swift, great and sweeping, and lighting of such terrific vehe- mence and slaughter, that we would have been held breathless couJd we have followed I day by day the thrusts and parries of bril- liant Russian and Austro-German leader- ship. Vast armies have been marched to and fro, and flung together in tremendous battles; and over the wide plains of Poland ■ and in the Carpathians, the pine and -aiow draped mountains, that the genius of Maurus Jokai will ever render romantic, there have been marches and onslaughts, beside whidh the daily narrzltive of events in the West—the gain or loss of a hundred yards here and there, or occasional lucky shell or fataJ fusilade—seems common-place and petty. I The German Army is without doubt a wonderful organisation. The week is closing with the most remarkable denouement to a series of conflicts that have raged along seven hundred miles. In the Bukowina the I Russian have been edged back, and a wedge driven between them and the Roumanians; in the Carpathians there have been desperate battles for the passes, in which the offen- sive- has been nearly everywhere German; on the Bznra there has been an onfall of almost unexampled violence; and when j from ne,arly all along the line had come news of a staiid uniformly successful for our Ally and disastrous for our enemy, there comes the news of yet another huge effort, this time very largely successful. East Prussia is all but completely clear of the Russians, who are committed to a retirement of some length. These are feats that, whether they fail or succeed, command respect for the huge re- serves of power they exhibit. The Russian dispatch is quite frank con- cerning a movenient that entails a great loss of ground and very heavily reduces the I small extent of German territory entered by the Allies. The enemy had rushed up by road and rail a force so superior in numbers to the Russians that a retreat was the alternative to battle under unfavourable conditions. The movement is upon the largest scale-frol" Lyck, just inside the East Prussian border to Wilkoweski, just over the frontier and in Russian territory, is a distance of sixty-five miles. Wilkoweski is upon the railway that runs from Konigs- berg through Insterburg and Gumbinnen to Kovno and Vilna; Lyck is upon the railway line that runs south-eat past the fortress of i Ossowietz in the great Russian base of Brest Litowsk, far to the east of Warsaw. The Russian retreat follows widely divergent lines. It is to be continued apparently to the fortresses. These are Kovno, fifty miles from the frontier-; Grodno, forty miles dis, taiit. and Ossowietz, fifteen miles away from the German border. The movement mav not be carried so far, and the Russians anticipate a battle upon an extensive scale. But the salient facts to 'be noted are that the Russians have vir- tually relinquished foi the present a grip upon the only slice of German territory that they had invaded, and which they had held since November last, aiid that the Russian troops in the regions north of Warsaw are less favourably situated than they were I before. We may see a renewed German effort to reach Warsaw. this time from the North, turiiiiig tile, Russian position 011 the Vistula. The whole line of the Russian troops north of the Vistula—a line extending to within two days' march of Tho.rn-would be menaced by such a. move. The retirement involves serious, but, we believe, only temporary results. It in no way idicates the sequel to a disaster. The Ger- mans themselves make no such claim. It is essentially strategic—the strategy of a gene- ral who is intent on beating the enemy under the least favourable circumstances for his opponent, and determined himself not to ac- cept battle at a disadvantage. It is proof, it is true, of the great strength of the Ger- mans, and of the extreme 11t-iie11lne¡; encoun- tered as soon as their territory is even ap- proached. The Gra.nd DL.k; 18 qllltt 1ll(l1I- ferent to the public opinion, which is usually perturbed by a retreat, and considers it is a sign of unsuccess. Hin strategy has had this justification-tliat, it has iiiflicted 'immense losses upon the Germans, who have, in return, only the negative consolation of a defence of their count-,) v of wholly unexpected success, and the occupation of a great tract of enemy country, which carries with it cer- tain valuable results. Our Allies, like a rope of steel wire, have bent at several pointy, held rigid at many inofe, have been snapped through at none.. i The one factor with which serious disap- pointment's to be felt -s that, upon the other ,q tliat, iipoll the otlier hand, we are still fr from seeing in the East any approach to a threat at Germany's vulnerable point, tho Province of Silesia; a threat clnoo enmigli last autumn, but now remote. We have got to do a great deal more than thwart +1, enemy- We have to smash him. Six mc.aths of warfare in tne East have so far Ipeo-"• indecisive. Against the gain of Galicia t.11w is the loss of West Poland. The enemy's los,ses have been much severe-, and tl-n drain upon Austria Hungary has been exhausting. But we have not yet made a leg inning of the attack upon Germany ?rop?-, and our tentive attempt have been J'pJdly and eS?ct?vely checked. Nobody reviewing the situation dispassionately can ,rne to any other con- clusion than that O'i. task J'S one that will yet strain every norve and muscle. The i present situation ds tantamount to a draw, with a large territoriail ain to" Germany. We must see what the spring and summer will do to strp Germany of her present ? iiesses.ancl strike ¡V her in her own fast- n.

