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About The Forest Grove express. (Forest Grove, Or.) 1916-1918 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1917)
GERMAN RETREAT BLAZED BT TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION American and English Corre spondents Working Separate ly Agree in Reports of Ruin. BURNSUPPLIES FOR THE POOR __________ Wells Polsonsd and Defiled— Fruit and Shada Treee Cut Down— Houeea Burned and Contenta Looted and Wrecked. London.— Thu skeptic who la un able to believe the report« of the ub- aolute nithlcaaneHN with which the Germans are doing their b e a t to blot out that imrt of Krone« from which they are retreating ahould comjmre the following dispatches, written by correspondents a t the front, which sup plement the offielul announcementa of Uie British'and i'r«-m-li wur ofilr.n. Theae illaputchea were sent by dif ferent correapondenta, two American and two English. Of theae one of each, un American and an English- man, waa with the Ilrltlah army, one of each with the French unny. Whut they write about they aaw with their own eyea. Theae men are experienced war correapoudenta and rau differen tiate between military damage, which •very army muat Inflict to humper the enemy, and malleloun pillage. A few of the thlnga the Germans have done and are doing In Picardy and Artola, two of the lovelleat of the province« of Krunco. are theae: llurn- Ing aii|*pllea furnlahcd for the atarvlng population by the American relief couimlaalon, auppllea bought by Amer ican glfta to help people Impoverlahed by German Invasion; poisoning and defiling with filth all the w ells; cut ting down all the fruit trees and ahude trees; burning every house, regard less of Its lack of military value; amnahlng picture«, crockery, furniture that they could not take off with them from the homes of the peasants; leav ing these peasant«, women, old men, children, with nothing to eat. Looting Officially Ordered. The first of thee«» dlapatchea la from the Associated Press correspondent who advanced through thla «eerie of desolation with the ilrltlah troops. Ho la an American. Thla correspondent aaw with hla own eyes captured Ger man orders for the looting, which nr- dered among other thlnga that filth waa to be assembled near all the wella abandoned to contaminate the water. He refers to the wanton destruction of the trvea, which Is more fully de scribed In another dispatch. He writes: "W herever the Ilrltlah troops pene trate territory formerly held by the Oermnns they encounter the same conditions of destruction and devasta tion ns In Ilnpnume and I’eronne. Only a few villages have escaped, the Ger mans In these Instance* having been compelled to leave before their plans to lay waste could he carried out. "The use of cavalry by Ihe Ilrltlah and French seems to have taken the Germans by surprise, upsetting some of their calculations. In one vlllnge supper, which had been laid out, was abandoned, together with much am munition. and In other places newly opened boxes of high explosives were found, with which the Germans had planned to destroy the villages be fore Icnvlng. Thnt the wholesale de struction was systematized In n man ner characteristic o f German thorough ness was shown by captured orders on the subject. “These directed the blowing up of nil houses, wells and cellars, except MANY COLLEGE MEN LOST More Than 35,000 German Students Have Been Killed or Taken Prisoners. Berlin.— Since the beginning of the World war over 35,000 German college students have been killed or taken prisoners In the different thenter* of war and more than 40,000 are still at the front. According to nn official report Just published, the number of students en rolled In the 22 universities of the empire for the fifth wnr semester Is 00,041. Among them nre 5,757 women and 1,400 foreigners. O f the enrolled mnle students, 12,057 nre attending the lectures. The rest nre In the field. Mnny of those who are able to pursue their studies have been wounded on the battlefield and received their dis charges for partial disability. Almost every third one of them wears the Iron cross. Toothed tongs of much power have been patented by n Washington In ventor to weed*. those occupied by rear guard outpoats, the rear guard being held responsible for making their shelters uninhabit able before falling back. Farming Im plements were nil burned or destroyed. Wherever a building was spared. It was first rendered filthy. The ordere also directed the assembling of filth In the neighborhood Of nil well* for the purpose of contaminating the water. ‘T h e destruction of fruit trees now apparently covers tho entire belt of evacuated territory, even those din g ing U> the walls having been stripped ofT." Wanton Destruction of Trees. The wanton destruction of the tree* Is described also by the second Amer ican correspondent, who represents the Associated Press with the French army. In describing the following touching Incident: "Continuing our visit In floye we encountered on the summit of