Springfield weekly Republican. [volume], September 19, 1918, Page 6, Image 6

About Springfield weekly Republican. [volume] (Springfield, Mass.) 1851-1946

Image provided by: Boston Public Library

                
6
DAILY, SUNDAY, WEEKLY
SUBSCRIPTION RATES:
THE DAILY REPUBLICAN: Three
.eents a copy, IS cents s week, 70 cents
a month, $2 a quarter, IS a year; in
cluding the Sunday edition, 20 cents a
THE SUNDAY REPUBLICAN: Fire
cents a copy, 50 cents a quarter, J 2 a
year.
THE WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: Three
eents a copy, 25 cents for three months,
II a year. Foreign postage on The
Weekly Republican is 3 cents per copy,
or |1.56 per year; to Canada, 2 cents
per copy, or 21,04 per year.
All subscriptions are payable strictly
to advance.
Send three-cent stamp for specimen copy.
Subscribers snd advertisers are re
quested to remit by New York or Bos
ton check, post-office or ei press money
order, or registered letter, and to ad
dress THE REPUBLICAN, STRING
FIELD, MASS.
THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN J
■week, S 5 cents a month, J 2.50 a quar
ter, *lO a year.
Stye
InUNCFIELD, THUESDAT. SEPT. IMS
{ .—
TWELVE PAGES
Jtevealment of Full Determination
Out of the Austro-Hungarian gov
larnment's proposal for "a confidential
huid unbinding" conference of bellig
erents as a preliminary to peace has
eome prompt assurance of the soli
darity of this nation. That is the re
assuring. the commanding, and the
eompelling thing which stands out at
This juncture. “An entire union or
•consolidation of interests and re
•sponsibiliTies" is Webster's definition
of solidarity. So, It is demonstrated,
sre the president and the people of
the United States joined with the al
llies to preserve civilization, its honor,
its rights and its obligations in order
*hat a world may be preserved that
Is fit to live in.
’With the peace that Prussian mili
tarism and imperialism wins, wher
ever Its destructive and disintegrating
arm reaches, the United States can
Save no traffic. The settlements at
tempted by ruthless might cannot re
main. Milton depicted such a state:
Where peace
And rest can never dwell hope never
comes
That comes to all.
Tree governments have only one path
to pursue now. “and in it the presi
dent. members of Congress, the news
papers and the aroused people of this
country, in overwhelming dominance,
will continue to walk as they have be
®un —steadily, of set purpose, to the
end. This one way now open to us
was described in President Wilson's
Baltimore speech: “Force, force to
•the uttermost, force without stint or
'limit, the righteous and triumphant
‘force which shall make right the law
’of the world and cast every selfish
down in the dust.”
Such is our inexorable purpose, the
one into which Germany slowly and
in her conscienceless way forced us.
Talk of discussion and compromise at
[this time is perfidy that would invite
t<iisas{er to us and to the world. Above
[all, the people are considering our
tinen in the service, the high-hearted,
[rough and ready thinking, hard hit
jjtlng, determined crusaders who trust
"as. as we do them. The sentiment
tof those who are bearing the burden
|ef battle for us has been formulated
fcby the Stars and Stripes, the official
[newspaper in France of the American
{■expeditionary force. Is it not well
[put, as follows:—
t Let the weak-hearted who are
; dreaming of a compromise: let the
[pacifists who are talking of “’peace
Jby agreement;” let the sideliners whe
• have had enough of war; let the se
■cretly inclined pro-Germans who
think this war should end without
a decision: let them one and all know
cnee and for all that for the A. E. F.
■there is no such word as “peace” with
the Huns unbeaten. The man who
talks peace to-day, except through
’■victory, is a traitor,
i _ . . .
i Talk of peace to-day, except
through victory. Is an abomination in
*the eyes of the people, as we rever
ently believe it to be in the sight of
the overruling power that makes
for righteousness. Great and moving
tie the volume of the world's woe as
fsve all see and deplore it. It must
[be replaced by peace that is not mock
wry. Peace of the German sort is
to be seen in bedeviled Russia, in
desolated Servia, Rumania, Armenia,
and the devastation of Belgium and
France. Where such things can be
all is not well with humanity, nor
can be until tlie author and finisher
lof them is reduced to irapotency and
is ready to pay the penalty the ruth
less devastation demands. This matter
is fundamental, it concerns everything
we hold dear and sacred, and from
the hard course we have perforce un
dertaken there must and will be no
shadow of turning.
| Dr Eliot grown heart sick may
i waver, and a single newspaper yield
tto poorly considered impulse—these
I are but incidents of the moment. The
I march of the nation under its proved
/leader. Just as was the case in the
FVjivil war, will go on to a conclusive
result of lasting benefit to the world.
, We know that nothing is settled until
it has been settled right. We are re
solved that those who have died and
/ are to die in our behalf shall not have
! sacrificed themselves in vain. This Is
the lesson, to be seen and read of
| all men. that stands out for the reas
; surance of all who suffer in a cause,
j that is righteous and is to triumph.
, The spectacle which the United States
I presents is for the heartening of all.
