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About The Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 19??-1984 | View Entire Issue (May 26, 1917)
THE ALL ARMS MAY FIGHT FOODS ARE NOT SHORT Marine Regiment Added to Pershing’s Vegetables and Fruits Plentiful and Army for France Total Force to High Prices Not Justified, Says Be About 40,000 at Start. Department of Agriculture. Washington, D. C.—All three arms of America’s fighting forces — the army, navy and marine corps — soon will be represented in the war zone. With American destroyers already in European waters and army regulars concentrating to carry the flag to the battle line in Belgium and France, a regiment of marines was designated Monday to join the expeditionary force and round out the nation’s representa tion in the field. The marines will be attached to the army division under General Pershing, which is under orders to proceed abroad as soon as practicable. Although details are not being made public, it was calculated here that with the marine regiment the total American force now designated for land service in Europe is close to 40,000. An army division at war strength comprises about 25,000 men, and up wards of 12,000 are expected to be in the nine volunteer regiments of en gineers now being recruited. The for estry regiment and the marine regi ments each will number more than 1000. The strength of the naval force in European waters has not been re vealed. General Pershing and his staff will sail for Europe ahead of the troops to pave the way for final training of the huge army the United States is pre paring to pour across the seas as rap idly as men can be trained and equip- ped. For obvious reasons no information as to the time of the American com- mander’s departure or his destination will be made public. AIRCRAFT FLEET PROPOSED Thirty-five Hundred Aeroplanes Being Built and 6000 Men Are Wanted. Washington, D. C. — Formal an nouncement of the government’s pol icy as to all types of aircraft except Zeppelins was made Monday by the Council of National Defense through Howard E. Coffin, member of the coun cil’s advisory commission and head of the Aircraft Production Board, recent ly created. The object aimed at for the first year, according to Mr. Coffin, is the production of a minimum of 3500 training and battle aeroplanes; the ed ucation of from 5000 to 6000 aviators, and the doubling or more of the pro ducing capacity during the second year. The board will co-operate with the joint army and navy board on designs and specifications of aircraft which will pass on all questions of design and military character. Other plans include the establish ment of nine aviation training fields, three of which already have been se lected by the War department and con struction work on which will begin at once. Each will provide for two aero squadrons of 150 men each and have hangars and shop equipment for 72 machines. It will cost approximately $1,000,000 to equip each field. Six American colleges are to give cadet courses to classes of 600 student aviators each, making 3600 men who will be under instruction in these pre- .liminary courses by July 1. The first classes opened May 10. The cadets are entering the classes at the rate of 25 a week. SPAIN'S NOTE CUTS GERMANY Washington, D. C.—High prices for fruits and vegetables cannot be de fended on the ground of a supply short age, in the opinion of the Agricultural department, which announced Friday that detailed department figures show a shortage only in old potatoes and strawberries. Shipment of potatoes, onions, toma toes, cabbages, lettuce and celery dur ing the last week, said the announce ment, were at least equal to those a year ago when prices were much lower. Twice as many bushels of new pota toes and tomatoes and nearly seven timed as much lettuce as during the corresponding week last year were handled from the producing fields. Shipments of old potatoes were given as “considerably lighter’’ than last year and shipments of strawber ries “approximately one-third less.” Cold storage holdings of creamery butter on May 15 amounted to 6,239,- 716 pounds, and of eggs 3,259,860 cases. Holdings of butter increased about 67.2 per cent from May 1. Let Contract for Paving. Hoquiam—Contract for paving two and a quarter miles of the Olympic highway between Montesano and Aber deen has been let by the county com missioners to the Grays Harbor Con struction company, of Hoquiam, for $40,426.40. The work is to be com- pleted by August 1. The price is nearly double what the work would have cost last year and 22 per cent higher than the county engineer’s es ti mates. The cause is the unprece dented high prices of labor and ma terials and the great advance recently. Swigart Quits Fruit Growers. North Yakima — C. H. Swigart, manager of the Yakima Valley Fruit Growers’ association, tendered his res ignation to the trustees Friday with the announcement that he has received an appointment with the Reclamation service effective June 1. The