The Cambria Daily Leader

THE WAYS OF PETITION PROMOTERS. The Church party in Swansea, i3 making extraordinary efforts to secure Nonconformist signatures to the South Wales petition against clistndowin-ent. Already there is evidence which will tend to discredit the result, what- ever it may be. What Nonconformist is there in Swansea who if asked the blunt ques- tion Are you in favour of robbing the Church?" will not answer with an in- dignant denial. Yet upon this answer the last petition was put, and now the "Nonconformist" petition (organised by Conservatives and Churchnvon) is put, before the protesting person, and his signature solicited! Such a case oc- curred on Saturday, when a geutle- man who was seeking names for his petition defended the use of the offen- sive and insulting term, and seemed to thint that all who repudiated a desire to rob the. Church of England should, because of that repudiation, join in a petition against disendowntent. An- other young man who has signed a peti- tion, in the hands of a Nonconformist- Conservative, stated to tho writer that he did so because it was explained to him that the money of the Church would go to the Nonconformist chapels-or something like that, he wasn't exactly clear. But at any rate, although he didn't know much about it. and, as he said, his political views are of the vaguest kind, his name was accep- ted, and it figures on the list as that of one who vehemently protests against disendowment! Such tactics show up the foolishness of regarding theso peti- tions as a safe expression of the public mind. We have scon how, in North Wales, they have brought moro dis- credit than honour to the Church and if the methods of the last South Wales petition are again to be followed, it will bo the same here. Tho way of the petition hawker in Swansea/ has been prepared by the dis- tribution of a disgraceful picture which ought to be instantly disclaimed by those churchman who care for the good name of their cause. We have dealt previously with its remarkable state- ments, but so far we have heard no voioe raised in disavowal by those ex- horted by their Archbishop to avoid the use of scorn. Do you approve of this robbery, sacrilege and tyranny?" the author of this screed asks. We all answer no; but this does not signify that we will sign tho petition! We hope thfe Free Churchmen of Swansea will do- their best to see that unsus- pecting neighbours are not claimed as signatories because they state that they disapprove cf robbery, sacrilege and tyranny. For the ways of petition promoters are as strange as the know- ledge of the writer who states in the matter on the back of the objectionable picture that For more than 20 cen- turies the Church of England and Wales has been united." This rubbishy statement is on a par with the re- mainder of the appeal, which has been composed by some intolerant and ignor- ant establishment man who knows nothing of the Welsh case—or of his- tory. Twenty centuries ago the Ancient Druids were practising their gory rites in the groves of Mona. Does the Church claim kinship with these I Much is being made, especially at Clydach, of some imaginary wrong done the Church with regard to the control of the churchy aids. The Church graveyards," we are told, are at pro- sent under the care of the Church. The Bill hands oyer these hallowed spots to secular authorities who may have no reverence for those who are buried there." There is proof enough to be obtained in and around Swansea that secular authorities aro more zealous in their reverence than many Church authorities—if the state of the church- yards counts for anything. And throughout Wale* thrre are case- in the minds of the people still, which show that when NoncoitforriUts desired to bury their dead in ths village burial ground—and all parishioners have a legal right to be buried in the church- yard—there were clergymen (we aje glad to think not typical of their cloth) who thought less of re^er^iee for the dead than of their prerogatives. We do not want to rake up any of these burial scandals, but we ask those who are shouting so loudly about ¡. tbÐ hallowed spots" whether the Church of England, in its dealings with those Nonconform- ists brought into the Churchyards for burial, has so clean a record that it can ask for a. perpetuation of its unjust privileges. At any rate we know of Carmarthenshire village where events of comparatively recent date will make evory resident glad to think that the village churchyards, meant for the burial of the parishioners, will be under the parishioners' control. And this is all the d,a-uaia rrwcai L. I