the dty an old man, tall, with white hair and mustache. He wuved his urms, being lucupnble at first In his emotion of saying a word. He lived In the last house of the town, where he hud spent 1 the existence of u savage for two years, deciding not to see the Ger mans. Two days ago, realizing that aomethlng new wns In preparation, he went up to the roof of his house and from afar saw masses of soldiers In blue, their helmets scintillating In the aun. “ ‘I was waiting for the French,’ he said. ‘I looked for their red trousers, hut saw only men In unknown uni form. My blood turned. I said to my ; self: Are they more Germans? But suddenly from the small groups mov ing across the country came detona tions. I understood they were the French warriors, the French clothed In blue, who hud arrived.’ "W e left the village under the guid ance o f this old man. The Germans, said he. had revenged themselves even on the fields. In fact everywhere the trees were cut down, all the apple trees from Itoye to Champlen, and the fine trees along the Rolgllse road suf fered the same fate." Lust of Destruction. The correspondent of the London Times with tho French army tella of the destruction wrought In Chauny, which was excusable for military rea sons, and then continues to describe that which was not: "But for the rest of their conduct there Is uo possible defense. In vil lage after vlllnge, especially In Chauny Itself, they burned whole rows of houses for no reason whatever ex cept for pure spite and lust of de struction. "House after bouse was pillaged, stripped as If by burglars. In every room that was not tired they had taken all the contents away, or more vilely still had smashed them to atoms. " I have written these things before, when I myself have seen them In oth er sections of tho line. I write about them again because I cannot Impress too strongly the rest of the world that the power for this particular form of evlldolng must be taken away from this uncivilized race. Even now, even In England and In France Itself, peo- plo who have not seen with their own eyes seem not to realize what Is be ing done here. “One fact may bring It home to them. It Is the latest Invention of this generation of house hrenkers, the new est refinement of doing mischief. In the Helds between Noyon and Chauny, many of which— a sure sign thnt the German retreat had not been foreseen until comparatively lately— hnd been carefully plowed and even sown, there were a considerable number of fruit Talent and Work. A tnlent does not relieve us from Ihe necessity of working. It only shows us the line In which we enn work most effectively. The girl who thinks thnt because she has n natural tnste for music, she can dispense with the practice of scales, will find herself worse off thnn another who owns that she has no talent, but Is ready to plod. 8tatute of Limitations Applies. Now somebody Is claiming that America was discovered by Buddhist monks In 458 A. D., but It Is too late to attempt to put anything like that ncroas. Columbus has already made way with the goods and n motion to reconsider Is no longer In order.-— Houston Post. Vain Regret«. Do not regret that you cannot make others ns you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself what you wish to be. trees. Every one of them within • certain distance of the road had been killed. They either have been sawed through a couple of feet from the ground and left lying where they fell or gashed and hacked three or four Inches deep. "This massacre of trees must have been carried out by at least three or four companies acting under the or ders of their officers Just before the retreat began, when the troop* were In such a burry that they even left behind stores of old metal which they hnd carefully collected. I want to In sist upon this point, thut It Is clear that It Is the officers of the German army who are responsible for this par ticular crime of tree mutilation.” Burned Auppllea for the Poor. The correspondent of the Time* at British headquarters writes as fol low s: “Old men, women Hnd children, to whom the British were only a myth, welcomed the advance guurda with tears. " ’Are you manyT asked one woman doubtfully o f a staff officer. " ‘W e are two million now,’ said the officer. “The woman’s relief and Joy were fine to see. "W hat these people wanted was food. They had hardly had any meat, butter or fat for months. They say the German soldiers are getting less to eat now and grumble a good deal. "W hen the French troops arrived at Tergnler, where the Compel gnle du Nord had large workshops and loco motive sheds, they found everything destroyed by dynamite. "A Berlin telegram which describes the movements of the German with drawal, says the greatest considera tion was paid the Inhabitants. The road from Chauny to Noyon was one continual stream of refugees from the villages beyond Chauny. They had been sacked and burned by the Ger mans. These poor refugees consisted exclusively of women, bnbles and small children. For weeks past the Germans