J .The fia -ihyc Vewtfriog from German banks of £ 0,000,000 the greater part,; in munitions of war—is being generally interpreted by the French Preea as convincing evidence that the Balkan Power is about to throw in its lot with Austro-Germany and Turkey. On the part of the Bulgarians the explanation is offered that the £3,000,000 is but the second instal- ment of a loan negotiated before the war, and that there is no intention to depart from the attitude of strict neutrality. Brit with- out impugning the. good faith of Bulgaria, or assuming that it contemplates war against tho Allies, there is a reasonable presump- tion that neither Germany nor Austria would be depleting her own limited supplies of armaments and ammunition for the pur- pose of making good Bulgarian deficiencies unless thoroughly assured that these will not be used against the Germanic Powers. From our standpoint the most favourable view is that the enemy is disposed to strengthen Bulgaria., because, if strong, its neut.ra,lity even will impose a restraint upon Roumania I and Greece. Bulgaria, however, is and has been throughout a. suspect believed capable of joining tho, hereditary enemy the Turk, Germany and Austria, if thereby a good chance offered for wreaking vengeance on her Allies in the Balkan War, and securing, the territorial advantages struck for and lost in the thwarted attack upon Serbia and Greece. That unworthy move was instigated bv Austria, and baffled by the intervention of Roumania, with the result that the Jatter, with Servia and Greece, dictated the sion of the territory wrested from the Turk. Under the influence of the bitter chagrin in- duced by the shipwreck of her hopes, Bul- garia is known to have effected an under- standing, if not an alliance, with Turkey, and to have moved within thg, gambit of Austria" lf'ience. Since the outbre.-1 the present war its statesmen have been in- viting bids from each of the groups of I'? ligerents for Bi-ligatian support. The En- tente Powers could not satisfy demands-m-or,e particularly for KaYalla without estranging Greece and the other Balkan Powers, and it is possible that Aus- tria and Germany have been found more ac- commodating in the disposal of lands not yet in their gift or likely to be. A Bulgaria strongly a,rmed, but professedly neutral, would be a source of serious em- barrassment to Roumania and Seorvia—.so much so as to be capable of producing a de- mand that she should openly take one side or the other as a means of clearing the situation. For if the worst happened, and German persuasnon sucoeedcd in gathering the Bulga.rs into the common ruin that awaits the friends and Allies of Prussian militarism, one inevitable effect is the ap- pearance in the field as a compact federation of Roumania and Greece supplementing Servia and Montenegro. In which case the diversion created by Bulgaria will he speedily neutralised. For there is this to be borne in mind, that even if the politicians at the moment in control in --6" "I.o(,v the German and the Turk, there IS at least a formidable minority mindful of Russian, British and French aid in the past and indisposed to be associated with the 1'mks. And a turn of the wheel of for- tune may at any moment place the minority in power. The possibility of Bulgaria being committed to a policy of antagonism to Russia, Great Britain and France, has already elicited not uniiifluential protests. It must be rem-embercd, however, that only an insignificant few are able to take a com- prehensive view of the situation, and that the mass of the Bulgarian people are in the main influenced by the course of events in the battle area nearest to them. It is evident that when the snow melts in the mo-untadii passes political develop- ments for a time at leasit will chiefly pre- occupy the public mind. And these may take a surprising turn. Much of thø interest centres ori Ita.ly, wihioih is obviously halting between two courses. Giolitti is easily the! ablest and most powerful of Italian poli- I ticians and lie kaa or 4W(¡mi majority to his hand in the. Italian Parliament, when- ever he choses once more to emerge from retirement, to oust Salaudra. whose best weapon is believed to be a warrant from the King compelling a general election. Gio- litti is coldly c.lcuiia'ting, and, if he could persuade Austria to give up the parts of un- redeemed Italy still under the Hapsburg rule, would keep Italy out of the mael- strom. But the plausibiq assurances of Prince Von Buelow count for less than the declaration of the Emperor Frances Joseph. "No compensation for trea,cliery," enforced by the assurances offered by Court Burian and the other Ministers of the Hapsburg Emperor-King that Austria will not sur- render as inch of her territory. Giolitti, who first resisted the pounce on the Tripoli- tame, only latter to aggrandise credit for its success, is unlikely to resist any really popular and widespread demand for effect- ing the complete territorial unitv of Ttalv. Nevertheless, until the sentiment behind the movement for intervention discloses over- powering strength., the master politician of Italy can safoly be regarded as an impedi- ment to frank and open Italian assiDciAtion with the course of the Allies.