1 everywhere, who struggle for the
: preservation of democracy as it is
moving with quickening strides and
‘ unfaltering purpose toward victory
end a peace that will ordain a better
— - -
Germany and the Bolsheviki
Evaluation of the secret docu
ments made public by the United
States government is an exception
ally difficult task which will re
quire prolonged analysis and probably
a good deal of collateral informa
tion not at present accessible to
any one person. Till such an analysis
has been made it is well not to lean
too heavily upon specific passages, but
in a general way the documents may
betaken as throwing some iiglnon the
relations between th# bolsheviki ami
the German government. Thus con
st lered they affect the situation less
than the introductory matter sup
plied by the bureau of information
might lead one tq suppose. It was,
for example, known from the begin
ning that Germany was engineering
the bolshevist movement and found
in Lenine precisely the instrument it
needed; no time was lost in sending
him from Switzerland through Ger-j
many to Petrograd to take part in the
work of wrecking Russia. He and his
associates needed no incentive to this
congenial task, but they did need
money, and they were perfectly indif
ferent where the money came from.
It could not, of course, come from the
allies, whose interest lay on the side
of a stable Russia, and in the nature
of things the wreckers could get
money only from Russia's enemies.
This point is important because it
would be a serious mistake to regard
Lenine and the little group of fanatics
associated with him as merely bought
by German gold. If the allies with
far greater wealth had been so ill ad
vised as to try to bribe them to stop
their nefarious activities they would
probably have failed utterly. From
all that can be learned from their ac
tions and from the testimony of men
who have studied them closely tje bol
shevist leaders are not venal in the
ordinary sense of being for sale to the
highest bidder. They are utterly im
moral. but this is not unusual in
fanatics, and few' forms of fanaticism
outrage common morality at so many
points as that which grew up in under
ground Russia under the repressive
tyranny of the czars. The extremists
of the French Revolution had at least
a strong sense of patriotism and cul
tivated an austere morality based on a
somewhat fanciful conception of the
Roman republic. The bolsheviki repu
diate the past as well as the present
and cut loose from all the ties of
morality; they care as little for coun
try as for religion and give allegiance
only to their own conception of pro
letariat rule which is to swaliow up
ail governments, all existing institu
tions. To promote this they have stuck
at no infamy, but it would be under
rating their malign power to suppose
them actuated by a vulgar desire for
personal profit.
Mere mercenaries couid hardly
have done what Lenine and his asso
ciates in so short a time accomplished
in the way of starting a popular
movement which has many of the
characteristics of a new religion. The
handful of extremists who in political
slang were called bolsheviki. in a few
months had given their name to a
radical movement which spread Hke
wildfire through Russia and Siberia
and into Finland, Austria-Hungary,
central Asia, China and Japan; weak
ripples of the great wave even reached
this country'. This is the serious as
pect of the Russian question, and the
secret documents have little bearing
upon it. Whatever the relations of
Lenine and his immediate associates
to the German government, may have
been, their deluded followers, who soon
were numbered by millions, had, of
course, no share in the secret, and no
body who has studied the history of
great mass delusions can suppose that
documents will make any considerable
impreesion on these zealous adherents
of bolehevism; a quasi-religious fervor
is proof against evidence and regards
attacks on its saints and apostles as
malignant calumny. Till this move
ment has spent its force and sanity
begins to reassert itself in Russia, the
position of the allies is obviously one
of great delicacy.
Lenine’s reported warning to his
followers to prepare their minds for
an alliance with imperialists must if
genuine be supposed to foreshadow an
alliance with Germany. In this event
the strength of his following would
be a matter of great importance be
cause in the military sense the posi
tion of the allies in Russia is neces
sarily weak except within striking
distance of the Japanese army. The
Czecho-Slovaks are spread out over
a long line in the heart of Russia,
but. their numbers are few and their
support from Cossacks and other an
tibolshevist elements in Russia is still
problematical. On the Murman coast
the position of the allies is for geo
graphical reasons fairly secure, but
the small forces operating from Ar
changel, now including an American
contingent, may be in a difficult situa
tion as soon as their base is frozen in,
unless the political movement in Rus
sia is favorable to the allies. An al
liance between the German govern
ment and the bolsheviki would be en
tered into with about equal reluctance
on either side, for it would certainly
he unpopular in Russia, while Ger
many would very much rather inter
vene to set up a reactionary pro-Ger
man government as in Finland and
Ukraine. Yet if such an alliance
should be made it would be a cause
of anxiety to the allies until more
is known of the present hold of bol
shevism on the masses.
Mobilizing the Woman Pov. »r
A systematic and extensive mobili
zation of the woman-power of tho na
tion for war work, which Is now being
planned by the war industries and na
tional labor policies boards, follows
logically the latest call upon the na
tion’s manhood. There is no distinc
tion of sex in the demand which the
nation at war makes upon its citi
zens, or in the willingness to meet
the demand. There is much signifi
cance, however, in the fact that to a
THE SPRINGFIELD WEEKLY REPUBLICAN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1918
far greater* decree than ever before
the women are being called upon to
do precisely the same work that men
are doing. It is a practical demonstra
tion of rex equality in the narrow
meaning of the word. It is not based
on any paradoxical claim that men
and women are alike; it does proceed
on the assumption, pretty Well proved,
that the natural abilities of men and
women run along more nearly parallel
lines than used to be supposed. Also
that it is • fitting" that women should
do many things that used to be sup
posed the peculiar prerogatives of
men. The war has broken down
barriers cf social convention which
will never be put up again; barriers
which needed to be broken down.