board accepted the resignation and elected C. H. Hinman manager. Mr. Hinman, who has been president since the last annual election, was succeeded by H. P. James. Spokane Faces 25-Cent Milk. Spokane—Threats that milk may go to 20 or 25 cents a quart during next winter were made to the chamber of commerce by a committee of Spokane milk distributors. Formal notice, signed by the Broadview, Pine Creek and Hazelwood companies, was served on the chamber. A still further ad vance in the price to the farmer will be necessary in the near future, the dis tributors declared, intimating that this would be passed on to the consumer. NORTHWEST MARKET REPORT Wheat—Bluestem. Fortyfold............... Club.......................... Red Russian........... Oats—No. 1 white Barley—No. 1 feed .$2.63 . 2.61 . 2.61 . 2.60 $49.00 47.00 Cattle—Steers, prime.. .$10.50@11.25 Steers, good ... Steers, medium Cows, choice... Cows, medium.. Cows, fair ...., Heifers............ Bulls.................. 10.00@10.25 9. 50@ 9.75 9.50(a) 9.75 8.75@ 9.25 7.50@ 8.50 7.000)10.00 6.00@ 8.50 7.500)10.00 $15.500)16.25 Relations Suspended Until Submarine Protesta Are Answered by Kaiser. Hogs— Packing 14.50@15.00 Madrid—The Spanish government’s Rough heavies . 13.00@13.75 Pigs and Skips. note to Germany concerning the at 12.00@ 13.00 Stock hogs......... tack by German submarines on the $ ; 9.75@12.00 Spanish steamer Patricio says that a Sheep— Wethers 9.00@11.50 number of notes of protests previously Ewes................... 10.25@1.50 Lambs............... address to the German government Flour — Patents, $12.50. remain unanswered. Millfeed—Spot prices: Bran. $41.00 It declares that the transaction of all diplomatic business with Germany per ton; shorts, $45.00; rolled barley, will be suspended until replies are re $58.00; rolled oats, $56. Corn — White, $72.00 per ton; ceived to these, according to the news papers. > cracked, $73.00. Hay—Producers' prices: Timothy, It also demands the fulfillment of conditions agreed upon by the German Eastern Oregon, $30.00 @ 32.00 per government to prevent unwarned at ton; valley timothy, $22.00@24.00; al tacks by submarines on Spanish ships falfa, $20.00@22.00; valley grain hay, in safety zones and asks for an indem $18.00(520.00. Butter — Cubes, extras, 361c per nity for the Patricio. pound; prime firsts, 352c. Jobbing prices: Prints, extras, 39c; cartons, Spy Suspect Run Down. New York—After his motorboat had 1c extra; butterfat. No. 1, 39c; No. 2, 37c. been chased several miles by the Cu Eggs—Ranch, current receipts, 33c ban gunboat Yara in Nipe bay, an al per dozen; selects, 34c. leged German spy was captured Friday Poultry—Hens, 162@17c per pound; and later imprisoned in Cabanas fort broilers 18 @ 20c; turkeys, 22@24c; ress, according to advices received ducks, 18@22c; geese, 12@13c. from Havana Monday by the Republic Veal—Fancy, 14@14c per pound. of Cuba News bureau, in this city. The ■ Pork—Fancy, 192c per pound. prisoner, the report said, had papers Vegetables—Artichokes, 85@90c per and plans which indicated he was plot dozen; tomatoes, $4.25 @4.50 per ting to etsablish a submarine base off crate ; cabbage, 5@6c per pound ; egg- the eastern coast of the island of Cuba. plant, 25c; lettuce, $1.6501.80; cu It is believed he was formerly a Ger- cumbers, 90c@$1.50 per dozen; celery, man army officer. 75c @ $1.25; cauliflower, $1.00 per dozen; peppers, 20@35e per pound; rhubarb, 2@3c; peas, 5@6e; aspara Four Die in Explosion. Youngstown, O.—A mysterious ex- gus, 506c; spinach, 4@6c. Potatoes — Buying prices, $3.50 @ plosion in the power plant of the Re public Iron & Steel company at noon 4.00 per hundred. Green Fruit — Strawberries, $1.75 Monday brought instant death to four men and injuries to 11 others. Five per crate; apples, $1.3502.75 per box. Hops — 1916 crop 3@6c per pound; of the latter were seriously hurt. The roof was blown off the building. 1917 contracts, nominal. Wool — Eastern Oregon, fine. 45(8 Heavy pieces of iron were hurled a 48c per pound; coarse, 50c; valley, 45 quarter of a mile. An investigation of a suspicion that @ 50c; mohair, 5502.61c. Cascara Bark—Old and new, 63c per HERMISTON HERALD, HERMISTON, OREGON. LEFT BY THE RETREATING GERMANS NOT CROWDED YET Plenty of Room in Heaven, Say the Statisticians. al Mathematicians Compile Interesting Figures Based on the Dimensions as Stated In Bible. The dimensions of heaven are plain ly stated in the Bible, but they are so great that no one yet has been able to reduce them to figures that can be grasped by most people. However, they do indicate that heaven is not a crowded place. The basis of calculations of the size of heaven is found in Revelations 21:15: “And he measured the city with the reed, 12,000 furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” Twelve thousand furlongs are 1,920,- 000 feet, or 1,500 miles. The cube of this must be taken In order to obtain the cubic contents of heaven, which are 469,793,088,000,000,000,000 cubic feet With these figures before him one