There is something fanatical about the way in which the German infantry rushes I to death. It cannot be the discipline so sternly drilled into their first line troops, Ir first ?, i iie t i o o r,?- for those are gone—dead or maimed, and most, too, of the officers, who were so iron- fisted. The German troops arc now mainly reservists, with whom years of civilian life have thawed the rigour of military servi- tude, or young recruits, as, inexperienced as our own levies in the slow, patient work of binding and compacting that transforms a thousand men into one unit, solid, single spirited. It is quite without parallel in the story of civilised warfare, this onslaught of living walls of fles and blood that arc put up against sheets of steel and lead, which shear through them at a velocity of three thousand feet a second. There was some- thing like it at Omdurman, in 1898, and perhaps fanaticism is at the root of German, .■is it was behind the Der vish, contempt for death. Only on the assumption that generations of life under an ubiquitous and untiring authority that orders and pries into all things have produced an unquestioning submission, a complete surrender of the individual will, rising superior to ail the terrors of modern warfare, can we explain those spectacles, witnessed a few days ago on the Bzura then on the Carpathians, and seen elsewhere a hundred times. The early disciples of Isilam in the first flush of a new born creed that in its propagat.ion pro- mises an espedal reward for those siain in battle are the closest parallels that we" can find for the modern Germans. To the natural patriotism of a nation playing for immense stakes and battling against odds they add the belief that they are honestly Ejacrificing themselves for the betterment of the world by the imposition of "kultuv." Alii the world, their theory runs, is to be elevated and renovated by the German I Spirit, which is to uproot the decadent, fitted the right iritv tlift dark corners and make the crooked" straight. There is a reall quasi-religious fervour about the whole business, with its stark tragedy, its colossal unreason, as of seventy millions of people suddenly g-one insane. u One divines a genuine belief that the triumph of German- ism is for the good of the world behind the German scheme of world a g g rand is en ye n t. It is a new Inquisition come to life, that racks and slays the body to save the soul. that plunges the Continent in blood and fire to purge and renew it by German "kultur. Behind all these great upheavals of his- tory there is some master idea, which turns the dullest and least imaginative actors in the dramas into zealots and martyrs. The Germans do appear sincerely to imagine that they are bent upon some mission for the goocl of all, and some such idea nerves them to sacrifices that morta/l men have Thever given before, and have never been imagined as capable of making. Considered in such wise the immense suicides of these front-a,! attacks by massed, crowded troops, after their utter and sanguinary futility has been proved a hundred, times, become in- telligible. Some have called the latest holo- causts evidence of despair." They have been, on the other hand, the commonplaces of German tactics when the enemy was within an ace of unheard-of triumphs, nor in his plight yet wholly beyond reinedy. An imbecile generalship that learned not,hing and forgot nothing offers but a lop-sided explanation of these huge, annihi- lations of humanity on the alter of Mars. It would still leave unexplained the readi- ness with which the victims offer their breasts" to the bulllets. The complete ex- planation may be discovered in this theory, •<n,t the Geannans are inspired as a nation with the belief that their conquest and dominance is essentially for the gooJ. and improvement of humanity. Islam used to offer the choice of the Koran or j the sAvord. Germanism gives a like alternative to the acceptance of "Kultur."