had expelled them from vil lage after vlllnge In prepnratlon for the retreat. When the final moment came their houses were sacked and then burned before their eyes. The refugees were left helpless without food to await the French advance. "A t Noyon, owing to the fact that the Germans hail concentrated there 10,000 women and children, they prom ised to leave the American relief commission sufficient supplies to feed them. Nevertheless, the last German patrols to leave Noyon completely sacked the American relief store house of everything eatable, and then dynamited the building. Finally they turned the canal water with which they had flooded the city Into Its ruins." P IS TO L T H R E A T H O LD S MAIO •he Decides She W ill Not Leave Evanston Mletreee for Plaoe Offering More Money. Evanston, III.— The practice of old feudal Kentucky of shooting tbooe who Invade your home In search of sotne- thlng you own will be staged in staid old Evanston unless other women cense enticing away the maids of ooa society leader, late from “down South.” Annie, maid extraordinary, la the bone of contention. T am leaving Saturday night,” M id Annie, after a talk with one of her mistress’ friends. "Mrs. Jones will pay me higher wages.” “Down where I come from.” drawled the mistress, “they shoot people for taking thlnga of a whole lot less value than servants. You can go with Mrs. Jones If you want to. But some day I am going to call on Mrs. Jones. Either she or you Is going to answer the door. I am going to shoot the first one of you I see. That’s all.” Annie Is bolding down the old Job and Mrs. Jones Is not nearly 00 anx ious to hire her as she believed she was. K IPLING QUITS IN P R O TES T Leaves Society of Authors Because of Charity Books Published In Aid of W ar. London.— The Times re-prints from the British Weekly the following ex tract : "Rudyard Kipling, Inclosing his check for $500 toward the pension fund, has sent his resignation from the Society of Authors, on the ground that the action of the committee and Its ac ceptance by his fellow members prove that he Is altogether out of sympathy with the present views of the society. "Mr. Kipling’s resignation, which ap parently Is caused by a difference of opinion as to the charity books pub lished In aid of the war. Is greatly re gretted by the committee. He has been a member of the society for 28 years.” S P EC IA LIS T WINS SUCCESS 0 $ * 0 J t * * 0 * J * \ * 0 *0 0 * * * — Portland, Ore.— The highest ten virtues are to be taught the school children of Oregon. State Superintendent of Instruction J. A. Churchill has completed list- lng answers of more than 1,000 teachers In Oregon as to what they consider the ten virtues that should be given foremost place In the moral Instruction planned for the common schools of the state. The virtues re- eelvlng the highest number of votes In the order of preference are: Honesty, truthfulness, clean- linens, obedience, respect, cour- tesy, patriotism, kindness. In- dustry and punctuality. J * \ * \ * ! J « J 0 ' f \ t J Expensive Car Ride. Brooklyn. N. Y — A street car ride cost Hurry Sokolow $900.05. He got Into an argument with the conductor over the Jltpey and the Jury tacked on $900 to the fare. Miss Helen Hammond Improves each fleeting moment, and when she Is not entertaining or participating In vari ous works In which she is Interested, she Is busy devising new designs and decorations, for she Is one of New York’s most gifted and exclusive deco rators, her prize exhibition and glory being the Incomparably beautiful tea garden on the roof of one of the lead ing New York hotels. The talented lady touches with her magic mind everything— grand halls, reception rooms, galleries, rooms and most of all most distinctive furniture. Tell What Clothes Cost. P R O FIT BY CHANCE REM ARK Boston.— Statistics gathered to show how much the girls nt Wellesley col Two Poor Families in Ireland Will Get $6,000 as Result of Hint lege spend n year, nslde from their Dropped by Woman. tuition and board, reveal several In teresting features. By classes the Ju San Francisco.— For twenty years niors have the highest average, $390.27, Mary Dougherty worked In the stew for expenditures on clothes, amuse ard’s department of a big hotel here ments nnd travel for the first semester. and In all that time she mentioned her The maximum for clothes reached the personal affairs only once. That was sum of $<$50, while the minimum Is $20. to tell a close friend that she had nev The freshmen class shows the lowest er married because she couldn’t find a figures on average outlay for pleas man as fine as either of her two broth ures, $3.07, nnd both this and the Ju ers In Donegal. nior class demonstrated that certain As a result of that chance remark of their members could do without two poor fanrtlles in Ireland will get spending a cent $ 0 . 