march 7, 1918
Equal pay for equal work
The refusal of the London County Council to accept the scale of teachers’ salaries drafted by its Education Committee is an incident of more than professional significance. Of the 20,000 teachers employed by the Council a large majority are women, and the proportion has increased during the war. A petition signed by over 10,000 of these women — in other words, a practically unanimous petition — protested against the differentiation made in the proposed scales between the salaries of men and of women, and demanded “equal pay for equal work”. The consequence was that when the proposals came before the Council for approval on Tuesday they were rejected by a large majority.This demand for equal pay has long been a principal plank in the platform of women’s organizations, but hitherto the policy has made little headway. It has not even been endorsed by the National Union of Teachers, the majority of whose 90,000 members are women. The rejection of a scale which embodied the usual differentiation and was proposed by the largest and most powerful education authority in the country was therefore an unexpected and emphatic victory for the women’s claim. The rejection is not an endorsement of that claim, but the claim must now come up for decision. Nor will it escape notice that the success, so far as it goes, synchronizes very closely with the extension of the Parliamentary vote to women.
The merits of the claim to equal pay for equal work have been argued interminably. We do not propose to continue the argument beyond saying that, if logically the claim is difficult to contest, provided that the work be really equal, in practical life a woman earning, for example, £200 a year is normally far better off than a man with the same salary. But there is one question which we have never seen clearly put. If the employer is compelled to pay the same salary to a woman as to a man, will he not choose a man in the majority of appointments open to either sex? If so, women who establish their claim to equal pay at a time when men are scarce will have closed the door to their employment in normal conditions. By an apparent victory they will have done grave disservice to their cause.
march 6, 1918
Bullets instead of food
Yesterday an aeroplane flew over Petrograd and made people rather nervous, lest it might be German. In the evening a report circulated that bombs had been dropped, causing the death of three persons and injuries to five others. During the last four months we have been liable to be hit at any time of the day or night by stray bullets fired by bad marksmen or by drunken rioters. I have a hole in my bedroom window from a bullet that was evidently not aimed either at the window or at me. There are streets which have suffered so severely that Petrograd is called the “City of Broken Windows”. It costs too dear to repair them at the present extortionate prices, and there are no glaziers to do the work.
In all probability the majority of the victims in the two Revolutions were accidentally struck down. In one of the hospitals, in which my daughter was helping with wounded soldiers, a washerwoman who had the temerity to look out of a window during a fusillade in the street below was shot dead. Thousands of bodies have been dragged out of the canals and rivers. A slouching soldier or a drunken hooligan coming in your direction might be meditating how to strip you naked. Wine shops and cellars were broken into every day. When the crowd became very drunk and dangerous “Red Guards” appeared on the scene and shot them down. Fine old wines could be bought from soldiers at high prices.
A number of English refugees from the cotton mills at Narva arrived here a few days ago, en route for the United Kingdom. The route via Finland is now closed, and news from British travellers by way of the Murman coast is not encouraging. A large party of British subjects, with women and children, is held up at Petrosavodsk with hardly anything to eat and unable to proceed farther. The scarcity of food in Petrograd has become a real famine. Two-thirds of the shops are shut up, and the others are empty of goods. The banks, which now all belong to the Socialist Communistic Government, allow clients to draw only a small amount of money once a week, so that we often have no money for food when it can be obtained, or when we have money there is no food. It is not surprising that so many Petrograd Russians look forward to the coming of the Germans as a not altogether unmixed evil.
A number of English refugees from the cotton mills at Narva arrived here a few days ago, en route for the United Kingdom. The route via Finland is now closed, and news from British travellers by way of the Murman coast is not encouraging. A large party of British subjects, with women and children, is held up at Petrosavodsk with hardly anything to eat and unable to proceed farther. The scarcity of food in Petrograd has become a real famine. Two-thirds of the shops are shut up, and the others are empty of goods. The banks, which now all belong to the Socialist Communistic Government, allow clients to draw only a small amount of money once a week, so that we often have no money for food when it can be obtained, or when we have money there is no food. It is not surprising that so many Petrograd Russians look forward to the coming of the Germans as a not altogether unmixed evil.
march 2, 1918
All-night bombing of Venice
Last night saw the greatest air raid of the 45 that Venice has endured. It lasted eight hours and there was not an interval of more than half an hour during all that time of brilliant moonlight in which bombs were not falling on the city. Three hundred were thrown in all, 38 houses were smashed, the Royal Palace struck, a home for old men and women blown to pieces, and three churches damaged — St John and St Paul, St Simeon the Less, and St John Chrysostom, in the last of which an altar with one of Cellini’s last landscapes was wrecked. About 15 civilians were wounded, including two women, seriously. Only one man was killed, thanks to the promptness with which the Venetians now take shelter in refuges and also to the fact that only some 60,000 of the normal population of 160,000 remain.