statistician has figured out just how much room there is in heaven for each individual soul. A single calculation is given to prove Just how easy the proc ess really is. This statistician thinks that the meeting place of the angels probably is the most spacious and requires at least half the total space. He deducts another fourth for streets and open places, which leaves 124,198,272,000,- 000,000,000 cubic feet for the actual dwelling place of the angels. A room 20 feet square contains 8,000 cubic feet. Assuming that the dwell Ings of heaven are divided Into rooms 20 feet square, there would be exact- ly 13,024,534,000,000,000 rooms. The present number of Inhabitants in the world Is estimated at approximately 1,000,000,000. Assuming for the mo ment that this number has always ex isted in the world each day and that there are three generations In a cen tury, the number of Inhabitants for each century would be 3,000,000,000. Assuming also that the world has existed for 1,000 centuries (scientists have not been able to agree as to the age of the earth), then the total num ber of inhabitants in the world amounts to 8,000,000,000,000. Many scientists are of the opinion that other worlds besides the earth, especially Mars, are inhabited. Not to leave out of account the possible in habitants of other worlds, it is esti mated that 99 of them could be added, giving a total of 100 worlds like the earth with 300,000,000,000,000 inhab itants. Dividing the total number of rooms, 13,024,534,000,000,000, by 300,000,000,- 000,000, the total number of inhabi tants, there would be nearly five rooms 20 feet square and with a 10-foot cell ing for each angel. House With Double Roof. By adopting some tropical Ideas of house building, a Florida landowner has constructed on the banks of the Miami river a dwelling that promises the maximum of comfort In summer. The house Is described in Popular Me chanics. It Is of a simple two-story frame design, with low-pitched roof, but the roof is double, with a consid erable air space between, which serves to protect the upper story from the direct heat of the sun. There are also wide two-story screened porches around the house on three sides, so as to get all the benefit of the north east trade wind which prevails during the summer. The porches are all un der the double roof, which has over hanging eaves. This style of construc tion Is common In Java and Ceylon, and is also found in the Panama Canal zone, but the house on the Miami is believed to be the first of Its kind in the United States, as well as the first 'n Florida. Mino Coal In River Beds. It has been known for some time that large quantities of anthracite coal existed in the beds of certain rivers running through the anthracite regions of Pennsylvania, the coal having been washed down years ago. In the Sus quehanna river, the Schuylkill and the Lehigh, these deposits are exceedingly heavy, being found in greatest quan tities in pockets along the river beds. During the last few years companies. Independent of owners and operators of coal mines, have been at work dig ging out this coal by means of dredges, selling it afterward direct to the con sumer. The coal is said to be of ex cellent quality, in fact, much of it is superior to that obtained direct from the mines. The cost of dredging aver- ages about 12 cents a ton and the prices to consumers have been as low as $1.35. No Reason for It Polly—Why do you quarrel so much with your fiance ?. Molly—To keep people from getting the wrong Impresston. I don't want everybody to think I have to marry him.—Judge. Catty Remark. First Otri—My motto is: Alm high. Second Otri—That accounts, I sup pose, for the way you are throwing yourself at the head of the new minis ter who is over six feet. She Wouldn’t Apologize Then. She—You don’t mind my talking i much, do you? He—No, Indeed ; but (facetiously ) Like Hornets, They Attack En- emy Formations, and Drive Survivors Home. , . e- : s Sa $ 2 BRITISH AIRMEN ROUT 14 GERMANS FOE UNWILLING TO FIGHT 4 ti From the Front Come Wondrous Stor ies of Dauntless Deeds and Feats of Aerial Tilting—Britain Now Commands the Air. “* $ ire se h%, ; Salvage corps of British soldiers collecting rifles, helmets, cartridges, cloth ing and other Impedimenta from a battlefield near Bapaume, France, the scene of heavy fighting. Scenes such as this greet the eye at every turn on the great wide area over which the British have advanced, crushing back the Germans. WAR TANK EXPERT TO ADVISE U. S. the enemy trench. Only by landing a shell directly upon a tank can it be put out of commission. Bullets from German rapid firers and the in fantry rifles are powerless. Hand grenades do it no damage. Exactly how the French get the tanks to their first line trenches In preparation for attack is a 'secret and for the present nothing on that phase of the use of them can be published. The well-trained mechanicians und riflemen are ready when it is time to start and upon the signul the tunk gets Into action. Artillery