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liCMROE GIT
Volume XXXl
Monroe City, Missouri, Fridays January 3, 1919
Number 39
v.. .
if
life
The American
; Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman, Who
commanded the Sixth or American
' flattie Squadron of the Grand Fleet,
lias talked for publication for the
first time in 13 months..; His talk
related entirely to the Grand Fleet,
of whk-b the great squadron under
his command was one of the "fast
vings" of Sir David Beatty, ' the
; Commander in Chief of the great
. Allied armada, and of the Germans,
whose ships, he said, "now lie at
' anchor in long, symmetrical lines
; helpless, innocuous and harmless."
The Grand Fleet, Rodman said, was
. ' "the very backbone of the structure
which bad made a victorious peace
- ' a certainty.'' - v ''''.''.
Many interesting and hitherto un
' published facts concerning the war
in the North Sea were disclosed by
. Kodman.. For instance, he let it be
L known that only a few months ago
the Anglo American battle squad
. irons came so close to . what - was
4 then the German high seas fleet
that it ' was within a few miles of
I cutting the fleet off from its base.
I On another occasion a German sub
v jroarine came within a hair breadth,
"ao to speak.'of sending the flagship
. ' Hew ' York to the bottom and ; on
X another' occasion v U- boats ' got " so
v close to the New York' that they
were able to fire ' three, torpedoes at
. f the great super-dreadnaught
'; Rodman was ; in his cabin . on
V txard the; flagship 'New York when
; he told in saiUw fashion the story of
. ' the events inr w hich be : and? rue
officers and the men tinder his oom
. mand played so important a part
''. "It is most gratifying,' said 4he
Admiral, "to state that within a
; very short time after joining, and
after" our first operations, with the
grand fleet we were assigned to one
: f the two places of honor and im
' portance in the battle line.' We
were known and designated as the
sixth battle squadron, and as' one of
"the two so-called fast wings, would
take station at the head or rear of
'the whole battleship force, depend
ent upon certain conditions, un
; toeccessary to mention, when going
into action.' -. '
: .As a matter of fact, when, on one
occasion, we came within a few
mile of cutting : off from its base
. and engaging the German Fleet, the
7. disposition was such that the Amer
, ican battleship division would have
; been in the van-end have' led into
action bad the enemy not avoided
;', ; action and taken refuge behind bis
,'.', defenses, as usual, before we could
catch him. r . , ;
"It was our policy to go after him
. every time be showed his uose out
, aide bis ports: no matter when or
"where, whether in single ships, by
division, or his whole fleet, out we
went, day or night, rain or shine
(and there was mighty little day
' light and much less shine in the
winter months), blow high or blow
low and chase him back in his bole
. , "So persistent was this perform
ance on our part, so sure were we
K:' to get after him, that toward the
: end he rarely ventured more than a
few miles from bis. base; immedi
ately we would atart after ium,
back he would go in his bole, and
baul his hole in after bim. .
r ; "Every inducement was' offered
- hloa to come out Inferior forces
were sent down into the Heligoland
. bight to induce bim to attack; vain
able convoys were dispatched, ap-
- perently without protection, and
v other device to attempt turn out
but he would not come. 1
Overseas Fleet
v In our operations in the North
Sea we frequently were attacked by
submarines and our battleships bad
numerous escapes, often only by
prompt and skillful handling.
Od . one occasion a submarine
rammed the flagship New York,
dented the bottom and .demolished
the starboard propeller. But there
is every reason to believe that the
blows from the propeller sank the
submarine. ' Enroute to dry dock to
make repairs' and install a new pro
peller, three torpedoes In rapid suc
cession were fired at her by hostile
submarines, but again she -avoided
them by clever, maneuvering and
escaped.. -C
"Once when guarding or support"
ing a convoy of 30 or 40 vessels on
the coast of Norway in midwinter, a
bunch of hostile 'subs' fired six tor
pedoes at us. : Again only our vil
igance and instantaneous maneu
vering saved us but by a very close
margin "
"There were still other attacks by
submarines, which necessitated
quick action to avoid them. '
"It wonld be superfluous to go in
to the details of our operations in
the North Sea, or to. mention the
rigorous climate when the latitude
is north of Sitka, in Alaska, or about
equal to that of Petrograd. in Rus
sia; or' the v terrific weather the
cold, sleet snow,' ice r and heavy
seas; the- arduous "and ' dangerouB
uavigatiooTihe continuous cruising
wiuuKii iiguis, wutre lue winter
nights lasted 18 hours or the dan
gers of mine fields our own, some
times, as well as those of the en
emyor ' the repeated attacks of
hostile submarines on outs battle
ships before mentioned, and the
never-ending readiness and vigi
lance of the whole fleet to' put to
sea on all but instant notice.
