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GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY. . i The bulk of the Loudon morning papers agree that Premier Lloyd-George expressed the views of the Britisli nation, in his speech in the house of commons dealing witli Germanys peace proposal. "Premier Lloyd-George," says the Times, "expressed the thoughts and wishes of the nation and laid down a program which will command its hearty support." The Daily News says the door is not necessarily banged and bolted and that the allies flat refusal of llollwegs offer is not meant to indicate that , the allies do not wish peace, but that Germany must ask it in the role of the vanquished and not the victor. The Mail says: "There is no obstacle whatever to peace if Germany really wants it. She lias merely to withdraw from the occupied countries and we are willing enough to discuss reparation and guarantees for the future." Commenting on Premier Lloyd Georges speech, the Taegliche Rundschau of Berlin says: "Reparation could be demanded by England only if Germany had declared war on England, if we were to blame for the war, if we had committed crimes against international law, and if we had been defeated." The Ixikal Anzeiger takes the viewpoint that Mr. Lloyd Georges remarks about reparation are of no value inasmuch as nothing has been said thus far about peace conditions. This newspaper continues: "If Lloyd George means to postpone satisfying Europes desire for peace until the time when the entente is successful in conquering Germanys armies and those of her allies, then the whole of Europe, as well as Lloyd George, knows full well that this announcement means eternal war, unless it is in the power of the German command to bring it to an earlier termination than Lloyd George supposes." Llovd-Georges plan for universal national service and civilian mobilization, molding the nation into an army behind the army, was popularly accepted todav, savs a dispatch from London yesterday, as though it" were the simplest routine of peace times. Not a complaint, not the slightest thought of opposition was manifest. The press and the man in the street reflected the universal sentiment "the countrys with Lloyd-George; what does he want us to" do?" Nationalization of shipping and mines lias been anticipated for some time, and the Welsh miners alone had objected to nationalizing of their fields. Taking over of shipping by the government has likewise been expected, as commerce has long been the target of measures by those seeking to cut down war profits. Secretary of the Interior Lane and his colleagues on the Mexican-American joint commission have placed on General Carranza the responsibility of deciding whether the American government should continue its efforts to effect a satisfactory and amicable adjustment of the questions affecting the relations of the two countries and then adjourned until after the holidays. Through his representatives on the commission they sent to Carranza a communication further explaining the position of the United States government and containing protestations that there exists no intention to violate the sovereignty of Mexico. A recent statement by the Overseas News Agency, according to "competent military authority." places the losses of the French army to date at 3,800,000 and of the British 1,300,000. The same authority says the French losses on the Sonune up to the end of November are estimated at no less than 250,000 and those of the Britisli at 550,000. These figures come from German sources. The allies claim Germany has lost nearly 700,000 men on the Somme. Nationalization of British shipping, mentioned briefly bv Premier Lloyd-George as one of the first acts of the new war ministry, commands more interest in this country, from the strictly American point of view, than any other phase of the premier s speech. What effect it would have on American foreign trade and on the status of Britisli ships sunk by German submarines has opened a new and unexpected series of questions, which officials regard with much concern. A number of investigators for the Interstate Commerce Commission are said to be in Chicago for the purpose of looking into the coal situation. They are visiting various freightyards, it is said, and inquiring into the number of empty and loaded coal cars kept on the tracks. The investigators are reported to be working in conjunction with the Department of Justice and all evidence gathered by them will be turned over to Special Assistant Attorney General Robert W. Childs. One passenger was killed, and several persons were injured when the Seminole limited, from Jacksonville ; for Chicago, running on the Central of Georgia railway tracks, was derailed today, nine miles from Opelika, Ala. Six cars were overturned and rolled down an. embankment. The accident was : caused, it is said, by a broken rail. Boston yesterday voted to continue the licensed sale of liquor after the liveliest campaign on the liquor question that the city has had in years. Tiie vote in favor of license was 53,459, with 29,997 against. Last year the vote for license was 4G,llu , and 31.S77 against. A cable from London reads: President of the Board of Agriculture Prothero announced at a Guildhall meeting of fanners yesterday that the government proposes to fix sixty shillings as the contract price for a quarter of wheat fifteen dollars for eight bushels. A bill providing for imprisonment of those found 1 guilty of cornering foodstuffs was offered by Senator Poindexter in the Senate yesterday. A penitentiary sentence of not less than six months, nor more "than three years, wis provided in the bill. :
