South Wales Weekly Post

mmmmmxxxm FOR ALL CLASS E r, OP i t PRINTING I "W O B. = 9 AT MODERATE PRICES J < WRITS OM OALL AT THB OTFIOEI > Of TH8 SOUTH WALES DAILY POST j WMI SAMPLES CAN BE IliSPICTEB « j AKD LOWEST QUOTATIONS OBTAIJJEU. ^■ CXXXXXXX»XXXXXXXK«X* ■ I IMjJMI XI

Mr. Woodrov Valsons Xote excites amongst the Allied people* teelmgs oft amaze- ment and, to a certain extct.it. indignation. it excesses a and a way of thinking which arc .us incomprehensible t then? they ?pe.r to be heartlesoly de- S?ed uo-?' r?Hty. To the AI.ed peop? Mr. Wilson seems inporvious to the tragedy of the w?., blind to ic, moral signifacanc^ •irnmble of oonceiving its true ch,?aract?ci. SF?pear. non ?al. ri?dly refu?ng to j ?e?t the aMent o???-?.?.st? lion To?t.hev?rpM?ents itself as a ?ru?e so palpable and plam ?ninst a dia- bo!l?.I b?rb?Ism that it is monstrous thot anvone with a normal seme ot right .?d wrong should far a moment waver m his jud° gment as to where the b ')od guiltiness lies. The proof of that lias been written in the red and black of blood and tire, in the ruins 01 ?re..t ?.d venerable buiUinrgs, m the pHed-uu corpses of A hundred massacres, in t?? o-jtra?? of women the e1l;:ilavt>meljt of P("- )Ple" the unbounded Hcense of lust and ?ith ?sne?, m?der ?d robbel c foithtan. it ircri ,vl-,o Fide wi?b ;Yc?,.d me t who side with the Devd, but of ?men who sta.nd aloof in a,; I i s. I I e of t'uch moment our imagination is •powerless to reah.c. Mr. lson. "ipit?don "omp serene Olympian ?thirone ?.c the battle" (HI? the repudiated French writer, Romain Roiland) piesents a. psychological study which is bejoncl 1S. It is the special nature of this war. dis- tiir-fuishing it above all others, that it-s course h i s been stained by enormities so gross and so deliberate that the future of civilisation, of humanity, and of Christianity eeems to be imperilled. We do not ask Americans to judge whether the German or the Allied desires of conquest at each other's expense are just or wrongful; we do riot expect them to sit in judgment on the raiestioii whether Teuton or Slav is to domin- a.te Central or Eastern Europe; but we have long expected from them, and waited mj vain for an official pronouncement which; could claim to be made in the name of their nation, that they hate evil and take their stand for good. that they are the enemies of barbarity and the friends of humanity. The bodies of their own murdered country-, women and countrymen have littered the waves; and they have let them drift by and vanish, forgotten. The roar of flaming cities, the shrill cry of innumerable victims of lust and murder, the wrongs done, huge, palpable, confessed—all these have left Mr. Wilson unmoved. He has no word of judg- ment to offer, and the bulk of his people have pignitied formally that they support 1,iin, and that. they look on unmoved fit the awful spectaeje of a Continent turned ? f s hambles and watered ?ith the blood of twentv million killed and wounded, dark with the shadow of famine, strewn with the cinders of devastated provinces. There have been, in the American Press, 1 omnp papers which have clearly SeenilnW the heart of the struggle, and have taken their stand; but not the American Government. And the great bulk of the Amei ican people, glutted with prosperity, are sunk in the same moral apathy-only here and there are there signs of a vague, dim dis- "quiet, a wondering that there is something spiritually wrong, a puzzled questioning that something is amiss with the soul of America. ?_ To some Americans the chill doubt has sug- gested itself whether they are, after all, a ? nation; whether the disintegrating influences f of va<Jt¡ distances and the isolation of innu- pierable communities have not sundered into fragments that unity of spirit which per- Tadea the peoples of Europe. Mr. Wilson, after disclaiming any other rnoti 7C than that of pure disinterestedness, • asks the wajrin? nations to state what they ? 8m to obtain, &T.d what plans they have to avoid a future catastrophe. He dwells upon the (superficial) similarity of purpose, "as stated in general terms" to the vari ous bel- ligerents, and to the world, by the leaders. He declares: "The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has been said, stated those objects in general terms. But stated i'l in general terms thev seem the same on both sides. Never yet have the authorita- f" live spokesmen of either side avowed the pre- dae objects which would, if attained, satisfy t them and their people that the war had been fought out. The world has been left to >■ conjecture what definitive resalts, what ac- tual exchange of guarantees, what political or t territorial changes or readjustments, what stage of military success even, would bring > the war to an ed:' And this, considered by itself, is true. We demand reparation for the past and secur- ity for the future." What is to be the pre- cise form of that reparation? Exile for the Kaiser, execution for arch criminals? No- .body knows. What is to be the precise na- ture of the security we desire? Is it to be German disarmament, or limitation of Ger- man armaments? Are the Allies to labour ,tinder the burden of armies and navies whilst the German goes free? Nobody knows. But the truth is that we are in such a stage of the war that there is merely an academic in- terest in drawing up cut and dried pro- grammes which may, in theevent, be impos- sible of execution. We should make our- selves the laughing stocks if our leaders drew rap a list of demands with which, in the Ievent, it was impossible to secure compli- ance. We must fight on hard and steadilv for an indefinite duration of time, until the foe is at our mere*; We can then go from generalities to details. A victory absolutely overwhelming is required for the complete fulfilment of the Allied objectives which are, to a very great extort, territorial as much as the enemy's—two at least of the Allies may be said to be urging wars of aggression for the conquest of territory, j all the enemy is doing, with the difference that their case s valid, and their "aggres- sion" is prompted by other and higher prin- ciples than that of national aggrandisement. We have not attained our aims, we are still far from doing, even the extent of our victory is wholly uncertain and so. in the circum- stances. it it impossible to fulfil the Prcsi- dent's suggestion, for a precise and categori- cal inventory of demands. So firm is the Allies' resolution. confi- dent their faith .,In their military power, that they will not, for German or American, ,s et k of peac. 1,'o-day; but will pursue the war inflexibly, without sparing any sacrifice, until they have achieved the oonipletest tri- umph that is humanly possible, and have, as far as human provision can do so, averted for ever from their children and their grandchildren the dread heritage of another prospective visitation of a bloodiness such 808 the earth has never known until to-day.,