"And let me add that with all
the demands which have been plac
ed upon the ships of this division.
in spite of' this constant readiness
for action, their maintenance, up
keep and efficiency under war con-
d itions. with no general overhaul or
repairs, have been, maintained at
such a high degree that it is. no ex-
a geration to say that, were they
called upon to do so, they could
steam around the world 88 they are
now and still be ready to go into
action. -
"To give en idea of the immense
size and number of vessels employ
ed in the Grand Fleet it might be
of interest here : to state that enter
ing or leaving port our column of
ships, excluding destroyers, was on
an everage about 65 miles long;. on
one occasion 76 miles. ' Its length
was dependent , upon weather and
other conditions as well as upon
the number of ships. .
" "And so. after four years of war
for the grand fleet and after we had
been a part of it for the last year,
there came the debacle,' the last
scene of the great drama Not as
we bad all expected, as the success
ful teimination of a great sea bat
tie, but as an Ignominious surren
der without firing a gun. ' ;
"Surely, no more complete victo
ry was ever won,, nor a more dis
graceful and humiliating end could
have come to a powerful and much
vaunted ' fleet as that which came
to the German high seas fleet."
Mrs. Cecil Armstrong, of Lentner
is spending a few days with her
; ui other in this city. .
Sinking the Ships
The United States Is proceeding
to spend many millions ta complete
the war ship construction program
already begun - Yet a proposal has
been seriously considered to sink
all the ships of the great fleet taken
from Germany. The .reason assign
ed for such an unparalleled act of
destruction, is that the allied na
tions cannot agree on the disposi
tion of these ships, and that ill
feeling will be avoided, if we put
them down to the bottom of the
ocean.' ;
It is said with apparent authority
from Washington, that President
Wilson is against this proposal
Let some people earnestly argue
that we must have a fleet as large
as England's vast navy and if Eng
land should get the bulk of the
German ships, we most build an
equal amount to match het. . These
same people were perhaps the same
ones who a few years ago were
scarcely willing to build one battle
ship a year, when the need of them
was far greater, 'v -'
The allied powers Will need all
these ships to overawe the un
repentant Germans. We have got
ten along without friction through
this terrible war, and now we must
try to get along in - peace. . If we
can't trust each other to settle fair
ly such questions as the disposition
oflhese ships.' the world outlook is
indeed dark. . .
r. We are going evidently tq set up
some new ' kind of ? international
court. If such a tribunal is not
able to apportion these ships satis
factorily, it will be" failure from
the start ' Vr waveot toleara to
8ubmir much bigger, questions than
this to a fair arbitration and accept
he :. result whatever it is
. i , - i -i i i - -.
Map Makers .
One of the men who will profit
after the war, about whom little is
now said, is the - map . maker, for
after the peace conference all of the
old geographies will become useless.
New ones will have to be furnished
for the children of the whole world.
What that means for the publishers
can hardly be imagined.
The map changing will b in Eu
rope, Asia and Africa. In "Middle
Europe" there will be a - large . carv
ing up of old countries and new na
tions will appear, but it -will be in
Asia that the greatest changes will
be made. There will be bewildiog
changes in the region around Con
stantinnple, Palestine; . Armenia,
Syria and in .Asiatic Russia The
new maps of Africa will make the
old ones entirely useless. The
changes will be so great that a new
foreign postoffice directory will have
to be published.
The new textbook, "Food Saving
and Sharing " will be distributed
soon to all teachers in Missouri be
low high school grade, the Missouri
Division of the Food Administration
has announced. The purpose of the
publication and distribution of this
book is to interest the schools in the
subject of food, and stimulate the
teaching in the schools of the im
portent phases of the subject The
State Food Administration will have
charge of the distribution of the
books in Missouri .'
According to our notion it is a
bout time to abolish some of the
useless jobs that have been created
in Missouri' Among the first to go
should be the state tax commission,
which was created in order, it seems,
to give Con Roach a job. . Con has
been hanging on in Missouri for
many .years. Time to ' cut him
loose.' . ;
Little 1919
Ooe more little youth in the pro
cession of the ages comes toddling
on the stage, . and one more totter
ing grayboard drops off. We can
et the old one go. He gave us
many sorrows, some discomforts.
Still we shall remember him with
good will. He brough us a great
relief, a noble triumph, a tremend
ous vindication of truth, honor, lib
erty and Americanism.
The New Year, in the traditional
anguage, brings us a new white
page on which to inscribe our re
cord of life We shall write it while
laboring under - some difficulties
that did not exist in the old New
Years. We were not bothered
much then, comparatively speaking,
by the cost of living. Taxes were
relatively small. There were no
worries about fuel and food supplies.
But this thing we have in spite
of all perplexities, a clearer vision.
We have found that materialism
wrecks any nation where it pre
dominates, that money does not
bring satisfaction, that the spirit of
service is better.
