South Wales Weekly Post

SWANSEA'S BIG 'BIT.' Rally at Albert Hall. ROUSING PATRIOTIC APPEALS SIR A. MOND ON I THE LOAN. C "Finest Security in the World. TOWN'S GREAT OPPORTUNITY. The SwiMea meeting in connection with the new War Loan campaign that the Cen- tral War Savings Association has arranged throughout the country was held at the Albert Hall on Friday .evening and was splen- didly attended. The principal speaker was the borough member, the Right Hon. Sir Alfred Mond, Bart., who made his first ap- pearance in the town after his recent inclu- sion in the Ministry as First Commissioner of Works. From seven to eight o'clock, ■ Mr. T. D. Jones (organist, Sketty Church), rendered popular organ selections which gave general delight. His Worship the Mayor (Aid. David Davies) presided and was supported by Sir Alfred and Ladv Mond. Mr. T. J. Williams, M.P., and Mrs. Williams, Mr. W. H. Edwards, J.P., Mr. Jordan Jones (London and Provincial Bank), Mr. J. Vaughan Edwards, Dr. J. H. S. Roberts, Mr. Hyam Goldberg, Mr. T. P. Cook, Capt. Thomas (Chief Constable), Mr. Richard Martin, J.P., Mr. John Glasbrook, Aid. Morgan Tutton, Capt. Syd Bevan, Mr. George Crocker, Mr. A. P. Higham, Mr. George Dorrell, Mr. A. W. E. Wynne, the Deputy. Mayor (Aid. Ben Jones), Mr. and Mrs. Aeron Thomas, Mr. H. G. Jeffreys, Mr. R. L. Sails, J.P., Mr. and Mrs. C. T. Ruthen, Mr. W. Edwards, J.P., Mr. R. G. Lewis, Major G. S. Harries, Mr Gwilym Morgan, J.P., Mr. R. Lewis, J.P., Mr. W. Fosser, Mr. A. D. Perkins, Major and Mrs. Bertie Perkins, the Rev. D. Price, Mr. R. J. Mat- thews, Mr. Roland Rees, Captain Godfrey (Swansea Battalion), Mr. D. Glasbrook, JJP., Mr. F. Gage, Mr. A. B. Davies, Mr. D. Roberts, J.P., Rev. Percy Moss Weston, Mr.-J. W. Jones, J.P., Councilor D. Grif- fiths, Mr. E. A. John (Labour Exchange), Mfl W.' J; Stephens, Mr. Hamilton "Shaw,' Lieut. J. fioclgens, Councillor J. B. Owen, -)Cr. IL Lang Coath (Town Clerk), Mr. W1. H. Ashmole (borough treasurer), Mr. W. J. Crocker (who had the arrangements for the meeting), Mr. F. Rocke, J.P., Mr. E. Fish, Mr. Chas. Gnstavus, Councillor J. Lewis, Mr. Cyrus Evans. Mr. J. T. Davies. Dr. Edwards, Mr. J. Jones, Mr. J. Mulholland, Councillor Percy Molyneux, Mr. A. Marles and others. The Mayor and those accompanying him on the platform were warmly received. Mr. W. J. Crocker read letters of apology for non-attendance from Mr. J. Williams, M.P. (Gower), who wrote that, he per- sonally would respond to the utmost limit of his resources; Sir J. T. Llewelyn, Bart., who would much liked to have been present but he never comes out at night; Mr. F. Edwards (bank manager), who was pre- vented through a severe cold, and trusted the meeting would be big euceetis; Rev. J. Owen, Sir Robert Morris (who was in London, and Colonel J. R. Wright. Mears. Joseph Hall (who was flway, Cory Yeo, T. N. Talfourd Strick, Dr Brook, T. Miers, O. Owens, J. E. Rowlands, J. S. Brown, Councillor Macdonpell, R. W. Bear. and H. M. James. HIS WORSHIP THE MAYOR. The Mayor said it was not necessary for! him that night to try to explain the pur- pose of that meeting; they all knew it was to supplement the efforts of our statesmen, our soldiers, and our sailors, to provide i our fighting men not only with food, cloth- ing, and equipment, bait with munitions and the guns that would make them irre- s'istible in the spring and summer to come. (Applause.) He was never more proud of being Mayor of Swansea than he was at the present time. Swansea had done right splendidly throughout the war; she had not only sent her SODS by the thousands to fight, but she had looked a.fter the wounded soz- diers, the repatriated Belgians and the sol- diers many of whom were back again in the dghting line, and now came a fresh call. As a Corporation—and corporations were not money-saving bodies, but money-spending —they put UY a good stroke for Swansea Wednesday when they declared as a Corporation they were ready and willing to subscribe £ 125,900. (Applwjm.) Let them j .kok through the lists as they were pwb-/ tMhad, and he thought they would nnd he I was justified in saying there was no muni- cipahty of the character and size of Swan- sea that had excelled that figure or even