preparations precede the advance of tanks. As the time ap proaches for the start, the barbed wire entanglement directly in front of the first-line trench is cut. That is done under cover of darkness. Then over the trench goes the tank nnd nil is ready for the invasion of No Man's Lund. Shelling by the French artillery has silenced the enemy’s cannon, and when the commanding officer decides thnt the remaining Germuns in the first line und supporting trenches are sufficiently demoralized the signal to ndvnnce Is given. One can fancy the picture—a line of monster steel con traptions creeping forward. The "zanznning” of the tank's ma- chine guns begins when outposts of the German defenders empty I he chambers of their magazine rifles by wny of alarm and try to retreat from their observation points Just In front of the barbed wire. Then the tank arrive at the barbed wire and by sheer weight crush it and roll onwurd to the first Hue trench. The caterpillar wheels allow the tank to straddle the German trench. It Is halted and a cross fire poured Into the Hne. The emplacements of Herman machine guns are literully blasted away by the field pieces that are mounted In the tanks und the enemy reserve Infantry mowed down by machine gun fire as they crawl from their communication trenches. At a signal from the commander of each tank the French supporting in fantry rushes forward. If all goes well the ground Is cleared of the ene my und the “poilus” reach the trench with a minimum loss. Then the sec ond line is taken. The advance con tinues until the enemy line Is all cap- tured, going forward a greater or less distance according to the nature of the ground. Tanks cannot attack bat teries of artillery, and therefore their work is accomplished when the trenches are cleared. With the advance of the French In fantry positions there Is a relative advance of supporting artillery In the rear and a consequent retreat by the German artillery. Capt. Charles Sweeney, Who Commanded French Battery, Is in Washington. WILL HELP ORDNANCE STAFF French Tank Likened to Giant Hog Creeping Forward — Straddles Trenches, Crushes Through Barbed Wire and Rakes Foe With Guns. Washington.—The French Infantry that has been winning so much ground In the Champagne region of late is ad vancing an a supporting force to numerous batteries of caterpillar trac tors or “tanks,” hog-like in appear- ance, that creep forward with a per sistency which the German troops re maining in their shell-battered trenches cannot check, and which assure the poilus of protection ns they “dig In” upon their advanced lines. So that an American army can know about these tanks if sent abroad, Capt. Charles Sweeney, a native of Spokane, Wash., and a member of the Foreign ree-) 1e. . . 1 z .“uns .eie... t Ss .-e Se lt Fim Capt Charles Sweeney. Legion of the French army, Is now In Washington, D. C„ where he will assist ordnance experts in preparing similar land cruisers for service. He returned recently from Frunce, where his assignment of late had been with a battery of "tanks.” Captain Sweeney Is a West Pointer, but when the fighting began he was found in the French army. He started as a private in the infantry. He want ed to be in the thick of it, so chose that branch of the service, and during his campaigning was in many battles. He was awarded the cross of the Le gion of Honor for valor and promoted to lieutenant when, single-handed, he captured a machine, gun end six Ger- mans. Very little has been written In this or any country regarding the French tanks. The first few used by the French army went Into action about the same time the British put theirs in the field. It was not until the great offensive began this spring that the pollua trotted forward in support of great numbers of their tanka—“zan- zana," as they called them. The beat way to describe a French tank is to compare It with a giant hog, kneeling so that Its short legs cannot be seen, and creeping forward as it roots In the ground. Bullets Do Not Harm Them. A rain of lead pours from its sides as it proceeds, and heavier shot and shell are showered upon any position where machine guns of the Germans may remain la action as it straddles • Manned by Picked Soldiers. | British Headquarters In France.— Out of the high, thin air, where the fighting birdmen fly in a sort of dream world of adventure, have come within the last few days still more wondrous stories of dauntless deeds and feats of aerial tilting to spread the welcome glamour of romance over the more sor did side of the war. Above the British lines and far within the enemy terri tory the blue spring skies have been filled with daring planes that seem to flush in and out among the bits of floating cloud with the speed of the very sunbeams that sparkle and play upon their silver sides and all but transparent wings. Virtually all the visible machines bear the red, white and blue markings of the allies. It is seldom that hostile battle birds with the Maltese cross up on their spreading wings venture