Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1916-02-02
CONSCRIPTION HAS
Come in ENGLAND
CONCESSIONS GRANTED TO IRIsH
AND QUAKERS. LABOR OP-
POSED TO ORDER.
LLOYD GEORGE FEARLESS In SPEF CHI
Cost of Living Going Up In England.
English Confident Of VIC
tory in the End.

In her recent letter, Mrs. Ralph
Norton, special correspondent for
The Democrat, sets out many inter
esting facts concering the part the
people of England are taking in the
great European war. She tells in an
interesting manner of the opposition
to the conscription movement, and
relates the fact that the men who
are high in authority admit that Eng
land was late in getting into the
thick of the fight.
Our readers will find Mrs. Norton s
letter this week of unusual interest.
She writes as follows:
London, Jan. 7, 1916.
We Americans living on this side
are beginning to feel that all the
muddlers and quibblers are not to
be found on this side of the Allan
tic. We are wondering if it can be
possibly true what this mornings
paper says, that President Wilson is
not likely to be able to get his
bill for increased armament and pre-
paredness through Congress. We over
here, face to face with the failure
of Voluntaryism in a crisis such as
the British are facing, realize that
no great volunteer citizen army can
avail. There must be a strong regu-
lar army as basis.
ConscriptiCn has come to Great
Britain at last, although a much mod
flied, emasculated cOnscription.
There have been some designations
in the Cabinet, despite the conces-
sions to the Irish, the Quakers, etc.,
and Labor has already begun to show
her teeth.
This mornings Express bore the
startling headline, "Shall the Red
Flag replace the Union Jack?'' and
in another place, RED Flag beats
the Union jack The occasion for
this was the conference Of Labor,
held yesterday. in Central Hail. West
Minister to decide the attitude of
labor toward Compulsion, the result
of which was that the red flag beat
the Union Jack nearly three to one,
labor voting against conscription, L.
99S,000 to $4,000. Labor cannot de-
feat the coming of Compulsion, but she
can greatly hamper the process by
her agitation. Already the Labor
party has turned against Lloyd
George, who was her idol, because
this fearless and far-seeing man
has had the courage to- brand the
party with their dislcyalty.
To our minds Lloyd George is the
outstanding man in Great Britain.
Absolutely fearless, in speech, as
when in his review Of the work of
the Ministry of Munitions, he said in
tho House Of Commons, I'm this war
the footsteps of the Allies have been
dogged by the mocking spectre Of
Too Late and unless we quicken
our movements, damnation will fall
on the sacred cause for which SO
much gallant blood has been spilled
In another place in this memorable
speech he said: 1--WE were too late
in starting, too late in deciding; too
late in preparing" And then, ''What
you spare in money, you spill in
blood.'
We are beginning to notice diff
ference in the cost of living over
here. While at the restaurant where
we take our meals, not much advance
is being made in the price of the
food, except in the case of our choco-
late, which ras been raised two
pence; we perceive that portions are
growing smaller. Bread particularly
has grown dearer, and our breakfast
rolls shrink daily in size.
I would not say that the man on
the street is concerned about the out
come of the war. All England feels
confident that she will win ultimate
ly, and think they base this conf
dence wholly on their fleet. The ccm-
mand of the seas is the ground Of
their confidence. They know tEey
have muddled badly on land. Some
Of the old Generals are being call
ed home to report and are remain
ing there. The great pity is that
England has not had as great gen.
erals as she has had soldiers. We
ara too prone on the other side, to
think that England does not see any
of her weaknesses, but that is not
true
She will even acknowledge them
to outsiders. and she proclaims them
freely in her daily press. 1t was
Price Collier who said that to make
4 suggestion to an Englishman was
like trying to make an impression on
an elephant by prodding him with a
stalk of boiled macaroni. But in our
daily contact with the English, we
have heard much airing of views un-
favorable to themselves. This is espe-
cially true among the younger Off
GERS and private soldiers. One young
fellow in the Flying Corps said to
is one day, We've bungled every
thing; we don't deserve to win" But
Just the same they are all loyal, and
would give the last drop of their
blood rather than see the old flag
be hauled down.
But there is no doubt that Eng
and is feeling very little of the econ
omic pressure that Germany, denied