To replace the men that the new
draft will take from industry it is
planned to call soon for as many as
2.000.000 women. Many of them will
come from the 3,373.000 who, in re
sponse to a call by the council of na
tional defense, already have registered
themselves as willing to do any work
to which the government may assign
them. Many will have to come from
women who have not hitherto worked
for wages. The plan is to extend the
recruiting of trained women workers
for the war industries, replacing them
by untrained but willing women. The
principal agency will be the United
States employment service of the de
partment of labor, through its 600
branches throughout the country. The
national league for women’s service
will doubtless continue to help and
much is expected from many other
w-oroen’s organizations and from labor
unions.
Great Britain's experience is illumi
nating. There are now, exclusive of
| domestic servants, saleswomen, war
! nurses, etc., approximately 4.538,000
• women workers in the United King
dom—about twice as many as in pre
war times. Of these nearly 1,500,000
are performing “men’s work.” To
equal the British showing—over 25 per
cent of its woman population engaged,
as wage workers in productive Indus
try—more than 5.000,000 American
women would have to be engaged. The
number of women employed in the
Unite! States in 1910 was a little more
than 3.647,000 —about S per cent of
the woman population—and it is es
timated that since the war began 600,-
000 women have replaced men called
for military service. The statement by
Chairman Baruch of the war indus
tries board that the country has only
begun to use its woman-power is quite
in accord with the facts.
There are few industries in which
women are not employed at some sort
of manual work. Thousands of wom
en have taken their places in war
munitions plants. The Pennsylvania
railroad alone is employing 2500 wom
en in places formerly held by men —
as car cleaners, messengers, draw
bridge tenders, crossing watchmen,
ticket agents, section hands, etc.
Women are working in Ohio glass
factories and in Arkansas lumber
camps. Most of the women who have
replaced men since the war began are
working approximately the same
hours and for the same pay as the
men. Their efficiency is said to
average equal to the men; in some
cases more, in some less. That th 6
entry of women into industries from
which they have been hitherto ex
cluded brings with it incidental prob
lems of adjustment and of protection
against special dangers is a faet not
to be disregarded. But it is a problem
of degree rather than of kin<}. It is
not new.
Secretary Lane's letter to the school
authorities of New York city urging
the necessity for the admission of
women to vocational schools hereto
fore maintained exclusively for men
in various cities calls attention to an
important aspect of the situation. As
Mr Lane says, the demand for vom
en to take the places of men in
skilled trades and to do work requir
ing special preparation wi’l continue,
to increase as the war continues and
most women have not hid the prep
aration necessary to enable them to
do this work. Such artificial barriers
as the secretary objects to should
certainly bs removed. “Woman’s
’sphere," like man’s, includes just now
doing what she can to help win the
war. The way should be cleared for
her.
WAR RELICS TO AID LOAN
Twenty-Four Special Trains Will
Carry Them Through the Coun
try During the Campaign
Twenty-four special trains filled
With war relics will travel through
the country during the Liberty loan
campaign between the 28th and Oc
tober 19, stopping a few hours in
small towns and a day or two in big
cities. American and allied soldiers
will accompany the exhibits and de
liver lectures.
The Liberty loan publicity bureau
made this announcement last week
coincident with the arrival at an
Atlantic pert of a French steamer
laden with captured German war
paraphernalia flesh from the recent
battlefields on which Americans have
driven back the German lines. These
relics include mosquito tanks, Ger
man “grantenweifers,” helmets, dag
gers. machine guns. rifles and
bayonets, trench knives, bomb throw
ers and automatic pistols.
In addition there will be exhibits of
the full equipment of an American
soldier to illustrate precisely what
Liberty loan dollars buy. The navy
has furnished depth charges used so
effectively againsi enemy submarines.
This will be the first time they have
been generally exhibited in this coun
try. The navy display also includes
big gun shells, aero bombs and mines.
There wfU be two war exhibit
trains for each of the 12 federal re
serve districts. In most cities and
towns arrangements will be made for
dismissal of schools to allow children
to inspect the relics.
At a meeting at Bordeaux, France
last week of the general municipal
council and the chamber of commerce
tho proposal to establish in honor of
the president of the United States *
Franco-American university of ap
plied sciences, commerce and indus
try was unanimously adopted,
A CLOSED INCIDENT
REPLY IS ON THE WAY
LODGE ON PEACE OFFE'R
Fully Indoriei President ! Action
—Believes Jugc-Slavs Should
Be Recognized
Austria’s peace offensive is s closed
incident so far as the American gov
ernment is concerned. Secretary Lan
sing sent to the Swedish minister
Tuesday the note authorized Monday
night by President Wilson, flatly re
jecting in two short sentences the
proposal of the Austro-Hungarian gov
ernment for secret and nonbinding
peace discussions. It was started on
the cables at once for transmission to
Vienna by the foreign office at Stock
holm.
The president's action—including
the precedent-setting brevity of the
reply and the promptness with which
it was delivered—drew expressions of
approval during the day everywhere
in Washington, at the capitol, 'among
officials and throughout the allied
diplomatic corps. Similar responses
from the other nations at war with
Germany are expected to follow
quickly.