Every dog has its day. Yes, and cvel-y tinplate nowadays its license. The Swansea borough treasurer has worked during the past month until 11 o'clock each night. ♦ ♦ » » It does not follow that because tinplaters have to take out a license that the trade has "gone to the dogs." -Q>-T-<!x The predominant cry at the Vetch Field for three parts of last Saturday's gamel was "Play up, the nine: A witness at an inquest at Swansea, on Monday stated that when she last saw the deceased life was instinct." A Swansea butcher was much tickled ves- A Swansea butcher was much tickled vea- terday on being told that on Saturday th? local miners "meet." "Loans" ngured on the agenda at the Swansea Finance Committee yesterdav. Everyone was interested. Certain classes of coal seem to be drop- ping. The only drop the householder is likely to see is through his cellar grating. <txt- 0 -< t -< a   What's wrong with the Swansea Council, remembrancer? It was half an hour out yesterday. A coming rival to our pwblic docks. o ♦ -->» There's some satisfaction in asking the swimming enthusiast who does his 50 lengths of the Swansea Baths before lunch what he can do after. I In preparation for February 18. a Swan-I sea tug-boat skipper has already laid in a stock of Siamese and Swiss flags, armed with which he fears no foe. -t-.X!r- Swansea schools are remarkably conspicu- ously situated. Two of the town's land- marks from the sea are the Training College and the school on Town Hill.

What to do with the cornerers of corn.— Give 'am beans. The Swansea. Coroner investigated a "rum" case the other day.  tive l -ve da -%7; Rain fell on ea.oh of the Hnt twelTo daYS in February. Over Jl inch fell on the 7th. There is a. Neath place in London. Alas! for Castdl N';dd K is a slum that has to come down. "Curious. "Yes, the Irish are remark- ably good marksmen, because they have a natural aptitude for making "bulls." lne seiner burgess of Swansea is Mr. E. Jones, and in the latest. corporation accounts appears the item, "one war's annuity as senior burgess, £10." I People will be surprised to hear what a number of men there are in Swansea with- out ''aims." They are members of the Training Corps. But wait you! ,40"0"0,0, [ An Army communication has been received in Swansea asking for mounted men, and we understand that the Borough Police have answered the call and several have inti- mated their intention of joining. It makes curious reading in the "Cambrian" of 1875, where a writer em- phatically objects to a scheme for the Erec- tion of workingrnen's dwellings in Swansea, Rents might be a little lower now had the cottages been erected. The recruiting poster read: "Have you a butler, groom, chauffeur, gardener, or gamekeeper serving you, who at this moment should be serving Kin.g and country?" And the Quay-parade patriot, laying his hand on his heart, vowed he had not. For an evening's diversion nothing better could be conceived than "The Pearl Girl," at the Grand Theatre this week. The cos- tumes and the staging are Al, and the principals are splendid, particularly the leading ladies and "Mr. Jeeks. Miss Mary Pickford, the bright, par- ticular star" of The Famous Flayer* Co., and a, familiar figure on local picture screens, is said to command a salary of jSZO.COO pei I year. Her latest success is. "Such a little Queen," a romantic comedy in four reels. IThilll is from a Swansea, dotdrnva" —hitherto without k !aigae:- A Wlist difference between Samson of scriptural hidtory and Fligiht-Gommander Sampson, the leader of the air raid? One was strong in the hair,' the other strong in the air.' (Next!). .C2t.. A postcard has been received by P.C. Newell, of the Swansea Borough Force, from a friend aftta-ohed to the ambulance section of the 6th Welsh, now "somewhere in France." He says "All the boys are getting along fine, but they arc longing to see dear old Swansea and the many friends left behind." Private G. Jenkins, oi the same regiment, writes in much the same strain. When the announcement was flashed on to the screen that the next picture would be "The Swansea Battalion at Rhyl," the old dame raised herself in her seat the better to see her boy swing along with the other gal- lant lads. But there came a peremptory command to "Sit down in front," emanating from a hulking youth, who himself received such hearty remarks on recruiting from an elderly gentleman that he "silently stole