approached it. (Applause.) Newport was very prosperous, and their Corporation j subscription was but Swansea reached the topmost point with their £ 125,000, and in doing that the Corporation j had set an example to the rich men in our ] district. Quarter of a Million. Although actual figures were not yet known vet that day intimations had been received of nearly a quarter of a million in addition from Sjtvansea. (Applause.) Mr. Ashmole, the highly capable borough treasurer, had thought out schemes for obtaining every possable pound for the loan. Arrangements had been made for placing harometer& showing the progree.s of the loan subscrip- tions—at the Swansea Market and the) Labour Exchange. It was arranged to I have a fresh board for every million, but even before Swansea had got one board up the town, he honestly believed, had reached the first million. (Applause.) Proceeding, the Mayor said the Chancellor of the Ex- chequer had given a plain hint that the 11 present loan would be the last voluntary loan of the war; i1 this appeal did not pro- d'jco the money required-he firmly be- lieved it woiild-(applause)-the next step would be a foreed loan at a. lower rate of interest. That was one point he wished i,) emphasise, and the other was that if the Alliee lost the war no propertied man in this country would be safe in possession of his property. If the Germana won not that he thought for on moment they wotild-maii with property would be poorer by far than if they lent ever possible penny to t.he War kan. And he made those -■■fc'.erv-'tion-: for the purpose of awakening j i.ny dormant or sluggish consciences if j 'here were any. He appealed amidst ap- "l;wl'!e every man and woman to lend to he fullest extent in their power. There had U 'H other w.ir meetings in that ha when .'pMix wero m?de for men to oome far* hard, give ?p shcir b?m? tAm rea?p!???, L,ivf) occupations, all the comforts of l'-t'< •^racticaiiy, and suonut oht-ruseives to ttiv. ancl (ii N-ar. Our youn^, .ii&nhoocl roiled up L'y the tiUousancui 11l a*, avver to that app»ai. ^Yjjpiau&e.J Une o. "ile prouuest THINGS for byujait:a to xecai. ui the years W> 001>10 W&S THAT btiore EOIU r'ajs«j;i we-b appiiea between l\.J,UU\J 11,000 of ner ooys raJuea to trie ca.u: ^-tppiause.) Our young manuio-d had oUiipjy spienuia it Jlau <WIIM..w uieu1 bluer. aim was reany supeib. At that time t,\1-. appeal was to tho young men, asK-ug Uwu- tv g I ye up everytiiuig ma King ino ujcueau. uiia lisic oneir lives 1v1' tiieir country, ali, many as a result oi that call weiL aiwpiiig their long sleep m .france anu i'laudeiis. But to-uay they were not ask ing that e&criiice—tho sacnuce so many ungrudging! v made. Sw«wT&eas War Sacrifices, I To-day in Swansea, iis vvoisiup. remarkea I in passing, entire were, 4vV war widows, over 8uu war orpiians. hunctleds oi mothers and wives had inaue real and UIl- complaining sacrifices—»acniice3 of breau- wiuners, sons, nns Jatius and brothers; that was the highest iorm of sacrifice, lti-j were astcing for much less that evening --merely asKing people to lend then savings to their country, and to pledge whatever credit they had tso that txity might beat the German tyrant to his kmt' Our ancestors did not build up this great Empire without suffering, sacmice and vai- our. (Applause.) No nation could be grcato or continue greatunles5 it had the capacity for self-sacrifice and endurance; their ancestors (possessed those qualities, and Luey had spread British civilisation over the whole world and won liberty for the human race. And as the descendants of those men they now aske-d iiio ricu, tilt; moderately rich, and the ordinary indus- trious workmen to come forward and lend their savings to the State they all loved their country; lend to the State the sinews of war to enable us to hnish this war triumphantly. Let them not be afraid be- cause their offering might be small; the widow's mite was as acceptable as the multi- millionaire's millions in this great war. They wanted to give the world a demonstration, not only of the colossal resources of the Brit- ish Empire, but the capacity of its people for self-sacrifice and the qualities which en- abled us to win the Napoleonic