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RUtBA-N's'A'S FROMT!ER Ii…

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RUtBA-N's'A'S FROMT!ER Ii DEFENCE. The great importance attached by both sides to the nghtmg in Ru. mania- is shown to-day by two mes- sages regarding the reinforcement of the opposing armies. Petrograd announces that Enemy reinforce- ments are continually arriving," and we are. also told, via Rome, that Russian forces have arrived on the Rumanian northern front. It seems certain, therefore, that affairs are working up to a climax in this war area.. The week-end news en- courages us in the hope that the I enemy invasion is now being stayed. The Rumanians report the capture of 2,100 prisoners and 15 guns from the enemy. Against this has to be set the lo&s of 1,300 men and 7 guns reported captured by the Bulgar- ians. 'r r A series of frontier successes -have been secured by the Allies. The most notable of thes.e is in the Ait Valley, south of the Roter Turm Pass. Here the Rumanians, attack- ing north of Salutrjk, were able to recover ground to a depth, of 61. < ? miles. In the Predea.l Pass zone,) where the Germans are making their supreme effort, the enemy claim a further ad vance and the capture of Azuga. Our Allies are on the de- fensive in the hills and marshland of the Northern Dobrudja.. The writer who contributed yes- terday's war review to the Ob- server in the absence of Mr. Garvin—who is not in London &t present—(and an attempt was made to ascribe the authorship last week to Mr. Winston Churchill) comes tD a conclusion that has already been referred to in thesB columns as that arrived at in well-informed and) authoritative quarters. It is that neither in nnance, nor industrialism, nor in the question of food, is there any reason to suppose that eco- j nomical pressure will compel Ger- many to lay down her arms. A food crisis may come in the spring, but not of such severity as to warrant hopes that it will lead to a collapse. Germany, it is increasingly plain, must be brought down on the neld! oi battle. Wo are getting near to the close of a year of high hopes unrealised. Whether these hopes were well founded we cannot say, but we hav.e to face another winter of prepara- tion. In 1916, so history will re- cord, the Central Empires were placed dennitely upon the defen- sive. In 1915 we saw the Germans still entertaining ambitions of break- ing through the dajn that ran across Belgium and France to the borders 01 Switzerland; we saw them sweep- ing over the plains of Poland, and heard of threats to march to Petro- grad and Odessa. These ambitions are gone. The road to the western seas is closed and sealed. In the East, Russia stands firm. In one part of the war theatre only—in Rumania—is the ene-my displaying the initiative. It will "be the task of 1917 to wear down the defence. As far as we can see the cotnmg winter will greatly differ from last. The enemy on the Western front will not; be allowed opportunity to strengthen his fortinca-tions. Joffre and Sir Douglas Haig will go on hammering and advancing. We may expect the armies to continue their task of harrassing the foe, hitting here and there, never giving the Germans rest. Last winter was a time of comparative quietness. On our part it was essential, because we had not conquered* the muni- tions dimculty. Now the conditions are vastly different. We can keep pace with the insatiable demand of the guns. On the Somme, and per- haps elsewhere—who knows?— there will be many developments before spring comes, and the final task of breaking the enemy is attempted. Sir Douglas Haig reports that further ground has been gained norbh-east of Les Boeufs. The con- ditions under which our men are fighting is vividly described by the correspondents at the front. In the engagements on Saturday our men waded in mud beyond their knees, and not a few were only salved from foundering by their companions tugging tliem to nrmer berths. Rain clouds hang in fat grey folds Low above the ba-ttleneld—an im- penetrable curtain drawn between the roving airmen and the ground they seek to survey. Shells roam blindly through the mist. The armies grope for each other across the stark fields, and even when these fitful storms are at their height there can still be heard the malignant chorus of machine guns and hand-grenades, in defiance of the weather, which has proved itself greater than the powers controlled by man. It is comforting to know that ample provision has been made for the British soldier who must fight in these trying conditions. He goes to the front warmly clad. Mr. Percival Phillips describes a group of German prisoners in thin grey tunics who were shaking with the cold as they gazed enviously at a passing column of infantry—nne, stalwart men of a Highland regi- ment, following their pipes—and the reason for their envy was the new, snug-ntting leather waistcoat each Highlander