across the fighting lines. The British aviators report that it Is difficult Just now to get the Ger man aviators into close fighting. They say that the Germans appear unwilling to engage in that sort of warfare and continually attempt to break off the combats. Two fast British machines far In the enemy’s domain saw what ap peared to be a great flock of German planes headed toward the British lines. The two British airmen climbed a cou ple of thousand feet to have a better look at the strangers. They then saw that it was a formation of 14 machines composed of fighting scouts and heav ier two-seaters, probably intent upon a bombing raid. The odds were rather heavy against them, but the British fliers decided to have a go at the hos tile airmen. Two Britons Rout 14 Germans. Having faster and better maneuver ing machines than anything in the Ger man formation, the young Britons played about their 14 enemies like a pair of giant hornets. They dived at them time and time again, firing bursts of machine-gun bullets as they passed. With superior speed and climb, the British machines were able to adopt such tactics us suited their purpose, nnd from the moment of the first at tack the formation of the German ma chines began to break up. After two of their machines had been set on fire and destroyed and a third sent spinning down to an un doubtedly fatal crash, the hostile squadron was completely disorganized, the surviving machines turning about and making for home. Another story has to do with the narrow escape of a young British naval airman who sailed on a recent bright afternoon to "strafe" a German balloon that he saw in the air some distance back of the enemy’s fighting lines. Nowadays whenever a British plane crosses the lines within a mile or two of a German balloon station “S. O. 8.” signs ascend nnd the balloon Is hauled down as fast as motor-driven winches can drag It. The pilot was not to be thus foiled, however. When he arrived near the balloon It was only 20 feet from the ground, but he dived for it, notwithstanding the protecting ma chine guns that were sending up literal fountains of steel-Jacketed bullets. The balloon began to smoke In sev eral places, and the British airman was diving nt it again when his engine was hit. The navy chap managed to get himself home, like n wounded pigeon, nevertheless, crossing the fighting lines nt less than 50 feet. Being a naval man, he officially described his home- coming as "limping Into port." Several other aviators recently at tacked German balloons on the ground. The correspondent spent most of Sunday on the battle front, but saw no German balloons up after British airmen had destroyed two early In the morning. Attacks Howitzer Crew. On Saturday afternoon a British fighting scout was Just taking the air when he saw an ’’archie” battery fir ing at a Geminn machine high In the clouds. The Briton deliberately began to climb through this fire to engage the enemy, but the latter saw him coming and streaked for home. The Britisher followed him for several miles, firing all the while, but finally ran out of ammunition. One pilot described the sensation of passing through a firing zone as similar to that received In a small boat rock ing upon the swell of a fast-passing steamer. Often the pilots of artillery observ ing machines have been able to catch glimpses of the slow-moving, heavy howitzer shells. It Is related of one British pilot that some time ago he saw a big German howitzer shell com ing apparently direct for him. It whizzed by harmlessly, however, but the pilot was »o angry that he spotted that particular gun, dived at It and fired an entire drum of machine-sun bullets at the crew. He had not time to stop to see what damage, U aay» Tanks are considered as the prop erty of the infantry and the poilus are proud of them. To be assigned to a "zanzan”—a bang-bunging war chariot—makes the Frenchman hap- py. If the American army adopts such fighting machines the first-class privates will be given the honor of becoming mechanicians and fighters within them. Exactly in what proportion the French use tanks as compared with infantry regiments Is a secret, but the constant cry Is for more. They are of different sizes, according to the ground over which they operate, but the ten dency of late has been to construct them along bigger lines. The armored sides, top and bottom, protect the fight ers and the knowledge that their work saves the Ives of so many of their fellow countrymen and allies prompts them to do their utmost. When the tank starts over No Man's Land those within havs as much am munition as can be stored in the com- partments, and also water, rations, first-aid packages and gas masks. There is no telling how long they will be out—hours or days—and the sol diers have learned thst preparedness for any emergency is the best thing. Captain Sweeney had such success with the tank he commanded that he was put to charge of a battery of four of them. Later he bad 16. his vongeful act had caused.