I ST. DAVID'S DAY. I We believe that no St. David's Day has been more iteirtily or worthily cele- brated than the lestival oi 1914. It has become not an anniversary kept by the few, but a celebration taken part in by the people as a whole. National consciousness has been a thing of slow growth in the towns. It has had, and still has, to contend against strange ideas of cosmopolitanism, against the prejudices that easily assail a hmaU raco, And in spite of these—perhaps we can say because of thes-it is yearly grow- ing in strength. Is it necessary, to-day, to combat the peculiar notion, expressed during soric recent Swansea discussions, that the quickening of national consciousness lllakos for division, and delays the I coming of the day when the nations' shall all be as one? Because a man is a good Welshman, proud of his race, re- joicing in his descent, a lover of his language, is he likely to be any the less II worthy a citizen of the world? The contrary is the case. He who loves not his country can love nothing." Local p-,iti-lot,-sm- is to the well- being of the villages and the towns. The most useful inhabitant of Swansea is he who feels pride in his town, and translates that pride into service; he is an asset not only to his town, but to his, country. So it is in the larger I sphere of national work. The Celt who j glows with patriotic fervour, who en- thuses over his native land, who serves I WaJes to the utmost of his powers, servos also the workl. The national instinetwill never be eradicated. It lias been too deeply planted, its roots are too hrm in the heart. Let us, however, endea vour to cast away such an Ülea. as that the celebrar i tion of St. David's Day, and the cultiva- j tion oi national consciousness, mean the! fostering of a spirit of exclusivllim. Wales for the Welsh is a foolish cry, j uttered by none who love Wale.s. The dyke on the border is in ruins; no true Welshman wants it rebuilt. And the day of the patron saint is not kept be-, cause we desire to boast of Welsh excel- lencies, or to shout that We are the People. We revive memories of an inspiring past not to take pride in dead deeds and buried glories, but to remind each other that we, too, have our responsibilities. These memories of the past, in the words of Mr. A. T. Davies, are capable, when rightly use d, of lead- ing the thoughts of all who take part m the celebrations towards higher ideals of patriotism, of inspiring richer coucep- tions of citizenship, of kindling, in the minds of old and young alike, a keener seneo of personal responsibility, and of public duty. We go to the solemn close of Professor Lloyd's history of Wales, and read there of Grulfydd ab yr Ynad Coch's lament when Liywelyn tell. It was for a tar distant generation," he says, to see that the last Prince had not livea in vain, but by his lite-work had helped to build sotidiy tho enduring fabric of Welsty nationality." That fabric is of imposing appearance to-day. Let us see to it tnat we 00 not disgracc it by tne jiligolzlll wmcli so iiaruiy assail s a nation upon its patron's day. Wales has had a great past. Its future will only be as great if its sons and daughters wisely and temperately draw from the inspiring pages, and spend themselves in national service. And national service, with exciusivitm banished, but with national dignity in due time and place, will also be world service.

LABOUR TROUBLES IN SOUTH Al RICA. Art Ex-Soldier's Viaw. j (To the Editor.) Sir-They say it is easy to bo wi&e after an event. It is, however, never theless. the fact, that during the Boer War, there were many among t,be, irregular forces, who had baen driven from their employment in the Transvaal at the outbreak of tho war, and had joined the Imperial Light Horse anu oilier corps who froely expressed the opinion tliaj when British rule becaxuc general in South Africa the rato ui wages hitherto paid to white men would not be maintained, so that whatever may have been tho dohaieucies oi tlie lato republics, the fact remains good watges for skilled labour were obtainable under thoir respective Governments. Now tho country is once again the storm centre oi the labour worlo, aud it would appear the fears expressed by the cx-Uitlandeorc arc coining into etfeot. This, perhaps, is net so much due to any fault of Government as to foroe circum- stances. TIkj Union Government of South Africa is perpetually faced with the pro- blem of it;; coloured workers and koep- ing them i. order. Tho natives of the various raim-C in tho oountry are in the proportion or about eiyht to one of the white race, and while the former are rapidly ma-casing in popui^bion, the latter are remaining practical]y station- ary. The natives ar^ also bocoiaing more civilised and educated, and arc de- manding to bo placed on the same foot- ll as tho whites The native agitator is a growing force in South Afrio-ii. Often ho is a man educated at Oxford, or Cambridge, and holding a degree. Having been received in Britain on equal terms, be returns to his own oountry to find the ooJour bar raised against him. Too cultured to consort with his omti race, yet looked down upon by the white peopla he is au outca.st with no political rigiiis, aad so he coinmonoes a^tating. I For some time it has been an under- stood thiug betu-een masters and men in the Transvaal that natives should not compete with white;; 111 occupations tluit demand skilled labour. No black was therefore to become an eniginoer, car- penter. st-o-neroason or bricklayer Gradually, however, the door is being opened and the Triansvaji.1 whites fed that they shortly he forcrd to work on the sune footing as the natives just as fellow whites in the Cape province al- ready do. Tho white miners naturally dislike the nativo labourers because their pro seuce tends to keep down the rate oi wages. 