Ohristmastide has perhaps never dawned 611 a more sombre prospect in Europe since 81* D-k Ag-es succeeded: to the eclipse of the Roman civilisation. The whole spirit of the anniversary is derided, and the religious celebrations seem a hoUow mockery. People in Europe who, normaHy. are quite typical of the bulk, have shown frequent relapses Into p?''e sava?&ry, and behind the indomit- ably gay spirit with which so many of the fighting men face their daily peril there is an ocean of woe and hatred. Religion seems utterly impotent and bankrupt: but we cannot in this matter judge by externals. When we examine the conduct of our own men at least we find a signal refutation of the despair with which so many view a. Em-ope desolated by war and apparentlv slipping back to more ingenious barbarisms than the crude cruelties of olden times. For there is now common place amongst men of the humblest social grade, rough, uneducated men, who have never known an ideal in their life, a cheerful endurance, a bravery, a self-sacrifice, such as in past times were nre even amongst the elect of chivalry. Years ago when the war was beginning a Swansea Frenchman wrote home, with the quick insight into the heart of things that makes the French a great nation, that he and his comrades were fight- ing so that their children would never know a like ordeal. And that spirit, not always articulate or conscious, penetrates the army of Britain, too, to the roots of its being. The war is fought in a mood of supreme sacrifice for a noble ideal; and for the sake of that dangers, discomforts, the squalid savagery which makes up so much of war, are endured uncomplainingly. We know of no finer reading than tho&e columns of golden deeds which recount, the acts which have won for so many thousands i, a public token of their bravery. Many of Vuch Heeds are episodes of Berserker fighting* in which perhaps there is little more real pre-eminence to-day than a thousand years! ago. But there is manifest in so many of the others the ideal of sacrifice, the i-ea-diness to lay down life and limb to help a comrade or to accelerate success. Men, many thou- sands of them, give all that. they have to igive, their lives, for the hoi1 our and victory of their side and the salvation of their com- rades and they do this in no mood of exalta- f but. wi1 tli an unostentatious frequency that suggests the supreme act is one committed very easily, that it is treated a^ a, matter of course that a commonplace man, the product of aai age that until August, 1914, had seem- ed one of the dullest and least interesting epochs of ^history, should do and dare in a fashion for which the names of other men, who did no more in p.1.St times, have been handed down from ago to age as shining examplam t It is difficult to make out a general c-hargc of deterioration against the manhood of Elurope, with certain well understood excep- tions, when we witness so immense a mass of ma,dy and herode sacrifice for a cause which is surely as high as that for which any man has &vcr striven. Future genera?Mua will wonder what manner of men they were who lived in oar time, and wrought such things; as a few years ago we u?ed occasionally to conjeetur? ?bout the people of the Napoleonic 01-h. We Mlvef\. wlio ootiie, such tiria? as w? a'c endurin, but never upon so colosKil a, soa'le, had never dreamed of 6ucli a transformation of a generation of men, in our own country, unpromising, Ull- attractive, with many traits that were sus- pect ami. disliked. The professional super- men of war, like the Spartans, or the knights of mediaeval chivalry, lived for nothing but the practice of strife according to well- established codes of honour and stoical courage. But they never touched the plane that has been reached by men who had, so many of them, hardly a serious thoroght in their lives or the ideals of the Spartan or the knight, except a dim, rough sense of play- ing the game. The officer class, furnished at the outset of the war from the public schools and from a class which alone in this country main- tained a special standar d of conduct, set an example of courage which was, under the conditions, not so very remarkable, wheft it was remembered that with this type duty and honour had been traditional ideals. But the men of the working class, in their own way, have attained the same supreme height; and these knew, in the bulk, no code of conduct, no ideal, no tradition, and lived a life which contained hardly an element to qualify them for the trial of the battle- field, a life that was indeed calculated to weaken their nerve, to debilitate their con- stitution. to render them unfamiliar with exposure, with bloody death or misadven- ture, a.nd privation. • Chrietmastide falls this year on many hundreds of thousands of homes in our own land where its joyo-usnees is extinguished until time soothes aching hearts and dims the smart of memory. It falls upon hun- dreds of thousands more of homes where the folk crouch beneath the shadow of the Angel of Death, certain that in the coming year their offering will have to be laid on the a ltar of Moloch. We make war now upon the fullest scale, and sacrifice to the grim god in our hundreds of thousands at an offer- ing. We can but repeat the hope that it will be the last Christ-mas, and the last for many a year, in which Europe will writhe. sweating blood from everv pore, and th-pf the next great anniversary of our faith will dawn calm and bright upon a world with the .pxomise of enduring peace. But for a long time to come we fear that everv day must mean for manv homes a black Good Friday of noble death and immolation in a hal- lowed cause.