In the Senate Senator Lodge of
Massachusetts, republican floor leader
and the ranking minority member of
the foreign relations committee, voiced
the feelings of Congress on the sub
ject in a prepared speech heartily ap
proving the president's course as both
wise and right. The United States,
the senator said, can talk peace only
to a Germany beaten and deprived of
power further to harm a wronged
world. He was followed by Senator
McCumber of North Dakota, republic
an, and Senator Thomas of Colorado,
democrat, with like expressions. On
the House side Representative Fess of
Ohio, chairman of the republican con
gressional committee, spoke in ap
proval. declaring that the quick reply
might “jar upon diplomatic ears, but
is justified as a rebuke to the double
dealing of our enemy."
Senator Lodge’s Speech
“The president’s reply to this stu
pid note will meet. I am sure, with
universal approval,” said Senator
Lodge. “His prompt and curt refusal
of the Austro-Hungarian offer was
not only right, but wise, for it will, I
believe, put an end to loose and feeble
talk about these Austro-Hungarian of
fers—a kind of talk which is not only
debilitating and confusing, but dis
tinctly helpful to Germany. The
president, without entering upon any
details or definitions, says the position
and purpose of the United States are
plain. I think that the purpose and
position of the American people are
plain and growing plainer, clearer,
stronger every day. They arq.becom
ing so plain that I think evenSlhe cen
tral powers will soon begin to under
stand them. I believe that they’ will
learn, and the sooner the better, that
the American people mean to have
complete victory. They must be made
to know that we have no intention of
arguing with them about terms of
peace around a table.
“When Prussian militarism is
crushed and the Germans throw up
their hands, then the United States
and her allies will tell them the terms
of peace which they are to accept. In
r.o other way can the world be made
safe against German wars of con
quest. In no other way can we jus
tify our entrance into the war and
our sacrifice of our best and bravest.
Until complete victory' is reached on
German soil, any negotiations or dis
cussion with our enemies would mean
that the war was lost, our sacrifices
in vain and our high purposes defeat
ed There is much hard fighting yet
to be done, many sacrifices still to be
made, but the light of victory Is shin
ing upon our armies and upon those
of our allies.
"We shall press on until the only
end worthy of attainment is fully
reached. Germany has brought un
numbered woes upon an innocent
world. She must be put in a position
where she cannot strike again. She
has appealed to the lust of conquest,
the dread arbitrament of arms. By that
she must abide. She shall not now resort
to talk and bargain for a decision.
Mean To Put Her In Physical Bonds
“We mean to put her in physical
bonds. We mean to make the world
safe for all free, law-abiding, decent
people so that they may live their
lives in peace, unthreatened and un
alarmed. For this we fight. We shall
riot ask more. We shall never accept
less.”
Senator Lodge spoke of the extent
of German propaganda in this country
and praised Secretary Baker for his
recent order barring certain books,
because of their pro-German tenden
cies, from military camps. One of the
most creditable things President Wil
son had done during the entire war,
Mr Lodge continued, was to recognize
the Czecho-Slovak nation. “If any
nation ever deserved recognition it
was the Czecho-Slovaks." he said.
“We must go farther and recognize
the Jugo-Slavs, at the head of which
stands Servlc. We must recognize the
Poles. They and they alone can make
a peaceful state in central Europe that
will forever bar Germany from east
ern Europe. When the president rec
ognized the Czecho-Slovaks. he set his
hand to a document that meant the
dissolution of the Austrian empire."
POTENTIAL GERMAN BASE
Alien Property Custodian Take*
Over Property at St Thomas in
Virgin Islands
A potential German naval base in
the Virgin islands has been seized by
the alien property custodian and will
be used for the needs of the Ameri
can navy and customs department.
The base consists of land, buildings,
docks, warehouses, large water tanks
and cisterns, lighters, loading para
phernalia and coaling facilities, for
merly owned by the Hamburg-Ameri
can line.
In announcing seizure of the marine
Plant, which is located at St Thomas.
Allen Property Custodian Palmer said
that Germany considered that it ad
mitted of possibilities as a naval base
was shown bv the fact that their
principal building commanding a har
bor is of reinforced concrete and the
P aza In front of it is said to have an
eight-foot foundation of concrete, fit
for gun emplacements.
After the United States acquired the
islands from Denmark, and when It
appeared that it would declare war on
Germany, Mr Palmer said, the Ham
hurg-American line agent, who also
was the German consul, “sold" the
plant to the line’s lawyer, a Danish
citizen named Jorgensen. The sole
consideration mentioned n note
for $210,000. which Jorgensen was
•aid to have given the G
pany. This note was payable three
months after date, and renewable ev
ery three months until after the war.
and bore no interest. Mr Palmer
said.
Darwin O. Curry, the alien property
custodian's representative at St Thom
as. learned of the transaction, and
Jorgensen finally executed a deed to
the alien property custodian, but not,
Mr Palmer said, until after he had
protested and sought refuge in his
Danish citizenship. The alien prop
erty custodian assumed whatever ob
ligations were attached to the note
Jorgensen had given the German com
pany and the note itself was seized.
One of the reasons for the purchase
of the Danish West Indies by the
United States was the fact that St
Thomas offered a natural base for
the defense of the Panama canal, and
it is the intention of the government
to fortify the harbor and establish a
naval station there.
KING GEORGE TO WILSON
Congratulates President on Amer
ican Achievement at St Mihiel
[By the Associated Press.]