'J'he idea of equality betweea white and Mack rouses tho indignation of ev-ory South African, whether British or Dutch, to boiling point. The facts, horm'w, remain that the native is in South Africa he is inc! ('asin? in akUL I education', and in numbers. He is also a British subject, and providing he can .successfully mpcto with whites in occupations that demand skilld htbour, why should he not do so?-- Your?-etc., tx-soKiter. j

Mexican Muddle. —qpr- The Predicament of the United States. I By J. C. Squire. I IIIE murder without trial, of a British subject in Mexico has aroused more newspaper indigna- tion than the deportation without trid 01 a number of British subjects from one of our own Colonies. The com- parison might produce fruitful morals, but I will not discuss them here; the iact remains that although the cause is mo^t lamentable, it is a good thing that general attention has at last been drawn to the appalling state of things in Mexico. Until a wealthy British subject was murdered, most Englishmen with an interest in politics refused to pay the. slightest attention to Mexico. But the. chaos which has been reigning there ever since the resignation of Portirio Diaz is now patent to the world. As I write General Villa has invited British and American Consuls aud two surgpons I to go to Chihuahua and examine Mr- j Beuton's body. But it is doubtful whether an autopsy at this late stage J will be of any use. it is generally be-1 jieved that Y'illa has been procrastinate ■ ing in order that the body might get into such a state as to defy examina- j tion and the opinion is universally ac- ceptsd (save by the U.S. Government, j which timorously hesitates to admit any- thing that might mean strong action by itself), that Mr. Benton was foully murdered without a pretence at a trial Every Man is for Himself. Tile Mexican Constitutional Govern- ment (under President Huerta) has has- tened to join in the accusation against General Villa. It denounces the rebels as being dead to humanitarian i considerations (this from the people who climbed to power over the corpse of Madero!) and suggests that if only the U.S. will take steps to prevent the! rebels getting arms it can suppress them and produce order. Nobody be- lieves this; even if the intentions of the Huerta Government were good, it is impotent to check rebellion and brigandage. Few people in this coun- try realise the difficulty of policing Mexico. The country, which is very, hot, badly provided with communica- y Molint?-l i DO11t;, tions. a.nd in parts very mountainous., is as large a-s four of the great European countries put together, and its popula- tion is only 15 millions. Manv of these people arc degraded Indians, most of the rest arc illiterate half-breeds. Constitutional government, during and since the Dias regime, has always been a farce in Mexico; every prominent man there fights for his own hand; the maas of the population are virtual slaves; and loot, bloodshed and tor- ture are part of the established code. I How could any Government without enormous funds and a large and reli- able cttnding army keep in order such a country with sneh inhabitants ? European powers, hoping against hope, for some time pinned their faith on. Gemeral Huerta. The United States had L<'en piuihiig its until on the rebel General Carraza. But Ruerta's Govern- ment is baftted and discredited; born ui blood it has lived in ignominy and de- feat And Carraaa has been puit in the Khade by his colleague Villa, who has been a bandit all his life, and whose fol- lowers live on pillage. The Finger of Duty. 4 It is no doubt the hugoness and diffi- cult of the country that ia really at the bottom of the vacillation, and timidity of the American policy. Dr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan mute know in their heart*, as well as anyone that the linger of Duty points towards intervention. In- tervention in some form or another- there is, as th3 will mention later, au alternative to invasion, some of us have auiintauiod, has been inevitable for the past year. But the U.S. has not a large army, and if order is to bo thoroughly re- stored and preserved in Mexico it might take the whole