Figures which run into thousands of mil- lions ca.n never be grasped with the saiiie clearness as the pounds, shillings, and pence of our incomes. We read in the papers that the war is costing LS,700,000 a day, an in- crease of nearly three-quarters of a million since the last- statement was made. This in- crease is due to the subsidies to our Allieis, which will eventually come back again, and to the growth of our output of munitions, which wp may hope will tend to hasten the end of the war. Before the war our Na- tional Debt was 700 muUon pounds. By the? end of March next it will be 3.700 minion pounds, notwithstanding all the money we have raised by taxation. Compared with pre-war figure, what we are spending to-day is enormous, and it ig no small tribute, to our wonderful financial resources that we have be2n able to find so much money. But with expenditure going on at the rate of 1 950 millions a year, there must be the most careful economy exercised in every di- rection, for our resources, though amazing, are not inexhaustible. Every person who limits as much a.s possible his private eypen- j diture is helping to defeat the Germans, and every person who unnecessarily spends a shilling instead of handing it to the Govern- ,ment is hindering the Allies. The utmost care, too, must be taken to pres^-re our pro- ductive and exporting capacities. It is cal- culated that the worker produces on an average seven times as much as he con- sumes. and when it is remembered that 3ix j millions of our men have been taken from productive work it will be realised how diffi- cult is the economic situation. We cannot go on sending an unlimited number of men into the Army. any more than we can go on spending hundreds of mil- lions indefinitely, and if we are to continue to supply our Allies with munitions and money, to the tune of £400,000 a day, we ¡ must be careful not to jeopardise industry. The who!- question of man-power and hr.de I is closely related, and it is to be hoped that in the new Government we shall not see the utter folly of one department pulling one way and another department pulling in the opposite direction. What is needed is co- ordination of effoit so that the resources of the country may be' most effectively directed I to meet the unparalleled strain the war im- poses.

If the new Government presents one con- | spicwous example of "the right man in the right place"—and we think it presents many —there are few who would fail to select Mr. Bonar Law, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as an obvious choice. Mr. Law carries with him to his new office, as keeper of t-he nation's purse, the most cordial confidence of men of all classes and parties. By his ante- cedents and business training, by his varied experience in the public affairs of the past I critical decade, ana, above all, by his char- acter, the new Chancellor hM established himself—and most deservedlv.iil the high-' v esteem of his countrymen as a man to A followed and trusted. His financial sum- mary of our position on, the new Vote of Credit, though he had perforce to deal, with the usual array of tremendous figures, was cfdmly and resolutely reassuring. In spite of the steady increase of the I burden of expenditure, he deprecates need- less and exaggerated apprehension. He agrees to call our commitments "colossal.' But he will not have them depicted as "ap- palling. V He does not minimise the draiii upon our resources, or pretend that we could  on indefinitely at th? present pa.c?. But he makes bold to express it a? his persc?-?al bel?kf that "we can go on long enough tc make sure that it is not from ifnancial cause,- that we have failed to secure the victory. That assurance, from Mr. Bonar Law, wih count for much with his^ country* men every where. y

The future historians of the great war j will, we may be sure, drnw largely upon the literary and artistic periodicals more or less ambitious of the men in the fighting ( nc— a.n outstanding and peculiar by-product of the struggle in Franco-—in their diagnosis of the spirit and temperament of the belligerent forces. France, which, -jnder its universal | service system, conscripted' its able-bodied writers and artists, in common with other men, at the very onset, naturally took the lead in the utilisation of modern printing facilities for the production of a literature redolent of the atmosphere of the I)attle- zones. In every considerable unit there were soldiers itching to write or draw, and the military authorities, realising that the stat" of mind of the rank and fjTe was an important factor in the sustained eihciency of the latter, afforded evefy encouragement to the publi- cation of the efforts. With the result that an amazing literature, in point of both quantity and quality, ha-s been created literally within sound of the guns. The British, if slower in sterling and less prolific, have followed suit. Some of the periodicals associated with the Larger units have attained P. s'.vw'pinir'y high standard of merit. Their chief value, however—apart from the heartening infiu-. ence they exert upon men whose daily dan- gers and hardships mi- it predispose them to depression and despondency—consists in the first hand information they yield regard- ing the mentality of a soldiery exposed to unprecedented and nervc-racking strain. It is from this standpoint that The New Year's Souvenir of the Welsh Division" is vnainlv to