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GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY. David Lloyd-George lias consented to become the Premier of England. The Court Circular made this announcement regarding the conference with the king and his ministers: "The king gave a .further audience this evening to Mr. Bonar Law, who intimated that he was unable to form an adminstra-tion. Thereupon the king summoned Mr. Lloyd-George, who, at his majestys request, undertook to endeavor to form an adminstration." It is said that the new ministry will be formed from a coalition, Britains chief statesmen having fought each other to such a standstill that compromise is the only solution. There will be radical changes in the government, but the general policy with regard to the war Avill undergo little transformation. Lloyd-George will assume the premiership only with the understanding that if he fails to command a working majority he will dissolve the government immediately and call a general election. With the announcement that Bucharest has been captured, comes the later news that Ploechti, the important railway junction town, thirty-six miles northwest of Bucharest, also has been taken. The fall of Ploechti, perhaps, is of even greater importance than that of Bucharest. Ploechti is a railway junction and the center of the great oil district of the Prahova Valley. Unless the Roumanians have been able to destroy or disable the oil wells, machinery and stores of oil, the Germans will get a much-needed prize. The federal investigation of the high cost of living has begun to take definite form, with the judications that it would be one of the most comprehensive ever undertaken and would extend to every section of the United States. Not only is a sweeping inquiry into the cause of the soaring cost of foodstuffs contemplated, but the recent pinch in the coal supply and its resultant price advances, also will be made, in all probability, the subject of broad investigation. The United States Court of Appeals late Wednesday handed down a decision, upholding the right of picketing. The ruling reverses the lower court in the injunction obtained against the Tri-City Central Trades Council of East St. Louis by the American Foundries company. The lower court forbade the union to picket the foundry or to annoy employes thereof. Word from Berne, Switzerland, says that A. Hoffman, chief of the political department, announced at a session of the national council yesterday that the number of prisoners of war interned in Switzerland would soon reach 30,000, an important figure in view of the difficulties of the food supply. The enormous stream of gold which has been pouring into New York since the first of the year was increased yesterday by 11, 000,000. The shipment came from Ottawa and was taken to the United States assay office, where it was credited to J. P. Morgan and Co. The German submarine situation again has loomed up dangerously. Germanys note excusing the sinking of the P. and O. liner Arabia on the ground that the "submarine commander considered her a transport" is not satisfactory to President Wilson. One hundred thousand Roumanians have been captured by the Teutonic Allies, since Roumania ; entered the war on August 27, according to an Exchange Telegraph dispatch from Copenhagen. Dispatches from Paris indicate that a crisis in the political situation of France is expected and 1 that the problem that Lloyd-George laid before England by his resignation, will also find itself laid before the French nation.
