HAPPENINGS
RIFLES PROMISED ALL
L CALL
UNIFICATION IS BEGUN
General Crozicr States Complete Sup
plies Will He On I In ml Within
Month Illume is Placed.
General Order for Pooling of Railroads
Under Generalship of Secretary
McAdoo In Scut Forth.
10
COLORS FIRST
CLASS
BOLSHSII
SPURN
OF CURRENT WEEK
Brief Resume Most Important
Daily News Items.
COMPILED FOR YOU
Events of Noted People, Governments
and Pacific Northwest and Other
Things Worth Knowing:.
Six German airplanes were put out
of action Friday by the French, it is
announced officially. Artillery fight
ing continues at various points on the
front but no largo infantry actions are
reported.
The central powers, within 10 days,
will make. new declarations regarding
Germany's peaee conditions, a dispatch
from Geneva to the London Daily Ex
press quotes the Munich Nachrichten
as saying.
Secretary Baker formally announces
the new assignment of the three gen
eral officers who Friday returned from
France, where they served as divis
ional commanders with the American
expeditionary forces.
Eighteen British merchantmen of
1600 tons or over have been sunk by
mine or submarine during the last
week, according to the Admiralty
statement. Three merchantmen under
1600 tons were also sunk.
The probability of the Germans now
taking a vigorous offensive attitude on
the western front was pointed out by
Major General F. B. Maurice, chief
director of military operations at the
London War office, in his weekly talk
to the press.
The Japanese freighter Shinyo Maru,
No. 2, of 5909 tons, Captain Matsomo
to, which left an American Pacific
port December 22 for an Oriental port,
was reported Thursday night to have
sent out a distress call from some
where on the Pacific, saying the ship
was on fire.
A heavy demand in London for cop
ies of the American blacklist has de
veloped the fact that the names of a
number of representatives of British
firms in South America are on the list.
Hence the American Consul General
and other American officials have been
asked for details.
The collapse of the former Russian
government and its failure to keep its
part of contracts for war supplies,
work on which has been in progress at
Bridgeport, Conn., for a longtime,
will cause the discharge of 2500 men
by the Remington Arms & Ammuni
tion company, the company announces.
Private George Pidd, B company,
44th Infantry, Camp Lewis, was
Thursday dishonorably discharged from
the army and sentenced to hard labor
for the rest of his life at Leavenworth
penitentiary for slugging Lawrence
Berquist, a Tacoma taxicab driver, on
the night of December 20, near Camp
Murray.
Prince Albert of Monaco on New
Year's day promulgated a decree re
storing the constitution of the princi
pality, which had been suspended since
the outbreak of the world war. By
the decree the constitution is enlarged
and extended in a much more liberal
sense, the Prince in this way limiting
his own powers.
An engagement by the United States
to send a great army against the Ger
mans in time to offset the defection of
Russia was disclosed Thursday through
the publication by Secretary Lansing
of a review of the work and recom
mendations of the American mission
which recently participated in the inter-allied
war conferences at Paris.
One of the forts in Kronstadt, the
naval base near Petrograd, has been
blown up by an extremely violent ex
plosion, according to a Petrograd dis
patch to the London Times.
Lighthouse service employes who
have been transferred to the service of
the War and Navy departments are to
he regarded as part of the country's
defense forces during the war and so
are entitled to war risk insurance, ac
cording to a new ruling.
II. R. Gladback, of Fort Wayne,
lnd., civilian aviation instructor, and
Cadet R. A. Saguin, of Rouse's Point,
N. Y., were killed when their 'machine
fell 300 feet Wednesday afternoon at
San Antonio, Texas.
In the Monte Tomba region on the
Italian northern front the French have
captured many positions between Os
terai di Monferena and Marankine, tho
war office announces. They also cap
tured about 1400 men and 60 machino
puna and seven cannon. I
Washington, 1). C. Complete sup
plies of ritles within n month for all
American iorces untie r arms wuru
promised Wednesday by Major General
Crozier, chief of ordnance, testifying
before the senate military committee.
Springflelds for every regular and Na
tional guardsman will bo ready before
Febreuary 1, ho said, and tho manu
facture of remodeled Euficlds for tho
Frist National army will be finished in
a week.
As to machine guns, the General
said, a full supply of American make
should be ready by July 1, next. Ritles
for tho next drnft, ho declared, would
be on hand before the men were in
enmp. In reply to assertions made re
cently by other witnesses that tho al
lies had furnished heavy guns to tho
American expeditionary forces only
because the Americans were worse olT
than they, tho General submitted offi
cial documents to prove that England
and France voluntarily offered to pro
vide cannon, their output having de
veloped to the point where a surplus
was being produced.