b» indwM. T. E. F1 s. nf the R-oval Welsh Fusiliers, the editor, has assembled a splendid collection of articles, stories a.nd sketches. It is in the fullest sense of the term a re- markable production, and for the people who live in Wales easily the obtainable in magazine form. The letter-, press is admirable in its vfirietv and qrtalitv, hut an even warmer lIoteof appreciation is I 'demanded by the drawings. With Stnniforth as the presiding spirit with contributors of the type of E. T. Peed and Bert Thomas, end f. host of o^b^rg, the- Souvenir" was botrad to heavily tbe sid of the pictures. And it has* to be added that the resource? of the "Western Mail." Limited, in art printing of the high- est kind have never been more convincingly I than in this pioduct-ion. A labour j of love—for the profits sre "ear-marked" to furnish comforts for the boys at the fropt- hari obviously call-'d forth the best endea- vours of every branch or mdrvidu? con- cerned. j The "So?ve)i;r" ?hoiud !=el! hke "hot ca.ks" in V\ale?. T'l?re i? not a town. vil- lage. o.r hamlet incHfeJ'ent to the fort.nre? feelings of the Welsh Division. It went to France thirteen months ago 23,000 strong, ]civiiiy 11,000 at home in reserve, the verv flower of our you, manhood. In North W ales Mr. Lloyd (»eorg.) reviewed the three brigades at W inchest°r. Queen Mai v—-the very embodiment of the- Britieh Empire— looked on when the E-glitin.c, force,iiiarched by on the immediate eve of the departure to France. The "Souvenir" should find a place in every home directly or indirectly asso- ciated with the patriotic crusade which sent 1*4,000 willing men into the fight for human liberty at tfi". vei-v crisis in the fate of the British Empire.

A kindly thought that, of Mrs. Heneage's fParc-le-Breos), to send three brace of pheasants to the Peimaeii Workhouse in- mates. <t>- A Swansea cyclist on Tuesday started on a co i.ilry road at even o'clock—pitch dark- went six miles oul of his way on an alleged j "short cut" that he had been retviiimended, sustained a series of punctures, lost the valve of the tvres whilt stxeciiting repairs- it fell into a tussock of grass and was lost to sight for ever and a dav-Y.d walked six miles to a station. 1! A little weekend incident an High-street reflected, to those who saw it, the season's spirit. An old man. down at heels, stum- bled and fell whilst attempting to board a car. Nobody noticed him much until a young lady piloted him into a chemist' saw that he was bandn?ed (by a passing V. T.C. and St. John's Ambulance man), pii for the bandages, etc., and b&de him fareweH with a kindly wish. A thoughtful little art. and a "ladylike one. .3a.8.$- In the years that are to come and may they be to her many peaceful and Iia-ppy years" (writes" Old Fogey"), I'N"l i m Winnie Davies, deputising for her mother, thd Mayoress of Swansea, unhappily indis- posed, will recall with pride that the occa- sion, her first speech in public, was one that aippeals to our better nature, for it was at the Christmas dinner at the House,' bringing comfort and pleasure to those humans who have fallen by the way on the roadway of life." Th. pa,stur of Cap-el Sion (let us call it) was in the hwyl. and in an ecstatic mood. But the sermon was going very fiat ail the same, except in regard to Deacon Jones, on whom it seemed to make a great hit— iudtrins bv his restlessness in the seat, his moans, his fervent Bendigeic.;5# and deep Amens. Service over the pastor sought him out. "Wfiat was it in the sermon that touched you so much" Mr. Jones ? What part was it? inn-aired the reverend. "'Deed," replied the deacon, "nid y bregeth yr oedd, ond dy lais di, fel fy "Gwen druan, yn gwaeddu gyda'r gwyneifOB. + At the .mnarkable Yuletide celebrations at Courtsart Military Hospital it was but a spontaneous burst of he&rtMt appreciation which akmunted for one of the Ypreci,a-tion subscribing, on behalf of his colleagues, the following appropriate lines :— Tommies Creatines to Sisters. Yuletide greetings! Kindly sisters. Heaven's blessings shower on you; Fuld our hearts are with thanksgiving, All our joye to you are due. Kindly augeJs to the stricken. v Cheerers of the heart that's sore: God be with you, kindly sisters. For This Dof apd evermowk

•- Have you got your allotment yet ? There will be r v Bobo* Court on Xria-E Day. A local ma.tl aJrca-tiy wanrs to mortga-ge hie bed of potatoes which he has pt to grow. X i >-< -<e> Spades are trumps in this ivar-wbether fits tie riches or potato fields that are being 1 Lionellv to the fore. A Swansea man brought home seven pounds of suijar from there the otbor day. The att-ention of the Food Controller should be drawn to the fact that- there is 1\ lamb at a Swan?ea cinema. > Tlws is about the tim-e that the man who sent a sprat to catch a mackerel" present finds thaL tiie other fellow bisti't ';bltteii''l Geimany R dying motto: "Deut&ch?rtt uber AHes." Our mottj- for 1917, and af,?lfr j Deatschland an tor ALLIED."—(" A.S. Mnmb.].8.) 4111: Shopkeepers at Swansea report good I?u?i- ness this Christmas time. Monev. it is evi- dent, is not scarce. But "there'll come a time some day"! It seems sirojigc to talk bout absenteeism in the coalfield when anthracite miners are idle two or three days a week through slack- ness of tonnage,  wliio has Serjeant Cunniffe, of the R.F.C., who has helpea to put a few Hun .u"men to Ûeep, is a nephew of Mr. C'unnif?p.onp of the "strong men of the East sicle. Women trespassers on the Swansea. Dock? at midnight have been thrice warned-bv the Swansea. Bench that they were liable to be shot. And yet they trs Guessing the weight of the chief instruc- tor was the tit-bit of Thursday evening at the Swansea Naval Brigade Bamd supper. One little hopeful "guessed" him at half-a- ton j l+-C.