The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard

^————wmmmmm—— ..I WAR ASPECTS AND DEVELOPMENTS. THE war aspects are gloomy, but h 1 1 whether the gloom is due to what is going on in the fighting areas, or to enforced ignorance of what is going on, we are nnable to s ly. We do not want to draw unjustifiable conclusions from what is happening, but it would be sheer pretence not to admit that among those who have opportunities for obtaining knowledge there is general admission that the outlook, if not disheartening, is anything but cheerful. The development of the war becomes more serious every day, and the outbreak in Africa will add great complications to those which already exist. It is now ten weeks since war was declared; and even yet all the preparations do not seem to have been made by the Allies. It is useless to abuse the German Emperor, why is probably not more armament mad than other rulers and leaders of the people. There are advances and retreats, and the slaughter goes on in ways that arc appalling. There are apprehensions published in the newspapers that the fighting forces may reach this country. Lieut". General Sir Robert Baden Powell, speaking at Tottenham on Saturday, urged those present to prepare for the defence of the country. He said he was certain that circumstances were more serious than people, supposed. England was certainly the main objec- tive of the Germans. A message f. em Bordeaux says that the fail of Antwerp is likely to produce a greater "effect on Great Britain thantherr It is recognised that the faU may prolong the war. The Gerjnans are certain to fortify the port, which will become the base for Zeppelin attacks "against Britain." .We give many other extracts which show that what may be called the real war, which means war against this country, has not yet begun. Last week the State authorities published information which revealed the fact that it has been known for years that a system of German spies was in existence. There are no great indications of victory on this side or that. There is going on a system of delay which means advances and retreats, success being almost daily claimed by both sides. The impression forced upon us is that there is more in the back<^round than is known even to the parliament- ary representatives of the people. It still appears as if something was being wrrted for. Of course, the cost of the war is going on, but there is a sort of suspension on all sides that is only broken by such acts as the bombard- ment of Antwerp, which it is said will raise certain naval questions. The slow processes in regard to Indian and other forces is remarkable. There may be difficulties to be faced in India not unlike those which have now been brought into existence in South Africa. There may be rebel- lions in Egypt, in India, In Canada. in New Zealand, in Australia, and other parts of the British Empire. As we have seen in Ireland, it does not re- quire many people to threaten a rebel- lion. We do not mean that those out- breaks would be successful, but they would make demands on the Imperial forces and would, to a large extent, prevent or delay that concentration in Europe which the German Emperor does not want to see brought about. The slow advance of Russia is re- markable. There is no Country in the world made up of so many nations as Russia, and it is quite possible that the millions of armed men are to some unknown extent intended to preserve peace in Russia as well as to work with the Allies. Persia, for instance, can- not be ignored either by Russia or this country, and Germany may find it convenient to do whatever is possible to find military work for Russia in her own dominions. What we feel is that there iare possible developments in quite unexpected directions, not with a view of taking territory from Russia, or France, or this country, but in order to enable Germany to make its own arrangements m certain parts of Europe, quite apart from international treaties. Where are the navies of Germany, France, and this country? We ask the question for the simple reason that the great war-ships which have cost more than two million pounds each seem to be taking no part in the war, or a very mysterious part. Here is an extract from an article in Wednes- day's Morning Post," by that paper's naval correspondent. "It is "a singular result of the evolution of mechanical Invention in naval war- fare that it makes naval warfare ¡i1- possible. The mine and the sub- marine can close the seas, within a "certain distance from the coast. While neither battle fleet can attack "the other, both battle fleets remain in existence, either in harbour or somewhere at sea, each no more than "a potential danger to the other. Such is the position in naval warfare "to-day. Furtlwr developments will "be very interesting." Yes, further developments will be very interesting indeed. "Ve do not want to infer that submarines have made naval warfare impossible, but it is clear that British warships in future will have to approach shallow seas at great risks, and in a measure that we are not able to judge there are difficulties in the way of naval warlike activity. The altered conditions under which war is now carried on has revolution- ised national conflicts, as the present war has already revealed. Sub- marines, airships, and mines under the sea are going to bring the war home to every town and rural district in the countries which are in conflict. London at the present time is afraid to light its streets for fear shells by hundreds should be hurled from flying machines. The question that is being asked is whether or not Germany is to rule? If not, what is to be the price of victory to the allied nations? We do not think Germany is going to win, but it is not an easy matter just now to take a cheerful vvew of the situation.