The same machines returned again and again, bringing fresh cargoes of bombs through the night. Venice is only a few minutes’ flight from the Austrian lines, and the raiders evidently have a bomb dump close behind their trenches. The journey both ways and the taking on board of more bombs seem to require about 25 minutes, which was the average length of the intervals.
As several aeroplanes took part in the raid, the sinister drone of the approaching propellers across the lagoon and the shattering crash of bursting bombs recurred almost every ten minutes. Scattering bombs over inhabited towns is a brutal business anywhere, but in Venice it is sacrilege. For here it is practically impossible to drop bombs without destroying or injuring beyond repair beautiful buildings. The Austrians, and recently their German allies, have thrown in all about a thousand high-explosive bombs upon the city with a cynical disregard of whether they might strike the Doge’s Palace, a tiny shop, or, by an outside chance, some building which could plausibly have some vague military use.
As it is Venice will never lose the scars which the Vandals have made. The Scalzi Church on the Grand Canal was destroyed months ago with its frescoed roof by Tiepolo: a white stone five yards from the doors of St Mark’s records where another bomb just failed to smash those gorgeous golden Byzantine mosaics which no covering with timbers and sandbags can protect, and which cannot be carried to a place of safety.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-03-03/register/big-raids-in-the-west-zch7gkqmh
As several aeroplanes took part in the raid, the sinister drone of the approaching propellers across the lagoon and the shattering crash of bursting bombs recurred almost every ten minutes. Scattering bombs over inhabited towns is a brutal business anywhere, but in Venice it is sacrilege. For here it is practically impossible to drop bombs without destroying or injuring beyond repair beautiful buildings. The Austrians, and recently their German allies, have thrown in all about a thousand high-explosive bombs upon the city with a cynical disregard of whether they might strike the Doge’s Palace, a tiny shop, or, by an outside chance, some building which could plausibly have some vague military use.
As it is Venice will never lose the scars which the Vandals have made. The Scalzi Church on the Grand Canal was destroyed months ago with its frescoed roof by Tiepolo: a white stone five yards from the doors of St Mark’s records where another bomb just failed to smash those gorgeous golden Byzantine mosaics which no covering with timbers and sandbags can protect, and which cannot be carried to a place of safety.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-03-03/register/big-raids-in-the-west-zch7gkqmh
march 3, 1918
Big raids in the west
There has been more liveliness along the front in these 48 hours than, perhaps, at any previous time this year. It has, however, the appearance of being a number of disconnected local activities rather than an overture to a grand operation. Nonetheless, it is by such increase in local incidents that large operations usually are prefaced, and I venture no opinion whether it is so in this case, or only the inevitable tension and nervousness of two armies which have confronted each other for so long. The Germans have made something like a dozen raids. Their artillery has been more than normally noisy in several sectors, and, when the weather has permitted, their aeroplanes have been up, even flying low to use their machine-guns upon our positions. Nor, it is needless to say, have we been behindhand.
Of the German raids two have been against the Australians and one against the Portuguese. On the whole, the balance has been distinctly not unfavourable to us, the Germans having left in our hands, or lying before our lines, about 70 killed or prisoners, including two officers. The heaviest sufferers among the Allies were the Portuguese, who were attacked in strength after a severe bombardment, but rallied and counter-attacked very gallantly and took some prisoners.
The German loss was, perhaps, heaviest in one of their attempts against the Australians, which was made under a heavy barrage, and after more than a week’s careful rehearsal, as prisoners have informed us. At the first rush they succeeded in getting into the trenches and reached as far as a company headquarters, but a counter-attack, led by a platoon commander, drove them out, and they left 23 dead upon our wire, and four prisoners, including one officer, in our hands.
In some other raids the Germans entirely failed to reach our trenches. Where they did so sharp fighting took place, and nowhere did they get away with prisoners or cause casualties without leaving an equivalent behind them.
The weather over the last two days has been bitter, with a north-easterly gale and frequent flurries of snow. This afternoon it is milder, and the snow has disappeared, but it is still dull and threatening.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-03-05/register/the-cambrai-dispatch-vw8prvm75
The Cambrai Dispatch describes one of the most dramatic and most controversial episodes of the war. A brilliant initial success on November 20 was soon arrested. Some days of inconclusive fighting followed, and then a sudden advance enabled the enemy to seize positions which made our original gains untenable.
Sir Douglas Haig repeats that the object was to achieve a local success by a surprise attack. The Cambrai sector offered facilities for such an enterprise. But the opportunity was fleeting. The enemy had already brought up troops from Russia, and would bring up more. It was calculated that reinforcements could not reach the enemy for 48 hours, and hoped that within that time our plan would have been carried to a triumphant issue. The tanks made it possible to dispense with the artillery preparation which usually gives warning of an attack, and the surprise appears to have been absolute. The tanks, behind a veil of smoke, rolled across the German trenches. The infantry came close after, and hunted the defenders out of their dugouts. By half-past 10 our cavalry were on the move. They did not get far. Sir Douglas Haig, with an old cavalry officer’s predilection for his own arm, hoped that, without wire to hamper them, “masses of cavalry” might have passed through and wrought havoc to the enemy’s communications. As a matter of fact, only a single squadron of Canadians appears to have done anything.