¡¡>. Alderman Tut ton. at Swansea Council meeting. likened walking on Cradock-street1 some time ago to heing on bird-lime. The alderman is too wily a bird to be caught,{ though: i r. style .i- Swauewt "1 lease may we give you a Christmas' èatol r' (before :-tarting). Experience in the past has evidently proved the necessitv of this, request. + < -< -< > -< s >- < President Wilson says that he knows of J no "conerete object" for which the war is being waged. This almost makes him sus- pect" right away. Has he NEYER, heard of Belgium ? Sergeant: •'Shun! Stand-at-ease! As you were! Jones—didn't vou hear me sav 'As you were ? Private Jcries "If you please, sir, I've forgot ow I were. "-("The Passing Show.") You have hoard about the ahower of apples on the Strand. Well, what was that to the avalanche of pastry that showered Castle-square mid-day on Thursday, and were small boys active?-" Hurry Uip, Wal- ter" -<!><& Risca (near Newport) appear to possess the crankiest Council in W-ales--aiid that is say ing much. Allotment holders are to be warned bv it that they will either have to give up Sunday labour on their allotments, or abandon the aDotments. "Io<> Judge Bryn Roberts, at the S va^ea County Court. said that ladies never date their letters. Whenever he received an Hn- dated letter he always put tlh: date upon it j himself, and in replying did not forget to ex- j i postulate with the writer about it. Some ] people, he added, simply write the name of the day and give no address. <&-< t -<  -< >-  <  Drums, and bugles rang cut at Sketty, fol- lowed by the fife band of the Boys' Naval Brigade, on Thursday evoning. Two power- ful lights headed the procession, which penp- trated the inky darkness, and people could just get a glimpse of the sailor collars of the boys. Many thought it was a naval land- ing party It's the little things that count, of course. Possibly the most valued stage property in the Swansea pantomime is a small black cat whose chief characteristics are a tail that re- fuses to do other than stand erect, and a pair of eyes far too large for its body. But the unique part is that when a dance or song with a swing strikes up it be- comes endowed with life in the most realis- tic manner, much to general merriment. It is difficult for the ordinary mind (writes "Patriot") to comprehend what manner of manhood it is who jn these days of national stress demean themselves by pestering docksmen for Christma-s boxes. Apart alto- gether from the splendid manner in which the docks fraternity respond to every call upon their generosi ty toward recognised funds far national purposez-, are those men I aware that they are diverting to their own pockets (and they a re far from in need) mo??e:< tbat hould bnng comforts to the Kick and wounded and much-needed food io our prisoners of war ? If exempted" men are to sponge in this manner upon a warm- hea. rted community such as Swansea docks- men are, it is for others to enter a story of protest. I The Great Christmas ProbJem. I've been thinking all the day, Till I feel mv hair is grey, What to give for Christmas gifts this season; For to give a useless thing, With the war at fullest swing. Is accounted little short of treason. For my sister I have bought Something lovely, and it ought To set her eyes with joyous pride a-kind- ¡ ling; j It's a bag of sugar (lump) I Guaranteed to cure the "hump" When one's stock of luxuries it dwind- ling. Then there's mother'- pre-eiit,. toc, But. I know just what to do, When she seee it she'll go crazy, newly It'i a sack of flour, and should Prove acceptable and good, F up to last year's "Standard," teaUv SwauftM. (Miss) D.S.P. Sir Jesse Boot gets a baronetcy-a good fit' ><>< I Dr. W-oodrow Wilson has been likened to an intern&tMnAl Dr. R- *x$>?-?<X> Who's spilling the Swansea wateT! Fifty- eight gallons per head per day. -<S><.I>+ "Have yea been entertained by the carol singers? 0; I have a dog. There are no special constables at Llan- elly. The reason is not far to seek. j Monday'g outlook :-Xo delivery of bread. no shaves, no police court, and no "Daily } Post." B-ordng Morning.—" Shave, sir?" "Yes; you may remove the ??' ?" from nv allot- mbnt. <     -< >- ? When th:* question of food shortage crops" up potatoes "chip" in. It makes things look "fishy." "Did the Swansea man who t-ook borne a quantity of sugar from Llanelly have the tin to purchase it. or did he I'tl' it" So span wants to know. -J' -,r: Overheard in Waterloo-street, Swansea "Somehow the place is not the same with Jim away in France." Yes, but Xmas comes but once a year, and the war is not: going to last for ever." Included in the list of amounts collected on behalf of various war funds since the outbreak of the wnr by Moss's Empires are —Swansea Empire. £ 3,179 Is. 2d. Cardiff 15s. 2d. Newport Empire. ever Congrats., Mr. Richardson. -» » ♦♦♦♦ Looking from the higher reaches of Swan- sea early on Friday morning, one could plainly see the Lundy Light, and a few hours later some of the principal landmarks at Ilfracombe could be seen through the telescope. A. train" was plainly seen leav- ing the Ilfracombe Station. <?