General Crozier refused to shoulder
responsibility for the failure to equip
the army adequately with ordananee
before the war. He said it belonged
to the country and cited the refusal of
the Secretary of War and congress in
the past to appropriato for "modest"
ordnance programs.
The General vigorously defended his
course in regard to the Lewis machine
gun. He gave the committee the rec
ord of the various tests to which the
gun was put and reports of the army
experts to show it had been demon
strated to be a satisfactory weapon un
til April, 1916, after which orders for
them were given by the department.
RESOURCES EQUAL DEMANDS
Trade Balance Shows United States
Has Plenty of Sinews.
Washington, D. C. America's ex
ports were estimated Tuesday at tho
Department of Commerce to have
passed the ?6,000,000,000 mark in
1917, a new high record. Imports
were less than $3,000,000,000 and the
trade balance in favor of the United
States probably will be more than $3,
150,000,000. The country's gold supply showed
less increase than last year because of
the substitution of credits for cash in
handling allied purchases after the
United States entered the war. Im
ports of gold in March amounted to
$139,000,000, but in November were
less than $3,000,000. The total for
the year was estimated at $537,000,
000, compared with $686,000,000 in
1951.
Exports of gold showed a heavy in
crease over the preceding 12 months,
due chiefly to the large movement to
Japan, Spain and South American
countries. The total was estimated at
$371,000,000, compared with $155,
000,000 last year.
The trade balance of more than $3,
000,000,000 with the country at war
was regarded by officials as the best
evidence that this country has the
economic resources necessary to defeat
Germany.
WILSON AT SHIPPING BOARD
Plana for Speeding Up Construction
Work Please President.
Washintgon, D. C President Wil
son Monday paid a personal visit to
the offices of the Shipping Board and
conferred for half an hour with Chair
man Hurley. He left apparently well
pleased with the way affairs are going.
Mr. Hurley outlined to the President
the board a plans for speeding con
struction by putting into shipyards
double and triple labor shifts and other
measures for hurrying the work. I he
board has just arranged for installing
electric lighting systems in all yards
to make night work possible and is
about to start its campaign for obtain'
ing additional labor from other indus
tries. The board will use the services of
tho committee on information's four
minute men who, speaking in theaters
in all industrial centers, will urge men
to enter the shipyards to render patri
otic service to tho government.
A committee of six experts will ho
sent by the board to the Pacific Coast
yards to study means of speeding con
struction. Italians Laud Red Cross.
Rome Queen Helena Wednesday
telegraphed to tho Red Cross commit
tee at Genoa in the namo of the king
as well as herself, an expression of
appreciation of its work in opening u
canteen there.
Tho message says all classes of tho
peoplo aro grateful to tho Red Cross
and that tho desire has been expressed
by many to Bend greetings for the New
Year to their benefactors from the
United States.
Nation's Fighting to Be Done
by Young, Unattached Men.
MILLION MEN INSIGHT
To Extend Registration of Men Turn
21 ing 21 Since June 5. 1917. Will
Iri Add 700,000 Annually. f'TTT
Washington, I). C All men for tho
wnr armies still to be raised by tho
United States will como from Class 1
under tho now selective service plan.
That means tho nation's fighting is to
bo done by young men without families
dependent uKn their labor for upKrt
and unskilled in necessary industrial or
agricultural work.
Provost Marshal General Crowder
announced the new policy in a report
on tho operation of the selective draft
law submitted Friday to Secretary
Baker and sent to congress. Ho says
Class I should provide men for all mil
itary needs of the country and to ac
complish that object ho urges amend
ment of the draft law so as to provide
that all men who have reached their
21st birthday since June 5, 1917, shall
be required to register for classifica
tion. Also, in tho interest of fair distri
bution of tho military burden, ho pro
poses that the quotas of states or dis
tricts be determined hereafter on the
basis of tho number of men in Class I
and not upon tho imputation.
Available figures indicate, tho re
port says, that there are 1,000,000
qualified men under tho present regis
tration who will be found in Class 1
when all questionnaires have been re
turned and tho classification period
ends February 1G. To this tho exten
sion of registration to men turning 21
since June 5 of last year and there
after will add 700,000 men a year.
Class I comprises single men with
out dependent relatives, married men
who have habitually failed to Btipport
their families, who are dependent up
on wives for support or not usefully
engnged and whoso families are sup
ported by incomes independent of their
labor, unskilled farm laborers, un
skilled industrial laborers, registrants
by or in respect of whom no deferred
classification is clnitncd or made, and
all registrants not included in any
other division of tho schedule.
The plan placcB upon unattached
single men and married men with in
dependent incomes most of the weight
of military duty, for tho number of
men in the other divisions of Class I is
very Bmali.
TAKE EXPRESS COMPANIES
Director General McAdoo Has Taken
Subject Under Consideration.