TEACHING, TEACHERS, SCHOLARS. OXE of the greatest revolutions of modern time?, the past hundred years —has been the forcing of education upon the masses of the people. In the year 1814 the craftsmen and labourers of the country were not troubled about education. The tailor made clothes, the cabinet maker made furniture, the smith worked iron, the weaver wove cloth, and other workers ploughed, or sowed, or reaped, or thrashed, or drove, or delivered, or hewed, or mined, or quarried, or did any other work which there was to do, and were not taught to read and write and do sums. There were no railways, or steamers, or telegraphic systems, or penny newspapers, and outbreaks of cholera, or typhus fever, or small pox troubled nobody to any great extent, as the diseases were looked upon as acts of Providence, and the popular ignorance, of course, was as inevitable as the weather. We need not go into the history of the developments of the past hundred years, scientific, educational, commer. cial, literary, social, political, and re- ligious. One of the most important of those developments was what is called popular education. Schools were established. Teaching as a profssion came into existence:. The churches took sides in order to prevent their particu- lar form of religion from being inter- fered with. Roman Catholics, Con- formists, Nonconformists, and those who professed no religion at all were brought into conflict, and they are still more or less in conflict, notwithstand- ing- the changes that have gone on in all sorts of ways since the early fifties. Gradually teaching became some- thing more than work for old dames, or what may be called male specialists, and gradually developed into a profes- sion that obtained the recognition of Governments. The denominations made great efforts to secure the teach- j ing of their religion in what were called National Schools, British Schools, and Roman Catholic Schools. The denominational strife still con- tinues, but except in small towns and rural districts the ill effects of it are not now greatly felt, as each denomina- tion is able to make its own arrange- ments. We do not want to show how this denominational strife has hindered the educational progress of the four nations of the tJnited Kingdom, but there can be no doubt that it has greatly interfered iyith the advancement of t teaching as a profession.. There can, again, be no doubt that a teacher's denonunationalism has often far more to do with his success or failure than his educational qualifications, or the absence of them. There is at the present time an absence of denominational unity in. reference to elementary education that it would be folly to ignore. We do not believe that this lack of unity can be got rid of for the simple reason that it is impossible to ignore religious teaching in elementary school, as it can be ignored in secondary schools, colleges, and uni- versities. One of the consequences of this fact, and the fact is indisputable, is that teachers are placed at a great disadvantage, as far as their profession is concerned. There are scores,, if not hundreds, of elementary schools in Wales with fewer than a hundred pupils. The denominations cannot agree to have one effective school from an education point of view, and conse- quently the salaries of teachers are low, denominational feeling is strong, and reform, as far as we can see, is impossible. Many teachers, male and female, in elementary schools in Wales have less than ^"80 a year. The reason is that from an education point of view a large number of the schools are as unneces- sary as many of the hundred secondary schools in Wales are, in our opinion, unnecessary. If teachers were paij according to their qualifications, and it did not matter whether the scholars numbered thirty or forty or three or four hundred, then the status of the teaching profession would be main- tained, but when a village schoolmaster may have to accept a salary not greater than that of an ordinary craftsman it is useiess to talk about teaching as a profession. It is more like a sweated industry. As far as the teachers are concerned we do not see what can be done. If males refuse the low rates of remuneration, then females are appointed who are willing to take the salaries offered. The question may be asked if mem- bers of the different denominations could net come to some agreement as regards religious teaching. We do not think that in Wales, or Ireland, or in rural England any agreement of this kind is possible. In a village if the teacher was an adherent of the Church of England the vicar of the parish and other members of the Church would be content, but if it was a Baptist, or Calvinistic Methodist, or an Independ- ent, then most likely the vicar would not be content any more than the other denominationalists would be content if the teacher was a member of the Church of England. In our opinion, two courses are to some extent possible. First, that the denominationalists in any district should agree on what may be called the common principles of their religion. Second, that no teacher should be allowed to teach what may be called the distinctive creeds of any church, such as Unitarianism, or Calvinism, or Armcnianism, or adult Baptism, or any other "ism." The main difficulty in the way is that members of the teach- ing profession, as far as elementary education is concerned, have to do with religious instruction, and it would be folly to pretend that children in elementary schools can be left without having- driven to them the essentiaJ principles- of all 'Christian ren1oa" It is somewhat curious that a pro- fession in which thousands of men and women are employed should be kept in a lower position than is desirable owing- to religious differences which nobody can prevent. We know, cf course, that there are people who te- lieve that religion can be left out in elementary schools, as it certainly can be left out in intermediate schools, but young children must be taught to dis- criminate between what is religious and what is irreligious, apart from creeds —theology. The problem which teachers are face to face with is not a simple one, and how it is to be faced it is not easy to say until there are such improved means of conveying" scholars to schools that there could be arrangements made to meet the religious requirements of the differing denominationists. We have onv.dealt with one side of a very complicated subject, but we may have said enough to show that the teaching profession, as confined mainly to teachers in elementary schools, is not an enviable profession.

WELSH CHURCH DIS- ESTABLISHMENT (Concluding article next week). THE Welsh Disestablishment Act, quite apart from financial results and the alleged dismemberment of the Church of England, will have great, wide- spread, and lasting consequences, not only to the Conformist churches, estab- lished or disestablished, but to Noncon. formist denominations and to organised religion generally. It would be absurd to expect Conformists to welcome the measure, or even to see its reasonable sides, but there are reasonable sides, as time will reveal. It is very diHicult- almost impossible—for Conformists to realise that mere dissenters are in the main reasonable human beings who have divine hopes, aspirations, and longings. The Church of England in Wales, for generations, has treated' Nonconformists as inferiors. The Disestablishment Act has given to Nonconformists long-sought religious equality, and henceforth the humblest of Nonconformists will rank on equal terms with the most personally exalted of Conformists. The way in which clergymen of the Established Church would come into Wales before disestab. lishrnent and presume to be the superiors of all the Nonconformist ministers was offensive in ways and to degrees that we need not now discuss. The assumption was mere or less un- conscious. That is now over. The new position of the Conformist Church in Wales will give it no superiority as far as the laws of the land are con- cerned, and any future superiority that it possesses will have to be due to its own work and worthiness. We do not expect Conformists to agree with what we are going to say, but it would be wise on their part to look as calmly as possible at the new conditions which the Church Disestablishment Act has brought into existence, quite apart from whats called mean theft and dismem- berment. i here will be, no doubt, further agitation, conflicts, and bitterness. Attempts may be made to repeal the Disestablishment Act. We do not think that those attempts will be suc- cessful, but if they are successful, then there will be revolutions which will have far more serious effects than what may be called the changed relations of I