LONDON. Saturday, September 14
King George has sent a message of
congratulation to President Wilson on
the victory -won by Gen Pershing in
the St Mihiel salient. The king’s mes
sage reads:—
“On behalf of the British empire I
heartily congratulate you on the 'brill
iant achievement of the American and
allied troops under the leadership of
Gen Pershing in the St Mihiel sa
lient.
“Tho far-reaching results secured
by these successful operations, which
have marked the active intervention
of the American army on a great scale
under its own administration, are the
happiest augury for the complete and.
I hope, not far-distant triumph of the
allied cause."
DEBS IS FOUND GUILTY
Federal Jury at Cleveland Reaches
Verdict in 5 14 Hours
Eugene V. Debs, charged witn
violating the espionage act, was found
guilty by a federal jury at Cleveland
Thursday. Talking to newspaper
men after the verdict. Debs said: "It
is all right. I have no complaint to
make. It will come out all right in
Gods good time.”
Of the original 10 counts of the
indictment but four remained when
•he jury retired to consider the evi
dence The verdict found him guilty
of three: not guilty of one. He wus
found guilty of attempting to incite
Insubordination, disloyalty, etc., in the
mllitar;' and naval forces, attempting
to obstruct recruiting, and uttering
language tending to incite, provoke
and encourage resistance to tha
United States and to promote the
cause or the enemy. The count on
which he wa.; adjudged innocent
c> argj-1 that he opposed the cause of
the United States.
Counsel for both sides said that
they considered Judge Westenliaver's
instructions fair. They were exhaus
tive and couched in simple language
and delivered in a kindly manner, oc
cupying 1 1 -j hours. He made no
comment on the evidence, which, pre
sented by the government, was af
firmed by the defendant, but assursfl
-he jut s- that the espionage act was
wholly valid. In the course of the
tr al. he said, socialism was much
under discussion, but it was Debs, an
i individual, and not the socialist, who
was on trial. “One's political belief,
no more than his religious belief,
ennnot be accepted as an excuse.”
said t.ie court.
The uiry was out 5% hours, most
ly spent in assimilating the fine dis
tinctions between the four counts.
Rain fell and the courtroom was
dark and gloomy hut the spectators
remained throughout. When it was
announced that the jury was ready
to report the crush became great.
Mrs Rose Pastor Stokes, herseif
under conviction on a similar charge,
came inside the railing for the first
time. Previously at Debs's request
she had remained hidden in the body
of the audience.
She drew her chair beside his and
into her hands he slipped his own
gaunt hand, where it remained while
the clerk was reading the verdict and
polling the jury. She had expected
an adverse verdict from the first, ad
mitting it to her ft-iends. Nor was
it a surprise to Debs. In his ad
dress to the jury he said he had not
one word to retract, and rather went
out of his way to accept the damag
ing S: Louis antiwar platform. »
The maximum penalty is 20 years'
imprisonment and a fine of SIO,OOO.
Judge Westenhaver stated he womd
hear counsel on a motion for a new
trial Saturday morning. Debs, until
then, will remain at liberty, under the
trial bond.
SHORTAGE OF GASOLINE
Conservation Steps Heeded to Pre
vent Deficit of a Million Barrels
at End of Year
Fuel Administrator Garfield in
formed the Senate last week in re
sponse to the Lodge resolution of in
quiry that unless conservation steps
were taken immediately there would
he a deficit of approximately 1.000,-
WO barrels of gasoline at the end of
the year. At the rate of consump
tion in August he estimated that there
was only about one-month’s supply
ahead.
The resolution was introduced by
Senator Lodge after the fuel adminis
tration asked the public to stop using
automobiles on Sunday for pleasure.
The daily domestic consumption of
gasoline in this country. Dr Gar
field reports, amounts to 160,000 bar
rels, and 34,000 barrels are exported
dally. The daily production is 191,000
barrels, which leaves a deficit of 3000
barrels.
Gasoline and naphtha stocks on
January 1 last totaled 8.400,000 bar
rels. which by April 1 had been in
creased to 11.000.000 barrels. By
t ' l * 8 su PP'y had fallen to
1 .800,000 barrels. The total reduction
in the stocks of gasoline and naphtha
during July wa* approximately
L; ; 6‘4)o’> barrels, or approximately
44.000 barrels dally'.
The adminietator estimated that re
ports for August from territory east
of the California fields, would show
a reduction of close to 2.000,000 bar
rels. or 65.000 daily, and with the
August reduction in stocks materializ
ing. the reserve supply would bn re
duced to an amount which would not
exceed 30-days’ supply.
Stocks of crude petroleum are “con
stantly declining,” the report adds,
“and kerosene and fuel oil supplies
are unsatisfactory, all of which bears
an intimate relation to th# gasoline
problem. Gaa stocks on the Atlantic
seaboard available for export have
been recently at a particularly low
level."
“Thirty-five hundred prisoners were
captured In one district near Mont
sec by an American division. Among
them was Maj Count von Schmeeig.
He and hia ataff had their baggage
packed and were waiting to be cap
tured.” —Dispatch from France.
More German preparedness—superpra-
Hjptltiafturg mjght say.
TERMS OF GERMANY
YON PAYER ON PEACE
WOULD LEAVE BELGIUM
AND GIVE UP INDEMNITIES
But Vice-Chancellor Declares That
There Shall Be No Interference
in the East and Makes
Other Demands
Reiterating that Germany, “as the
innocent and attacked party" in the
war. had a right to demand indem
nification, Friedrich von Payer, the
German imperial vice-chancellor, in
his speech Thursday at Stuttgart,
said, according to a dispatch from Am
sterdam: “We prefer, on calm reflec
tion. and even with our own favora
ble military situation, to abandon this
idea.’’