Washington, D. C. Hundreds of
passenger trains on railroads east of
the Mississippi will be withdrawn
from service under orders soon to bo
issued by Director General McAdoo,
based upon recommendations made
Friday by a committee of Lastern pas
Bcnger traffic officers.
The committee was divided as to the
advisability of withdrawing most par
lor and sleeping cars, leaving only
those considered most necessary for
important travel routes.
Hours of labor of railway employes
under government operation were dis
cussed by the director general with
heads of the four railway brotherhoods
and the question of wages will ho
taken up at once.
Mr. McAdoo now is considering
whether express companies bhould bo
taken over for government operation
and has received from his legal ndvis
ers opinions on the proper procedure in
case he decides this is necessary to
maintain tho highest efficiency.
Tho shortage of labor was empha
sized in reports of Interstate Com'
merce commission inspectors on car
service and loeornotivo conditions pre
sented to Mr. McAdoo by Commission
er McChord, who was assigned tho
task of discovering precisely what
were the congested conditions on East
ern roads.
Canadian Draft Operates.
Ottawa Tho machinery of Canada's
military Bervico act was put in motion
Saturday and worked smoothly. Men
conscripted in tho first draft reported
in batches as previously arranged by
disrtict registrars and will go into
training as rapidly as they can be
handfilu and equipped.
Tho new legislation calls for 100,000
men. The first draft Is said to exceed
20,000, although tho exact number
was witheld for military reasons.
Washington, 1). C. Definite stops
toward national unification of railroads
and improvement of congested condi
tions wore taken Monday by Director
General McAdoo in tho npointimmt of
a temporary staff and tho isHiiiug of
his first formal order directing abso
lute pooling of all traffic, common util
ization of terminals, rolling stock mid
other facilities, hauling of freight by
tho shortest routes and retention of all
present officers and employes.
Special instructions were issued for
tho clearing of congestion in New
York and Chicago through (moling of
terminals and other traffic facilities,
and Alfred II. Smith, president of tho
New York Central, was named tem
porary special assistant to supervise
transportation in the trunk line terri
tory east of the Mississippi and north
of tho Ohio rivers, where congestion Is
greatest.
Walker D. Hines, of Nuw York, a
railroad lawyer and for many years a
special student of government opera
tion, was apiminted assistant director
general, pending tho formation of a
permanent stair. Tho Interstate Com
merce commission was drafted for an
immediate investigation by Its inspec
tors of general freight conditions on
Eastern trunk lines.
While the director general was
conferring with a number of railroad
heads, Interstate Commerce commis
sioners and members of congress, and
planning immediate action to remedy
faults of trauHM)rtation, it became
known that tho demands of tho four
railway brotherhoods for a 40 per cent
wage increase had been denied by the
railroads and that consequently the la
bor men had decided to K)stpom for
probably (0 days the presentation of
their case to tho government. It was
thought probable that President Wil
son would take up tho labor situation
in his address to congress this week.
'SHADY' WORK SEEN IN DEAL
Fat Contracts for Soldiers' Clothing
Allowed After Prices Go Up.
Washington, D. C. -The senate war
inquiry committee Monday investigat
ed further the canceled scrap uniform
cloth picking contracts let by thu com
mittee on supplies of tho Council of
National Defense to the Base Sorting
Company of New York, under which
witnesses testified tho company could
have made excessive profits nggrcgatj
ing several hundred thousand dollars
annually.
Charles Eiscnman, vice chairman of
the committee, who approved tho con
tracts and Samuel Kaplan, another
member of tho committee, whose
brother, it was developed, is finan
cially interested in the company, will
be summoned to testify, it was an
nounced, in a further inqujry tho com
mittee proposes to make. It was fur
ther developed that Kaplan's brother
is treasurer of tho company, owning a
Connecticut woolen mill commandeered
by the government.
Quartermaster General Shnrpo testi
fied that when tho War department
canceled the contracts last Thursday
both Eiscnman and Kaplan protested.
Tho government, ho explained, will
take over the work.
In concluding his testimony regard
ing clothing and other army supplies,
General Sharpe placed responsibility
for delay in obtaining supplies of wool
for army clothing on tho Council of
National Defense. The Council's com
mittee, which had taken over the
question of wool supplies, tho general
said, recommended use of shoddy ma
terial in making uniforms and delayed
accepting raw wool offered last April
by Boston dealers. No large pur
chases were made until September,
after prices had risen greatly, he said.
Senator Weeks told tho committcu ho
was reliably informed that a Iosb of
$150,000,000 to tho government result
ed.