wars. "The Colden Guineas ot Erigiand." J Napoleon uSed to say he was not defeated. on sea or land but by the golden guineas of I England, and an important factor of success in this great war was going to be the Eng- lish sovereign. They asked everyone to give to the fullest ext:nt of his ability let them not be afraid of their small mite, for the t-ea J was composed of little drops and the most wonderful rivers in the world were made up in the same way. The success of the War Loan would hearten the Allies and depress their enemies. Let everyone come forward and add to the list and upon the investment they would get an excellent return. In con- clusion his Worship said he thoroughly be- lieved the loan was going to be a great suc- cess and he believed we were going to win triumphantly and decisively he believed, too, we should emerge from this war stronger as a military power, stronger as a naval power, and, above all things, stronger, in the esteem of the world for the fight made for human freedom. (Applause.) THE BOROUCH MEMBER. Sir Alfred Mond, who was cordially received, dwelt at the outset on the gei:rral position. He emphasised the fact that it was the ulti- matum to Serbia that was the light which wa-s thrown into the European pw. ci, i- 111,1 ;a- j zine, and said that the late Foreign Secre- tary, Viscount Grey, not many days before the war broke out, himself hoped he had succeeded in averting the terrible calamity, j And it could have been averted if our enemies had wished it. (Hear, hear.) The record of Germany since that time stood stark and naked, although they would go on | inventing excuses and endeavouring to per- vert truths to the end of the chapter. They had heard something about offers of peace, i Mr. Bonar I.Aw-(applause)-a;d in the House of Commons, and the Prime Minister repeated it in his Guildhall speech, that, there wag not a man in the country who would not be glad of peace. We were not a warlike people, although when we started fighting we were terrible enemies. (Hear, hear.) Of course, there was not a human be- ing with a heart in his body who would not like to see peace, The Mayor, like himself, had a son in the Welsh Division. (Ap- plause.) And he was glad to be able, as he had already done, to congratulate him upon the distinction his son had gained by being mentioned in the recent dispatches. (Hear, hear.) It-was with no light heart that they sent all that was dearest to the horrors and terrors of war. It was with no light heart that they should remain there. And it would be a joyful heart to welcome the re- turn to England only if that return meant that all they had been fighting for—all they had been suffering and struggling for—would lead to that final security to Europe for which they had been trying during the past two and a half years. (Applause.) The Central Empires had upset the whole bal- ance of Europe and put fire to the Balkan powder barrel and then they now asked us to return to the "status quo ante." There were some people in the country who did I not realise what our enemies had committed vms a felony .acainst humanitv. (Applause.) Compounding a Fetony." And in our criminal la.w there was such a. crime as compounding a felony. And so to talk of peace in this country—to ask us to make peace when there was no peace—was compollnding a felony against the Empire, against Europe and against the future free- dom of the world. (Applause.) Part of our great task was to reunite the severed na- tionalities, whilst the settlement of the whole question of Turkey in Europe had been long overdue. (Hear, hear.) Thp only thing that had hindered the realisation of the German scheme of plunder and aggression had been the splendid heroism and sacrifices of our Empire oIud the Allies. The hecatombs of dead, sleeping around Mons, on the Somme, at Verdun, at Yores, on the high peaks of the Italian frontier and in the frozeii. marshes bordering Russian rivers, were silent witnesses of that defeat of that tev- rible effort to manacle humanity. Those j millions would have given their lives in vain, those who wept their loss would havo [ sorrowed in vain, the soldiers who lol- lowed in their footsteps would be fighting I in