American army all its time. to do the job. Some time ago it was suggested that U.S. intervention would be given more moral weight if the Americans entered Mexioo as the mandatories of all the PoworF. But what they appear to think they want is not more moral weight but more physical weight. Should they continue to shrink from the task which plainly invites them, there is only one thing for it—and that is the serious recon- sideration, in America and in England, of the Monroe Doctrine. The Monroe Doctrine. For the Monroe Doctrine has two sides. It carries with it those familiar twins rights and duties. If the U.S. are to retain the privilege of keeping European Powers from interfering in territory not already occupied by them, t this privilege carries with it the im- plication that the U.S. can and does act as policeman throughout the Ameri- can. continent. If Dr. Wilson and Mr. Bryan cannot make up their minds to effecti "Ie in tf-rvon tion for tho sup- pression of wholesale crime, including crime against Europeans and U. S. citizens, and the point will have to be put to them that they must reconsider the possibility of joint intervention by the U.S. and tho United Powers. If Mexico were in any other Continent than America we should have landed bailors and soldiers there al- ready. The Powers sent a joint force to Peking when Europeans were in danger thre; th?y have sent European ?gendarmeri3 to police the South of Persia. The case of Mexico is at least as crying as that of China was, T5t9 predicament of the U.S. The Monroe Doctrine^ if its implica- tions are properly carried out, has its! advantages. ft saves the U.S. much worry about armaments and foreign pontic's, and it limite the sphere of the, rivalries of the European Powers. But if its implications arc not properly car- ried out there is a great chance of its goiug by the hoard. The. Yankees can- not have it both way. Either they muot restore Mexico to the semblance of a eiriiised State as thov must hand that duty over to thosr?. who will feel them- solve* bound, however, roluctautly. to I por.forni it. It is uulikely that the British Government, w i such j overwhelming reason to remain friendly with that. of the United States would tak.- the initiative and repudiate Lh? Monroe Doctrine: indeed that Is Incon- ceivable. But a very strained situation will ari <e if the Uni?<I States, deciding m, to interv( ne in Mexico themselves do not, of thoir own accord, announce the formal abandonment of a doctrine that they cannot livo up to. A con- timtance of the present state of thing* would he intolerable, and wc look to the States to do one thing 01" the othN-in- tervene themselves or fling overboard the principle which has dominated their policy for nearly a century, TJio Alternatiwa. The U.S. will have to act. And they have one just pos-sihle alternative to invasion; and that is the ,advance to Huerta, or some other President, of a loan «o large (controlled by American officials) tIu..t he wli.1 be able to a police force ..sufficient for the country's needs. Of that there is oa Vttt not a rumour. j (

i News & Views Lunacy in London. A decline in the annuai rate of in- crease of lunacy is suggested bv figuref given in a report by the Asylums Committee. The number of insaM persons for whose accommodation the L.C.C. is responsible has risen this year by 272. But this is leoss by nearly 50 per cent, than the increase recorded last year, though it is practically the same as the increase of 1912 over 191 L The average annual increase over a period of 21 years is 462. Kidnapped at Rifle Point. A grave indictment of labour con- ditions in the New Hebrides is made in memorandum which the anti-Slavery and Aborigines Protection Society hats addressed to Sir Edward Grey. It is alleged that kidnapping and illegal re- cruiting (including women) is shame- fully common among the French, and a case is mentioned of 13 natives b&ing compelled at the point of a I= musket to enter into an agreement with a French recruiter. They w-ere kidnapped and kept a whole year without payment. Pierpont Morgan's House for Sale. Mr. Pierpont Morgan s lamoua house in Prince's Gate is for dale, Time was when some two million pounds worth of art valuables were stored in this mansion, and an elaborate system of surveiLance had to be imposed, but gradually the priceless pictures and bric-a-brac were moved to New York, the packing alone being a triumph of workmanship, tor the sLLghu*>t ja: t.o some of the delicate ornaments would have meant irretrievable ruin. Sir Charles Santley. Sir Charles Santiey, the Grand Old Man ol Song, who stained his eightieth year on Saturday, was born in Liver- pool in the reign of William IV. The veteran singer seems to have been as- sociated with almost every great event in au musical history. "Tho Lost Chord" was written for him, though he was not the first to sang