Replying to testimony of commaii'
dors of Camps Bowio, Tex., anil Doni
phan, Okla., that overcrowding of
tents and lack of Winter clothing
caused deaths of many men in recent
disease epidemics, General Sharpe said
tho authoriticH'know tents would bo
short for thu men suddenly called into
service, but that supplies now aro
ample to reduce tho tent quota from 12
to five men, as recommended by Sur
geon General Gorgaa,
Three British Gunboats Lost,
London Three British torpedo boat
destroyers wero sunk through being
struck by torpedoes or hitting n mine
off tho Dutch coaBt on tho night of
December 22, with a loss of 13 officers
and 180 men, tho admiralty announced.
The statement reads:
"Thrco of our destroyers wero mined
or torpedoed during foggy weather off
tho Dutch coast on thu night of De
cember 22. A total of 13 officers und
180 men were lost." i
HUN PEACE TERMS
Negotiations Broken Off When
Germany Shows Hand.
AUDACITY SURPRISES
Slav Delegation Returns to Petrograd
and Positive Annexation Plans
of Kul.-ter Made Plain.
PetrogradTho chance of a separ
ate pence between Russia and thu cen
tral powers being effected seem re
mote, because of what are regarded as
Germany's unreasonable demands.
Leon Trotzky, the Bolidiovlki foreign
minister, and his associates, tnko tho
stand Unit the Baltic provinces are in
reality under military pressuro while
they continue to bo occupied by Ger
many, and that their votes with re
spect to peace must bo ignored, as now
these provinces aro virtually (ionium
dependencies, tho loyal Russians hav
ing (led.
Thu Russian delegation Uxm its re
turn from Brest-Lltovak Tuewlay laid
before tho council of cuiumsisionern
at l'otrorgad Germany's demands,
which caused amazement and the dec
laration Unit the council was not fa
vorable to acceptance. An elaboration
of the German Msltiun in letters and
statements which followed the general
statement of terms showed that tho
Gurmans hold that Poland, Lithuania,
Courland, Livonia and Esthouia have
already defined themselves nationally
within the meaning of the pence terms
projioHcd and insist that thoy shall not
vote again.
The Germans also explained,
through General Hoffman, that Ger
many cannot evacuate Riga, Lthati and
other occupied oints until certain that
all Russia sanctions peace; othurwino
Germany's enemies might assist Uk
raine or other disaffected sections in
opiosition to tho central powers.
The Russian peace delegation re
turned to Petrograd Thursday and re
)ortcd to a joint session of thu central
executive committee of soldiers' and
workmen's delegates and the Petro
grad Council of Soldiers' and Work
men's Deputies tho progress of tho
negotiations with the AtiHtro-Gcrmnus
at llrest-Litovsk.
M. Kamenetr, a member of thu Rus
sian delegation, rend the German
terms, which hu characterized tin
showing the (tositivo annexation plans
of thu central Mwcrs, and he declared
they wero unacceptable in their pres
ent forms. He stated that the terms
had not been discussed.
"If after the resumption of negotia
tions," tho delegate said, "the Ger
mans insist upon theso terms, Russia
will concludu peace not with thu Ger
man imperialists, but with thu repre
sentatives of tho peoplo, the Socialists
of Germany."
ORDNANCE BUREAU CHANGED
IlusinesH Men to Direct Important Di
visions in Future.
Washington, D. C. - General re
organization of tho ordnance bureau,
witli experienced business men at the
head of important divisions under tho
chief of ordnance, was announced
Wednesday night by tho War depart
ment.
Tho new plan under which it is pro
posed to mnko thu bureau a great
workng unit modeled sotuuwhat after
the British ministery of munitions was
outlined to tho senate military com
mittee recently by Major General
Crozier, chief of ordnance, whilo ho
was being sharply questioned concern
ing delays and deficiencies in supply
ing rifles and cannon. It now has
been approved by Secretary of War
Baker and put into effect.
General Crozier, whoso renomina
tion is pending In tho senate, contin
ties as chief, and no change is made in
tho assignmenit of Brigadier Genuntl
Wheeler as acting chief, whun General
Crozier serves on tho war council.
Colonel Samuel McRohcrtH, formerly
executive manager of thu National
City Bank of Now York, in named
chief of tho procurement division.
German Editor In Held.
St. Paul - - On a charge of perjury
based on allegations Hint thu transla
tions of articles In his paper, Die Freio
Presse. wero fur from bul ill' iiri'iiriiln
Reinhold Killtzi was arrest iil l.u
Joseph Buisson. United Htnti-H
marfllml, In Glcncou, Minn., Thurnday.
rWIl!..l.. 1 .1. r. . . .
uiiieiiwn in uio u. a. district attorney's
Ofllco declared that irmnv nrl u
differed materially from tho sworn
version men ny junlzi, and contained
matter of a seditious Import.