vain, if we did not persist until we. reached an irisue which should render impos- sible a repetition of such suffering as we had endured sin^e August, 1914. (Ap- plause.) Each individual amongst us felt that there was no sacrifice too great for that object, and those whom a.ge or occupa- tion compelled to remain far behind, the I fixing line were now given an opportunity of assisting in a moat effective way to bring a true and lasting peace. (Hear, hear.) The Government, as they knew, was issuing 1<1, new War Loan. It was the largest loan which any country had ever en- deavcured to raise, and there iva,5 no limit to the amount. The greater it waa, .the better it was. (Hear, hear.) And we were now given an opportunity of doing two I things-—doing a good turn to ourselves and a good turn to our country. (Applause.) I The World's Finest security. They were not being asked to subscribe t<S a. charity, but. to invest their money at a rate cf interest which three years nvijo would have sounded iiicxedible--Si per œnt! Think of it! Five and a quarter; per cent. and the premier security in the world—Great Britain (Applause.) Why, most of us," said Sir Alfred Mond, would be glad to take 5i per cent. on a great many more doubtful securities of an industrial charac- ter. A few years ago a 5 per cent. British loan would not have been issued at 95, but! nearer 175. And, as I say, you are not asked to give your money, but to take the opportunity of an investment which will never recur again in the lifetime of any mail or woman in this hall." (Applause,) The right hon, member proceeded toO say that personally he was going to take the. 5 per cent. issue and in the registered form, Ii a.nd take his chance of the income ta.x after the war. (Hear, hear and laughter.) He emphasised the fact that in this issue the income tax wae uot to be deducted at the source, and so all the trouble cf reclaiming it from Somerset House by those not liabl I for the tax was avoided. But a point which I bat JtlKj.aghl of importance to a very' large number of people was this—thai the otoek in this loan could be offered in pay- ment of death duties. (Hear, hear.) That was a very great advantage, because at pre- sent, when a man died his executors very often had to dispose of part of the estate to pay the death duties before thay could ,et probate of the will. And so every prudent man ought to take up as much of :he loan as he could in order to provide :or the payment of death duties when he died. (Hear, hear.) There was another point, and that was in regard to the question of income tax arising Jii borrowed money, and that was that they would not have to pay tax on the whole of the interest on the borrowed money but only on the profit made, and that reduced the :ax very much indeed., SDrr, people seem to be frightened about the financial position of this country," Sir Alfred went o-n. "1 think they arc very few, as most people realise how immensely powerful is the finan- cial position of this country. I have had ot out for me just a few ifgures demon- strating our position: now as Pd with what it wos in the mwious great crisis in our history, and I would say that what our forefathers pa.id for fredom we, too, can ¡ jear to maintain our liberty. (Appla-u- Some Figures. I The period I am reiemng to is the end of the twenty years' struggle in the Napoleonic wars. In ltJ16 our population was 19Jj mil- lions, our Nalion-il Debt 900 million pounds. Our national wealth was estimated at 2.400 million pounds, and the proportion of our national debt to our national wealth was 37.5 per cent. Now let us look at the posi- tion to-day. Our population in 1914-5 was 46 millions, our National Debt at the end of 1916 wa's 3,000 million .pounds, fhir na- tional wealth was estimated at 16,030 million pounds-(applause)-ol' nearly eight times as great as when we were fighting that huge .Napoleonic war. And the proportion oi our liabilitie.s to our assets is only 2d per cent, as against 37.5. (Applause.) Well, that is a good balance-sheet. (Hear, hear.) No- body need doubt not only their capita.1 but their interest, as this loan will te as sale as the seas which guard our shores. (Ap- plause.) See what