The German loss was, perhaps, heaviest in one of their attempts against the Australians, which was made under a heavy barrage, and after more than a week’s careful rehearsal, as prisoners have informed us. At the first rush they succeeded in getting into the trenches and reached as far as a company headquarters, but a counter-attack, led by a platoon commander, drove them out, and they left 23 dead upon our wire, and four prisoners, including one officer, in our hands.
In some other raids the Germans entirely failed to reach our trenches. Where they did so sharp fighting took place, and nowhere did they get away with prisoners or cause casualties without leaving an equivalent behind them.
The weather over the last two days has been bitter, with a north-easterly gale and frequent flurries of snow. This afternoon it is milder, and the snow has disappeared, but it is still dull and threatening.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-03-05/register/the-cambrai-dispatch-vw8prvm75
The Cambrai Dispatch describes one of the most dramatic and most controversial episodes of the war. A brilliant initial success on November 20 was soon arrested. Some days of inconclusive fighting followed, and then a sudden advance enabled the enemy to seize positions which made our original gains untenable.
Sir Douglas Haig repeats that the object was to achieve a local success by a surprise attack. The Cambrai sector offered facilities for such an enterprise. But the opportunity was fleeting. The enemy had already brought up troops from Russia, and would bring up more. It was calculated that reinforcements could not reach the enemy for 48 hours, and hoped that within that time our plan would have been carried to a triumphant issue. The tanks made it possible to dispense with the artillery preparation which usually gives warning of an attack, and the surprise appears to have been absolute. The tanks, behind a veil of smoke, rolled across the German trenches. The infantry came close after, and hunted the defenders out of their dugouts. By half-past 10 our cavalry were on the move. They did not get far. Sir Douglas Haig, with an old cavalry officer’s predilection for his own arm, hoped that, without wire to hamper them, “masses of cavalry” might have passed through and wrought havoc to the enemy’s communications. As a matter of fact, only a single squadron of Canadians appears to have done anything.
No great progress appears to have been made on the second day, and with it the 48 hours during which the Germans could not muster heavy reinforcements had elapsed. It was now a question whether to continue the fight or to withdraw. To stand still was impossible. On the last day of the month the Germans attacked, wave after wave, as they had done in the first battle of Ypres. The heroism of our men, greatly outnumbered, was wonderful.
A great disappointment to the nation followed a brief period of exultation. It seems clear that some troops proved less ready to sustain sudden shocks than was expected by their leaders. There was a failure of moral in certain sectors, and there were defects not less serious in defensive preparations. The German counter-attacks produced complete confusion at one point, and gave us a very serious lesson.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-03-08/register/parliament-and-the-press-26xj39rz0
MARCH 8, 1918
A great disappointment to the nation followed a brief period of exultation. It seems clear that some troops proved less ready to sustain sudden shocks than was expected by their leaders. There was a failure of moral in certain sectors, and there were defects not less serious in defensive preparations. The German counter-attacks produced complete confusion at one point, and gave us a very serious lesson.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-03-08/register/parliament-and-the-press-26xj39rz0
MARCH 8, 1918
Parliament and the press
There are signs that members of both Houses are at last becoming as wearied as the public with their discussions of the influence of newspapers. An obsession of this kind is always apt to degenerate into a bore. Tirades against “the Press” at large will never carry conviction, for there is at least as great variety in the Press as in Parliament itself. Even criticism of a single newspaper, or a single article, will misfire unless it is supported, as it seldom is, by knowledge of the facts. The only result is that Parliament reveals its weakness, while every journalist laughs in his sleeve at his alleged omnipotence. Take the case of the Admiralty, which was the subject of an acrimonious wrangle in the Commons on Wednesday. Mr George Lambert, a minor ex-Minister who has constituted himself the special champion of Lord Fisher, apparently believes that the retirement of Sir John Jellicoe was the result of a “Press campaign”. If that were true, one might wonder why Lord Fisher was still unemployed, for no sailor ever had so vociferous a “Press campaign” behind him. Of course the truth in both cases is that the Government, and Government alone, are responsible for the choice of their naval and military advisers.
Whatever may have been the case at the Admiralty, the War Office has not been conspicuous for its detachment from newspapers and politicians. The same confusion of ideas runs through the whole tedious controversy which has raged round the employment of newspapermen in the work of propaganda. There is only one sound rule here, and that is to choose for Government employment those best qualified for the work in hand. Half of Mr Lloyd George’s difficulties come from the suspicion that his appointments are made on other grounds — eg, that he looks upon newspaper influence much as previous Prime Ministers have looked upon territorial or commercial influence in composing their Governments. If that were true, it would be far more damaging to the Press than to the Government. But the principle of personal fitness for particular work is the only real test, especially in time of war, and the Prime Minister would be far stronger if he would frankly make it the one and only principle governing every appointment at his disposal.
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