Turning to the question of the occu
pied territories, he said that as a pre
liminary condition of peace for Ger
many and her allies those nations
must have all their prewar posses
sions. including the German colonies,
restored. Then Germany, he declared,
would evacuate the occupied regions
and would give back Belgian! without
encumbrance and without reserve,
providing no other state was mora fa
vorably placed in regard to Belgium
than was Germany.
Ho asserted that Germany would
not submit to the entente powers fox
approval or alteration the peace trea
ties which Germany had signed witii
the Ukraine, Russia and Rumania.
Germany’s Resources
Contending that technic and inven
tive genius, which already had helped
the Germans over heavy obstacles,
would still help them, he said: “If
we lack cotton and oils, our enemies
lack coal. Food is scarce here and
there, but already things have proba
bly turned in our favor. In the east
the world is again open to us for a
food supply, while our enemies sup
plies of foodstuffs and raw materials
give precedence to the front's call for
America's armies and their provision
ing."
According to Von Payer, the Ger
mans have only to see that the war
continues to be waged in a foreign
country, that the Germans are fight
ing for their lives and tlieir homes
and that the enemy’s only hope is that
the Germans collapse inwardly sooner
than they. He urged the necessity of
the Germans holding together in the
hour of danger and said that disap
pointed hopes must be prevented, jus
tified hopes fulfilled and actually ex
isting wrongs redressed.
Must Grant Suffrage
Regarding the Prussian suffrage
bill, which he considered of prime im
portance. he said that it was no long
er Prussian, but eminently a German
question and on its decision depended
the confidence which the population
placed in the Prussian and the impe
rial government. Further postpone
ment. he said, was not permissible.
’ Moreover,’’ he added “it is my be
lief that the decision of the Prussian
government may be regarded as al
ready taken and if equal suffrage does
not issue from the committee of the
upper House, the government will
proceed to dissolution."
No Ordinary Peace
He said that the present terrible
struggle would not end with a peace
of the customary character. A mere
glance at the state of exhaustion of
the world excluded such a possibility.
“In former peace negotiations," lie
said, “the middle and lower classes,
when it came to the council table, fell
quietly into the background. This is
now over and the governments will
conclude the coming peace treaties in
close harmony with the entire peo
ple.
. ‘The main truth for them in peace
is not tho acquisition of land, treas
ure and glory; they aim nowadays, at
least, at the conclusion of a lasting
peace, and. therefore, there will be no
peace of conquest."
“For the rest, the territorial pos
sessions which existed before the war
can everywhere be restored," the
speaker added. “A preliminary condi
tion for us and our allies is that all
the territory should again be restored
which we possessed August 1, 1914
Germany must, in the first place, re
ceive back her colonies, in which con
nection the idea of an exchange on
the grounds of expediency need not
be excluded.
Promises Evacuation
“V e Germans, as soon as peace i 3
concluded, can evacuate the occupied
regions. We can, when once things
have been got to that stage, restore
Belgium. If we and our allies are once |
again in possession of what belonged 1
'o us and if we first are sure that in
Belgium no other state will be more
favorably placed than we, then Bel
gium. I think I may say. can be given
back without encumbrance and with
out reserve."
Herr von Payer considered that this
might mean disappointment and re
nunciation to Germany’s enemies,
which would be almost equivalent to
a confession of defeat, as “they have
made the destruction and political
shattering of us and our allies their
aim.”
Russia might have remained in 5
capable existence if she bad granted
tolerable conditions to the enslaved
races by a federal constitution. “She
collapsed.” the vice-chancellor said,
“because she could not maintain in
ternal cohesion. Our victories and
those of our allies now have given
the subjects of that colossal empire an
opportunity to liberate themselves."
Will Stand Pat in Russia
The vice-chancellor said it was un
thinkable that Germany would con
tribute to the restoration of*the “des
potic Russian empire which, by Ha
mere existence, always menaced the
world. We cannot band over Poland
to Russia," he added, “nor can we
assist in having Finland again placed
under the Russian yoke. We cannot
leave to their fate the border state,
which lie on the German frontier and
the Baltic to be subjected against
their will to Russian Imperialism or
thrown into the perils of civil war and
anarchy.
’’ln fact these states having come
to an understanding with us. as those
most nearly interested, can only be
an advantage to the world, and we
can never permit anyone to meddle
with us in this matter from the stand
point of the present European bal
ance of power or rather British pre
dominance."
Herr von Payer asserted that Ger
many had peace in the east and would
not submit to the entente for its ap
proval or alteration the peace treaties
with the Ukraine, Russia and Ru
mania.
Belgium No Innocent Victim
viee-ebanoel]or said a requi
site understanding between Germany
and Belgium -was easier, because their
economic interests frequently were
parallel and that Belgium was direct
ly dependent upon Germany as a hin
terland. He said ho had no reason
to doubt that the Flemish question
could be solved in accordance with
the dictates of justice and wise states
manship.
“It is hypocrisy to represent Bel
gium as the innocent victim of our
policy,’’ he said, “and to clothe her.
as it were, in the white garment of
innocence. The Belgian government
—and that is what matters, not the
Belgian people—took an active part
in Great Britain’s policy of encir
cling Germany.”