000 . Foreign Experts Aid China. China employs nearly 4,000 expert« from Europe and America to run her railways, post offices, etc. There are 1,105 British nnd 174 Americans on the Job, mnny of the latter In the moat Important offices. Well Informed. Btlllngton— ”1 understand his w lf« Electric locomotives gradually are replacing steam on the state railroads has money.” StllllngtoQ— “H e under» stands 1L also.” of Italy. As far as the state of Oregon is con cerned, the crime o f treason does not exist, regardless o f war. A t least there is no penalty for such crime, ac cording to lawyers who have examines the law. Edward Hummel, a native, but of German extraction, waa found guilty at Tillamook Thursday o f uttering treasonable language before war was declared. Protection of animal stock as a fac tor in the conservation o f the country’s food supply is strongly urged in an ap peal made by letter to President W il son by Governor Withycombe. Secretary o f State Olcott has ad vised the heads o f various charitable institutions, which receive support or financial aid from the state, that the claims for the last quarter cannot be audited and paid until such time as an agent o f the State Board o f Control makes an investigation. The Public Service commission has issued an order vacating its suspension order o f February 17 as to an increase in class and commodity rates on the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railroad for transportation o f merchandise be tween Astoria, Seaside, Fort Stevens and points between. A report filed by Sheriff Burns, o f Clatsop county, shows that $432,351.58 has been collected on the 1916 tax, leaving $431,172.88 to be collected. More than 50 per cent o f the latter amount is composed o f second half o f taxes, which w ill not become delin quent until next October. Armond Pstreau, who has been in Hood R iver for the past two week9 with his parents in the Mount Hood district on furlough from the French trenches, has gone to Portland, where he w ill call on the French consul and try to arrange for extension o f the leave, which w ill expire next Friday. The State Water Board heard testi mony in the matter o f the adjudication o f water rights on Trout creek, in Harney county Monday, but w ill make no decision immediately. Three groups claim water rights on the creek — one a number o f homesteaders, an other Thomas & W alter, and a third E. B. H ill, who has a filing on a reser voir site and has an interest in certain lands which he wishes to irrigate. The group o f homesteaders are opposed to the H ill project, saying it is not feasi ble and never can be completed. * t » * t ! For a consideration o f approximate ly $54,000, J. N. Scott, o f Athena, has purchased 360 acres from W. R. Ta y lor. The land is situated one and a half miles west o f Athena and adjoins the quarter section recently purchased by Mr. Scott from Mrs. Josephine Stone. Both transactions were made on $150 an acre basis, and set a new record fo r farm land in Um atilla county. LIS T T EN VIRTUES J J FOR OREGO N PU PILS J * j STATE N E W S | IN BRIEF. Contractor P. M. Tully, o f North Bend, has been awarded the Standard Oil company construction, which in volves the erection o f a waterfront oil depot, office buildings and docks, half way between that city and Marshfield. The site was purchased from the Southern Oregon company. Several large tanks w ill be placed there. The food preparedness campaign to be waged for the next two weeks by the O.-W. R. & N. company under the auspices o f the Oregon Agricultural Colege extension service, begun at Hood R iver Monday afternoon, when lectures and demonstrations were given on poultry raising, vegetable growing, food preparation and home canning. The huge 150-ton stack o f flax which was stacked and roofed over last Octo ber by the Gaston Gardens company at Gaston, has come through the winter in good shape, according to the local manager. Stacking flax over winter is unusual in this country. This ex periment has been watched with in terest by the flax industry in Oregon. H. G. Rich, a mechanical and elec trical engineer, o f Marshfield, has in vented what he believes to be an im proved submarine net which he is offering to the United States govern ment without price. Mr. Rich has also drawn and planned a submarine chaser which, he says, has great merit, and this is also being offered to the government gratis. When Mary was killed In an acci dent two years ago her locker In the The first two weeks the rural credits hotel was found to contain IL800 to amendment has been actually in opera cash and a bank book showing $4,000 tion show that 67 applications have deposits. The woman’s friend told the public been made for loans from that fund, administrator about the two brothers and out o f this number 44 have been In Donegal and, working through the approved. The loans asked for aver British consulate, he learned that the age about $2000, although some run as brothers were Patrick and David high as $5000 and others as low as Dougherty., David Is dead, but his five $300. Approximately $90,000 worth children will divide the $0,000 with o f loans have been approved out o f the Patrick. $140,000 worth applied for.