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AIRCRAFT IS 1 I RATE OF FIRE SYNCHRONIZER WITH REVOLUTIONS OF THE TRACTOR -PROPELLER. BASEBALL CAPTURES LONDON American Army and Navy Teams Draw Big Crowds—British Officers In U. S. Give Instruction in Gas Defense. The Browning machine gun has suc cessfully undergone a test to deter mine its value for use with aircraft. This Is one of three types of machine guns with which the rate of lire can be so synchronized with the revolu tions of the propeller of a tractor air plane that the gun can be fired by the pilot of a combat -plane through' the revolving blades. Airplane propellers revolve at from 800 to 2,000# revolutions per minute. The machine gun is connected with the airplane engine by a mechanical or hydraulic device, and impulses from the crank shaft are transmitted to the machine gun. The rate of fire of the •machine gun is constant and its fire is synchronized with the revolving pro peller blades by "wasting" a certain percentage of the impulses it receives from the airplane engine and by hav ing the remaining impulses trip or pull the trigger so that the gun fires just at the fraction of the second when the propeller blades are clear of the line of tire. The pilot operates the gun by means of a lever which controls the circuit and allows the impulses to trip the trigger. "As the latest wonder of the world London has taken to baseball," says a committee on public information representative in London. "The Eng lish never before had much use' for our great game. They called it an ex aggerated form of rounders and won dered what the noise was all about, but the American and Canadian sol diers in England have been educating them. "A regular league of eight teair/s has started a summer schedule, and the English public is learning what it has missed. Big crowds witness the game which is played every Saturday, and the sport bids fair to become widely popular. Here is the way Thomas Burke, the short-story writer, reports a game in the London Star of May 27. 'Last week I discovered baseball. The match between the Army and Navy teams was my first glimpse of a pastime that has captivated a conti nent, and I can well understand its ap peal to a modern temperament. Be lieve me, it's good goods. And the crowd! I had heard and read much of baseball fans and their method of root ing, but my conceptions were nothing near the real thing. The grandstands, crowded with army and navy fans, bristling with megaphones and tossing hats and demoniac faces, would have made a superb subject for a lithograph •by Sir Frank Bragwyn. 'The game got hold of me before the first pitched ball. The players in their hybrid costumes and huge gloves, the catcher in his gas mask, and the movements of the teams as they prac ticed runs shook me with excitement. Then the game began and the rooting began. In past years I have attended various football matches in mining dis tricts where the players came in for a certain amount of ragging, but they were church services compared with the furious abuse and hazing handed to any unfortunate who failed to play ball. 'There was, for example, an explo sive, reverberating "A-h-h-h-h-h" which I have been practicing in my back yard ever since, but without once catching its true quality. You should have heard Admiral Sims, as college yell leader, when the Navy made a home run hit, with his "Atta boy oh, atta way to play ball," and when they got an error he sure handed the Navy theirs. 'Yes I've got It. From now on I'm a fan. I'm going to see every baseball match played anywhere near London. I shall never be able to watch with ex citement a cricket or foothull match after this it'd be like a tortoise race. Come along with me to the next mutch and join me in rooting and in killing the umpire.'" In March and April the secretary of agriculture, on recommendation of the office of public roads and rural engi neering, approved 212 state road-build ing projects involving more than 2,500 miles of highways under the federal aid road act. The estimated cost of these improvements to the states is about $15,000,000. The federal aid al lowed is more than $5,000,000. Bottlers of soft drinks in the United States may save approximately 50,000 tons of sugar annually by using other sweetening materials, according to in vestigations by specialists of the bu reau of chemistry, United States de partment of agriculture. The bureau of chemistry is preparing to furnish bottlers with sweetening formulas that will allow the actual sugar content In «oft drinks to be cut to 50 per' cent or less and at the same time will preserve the customary taste of the beverages. Starch sugar, starch sirup, maltose sir up and honey are the substitutes used. The army ordnance department ha* negotiated approximately 12,000 con tracts since' this country entered the war, involving within $175,000,000 of the total funds directly available for the department for the present %scal year—$3,383,286,045. Additional con tracts totaling $1,503,703,741 have been entered into on the authority of con gress pending appropriation of an amount aggregating $1,671,466,750. The magnitude of the task of the ordnance department financially is .evi denced by the disbursement recently in a single day of more than $25,000,000 on ordinary contract vouchers. Dis