it. He created the role of Valentine in Gounod's Faust," he was the "star" in all that long list of now forgotten operas, whose airs delighted the draw- ing-rooms of our grandfathers days. Newspaper Libel Law Reform. Sir Edward Russell, refearing to the law of libel at the meeting of the Newspaper Press Fund on Saturday, said the journalistic profession carried on a necessary function without which civilisation would have to stop, and in the performing of which the Press ran incalculable risks, with the result tha.t » very often they wore innoc?n?v very 'ht into Very tight places. The time had com6 when the law of the land should recognise the necessity of their function, and the Press ought to be more protected by the Legislature than they were. Mr. Bernard Shaw and Coincidence. Mr. Bernard Shaw, lecturing at Ox- ford on Saturday evening on The Nature of the Drahia," adrise(i those who wanted to write plays to watch the unity of time and place at the circus, and said the earliest form of drama. would be found in full operation there. No really thoughtful man supposed that drama could be written without co- incidences, and when they heard a man tnlkillg about the childishness of dramas in which there were coincidences, he ad- vised them to look at him in a calm an d fatiherly way and say in a solemn, voice, "My friend, all life consists of co- incidences. ? Is a Widower a fla-rleii Man.'? Dundalk is.urates grappled in- conclusively with a iniitriJiionial poser which arose this A, ay Pa;trick Bright, a gunner in the 28th Brigade R.F.A., was charged under the Army Act with making a false answer to a query in his attestation paper when enlisting at Stirling. The query was: u Arc you | married?" Pat put down a decisive No." The Bench was not 'satisfied that Mrs. Bright was alive at the tyme of the attestation, whereupon the in- spector of police argued that Bright, if he were a widower, had falsely answered the question, as he would neverth e- less be a "married man.' "I may be wrong," said the presid- ing magistrate, "but my impression is that a widower is not a married man." A Record Procession. All the political parties and most of the great oauses" have in turn claimed a record for their demonstra- tions in Hyde Park. Certainly (says the "Daily News and Leader" refer- ring to yesterday's South African demonstration) there has been no saxugle procession within memory to rival that from the Embankment to the Park; even the greatest efforts of the Suffra- gettes must yield precedence to its enormous bulk. The mere fact that it took two hours—from four till six-to pass under the at Hyde Park Coroner is hardly less uian awe-inspiring. The number of men, walking four abreast, must have approached 50,000. History of Wall Paper. English people apparently com- menced to paper t-lioir wajls in the sixteenth century, for a piece of wall- paper of the Tudor period, which has been acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, is supposed to be the earliest in existence. Part of the wall has to he tajtbn with it, and several nieii aro needed to move tllb exhibit. Evidently a Mack design was printed from a woodcut on a white surface, for there is no rich colouring. The Chinese have used wallpapers for centuries, but the modern systera of paper-hanging ouly came into general use in Europe in the beginning of the nineteenth century --iiuir the paper-making machine waa brought into practical use.

THE COAL MlhES BILL. (lo the Uitor.) Sir,-Reading between the lines of the evidence given at a recant ouroiter 's inquiry iuwa, colliery lauuaiy, in my opinion the deceas »i v oald hn. been olive to-day if the systeai nten- tioned below had been introduced. Although ilia face of a. stall Lliglit be properly spragged (as wa* the we in the above instance), the system of kiiocking out, or withdrawing, sprats in scwn,6 varying from four to six fe" in thickness, must be condemned. It seems tha.t the deceased had eonw 3ft. (nns. through the coal of five feet in thickness in a stall about six yards wide, which moans that beyeg. or eight tons of coal was supported by the sprags, when both ends were loose. W hon withdrawing these sprags. a hammer (commonly called a sledge) ia used. Ultimately when the last sprag its reached, the collier has to iiamnw* away at the sprag, which in same caItJI is torn to pieces. Should the custom of using the Sil- vester (puller) be enforced to withdraw the last sprag (as used to withdraw large timber), I am confident that a good many of our fellow workmen oould escape from the-se horrible accidents. I hope, for the sake of life and limb that the officials of collieries, and H.M. Inspectors, as well as our Labour re- presentative, will see that a clause is i;'sorted in the small amended Bill, Mfe McKenna has promised on the Caw Mines' Act.—Yours, etc., l William Rogers, J^Checkweigher. Grovasaud. I -A