a burden must hayle been carried at the time this country was small, before our industries developed and its population small and the people poor! And now our population is great and works have grown so large that our industries are abundant and fnlly occupied, I say we should be a very poor and craven people if we could not find all the money to carry on the war as our forefathers did for over twenty years." (Applause.) We had made great advances to our Allies an Dominion (the right hon. member continued). These advances he had no doubt in time would bear great good to this country, not merely as :m investment of capital, but as bonds of friendship and guarantees of future commerce. (Hear, hear.) He pointed out that the new War Loan was not redeemable until 1929 at the earliest, but as it was at par it meant that the capital at the period of redemption must appreciate from 95 to 100, and it was also possible in the inter- vening time that the price might go con- siderably higher. The sinking fund pro- posed by the Government made depreciation practically impossible, and he urged the public not only to utilise their spare bal- ances in applying for the loan, but to pledge their credit with their bankers to the fullest extent possible. The hoarding of gold he characterised as stupid and criminal, pointing cut that a box of gold in the house was, from an economic' basis, of no more value than a box of bricks—(hear; hear)— and the boanden duty of these who had it was to at once take it to the banks so that it might provide a medium of exchange by ¡ which we could purchase food and munitions from abroad. (Hear, hear.) He was glad to know that a good start had been made in Swansea on behalf of the new loan, and since he reached the meeting he had had j placed in his hands an intimation that Messrs. Parry and Rocke had applied for 4-1 1 i loo worth new money—(applause)—Air. Frederic Rocke, I £4,000, and Mr. Gilbert Rocke, £ 1,0C0, making a total of £ 15,000. (Applause. Swansea Staggers London! Swansea was a veiy wealthy town, and the surroundings were full of people very much richer than anybody from tile income tax assessable value believed. (Laughter.) The subscriptions to the new Technic d College Fund did not surprise him, although it staggered London. (Laughter.) There they did not think there was so much money in Swansea, and that was money Swansea was giving away, whilst they were now being asked to invest money in order to niai'ie fome- dlillg out of it. Really if they worked it cut "in proportion to the means, the sub- scriptions in Swansea ought to be enor- mous. (Hear, hear.) The loan, said Sir Alfred, in conclusion, was an opportunity to all and everyone. No class, no age, no sex was excluded from "doin? its bi?" to- wards aecuring an overwhelming succef. Every penny contributed to it hastened the end, brought our dear ones a step nearer homo, and would help us to return to the paths of and to a renewal of the effol-ts to make our country a finer and better place tri live in than it had ever been in the history of man. (Hear, hear.) He was convinced that he could with abso- lute confidence, and firm faith rely upon them there that night and upon those out- 'side w-hom his voice could not reach to assist to the uttermost the Loan of Victory. j (Loud applause.) u MR. T. J. WILLIAMS, M.P. Mr. T. J. Williams, M.P., said he thought: Swansea, was to be congratulated upon hav- ing such A excellent Mayor as Ald. David Davies. (Applause.) He had done a. lot of good for the town, and the "Daily Post" War Prisoners' Fund now amounted to iitnarly ;07,(M. (Applause.) The Swansea Corporation had set* a fine example by tak- ing np L125,ODO worth of war loin. The points of the loan had IVf'n ably commented u,pon by Sir Alfred Mond, whom he was pleased to see had already started pinching property from the Royal parks for potato planting. (Laughter.) He hoped Sir Alfred would leave -a few patches for cabbage a* l -th?y were not all Irishmen. (Laughter.) j In the present war we alway3 had to kep,p in front of us three things. The first was men, the second munitions, and the third f money. Neither was of any use without the others. He referred to the manner