away," and the old lady was fixed up all right. One of the outstanding features of this war has been the mutual esteem of the British private and his officer. A touching reference is unconsciously made to it in a letter home from Private F. C. Francis, "A" Company, 2nd Welsh, to his wife at 9, Plea- nt-rQW. Swansea,: "We can't write from the trenches" (he gays), "as it is a lot of trouble to our ofifcers, who are already full up with work and worry without being bothered to read through and censor them. Much as we would like to write, we like to show a little consideration. They are very good to us, and one good turn deserves an- other. A "band of brothers" indeed. Admitting (writes "Prospero") that those | who control professional football have made it clear that they do not intend sentimedt- j not even national sentimentto interfere I with their business, still, after sharing two! bumper cup-tie gates, the emphatic an- nouncement of Saturday, "All pay," by the Vetdh Field management, grates somewhat; for at a time when the womanhood of Swan- sea, are parting with husbands, sons, and sweethearts bravely and uncomplainingly, that we may dwell in safety, surely "Ladies free" would mark no empty courtesy. It is not at all a question of whether they would avail themselves of the privilege or not. A well-known Swansea lady, who had been buying some articles at a draper s shop, was asked by the assistant whether she would like a nica umbrella he had in stock. No, said the lady. I don't neeci j one at present" But the assistant p'r- sisted. Picking one up from the counter he onened it. and held it up to the light, at the < same time putting on a look of admiration "There, ma'am, look at that silk; observe the fine quality and finish; try it for your- self by passing your hand over it. There is no mistake about it it is a beautiful um- brella." Yes," said the lady, quietly, that is my umbrella. I laid it down when I came In." Nothing doing! Walking through the University Parks, Oxford, lately, a Welsh resident in the city of learning was drawn to witness the vary- ing- fortunes of two sides playing strenu- ously at Rugby football. Knowing that the undergraduates had sacrificed their pastimes for the greater game of soldiering, he won-, dered who the players might be. He stood and observed, and very shortly his curiosity was amply satisfied, for from the middle of a tight scrum he heard the expression, "Yr Arfdwydd anwyl!" uttered in such agonising tones that he knew a native of the Principal- ity was in difficulties. Very soon the wounded son of Wales came out nursing a badly kicked shin. The players were Welsh- men belonging to Kitchener's Army, and! they were upholding to good purpose the traditions of South Wales as the home of I the handling code. Captain Browning, of the 6th Welsh, has in Swansea- on Satmday. I 't. Competition between the Swansea pieturo" houses is becoming "mustard." "Soccer" football was not seen at itt best at the Swansea Vetch Field on Satar- day. Rain fell at Swansea 'last year 2C0 days out of the 565. This year, so far, is beating it hollow. ¡ -4'-<i>-?-<t? Yesterday (Sunday; was St. ';¡Icnhne g Day. N-al-clitine was it day of decent wea the".  AdmiJ"aù Lord Fisher's request to the British Naval Flying Squadron: "Lend me you R aid." And they did so! The Limit. — A "lady" stepping a tram- car in a. Swansea street on Saturday to ask k, driver about what time he would be re- turning. A Swansea "eligible," who avowed he did not enlist because of his poor old mother, was found to be supporting her right enough —through the G uardians Admiral Jellicoe was at one time- a pupil of Chaplain MOTIS (son of the Rev. Ebenezer Morris, a former Vicar of Llanellv), who, it will be remembered, Went down with the ill-fated Victoria. <Ex?-?<?