bursements for the month of April, 1918, ran to $356,884,863, an interesting amount as compared with the $5,059,« 264 disbursed by the ordnance depart ment in April, 1917. These disburse ments were made at the ordnance of fice in Washington. Amounts dis bursed at government arsenals are not included. One check recently drawn by the ord nance disbursing officer for ordnance material was for $18,750,000. One re quisition made recently by this same officer on the treasury was for $169, 000,000. This is the largest single requi sition ever made by any United States disbursing officer. Prior to two months ago, before the ordnance department established its 11 district offices which zoued the country to expedite payments to contractors and relieve the strain upon the main office in Washington, the disbursing officer at Washington signed from 500 to 3,000 checks a day. Because of the instruction of jjas of ficers who have been at the various camps for the last six months, the troops which are going forward to France are well posted on methods of combating gas attacks, says a state ment authorized by the war depart ment. A group of British gas officers has been in this country since last summer. One of these men has been at each of the training camps, advising and assisting the division gas officer. All the men going overseas are sup plied with gas helmets. Under the di vision gas officers and their assistants, the men are drilled in the use of masks, taught how to detect the pres ence of gas, and given actual experi ence with different sorts of gases. Mimic gas shells and cloud attacks, used often at night in connection with high explosives, help to make the train ing realistic. The United States has been able to build on the~experience of the British and French, to whom gas attacks were unknown when they entered the war. No American troops have been sent to the front without practical experience in defending themselves against gas. The training of instructors in gas de fense includes a course of about one month. Most of the gas officers are commissioned first lieutenants. 1 One of the interesting developments of the war, according to a statement authorized by he war department, is the rapid expansion of the various bu reaus of the war department. At the outbreak of the war there were less than 3,000 employees on duty. The number now is approximately 25,000, an increase of 800 per cent. While this represents a tremendous expansion, the increase in the army itself has been more than 1,500 per cent. Only four out of every 100 officers in the service were in the armj at the time the war began. The gas defense service is now manu facturing about 5,000 horse gas masks per day. These are being sent 'to France, and it is expected that within a short time every horse connected with the American expeditionary forces will be equipped with the new masks. The gas defense service has a com pletely equipped factory for the manu facture of the masks. In less than three weeks a building was selected and the factory was producing masks. The introduction of riveting machinery has done away with the heavy hand sewing of the frame which supports the masks on the faces of the horses. The masks are so constructed that no metal or chemically impregnated parts can chafe the horse. In Bavaria the monthly meat ration has been cut 20 per cent—from 1,000 to 800 grams—according to German newspapers. The monthly meat ration in Saxony has been reduced from 800 to 700 grams. Public officials are re ported in the Prussian press as discus sing the possibility of a further reduc tion of the bread ration in Prussia. A Munich paper reports that from the beginning of the war to March J, 1918, Bavarian hog stocfis have de creased from 2,106,312 to. 766,391 head. The Danish hog census shows a de crease from 1,651,000 hogs July 12, 1917, to 789,000 (December 5, 1917, or a decrease of one-third the number at the beginning of the war. The restriction on the importation of crude rubber has been followed by re strictions on importation of four com modities possessing some of the char acteristics of rubber, and capable un der some circumstances of being-used as substitutes for natural rubber. Acting on a suggetsion of General Pershing an order has been issued in creasing each regiment's band from 28 to 50 members. Band leaders having had more than five years' military ex perience as band leaders will be made first lieutenants those with less than five years' experience will.be made sec ond lieutenants. Beside enlarging the bands a bugle and drum corps will be added to each regiment. Each corps will include the company buglers of its regiment, and not more than 13 drummers. LEAGUE PRINCIPLES Labor Party Tries State Market ing Two Years and Is Return ed to Power. The principles upon which the Non partisan League platform is based have just received striking vindica tion on the other side of the world. The people of Queensland, Australia, recently returned the labor govern ment to power by an overwhelming majority after it had established and operated for one and two years many state-owned marketing and other pub lic utilities, such as are advocated by the League in America. Of the new members of the parliament ejected, 48 are members of the Labor party and only 24 represent the profiteers. As soon as tihe