Gives Up Indemnities
He said that there still was the
question of war indemnities from
one or the other party and had Ger
many “been allowed to pursue her
[ways of] peace, there would have
been no war or injury.
“There can be no question there
fore of our paying.” he said, "but only
whether we should receive compen
sation for the injuries inflicted on us.
We are deeply convinced that as the
innocent and attacked party we have
a right to indemnification. To go on
prosecuting the war, however, to that
point would cost us such heavy sac
rifices, irreparable by money, that we
prefer, on calm reflection and even
with our favorable military situation
to abandon this idea, quite apart from
the question of jeopardizing a fu
ture peace which would be inevitable
if compensation were forcibly urged.
“Unrealizable conditions of peace,
of course, should not be laid down for
our participation in the peace nego
tiations. We laugh at the idea that
we should first penitently ask for
mercy before we are admitted. We
laugh at the fools who babble of re
venge. I have wished only to show
that peace by understanding will
bring nothing humiliating for us nor
a period of misery and wretchedness.
“Strong and courageous in the con
sciousness of our invincibility, equal
among the nations of the earth, we
will lead a life of labor, but also with
contentment and with an assured fu
ture. In common with others we will
protect the world’s peace from fu
ture dangers.
“It would be an illusion to calcu
late on will to peace in those circles
among our enemies which are respon
sible for the opening and continuing
of hostilities. For years they have
been living on the inflaming of war
passions. They cannot admit to their
countrymen tliat their aims are un
attainable and that their sacrifices
have been made in vain.
"Others among those peoples will
think differently. Moreover, they will
prevail sooner or later. Until then,
however, there remains nothing for
us to do but to defend our lives.
Responsibility on Entente
"We place the responsibility for the
blood which will ye’. fall on the shoul
ders of our enemies. But whoever
will not hear must fall. On our outer
and inner front the will to destruc
tion of our enemies will be shattered.
“Germany's strength. capacity,
courage and self-sacrifice, to which
for four years we. owe everything,
must teach them that it has become
hopeless for them to continue to wage
this baneful war."
Disarmament and Leagues of Nations
“Despite everything, the peace
treaty pill have purely positive con
tents, The nations of the earth cry
out for further preservation from the
further misery of wars, for leagues
of nations, for international courts of
arbitration and agreements regard
ing equal disarmaments which cries
the enemy governments have made
their own and the fulfilment of which
would not be wrecked by the German
government’s opposition. We are, on
the contrary’, ready to collaborate to
the best of our ability."
Yon Payer said these ideas were not
new t.o Germany, and continued: “We
desire to have a disarmament agree
ment on the conditions of complete
reciprocity applied not merely to land
armies hut even to naval forces. In
pursuance of the same idea, and even
going beyond it. we will raise in the
negotiations a demand for the freedom
of the seas and sea routes, for the open
door in all oversea possessions and for
the protection of private property at
sea. And if negotiations take piace re
garding the protection of small nations
and of national minorities in individual
states, we shall willingly advocate in
ternational arrangements which will
act for deliverance in countries under
Great Britain's domination.”
GERMAN OFFER TO BELGIUM
Neutrality During the War, Inde
pendence and Reconstruction
Later—No Word About Indemni
ties ,
A dispatch from London Sunday
night said that it is understood the
government has received the Austro-
Hungarian peace note and also the
proposal, previously referred to, that
all the powers should withdraw their
troops from the Murman territory’.
It is also learned that Germany has
made a peace offer to Belgium. The
terms of this proposal are as fol
lows:—
That Belgium shall remain neutral
until the end of the war.
That thereafter the entire, economic
and political independence o£ Belgium
shall be reconstituted.
That the pre-war commercial trea
ties between Germany and Belgium
shall again be put into operation after
the war for an indetinte period.
Tliat Belgium shall use her good of
fices to secure the return ot the Ger
man colonies.
That the Flemish question shall bo
considered, and the Flemish minority
which aided the German invaders,
shall not be penalized.
The proposal contains no word re
specting reparation or indemnities;
no admission that Germany wronged
Belgium.
MORE NURSES WANTED
Acting Surgeon-General Says 25,-
000 Must Be Obtained Before the
End of the Year
Denial of recently published reports
that the nursing needs of the army
had been met was made Saturday by
Brig-Gen Charles Richard, acting
surgeon-general, who stated that 25,-
COO nurses must be obtained before
the end of the year. 1
"Although the Red Cross, the nurse
reserve of the. army, reports a total
enrolment of more than 2i,000 nurses,"
he said, “This does not represent the
number of women available for active
service. A total of 25,000 nurses must
be obtained before the first of the
year. More than 16,000 are now on the
roils of the army nurse corps, leaving
9000 still to be obtained. It 1s esti
mated that before July next w« must
have 50.000.”