-?-<   ?-<  Mr. Leif Jones, who becomes a Privy Councillor, is a son of the late Rev. Thomas Jones, the poet-preacher of Wales, who at one time occupied the pulpit of Waiter-road Congregatitmal Chapel, Swansea. He is also a brothel of Sir Brynymor Jones, the retired member of Parliament fr\r Swansea district. '¥'" This has been a record season for Xmas puddings, "R.E.J." inform us. They sent 3,500 to the Forces last year. This Yule- tide they made a special price, Is. per lb.. to H.M. Forces, which has been a boon to many. The orders have surprised even this busy firm. A trolley was seen laden with, presumably, bags of sugar proceeding up Carmarthen- road. The driver—-a bit of a wag—was asked by a. woman if the load was sugar, and he nodded and pointed to a grocer's shop in the distance m the destination for several of t-her- Word got round quickly, and the shojJ-wai? besieged. Sal the begs were fall of rice. "Duck-winner" (Swansea' writes This is the first time I have ever won anything in a Xmas drawing. a.nd I hope it will be the last. If I had won the D.S.M. I couldn't hare had more congratulations. In the ordinary course the bill would be, "To one auck. 5s. M." This one "Duck, 6d. drinks, 7s. 9d. "—Do you know, sir, there is a law against treating.—(Sub.) The Swan:-?a Tramways Co. want people to understand some of the difficulties under wlrich they are running their "show" in war-time—practically with pre-war facilities at pre-war nate^, with expenses up 30 per cent. Tu this respect they claim to be about the only concern in the country. They have only one engineer left, and can't get mechanics at any price. It is well to hear both side.s, and the company make out a strong case. Gipsy life is replete with romance for some people, but there are gipsies and gipsies. Up in a Carmarthenshire bye-road the other day one might have seen a group of these wayfarers attracted around a fire burning by the side of the road, in the pouring' rain. That was their bivouac for the night—just the muddy road, the soaking grass and brushwood at its side, and the flickering fire. There will be an important alteration of railway train running °"1 all systems com- mencing with the New Year. The follow-, ing are some changes:—Times occupied in running will be longer; restaurant cars will cease running and slip carriages will disap- pear; many expresses will be cancelled. A p-ear many wl notable omission from the time tables will be the Cornish Riviera express on the G. W.R. This train has been running for 12 years, and has gained a reputation for working the longest non-stop run in the world. Pickings from Punch." In view ot rumours, pubJisned and un- published, associating his name with the Government now in process of formation by Mr. Lloyd George, Lord Northcliffo wai last night asked if he would fake a statement on the subject."—("Worcester Daily Times.") "Canadian Military Hospital at Orping- ton."—("Morning Post.") Mr. Punch had always supposed this excellent establishment was intended for the Buffs. "The moral of all this seems to be that the end of the war will not come to an end before the end of next summer."—("Everyman.") Well, anyhow, It' a a long end that has no ending. ending, Is is extraordinary how environment will affect the discourses of our city fathers. It was around a very cheerful, merrily blaz- ing fire in the Swansea Guardians Board- room that the Finance Oommitt-e: of that es- timable body sat in state one particularly cheerless afternoon this week and deliber- at-ed on the economical laying out of the money at the Board's disposal. A oc-rtajn matter came before them just as they were warming (the fire?) to their work that served j' to send them with miraculous suddenness into, quite a paroxysm of ferocity. Bloodthirsty suggestions were uttered and demanded with impatience, and divers horrible fates were propounded for the unfortunate person who —sends the milk prices up. Christmas Reading for Mr. Wilson. We quote below three verses from Mr. Rudyard Kipling's verses in "Sea Warfare." published by Macmillans :— Brethren, how shall it fare with me Wrhen the war is laid aside. If it be proven that I am he For whom a world has died? If it be proven that all my grud, And the greater good I will make. Were purchased me by a multitude Who suffered for-Juy sake? That they did not as k me to draw the sword When they stood to endure their lot. That they only looked to me for a And I answered I knew them not! The term now to be used is "Somewhert out of England." <!><t. Boxing morning, barbers' morning. Df6 you notice the chin parade? A seasonable Xmas box to Sm-ansea docks- men as a body—the removal of the letter-bo* outside the present gates. Should our parks be utilised for agricul- tural purposes?" is a question exercising th6 minds of local common- 'taters. Would you choose the morning of Cliritst- I mas Day in go down to the foreshore and dig for luscious worms for lug bait?" "No. Well, one Swansea man did. The tank cinema films—showing ttie tankl at work—are to be released in the middla of January. The taking of Beaucourt by the R.N. Division is also part of the saIne film. +4t*e.* For the first time since there has been a belfry at Sketty Church. Xmas morn came in unheralded, as the bells did not ring oub their customary merry peal just before mid- night. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ during a case at Swansea Police Court, in answer to a question, ,sG,d he was sure—he thought he was sure, and he was positive and all of it in one breath. Scene, chemist's shop, Swansea (or any other old place), Tuesday morning "H'm quite so. sir: I think I understand, air. I think that will pick you up, sir. GOOD morning I" ¡ Some people are so parochial. Said oue Swansea m in to the other: "FancE" G. Protheroe getting that Board of Agriculture jo'b. Thought tailoring was more in his linc." So it is So it is: ¡ lad, *inqu i red his pompoms "And now, my lad,inquired his pompous uncle, "what interests you m?t in tha world's sphere of action this Christmas morning? Turk-ev. replied his hopeless nephew with a gluttonous grin. Spare a passing thought for the brave women, wives and mothers, who wore smiling faces on Christmas Day, so that the "kiddies" should not miss too much the absent ones tîghting with our Forces on sea and land. We have all of us grown older since "Whimsical Walker," the season's Drury Lane clown, brought much joy to juvenile Swansea on his periodical visits to Ginnett x Circus, then situated at the foot of Richard- son-street. Do you recall it? There is a suggestion afoot that some of the Turner sketches now stored in tho j National Gallery should be distributed amo^r the provincial galleries. In the Glyn Vivian Gallery, Swansea happily possesses dB. ideal home for such art treasures W&!? is apparently famed down und?r'* for more th?a producing cdebraied is"- b?Hefa and ? ''pH?Mul Premier, for the jNew Zeaianders ??itmg Sw&n&ea sought for and obtained a real old-fashioned Welsh for and obtained a real o l d-fas h .1 oned 11-e-Ish When Swansea docksmen reassemble after the Christmas vacation, they will miss from his desk at Burrows L;4e Mr. TQm Jo, his desk at .burrows Lodge M r. Tom Jones, for some years chief clerk in the G. W.E. district goods agent's office, for, promoted to Dudley, he takes up his duties immedi- ately. Mr. Jones carries -,Ath him the best w ishes of the Swansea docks fraternity. 0 Some of the old Welsh Ofe.lstmas cus- toms are still in existence, while others have died out practically. The old Welsh Church service, known as Plvgain," i* rarely held now in Glamorgan. The Mari Lwyd, however, still occasionally appeals to frighten the maids, at lonely farmhouses on the Welsh hills, and there are Welsh schoolboys who still keep up the custom of "Canu Calenig." An invalided Swansea "Tommy was giving his French experience to a friend, and, among other subjects, the difference in grip" of the beers of the respective coun- tries came under ditcussion. The travelled man finally summed up the difference thus "Drinking one of them Frenchy beers, or bocks, as they calls 'em, just tastes like kissin g your sister." —(Mr. Charles Davies at the Swansea Strand Mission). Soldiers in service or in hospital at Swan. sea did not lack "smokes on Xmas Day. From the Guildhall consignments were sent to Park Wern. Y.M.C.A and Training Col- lege Hospitals, and neither the Shropshires nor the National Reserve men were over- looked. At Tawe Lodge there was the cus- tomary distribution of tobacco and snuff from the same source. The question of the position of the Swan- sea Docks Exchange letter-box was raised at the Chamber of Commerce meeting, and the view was unanimously held that the box should be .placed outside the present portals (where the last collection is 5.30 ip.m.), so as to be accessible at all times when the Exchange gaW are closed. The Pest Office authorities are not averse to the removal, but they stipulate it should be at the dock- men's expense. This would create a prece- dent which might prove inconvenient in the future. ♦ <"4xix M>1 It is worthy of mention that the late Mr. Henry Thomas, Sketty, occupied the house in which he died at Parc-yr-rhedin for nearly half a century, and that he and his wife, who pre-dececd him. had a stall in S cansea Market for 54 years, and he was proud to assert that they were never absent from it one Saturday in 50 years. One of the oldest trustees in Sketty Wesley Chapel, he had been chapel steward since its erec- tion. and had held practically every office there. and was a well-known figure at the Weslevan circuit meetings in Swansea. Mr. G. C. Howell ("Ifor Tawe"). the well-known Swansea newsagent and com- poser, had a tribute paid him recently. He received a letter from a highly placed Government official in South Africa, men- tioning that the writer had seen a copy of the song. "England's Defenders" (com- posed by Mr. Howell and dedicated to Field-Marshal Lord Grenfell), and was charmed with it. and asked to be supplied with a dozen copies. The compliment is rendered all the more valuable by the fact that the writer first heard the song in Soutb Africa. A S\\aii?e? father bereaved in the war relates that he was in the train at Fen- church -street, en route to the War Office, when a Toinm-z j-iit back from tli- fron4 j <got into the compartment. He had been wounded, but he seemed in mere than usual high spirits, and several times he whistled a lively air and tapped his feet on the floop (If the carriage in keeping with the tune. Then the secret came out, and it was said more than once: "Going honi"; wife anj i five kiddies; first t-nne for over twelve i-laths. And he whisliod away ag"ain. Going home wife and 1he kiddies Hit vas real joy. And what sacrifice he had made compared with the single slacker.