Laborites went into power two years ago they began to establish state-owned marketing facil ities, such as elevators, packing plants, stock yards, slaughter houses, stor age plants, ware houses, bank and a state insurance department. Every one of these things is demanded by the League platform. People Indorse Policy. After two years of trial, the people of Queensland have endorsed the condi tions established by greatly increasing the Labor party vote. It is said that one of the principle benefits from these state owned facilities was a great reduction in the cost of living. For' instances roast sirloin was cut from 24 to 13 cents a pound, fillet steak from 36 to 16 cents a pound rump steak form 30 to 15 cents a pound insurance rates from about $17.62 to $5.86. While, jthese great reductions were enjoyed by the consumers, the farmers and stock growers Received better prices than ever. It was because the government was acting as middleman in many in stances and distributing farm pro duce at cost. The campaign was fought to a con clusion on the straight out' issue, "Shall the government enter the field of industry and help the people, or shall it confine Itself to governing?" The Liberals made much of their slo gan, "The Duty of Government, is To Govern and Not To Trade." But the people had tasted the benefits.of gov ernment "trading" and came back to its support in greater numbers than before. Unreasonable Profits Shown. Charges that mineral producers are exacting exhorbitant prices were re cently made before the Mining Com mittee by R. M. Rice, purchasing agent of the Labelle Iron Works, of Steubenville, Ohio. He said the price of fluorspar had been raised from $6 a ton to $35 a ton and that the entire product was controlled by two com panies in lower Illinois. This increase In the cost of fluorspar, he. said oper ated to put up the cost of steel. He also said the embargo placed upon manganese will produce a serious sit uation in this country in the steel in dustry unless steps are taken to pro duce manganese in the United States. Soldier Insurance Is Success. The Official Bulletin of the Wash ington administration announces that government insurance for soldiers and sailors which organized farmers and organized labor urged at their con ference-^ St. Paul in September, 1917 and which had since been enacted in to law, is a great success. On April 6 it had been in operation six.months and during that time it had insured soldiers, sailors and nurses to the num ber of over 1,700,000. The grand to tal of the insurance carried is approxi mately $14,000,000,000. THE HOPE PIONEER THEIR USUAL CAMPAIGN METHODS. fJ ft I' River and Lake Routes and Cheap Transportation Effects .of Government Control. Government operation of railroads has jtfst led to one far-reaching effect in transportation that has been im possible under private operation grain, coal and cotton—every product that iu not perishable—will be shifted from rail to water, as soon as possible, over canals, rivers, lakes and coast wise\ routes. An appropriation of $25,000,000 has been asked for to improve Gulf, At lantic and Lake ports. That will be but a beginning. The first fifty power-barges and the first fifty tugs for river and canal haulage now being constructed, will be followed by others very quickly. The program covers the entire United States. Waterways Were Abandoned. This will work a revolution in economy in the transportation of freight. Water routes are the chesfr. est routes known for transportation. The wonder in the minds of many is that we ever abandoned our great in land waterways particularly on the Mississippi and its tributaries. The explanation lies in. the fact that our railroads ware in private hands that had become by virtue of their great industrial power able to prevent the use of these natural and cheap water ways and compel the nation to use its rail routes almost exclusively. More than a generation ago water' transportation by our river systems began to fall into decay through the exercise of this railroad influence. The truth is, these two methods of transportation naturally supplement each other and when they are used together, the nation will benefit enor mously in cheaper transportation. ,-This could never have been possi ble as long as private interests oper ated the railroads. It is a tremen dous argument for government owner ship of transportation. See Other Side. There are two sides to every ques tion, but some of the great news papers of the country seem to assume, thjrt. there is only one side to the' Nonpartisan League and that side is the one supplied by- its enemies. Ah impartial investigator would at least try to get the opinion of. the major ity in North Dakota in regard to this organization and not depend wholly on the testimony of a hopeless, but vi tally interested minority. Wilson's Book Best Seller. Every arrest of an official of the Nonpartisan League has been by local officials. The pamphlet on which in dictments were brought against lea gue officials in two counties have been in circulation for nine months and are still circulating with the full know ledge of the United States Depart ment of Justice, the Post Office de partment and the Minnesota Public Safety Commission. Federal Farm Loans t^rgu. The sum of $13,988,619 WLS paid out to farmers by the Federal Farm Loan Board during the month of April. The grand total of the loatfe made up to April 30 is $91,951,886. Of this amount the St. Paul district has taken more than any other, having a total of $15, 424,000 and the Spokane district la next with $14,229,785. The government's recent displace ment of the railroad managers by men of its own is another *ign of tbe $tatcntw$inBHef Doings of Last Pew Daye Throughout North Dakota Condensed for Hasty Perusal. Calvin.