OCCASIONAL NOTE

The Allies are said to have collected a great deal of valuable evidence as to the ex-Kaiser against the trial of that personage in London at some date as yet unfixed. Doubtless they have at the same time accumulated a certain amount against other prominent actors in the dreadful business. One wonders how the indictment stands against Ludendorff and Hindenburg, and whether any evidence which the prosecution has been able to unearth as to the former exceeds in importance, and in its damning character, the book in which he has recently sought to justify himself before the Hunnish world. The Westminster Gazette, in the review reproduced in these columns the other day, emphasises the utter depravity of the German militarist soul as it emerges, with an almost sublime unconsciousness, from Ludendorff’s reflections, admissions and excuses. Not merely is he without a moral sense himself, but he is utterly puzzled by the reactions of such a sense in others. The mentality revealed is as completely amoral, to quote Mr. Gladstone’s phrase, as that of the congenital criminal who figures in the records of every detective department. So completely divorced does it seem from the ordinary human prepossessions as to right and wrong that one wonders whether its proper place is not the criminal lunatic ward, instead of the dock or the scaffold.

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THE CAWNPORE STRIKE

CAWNPORE, NOV 28

The strike of mill hands in Cawnpore continues. The men apparently have no intention of returning to work until the arrival of the Lieutenant-Governor, who is expected to reach here in the course of his cold weather tour on the 1st proximo. The strikers have telegraphed to His Honour their demand for increased wages and have prayed for his intervention. There has been no change in the attitude of men. It is reported that some employees of the Elgin Mills now on strike waylaid an Indian clerk working in the mills, belaboured him with lathies and stabbed him, inflicting rather serious injuries. Some of the mill hands have left Cawnpore for their villages in neighbouring districts, where they will await developments.

PEACE CELEBRATIONS IN HYDERABAD

SECUNDERBAD, NOV 28

By command of His Exalted Highness the Nizam preparations are being made on an elaborate and generous scale to celebrate peace in a manner worthy of the State’s position in India. A strong committee composed of several heads of departments and leading officials, under the presidency of Sir Ali Imam, has been formed, and an excellent programme has been decided upon. The special feature of the programme will be the attention bestowed upon dependents of heroes fallen in the war, and wounded and returned soldiers. Grants of land will be made to deserving soldiers. These lands will be free of rent and revenue cess, and will form a compact colony kept on modern lines. It will be called Sulha Nagar in commemoration of the peace. In addition there is to be a serai at a cost of one lakh of rupees.

PROFITEERING AT ALIGARH

Messrs. Keventer and Co., the well known dairymen, have been experiencing some difficulty in meeting the demands of their constituents for milk and butter. The butter supply comes from their farm at Aligarh. The milk is obtained not only from their own cattle, but from local vendors who deliver it at the farm. For the past three weeks these men have been steadily raising their price till they now demand a rupee a seer. As it takes seven seers of milk to make a pound of butter, they have been compelled to decline this exorbitant demand. The attitude of the local Indian farmers is inexplicable, and there may be some delay before they return to a more reasonable frame of mind.

WRECKED BY PROHIBITION

Mr. Gompers, the American Labour Leader, declares that the great strike in the United States and all the Labour unrest there are the direct outcome of prohibition, and President Wilson endorses this view. It is beyond doubt that since prohibition became effective on July 1 there has been an increasing sullenness among American working men, coupled with demands for impossibly high wages and a reckless disregard for the rights of the public. Mr. Gompers says: “By adopting prohibition we have changed wrecking the nation’s social and economic fabric. We have invaded the working man’s habits and upset and unsettled him. Uprooting one habit uproots another. The man who till now has been satisfied to labour has become discontented and restive.