<   The large number of Welsh officers and men in the different Guards regimmts woaid cause surprise if statistics were secured. Many a strapping Welshman has joined the Guards since the war began. A commentsoor on last Saturday's scenes at the Vetch Field, Swansea, says that "any doubts as to the real ability of 1, siackers" to fighs are now dispelled." What CAN he mean? "Mv boy! My boy! j.et me see my boy waiied a poor woman outside Rig;.1-street •v-u/Jon on Saturday morning. But her lad in the 6th Welsh had to go away Uihiad gates banged, bolted and barred." gatez, Lc)lte(I at)e. L?zLrred Several members of the Swansea Battalion in training at Rhyl have now been inocu- lated, as the scarlet bands around the arm testify. Thus it will be seen that business only is meant. The voluntary training corps who are at Swansea have one inestimable advantage. They are drilled by those who know their business, and have turned out men who are now, many of them, officers themselves. Perhaps the military authorities know best, but there were some painful scenes on Saturday outside the Swansea High-street station over the barring of entrance to the platform of relatives of the departing 6th Welsh. f <►j ♦$'♦ ♦ ) It h" HE*}:: st led that the reason a nun » bee o1' ,lng ruen have not jojiiod tho is fe, „ their mothers won't tefc thi'a. JifitMitav :r thfe vvcpijd bear proper investigation if sifted tv ti. bottom. Some idea of the wretchedness of the wea- ther at Swansea on Saturday can be ob- tained from the fact that the schoolboy foot- ball under both codes had to be abandoned. When the Swansea boy footballer gives up the game tite conditions must be fa-irly near the "limit J" Because of the departure abroad of the bulk of the 6th We]sh Reserves, about 200 of the Liverpool National Reserves have come to Swansea to guard the docks, etc. A civic recognition of the visitors seems expedient, especially in view of the warm English treatment of Welsh units ordered to the East Coast. The late Rev 0. G. Li Iliads ton, of Skeity, liked to tell at local Church meet- ings of his experiences in Loudon. Ona story he told at tSie Pastoral Aid Society was of how a Church worker asked a poor woman if she ever attended a mothers' meet- ing. "Oh, no," she replied; we've been very hard pressed this winter; but, thank God, we haven t sunk so low as that!" ♦ r$ The solution of the "rejected" problem, in lieu of badges, as put lorward oy Coro- nifVidant Maggs, has the outstanding merit of being eminently practical. For those who join the voluntary training corps for home service will undoubtedly reap the benefit-apart from the drill and rifle prac- tice—of at least preferential treatment should'-any modified form of oompukory ser- vice be introduced in the future. Overheard in an hotel bar.—No. 1: The men in your platoon of the Swansea Battal- ion are rare devils? "-No. 2: "Yes, they are."—No. 1: "I suppose you would take another platoon instead if you had a chance? NVhat! Give up a platoon that are the best in the brigade? I'm if I will. "-The majority of the platoon they were talking about come from the Graigola Fuel Works (so avers a correspondent). Bishop G wynne, the Suffragan Bishop of Khartoum, says the "Daily Sketch," is doing splendid work at the front. He is frequently attending to the spiritual wants of the men and encouraging them by his cheery manner. The Bishop is a Swansea boy, and the son of the late Mr. Richard Gwynne, for many years a schoolmaster at Ivilvey, whose memory is still treasured by hundreds of East-side lads who received their early training under his fine old parental care. Another brother is Mr. Howell Gwynne, Editor of the "Morning Post," who made fame for himself as Reuter's war correspondent during the Soudan campaign. The Bishop hinself, before going to the Soudan as a missionary in 1899, was engaged in ministerial work in the Midlands. jfri A verbose defendant at the Swansea Police Court this week, who was charged with th. theft of a clock, vehemently avowed that he had bought it near a beautiful hotel on the Strand," concluding, dramatically. that Strand of infamy!" When asked whether I he would be tried summarily or by a jury, he replied, "By twelve good men of justice, yer worships; I don't want to compact you When he was being taken below he startled the court by emitting a series of I splitting redskin-like yells. This sort of thing makes the police court interesting. Swansea for many years has looked to Eastertid? for a carnival of Rugby football. Under war conditions the St. Helen's Field is now unused and unoccupied. It is sug- gested that the felt sacrifice of the "'Ruggerites" might be suitably recognised, an impetus given to local recruiting, and a substantial sum be secured for regimental purposes, if foe the coming Easter matches were arranged tor Swansea between t-eams representati ve of the ofifcers rnd men of the South Wales Battalions now in North I.Wailes. Now, if Capt. Aubrey Smith took I 'ie :natter :n hand "business would bt done.