—Grant Cameron of .this place was injured when the Ford he* was riding in tipped over. Fairview. The Fairview postof five was robbed of a'few pennies left in the till.. and Bome mail matter, mostly letters and packages.. Fargo—Francis J. SlomiQski, Minto, was ordained a 'Catholic priest in St. Mary's cathedral here by the Rt. Rev. James O'Reilly, bishop of Fargo. Jamestown.—Jamestown high school graduated a class of thirty-four this year. Rev. G. W. Simon preached the baccalaureate sermon at the Presby terian church. Fargo—Mission work among Indian girls of the Standing Rock Indian reservation wa^ given financial sup port by the North Dakota Episcopa lian Auxiliary guild, at the annual conference. Fargo—The Fargo higrf school grad uated a class' of fifty-eight this year. Dr. E. F. Ladd, president .of the North %Dakota -. Agricultural college was the commencement speaker ami awarded the diplomas. Minot.—Bert Van Hook was fined' $5 and $15 costs in police court on a charge of speeding, being the first victim of the crusade against reckless drivers which has been inaugurated by the Minot Automobile club. Balfour.—The German-American Bank of Balfour lias.dropped the Ger man from its name-, a^id hereafter will be known as the American State Bank. A. L. Lombard is president and W. F. Lehman cashier. Minot—Three hundred and thirty three stars are on the service flag presented to the city of Minot by the Girls Military squad. The girls have also erected a shaft in. Riverside park in honor -^f Minotts heroes in France. Bismarck—A. B. Welch, who left Bismarck as captain of a company in the Second North Dakota regiment, which was later split up, is now a major in the national army in France and has been recommended for a col onelcy. Devils Lake.—Rev. T. T. Hansen, builder of the local Bfethel Free church and for seven years its pastor, has resigned to take a parish at Litch ville, this state. He will be succeeded by Rev. John Killeli of Minneapolis, a newly ordained minister. Fargo—Rev. L. G. Moultre, Valley City, was elected secretary C. D. Txrd, Park River, treasurer and Dean H. F. Kloman. Fargo, registar of the Episcopal church of North Dakota at the annual convocation here. Rev. H. T. Sockett, Grafton and Rev. A. H. Beer, Casselton, were elevated to deacons. Steele.—Being shaken from the plat form of an engine plow by the rough road, the nephew of George Galbreath, residing near Tuttle, narrowly escaped death when ground beneath a disc and soil packer attached to the plow, suf fering severe cuts, several of which exposed the lungs. Mr. Galbreath, who was driving the engine, dH} not see his nephew fall. ^Bismarck.—The N. D. Council of De fense is petitioned by resolution adopt-, ed by Labor's Loyal Legion, in state convention at Fargo, to close all bil liard and pool halls, bowling alleys and other "unnecessary games" ex-1 cept from 7 to 10 p. m. each week day, as means of removing an incen-' tive to loafers and with a further view .to releasing employes for other occupations.. Fargo.—The body of Mrs. Anna'c. True, 79, once the teacher of Gen. John J. Pershing, who died at her home in Fargo, was cremated in Min neapolis and the ashes sent to La clode, Mo., her old home, for burial. It was while she was conducting a private school at Laclode' that John' Pershing was among her students and she often referred to the American commander of the overseas forces as "her boy Jack." Fargo.—With more than 2,000 pres ent when President H. G. Stub called the gathering to order, the Norwegian Lutheran church of America"1opened Its special convention. The conven tion, the first since the three great Lutheran bodieB, the United, the Synod and the Norwegian, joined hands a year ago, is expected to dis pose of questions affecting the work of the denomination in the United States and Canada during the balance of the war. Bismarck.—M^y, 1918, was the wet test since May, 1915, the year of the biggest crops in North Dakota's his tory, according to the monthly meteor ological summary issued today by C. W. Roberts, chief of the North Da kota weather bureau. The precipita tion for May was 2.03 inches, .47 of an inch below the normal for this month sine? 1875, which is 2.50 inch es, but vastly in excess of the .26 of an inch total for 1917, and well ahea4 of the 1.95 inches recorded in 1915. Edmunds.—Lightning struck a bam belonging to E. M. Stucker, near here, burning it to the ground. Men attend ing a Red Cross auction sale in Ed munds succeeded in saving nearby buildings. The barn waB one of the largest in the county: Bismarck.—James A: Little, rate ex pert .of the North Dakota railway com mission, who has been in Washington in the interest of lower rates for lig nite coal to points outside of North Dakota, represented the commission at a meeting of the war board of the National Association of Railway Com missioners In Washington. Hannah.