wore over his broad chest. The references in Parliament to the judgment of the \Vest Wales Munitions' Court in a recent case, and the suggestion therein that a Government inquiry be held, give. us cause to believe that the whole of the circumstances will be reviewed on behalf of the Government. We, hope that when the inquiry is held, and the system of giving out contracts for munitions inve-stigate.d, some- thing will be done to equalise wages. It is questionable whether a system whereby very high wages are earned by men who in other employments were not making half these sums, is good from the point of view of the nation, whilst close by are others earning on the usual scaJe. It is certainly harmful in the highest! degree that boys should be making! anything between 25s. and J&2 a week for work which under ordinary circumstances would not bring them more than 10s. or 15s. It is harm- ful because these princely wages are often thrown inconsiderately upon the market in competition with men who are struggling along at theu'' ordinary employments and at little increase upon their ordinary wages. The effoct is observable in the increase of market prices. We will give a homely illustration which was conveyed to us the other day. The, mother of a lad upon. active ser- vice, desirous of giving the boy a rare treat, went to Swansea Market for the purpose of buying a chicken, to be cc-oked and sent out 0 The price quoted to her at one of the stalls seemed excessive even for these times, and she was engaged m the dear old local occupation of beating down" the saleswoman,. and meeting'with success, when an.! other purchaser appeared on the scene, inquired the price, and was i quoted a sum in advance even of that asked of the first inquirer. She did not bargain' She took two of the market-woman's stock, and as she disappeared with her purchases the saleswoman explained to thel soldier's mother: You see," she 1 knew s h e said apologetically, I knew she would pay what 1 asked. Her bus- band's in a munition works. A little illustration, but one we think which strikingly illustrates an evil of sudden high wages upon mar- ket values. We are told that the effect is apparent. in many other directions, and the consequent rise in prices tells heavily upon the housewife who finds her household purse not heavier than it was before the war, and the. exchange value of the sovereign greatly reduced. Of the inequalities of the system we need not speak; they ought to be plain to every man who thinks of the struggle the soldier's wife has I" to make to make two ends meet upon her army allowance, and the opulence—there is no other word- of many homes into which munition earnings are pouring. There is something wrong about the whole system. The President of the Board of Agriculture has been preaching to the fanners of the West upon a dis- concerting text: the increase this year, compared with last year, of 112,000 acres of land lying in bare fallow. The farmers' answer is that they are short of labour, but if it is true, as Lord Crawford asserts, that agriculture is one of the weapons by which Britain means to win the war, the answer is not suSi- cient. To-day in every workshop and omce unconnected with the manufacture of munitions, the most serious dimculties connected with the shortage of labour are being met and overcome. Are the farmers meeting their troubles in the same spirit? There is a dead-weight of lethargy to be lifted, a. rousing of the agricultural interests to the serious- ness of the times and the need of ex- traordinary effort. The example of France, where the fields have been stripped of all but the young and the old, and the harvest is still good, must be urged upon the farming classes of Great Britain. We are reaping the bad effects of our land policy. In other days the yeomen of Britain were its strongest supports in war. But to-day, through the gradual disappearance of the small farmer, and the eco- nomic developments which placed hundreds of acres under the control of one tenant, the land is not the great reservoir of men it used to be. The reports of the rural tribunals show how the farmer of many acres claims himself to be absolutely de- pendent upon the exertions of half- a-dozen labourers to work his land. When farms were smaller, and were worked mainly by the families upon them, it was far easier to release the fighting men and carry on." That is what has happened in France—the country of small pea- sant proprietorship. The man and his boys have gone to the war, and grandfather and grandmother have come out of the armcha-irs by the kitchen fireside to help the wife and children to sow and reap the land. We will have to come back to the old system under which the yeomen of Britain were the backbone of the country.

¡*

I, HOLD YOUR TONGUES.'

CORRESPONDENCE.

!HY[,ANS AT THE FRMT. I ——?—-

A SWANSEA HEM.

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