in whidt our original exppditio'mry force pro- tee?ed our Allies from Prussianism by nght- ing' their never-to-be forgotten rearguard action and to the satisfactory progress 01 munition making, which now tyiabled us to supply our Allies as well as ourselves, and he laid emphasis upon the excellent work done in this respect by our women. <p- iplnuge.) No fewer than 900,000 women in England were now employed in I i i vital industry. Touching upon the loan Mr. Williams asked all to remember that all the money in the country belonged to the State, and i it was not offered ,-oluubnllv :in thÜ; crisis it would be taken. Britons should consider it a privilege to lend money upon such giond security to the Government at; oi per cent, interest, and he advised people! to get advances from their bankers to pur-I chase war loans. Speculators had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and every- j one should assist their country by eveiv possible menus. They should remember Neison's message at Trafalgar; ,El,g!alld expects every man tb. day to do his duty." That Wits his message to the people of Swansea, and dii'.rict, and he hoped every woman and child, as well as every man, would do their duty in this fight for liberty and justice. (Applause.) The Mayor stated that the Borough Treasurer his assistant would <'ladiv give advice to anyone upon the purchase of w:.r loans. This was decided some days ago. His Worship then called upon Mr. R. L. Sails to move the resolution. Mr. Sails said he hoped the enthusiasm displayed would not dit- away the moment th-y went through the door to go home. and he did not want anyone,to raise his or h?; hand in favour (if thA resojution unie? prpared to take up war loa.n. He did not want a single financial shirker to go ,way from that meeting. There were many kinds of shirkers in connection with the war/ and he wanted, nothing to do with ,hirk-err, in any shape op form. (Applause.) This was a case where every- one oould have the satisfaction of doing hi a bit. They did not only want the thou- sai-ids, from the rich people, but were out to get the small amounts from the workers as weH and he appealed to all to support the resolution by doing something to in- crease the total of the loan, in the name of "Swansea. Mv..Sails then read the resolu- tion as follows: — Thrt this meeting. recognising the vital necessity of adequate ifnancial support from all classes of the community if the war which Brita.in and her Allies are. waging on behalf of civilisation's loftiest ideals is to end in complete) victory and lasting peace, pledges itself to make every possible sacri- fice in order to ensure the overwhelming success of .the War Lo&n." ThIs. continued Mr. Sails, was the reaoiu- tion they .were a.ked t) carry and he hoped no one would have any r<?t ?mtH they had done their bit in this respect. He spoke in the presence of men and women who had sons out at the front-some of whom, un- fortunately, would never come back again- and a-eked them to pinch themselves and to save' money to help defeat the Huns. Those at home were simply asked to rise to the oc- casion and do their duty so that in the years to come they would have the knowledge they had helped to win the war. (Applause. Mr. Hamill-on Shaw (stockbroker) seconded the resolution and appealed to the small ma: who could put his C5 in the loan to do so for his own advantage as well as to help the Government. The security was the most negotiable security to be obtained. The Mayor put the resolution to the meet- ing and it was carried unanimously. Mr. H. Goldberg said those who could net invest big amounts could pay their few sbil, lings a week into the arious War Savings Associations and the money could then be invested in the loan. He proposed sincere thanks to the Mayor, who had done very much for the town already during his short term of office, and also since the outbreak of the war he had identified himself with every appeal of those suffering in consequence of the war, and he had much pleasure in sub- mitting the proposal to the meeting.-Ca,r ried. The Mayor returned thanks and i-emarked that the meeting had given a splendid push to the War Loa.n movement in Swansea.