He said the army medical depart
ment feared that nurses, believing
there no longer was urgent need for
them, would cease enrollng and that
young women would not make applica
tion for admittance to the army school. ;
A continued effort must be made by
the Red Cross to enrol women if ths
needs of tha arfhjr war# to be supplied.!
he said, , ,
• 'l‘trirflirfiir'iii l n‘l
GERMAN PEACE DRIVE
VIEWED AT WASHINGTON
TWO-FOLD MOTIVE APPARENT
Effort to Appease the Wearied Ger
man People and to Appeal to
Pacifists in Entente Conn
tries and America
The German peace offensive is now
recognized by officials at Washington
as being in full swing. A progressive
campaign is clearly indicated to their
minds by the apparently casual re
marks of Premier von Hertling. A
few days ago, followed by the more
formal statement to the visiting Ger
man newspapermen in Vienna by
Count Burian, the Austrian foreign
minister, the remarks of the German
crown prince and now the speech of
Emperor William himself to the Work
ing people at Essen.
Peace proposals emanating from
these sources would appear incon
gruous were the officials not firmly con
vinced of the insincerity of the move
ment which again is recognized as
conceived with the double purpose of
placating the uneasy and restless Ger
man socialists and at the same time
appealing to the pacifists in the en
tente countries and America in the
hope of weakening the hands of the
allied governments in the prosecution
of the v"r.
Analysis of the emperor’s remarks
reported by- cable fails to disclose any
new feature; there are the same oft
reiterated denial of responsibility for
the continuance of the war and the
same warning to the German people
that tlie purpose of the enemy is to
destroy them.
Allied Publicity Taking Hold
For some time past American
agencies have been active in Europe
in supplementing the publicity efforts
of the entente governments in Ger
many. It is known that already the
seed sown has begun to grow as
evidenced by' Hindenburg's passionate
appeal to the German people to be
on their guard against “poisoned
literature” being Introduced into Ger
many'. The emperor’a reiteration of the
junker claim that the purpose of the
entente is to destroy the German peo
ple is designed to counteract the ef
fect of clear statements in the Amari
ican literature that America’s only
purpose is to destroy German militar
ism. a statement that has appealed
very' strongly to the German socialists.
Another step in the development of
the peace defensive in Germany is
noted in the recent denunciation of
Samuel Gompers by Carl Rudolph
Legion, president of the German fed
eration of trade unions. These organ
izations are dominated by the pan-
Germans. who have taken alarm at Mr
Gompers’s successful work among the
British labor unionists in exposing the
dangers of a German peace "by un
derstanding," and has set the machin
ery at work to try to hold the Ger
man socialists in line.
Official dispatches Thursday from
France say that the general campaign
and peace maneuver of which the
speech Thursday of Emperor William
is regarded as a part is being extend
ed into neutral countries. German
press agencies are supplying special
articles and information on the sub
ject to the newspapers of German
proclivities in Holland, the Scandi
navian countries and Switzerland. And
in this connection the dispatches note
that the German conservative leader,
Erzberger. identified in the past with
other peace movements, has turned up
in Copenhagen, where a Scandinavian
interparliamentary conference is to
take place and that the Dutch socialist
pacifist. Troelstras. has included Ger
many in his return trip to Holland
from northern Europe.
Dec ded by the Two Emperors
According to the same dispatches,
some i.ght is thrown upon the veiled
utterance of Count Burian a few day*
ago that there might be opportunities
'or “a calm exchange of views—some
sort of direct information discussion
. which will be far from being
peace negotiations by what is re
garded as an inspired article in the
Dutch press which the German au
thorities have taken pains to repuo
lisli in Germany.
This article says that the two ern
peror.j at their recent conference de
rided that the time would be ripe at
the beginning of winter, when all w ir
operations w'ould be paralyzed to pro
pose an armistice instead of a straight
peace conference and adds that the
pioposai of an armistice in itseif
might be an Indication that Germany
not oniy was ready to free Belgium
and indemnify her from an internal
fund, hut also to discuss the evacua
tion of northern France and the re
stitution of German colonies and even
to settle the Alsace-I.orraine problem
in a way to save French feelings.
Finally, on condition of certain in
demnities and concessions. Germany
might consent to revise the Brest-
Litovsk treaty.
If this proposal for an armistice ■»
rejected the Dutch paper holds that
the mt.-al position of Germany would
b® greatly strengthened.
BAKER COVERED WITH MUD
War Secretary Returns to Paris Re
joicing Over What He Saw at St
Mihiel
[By the Associated Press.]
PARIS, Saturday, September 14
Newton D. Baker, the American
secretary of war, returned to-night
'from the American battle front where
he spent the last two days with tha
American troops accompanying them
as they marched into St Mihiel. ,
As the big army automobile stopped
in front of Gen Pershing’s Paris horn*
to-night, the secretary alighted cov
ered with mud from head to foot. He
carried his gas mask in one hand and
nis steel helmet In the other. Hia
trench coat was smeared with mud
and his puttees were coated with It,
and even his eyeglasses splashed Sec
retary Baker made only a brief slay
in Paris to-night, leaving on the night
tr ®”’ 'w an absence of several davs.
While deeply stirred with what he
had seen. Secretary Baker spoke in
moderation. He was particularly Im
pressed with the splendid spirit and
enthusiasm of th# American troops
He had also seen great throngs of
German prisoners as they were
brought back from the fighting Pne
From a high eminence the secretary
looked oat on the .Americans &a thev
sprang forward in attack
The dsstrrotioa of Petrograd, now
menaced by inoer.dJary Ursa, eoulc be
a terrible calamity el any time- :t
would be the wot m vow wttn wtntae
I coming on, an 4 AuaaU shsrt oven,
where of food an* aheltar. not to speak
of the breaking dowa of ’.he organisa
tion that might provide retied for