We have learned that things here
tofore regarded as impossible in
our community life, can be accomp
lished by systematic organization
and public spirit.
We have found that class spirit,
snobbishness, intolerdnce of convic
tion, are hindrances. We see now
what can be done when we all take
hold of common causes in the satis
faction of working together. We
have found that the limitations
that often seem to thwart us are
very frequently in our own minds
only ,. The things .that a person or
a community ought 'to' 'have"; can
usually be bad in some way or
other, if we go about it right
So then. Little 1919. we start the
upward path with you! In spite
of heavier burdens, we begin with
a new hope, and "greet, the unseen
with a cbeerf
Hoover's Ultimatum
' Food Administrator Hoover, in
Europe arranging relief for the peo
ples of the war- devastated territor
ies, has refused in emphatic - terms
to discuss German food conditions
with Baron Von derLancken and Dr.
Rietb, who sought a meeting with
the Food Administrator. -
A message from Paris to-day
said these two German officials,
wbo were prominent in the German
administration of Belgium, wired
from Berlin to Walter Lyman Brown,
director of the Commission for Re
lief in Belgium, Rotterdam, that
they bad been appointed by the
German Government to negotiate
with Hoover for food supplies and
that tbey desired Hoover to advise
them when and where be would
meet them.
In answer to the request for a
conference Hoover sent this mes
sage: - - . .
"You can describe two and a half
years of arrogance toward ourselves
and cruelty to the Belgians in any
language you may select and tell
the pair personally to go to hell,
w ith my compliments. If I do have
to deal with Germans it will not be
with that pair.
A family reunion was held at the
home of Mrs. Lena Umstattd
Christmas day. Miss Ruby Umstattd
at home, Mr. and-' Mrs. Allen Um
stattd and children' of St. Louis,
James Umstattd of Charleston, W,
Va . and Ray Umstattd of Van
couver, Washington.' They all en
joyed the family gathering very
much as it was the first time they
have all been together for ten
years. - . '
This Fateful Year
As long as time shall run, the
year 1918 must be considered one
of tbe great turning points of histo-
ry. You can really match it up
with but two other years, that in
which Christ was born, and that in
which America was discovered.
But now that the American coast
is believed to have been explored
by Norsemen long before 1492. that
year has not the full significance it
once had
Some people might say that 1215,
the year when Magna Charter was
granted by King John of England,
was" of equal significance in the
world struggle for democracy. Yet
that event directly affected only one
nation, while the world war of 1914
18 drew in nearly v ull modern
states.
It might be argued that the years
that saw the decline of Turkish
power, which once reached to the
gates of Vienna, might be consider
ed as witnessing an equally fateful
struggle between civilizations. Yet
this decline covered so long an era,
that no ooe year stands out. Some
might go still farther and say that
when Charles Martel overthrew tbe
Saracens at Poitiers in 732. and
prevented them from overrunning;
Europe. . it was an equally signifi
cant turning point. Yet the forces
involved in that struggle were rela
tively so small, that the world will
never look at it as an equally dram
atic climax.
in tne war we nave just passed
through, two great tendencies, au
tocracy and democracy, which bad
been growing , in parallel lines for.
2000 years, met Jo final conflict.
'Alf "tbe Intervening years meet,
be regarded as preparing for that
struggle.- We hive seen in our day
the fruition of 2000 years of evolu
tion working along these conflicting
lines. Thus it has been our great
privilege to be present at the very
climax of the world's history for
2000 years. It has been worth -all
it costs to live at this fateful hour.
. Swamp Land Survey
A survey of unused and swamp
lands which might be reclaimed
and sold by the Government to
soldiers, is now being made in Mis
souri by agents for the Department
of the Interior. It is planned ' that
what land can be utilized for agri
cultural purposes will be offered
cheaply to the soldiers
State Land Reclamation Commis
sioner Doc Brydon, and Jewell
Mayes, Secretary of the State Board
of Health are co-operating with the
agents in gathering information for
frfiA Bureau
Similar surveys are being made
in othet states on the recommenda
tion of Secretary of Interior Lane.
Congress appropriated . $200,000 to
start tbe surveys, and the next ses
sion of Congress will be asked to ap
propriate' $1,000,000 to continue
the work.
State Debt Paid
The State Board of Fund Com
missioners on Christmas Eve order
ed the payment of the remainder of
the $2,000,000 loan negotiated two
years ego. In bis letter to the St.
Louis Clearing House.. Governor
Gardner called attention to the fact
that his loan had been paid while
tbe State institutions were being:
maintained in better condition than
ever, the State school apportionment
increased by a half million, and all
in the face of the condition of high
prices brought on by tbe war.
A. B, Montgomery after spending
the holidays here with tbe home
folks left Friday for Paris Gland, S C.