—Some unknown parties: extracted $35 from the till in the of fice of she Lampert Lumber company here. There are no clews. Fargo—J. B. Eaton, has given th»* state game and fish commission th» use of a 1,000-acre tract in McHenry* county for the establishment of -a. game refuge. Crary.—The Farmers' Club of Crary' wifl hold their first annual picnic Sat urday, June 22. It is expected that the affair will be one of the largest, held in that part of the county. Grand Forks—the Y. M. C. A. has.' organized a salvage department for the local Red Cross, which is expected! to be a very effective means of rais ing funds ifor the association. Sharon.—The Trondenes Lutheran congregation here will build a new cjburch to take the place of the old' one burned to the ground two years ago after being struck by lightning. McVille. Nelson county's annual" Old. Settler's picnic, usually held at Michigan, will be a county picnic in= the interest of Red Crc^s work this* year and will be held at Stump lake July 1. Valley City.—Thieves entered the public library here during the night and made a clean get-away with $22.50, which was lying on a des£.. Entrance wasr gained through a base ment window.- Fargo.—Private John Murphy, 27, ot' this city, died at Camp Dodge, la., of pneumonia. A sister is a Sister in Sacred Heart Academy here. His father, four brothers and three sisters: reside in Ireland. Fargo.—Hundreds of Northwest. .Shrine dignitaries and notables pai» ticipated in the big patriotic parade which was a feature of the annual! spring ceremonial of El Zagal temple,. A. A. O. N. M. S., here. Edmore—Edmore merchants have issued a notice to the public that here^it'er their stores close a half hour earlier in order to permit em ployers and employees to plant war gardens and ive the same proper care. Bismarck.—The North Dakota rail way commission will meet in New England to consider a location for New England's new flour mill, which will be one of the largest institutions, of its kind in North Dakota, with a production of 200 barrels,, daily. Bismarck—North Dakota has been, asked to contribute $800 for the pur chase of athletic paraphanalia for the Sammies at Camp Dodge. Min nesota has proposed to donate $800' if North Dakota will do the same.. It proposed to raise the amount by public subscription. Tappeji.—William Altman, 32, was instantly killed while plowing with a. gas tractor near here. He was alone in the field at the time, and i§ believed to have become entangled in the fly wheel. His head and jaw were brok en, his right arm torn froin his body and the body thrown 20 feet from the engine, where it was found by search ers hours later. His widow and young son survive. Grand Forks.—At the Twenty-ninth.-, annual convention of the North Da kota Sunday School asociation, 'held' here, the following officers were elec ted: President—Charles H. Simpson,. McVille. Treasurer—M. B. Cassell,. Hope. Recording Secretary-rW. J. Lane, Fargo. Employed Force State Superintendent—James C. Garrison Field Worker—Bertha Rachel Palmer.. Office Secretary—Ethel Coover. Fargo. The state convention. Knights of Columbus in session here1, elected: George B. McKenna, Bis marck, state deputy P. W. Clemens,. Fargg, state secretary T. E. Flaher ty, Bismarck, state treasurer J. J.. Coyle, Minot, State advocate H. L.. Reichert, Dickinson, state warden delegates to the national convention', to be held at New York City August. 6 and 7, Fred J. Traynor, Devils Lake George B. McKeifaa, Bismarck T. F_ Renwald, Minot. 1 Napoleon.—Charged with responsi bility for the robbery of the Napoleon bank March 27, when the assistant: cashier, Henry Biersdorff was found' dead beside the open door of the safe,, from which $636.30 was missing, Sheri dan Z. McElroy, printer, who came to the Napoleon Homestead last Septem ber from Grand Rapids, Wis., is held in the county jail under bonds of $3 000. The charge against McElroy does not connect McElroy with the death of Biersdorff.' Fargo.—At the seventh annual con vention of the North Dakota Federa tion of Labor Minot secured the 1919 convention and the following officers were elected: S. S. McDonald, Fargo,, president Con Meyers, Fargo, sec retary-treasurer vice presidents and: members of the board of directors— -Frank Milhollan, Bismarck Harry- Pitts, Burlington Lee Brundagi, Mi not Peter Morgan,. Grand Forks! and-: J. M. Johnson, Fargb. nn a set of res olutions pointing to the loyalty of or ganized labor as shown in the large number of labor union members now serving in France and in training in. American cantoments, the federation reasserted its right as an organiza tion and that of each individual mem- ber "to" speak out for the oppressed" in our own land in the field, factory, mills and mines." Medora. John Rawchuck, arrested*' onacharge of cattle stealing, broke jail here by tearing away the bars-, at the window, and has not been cap-* tured. The crime occurred two years ago, when 27 head of cattle were stolen. Bismarck.—Non-resident land own— erst who are not in a positoin to cul tivate their tracts, are -calling upon, the state council of defense to brealc up the land and put it into flax. The council has already leased out much of this land to farmers who will cul tivate it on a 10 per cent of the profit basis, and haB more available