It is a matter of positive urgency that the careful and alert attention of patriotic citi- zens everywhere should be directed to a sud- den development of the great German peace pu»h" which has manifested it? If in the Metropolitan press since the dramatic downfall of the Asquith Ministry, and which, we have no doubt, will continue to I manifest itself as time goes on in likely quar- ters still further afield. The development is notable, as we need hardly say, in just that section of the London newspaper world which finds its "amour propre" too sorely wounded to permit it to join in the other- ,ve d re<xjiistructi f wise universally approved reconstruction of th" Government, and which. after a hesitant advocacy of the course of honour and duty at the beginning of the struggle. has displayed a recurrent reluctance in c.ont.emplating or counselling war a out- rance upon the Huns. It started in those early days with the untenable contention that it, was Britain's part to keep out of the fighting and pick up t.he trade of the world, while abandoning her honourable obligations. That initial blunder having proved unspea.k-II ably distasteful to the spirit of ^he whole people, the movement has passed on through the don t-humllmte-GE'rma-ny stage to the present development which PMounts to a scarcely veiled support of the intrigue that the Ka iser's agents are promoting through- out the world. by every means and channel that is aceecsible to them, for an inconclu- sive or "German" peace. The sudden outcrop of letters and appeals for a half-way meeting with the Huns, which has been noticeable -n the section of the prees to which we refer during the pa6t few critical days, is the key to many things that ha,ye happened and are happening, and it de- mands the vi.gilant attention of every patriot. We will take as the type of the rest of these curious emanations the letter from Sir R. K. Wilson, to which the Daily C,hiroiiiele gaive prominence a few days -ago. It is a letter of buts." of great significance. Sir R. Wilson is, of course, conscious of the atrocities committed by the Huns, and he admits that the moment for useful peace t-ik" will not arrive until our victory is fairly well assured." But—here we came to the very remarkable qualifications of those sound premises-he expresses, in the first place, the singular view that our own men have not been exposed to the temptation which overcame the poor dear Germans. and until they have met and survived the test it would be best to "wait and see." Though admitting Germany's andenia.ble though admitting Germany's undeniable crimes, he deprecates the very thought, of excluding "that great nation" from the pale of international comity, or putting it on a level with the late King Prempeh of Ashanti, or Lobengula ot Matabeleland." He notes a tendency in British minds to "lay more stress upon the scrap of paper argument than is either just or prudent and he de- nies all belief in the efficacy of a treaty im- posed by superior force on an utterly beaten ind prostrate Germany." His implied insult to the character of Brit- ain s armies-—an echo of the "methods of barbarism" cry which was raised in the same quarter on another occasion— needs no reply. As for the analogy of Prempeh and Lobengula, no Briton would outrage the memories of these comparatively innocent savages by blaming them in t-he Qam- degree with the modern Hun. who has prostituted human knowledge and learning to the uses of an erudite barbarity. Thev were uncivil- ised, and for that the legitimate objects of compassion. The modern Hun is de-civilised and altogether beyond pity. As for Sir R. K. W ilson s repudiation of the argument of force, we would remind him that Germany r,a,- elected to iii-ike Cne rule of force the supreme la-w of her universe, and that she staked her all on her ability to enslave her neighbours by force materially, mentally, morally and spiritually.

The sanguine estimate which the Kaiser had formed, own fron the first- proofs of their practicability., of the value of Zeppelin air raids in war is a matter of common knowledge, and in the early stages of the struggle in which Britain is regarded as "the chief ene-my" of the Fatherland, the German people almost without exception took their I opinion on this subject from exalted quarterR ( with their usual docility and firmly believed that Count Zeppelin s airships were the w ea- pons which would subdue the British nation. Their operation was to be efficaciously sup- plemented and perfected by the submarine blockade of our shores. The failure of the first IT .boat attack was a bitter disappoint- ment to German expectations. The recent losses to Zeppelins, which were at first be- lieved to be almost unassailable, has inflicted j ai-i even more poignant i-ebiif f on German i hopes. But great- are the anticipations now f, sgcoii4 onslaught on British, security by submtti-ilies. Amd in this matter German schemers are looking not only to the i present but to the future. They recognise I the improbability of winning in the new phase of naval warfare that decisive German victory over Britain which-, in their belief, will destroy British seapower an d bring about the dsmemhermeut of the British Em- pire some day. But they hope for a succ&ss in the coming year which will suffice to restore to Germany her lost colonies and enable her to defeat the! resolutions of the Paris Conference of last June—a prospect to which the world of com- merce and industry in Germany attaches quite as much importance as the colonial re- instatement. If Germany's insistence on most-f a VOI rred -n at ion treatment and other advantages for the future is successful, Ger- man intriguers believe that this country will be thrust into a course of policy in which che will remain, as in the past, dependent on sea-borne supplies of food and other prime necessaries. Then. when every suitable Ger- man colonial base has been made a nest of submarines of the most powerful type and other German plans are ripe, the "next war" w:ll be launched against British commerce without warning, amid confident German an- ticipations of irresistible success.