Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 94, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 April 1918 — Page 2

NEW RUSSIAN BRIDGE, ONE OF LONGEST IN THE WORLD

One of the longest bridges in the world, the railway bridge over the Amur river at Khabarovsk, Siberia, which has been completed after five years of construction at- a cost of $9,000,000. The bridge is 7,598 feet long. Its finish marks the completion of the Amur railway from Kuenge to Khabarovsk. It is most likely that this new bridge will figure in the war as it will be necessary for the Teutons to cross it to get to certain sections of Siberia, which, according to dispatches received here, will be occupied by Japanese troops to protect the supplies there.

Gigantic Task Faces Palmer

His Duty to Locate Funds and Property Belonging to Enemies. ASKS HELP OF PATRIOTS Loyal Americans Must Decide Whether to Keep Confidence of Friends or Step Flow of Money to Help Enemy. Washington.—One of the busiest departments in Washington, D. C., just at this time is that of the alien property custodian, whose duty it is, under the trading with the enemy act to locate and take over all funds or property in this country belonging to enemies. He is making pencils in New Jersey, chocolate in Connecticut, brewing beer in Chicago, sawing lumber in

A. Mitchell Palmer.

Florida, mining metal in New Mexico, running real estate offices and retail stores, conducting commission houses and public utilities in all parts of the country. All this does not mean that our government is confiscating outright the property of alien enemies. But just now A. Mitchell Palmer, alien property custodian, has the task of locating all such property and so administering it that its income may be turned into the treasury of the United States for the purchase of bonds to help prosecute the war against Germany and her allies. This property may be a partnership in which persons residing in the territory of the German allies are financially Interested. But whatever it is, real estate, life insurance, railroads, mines, stocks or bonds, it must all be reported. Also, all debts owed to Germans or to her allies by Americans, must be reported and paid to the alien property custodian. Little or big, an accounting is necessary. One president of a trust company personally admitted to him, Ml". Palmer said, that he held SIOO,OOO worth of German securities in his vaults, anti when asked why he had not reported It, naively offered Hhe excuse that he did not know there was any law which required such report. Another significant case was the statement made by a friend of a bank clerk, who said that he knew where there was a bundle of bonds owned by a former German consul, which were regularly clipped and secretly sent to an address in Sweden, and from there relayed into Germany where the owner now resided. When asked why he did not report these bonds, the friend of the hank clerk replied that he could not betray a confidence. Chance to Prove Loyalty. “The time has come.” said Mr. Palmer, “when every citizen has got to decide whether to keep the confidence of ‘friends’ and remain silent, or come forward and give information that wfll stop the flow of money helping our I enemies in their efforts to crush the United States. Persons holding any such Information are either loyal Americans, or they are enemies to]

America. Here they have a chance to prove which. All those who have any such information and report it will be protected. Their names will not be made public, nor will their identity be revealed in any further proceedings which may be instituted by this office. “I herewith call upon all citizens or friends of the government who have any knowledge of property being held by any person, for, or on account of an alien enemy, or of a transfer of such property to another, or of any debts owing by any person to an alien enemy, or of persons who are officers or directors of corporations of which any of its capital stock is owned by anyone defined as an ‘enemy,’ or who may have custody, or cpntrol of any property, either alone or with others who may be classed as alien enemies, to come forward and make a full report or give this office any clues that may locate such property. “In doing this they will not only be performing their duty, but will be rendering valuable service to the United States and the men of the army and navy who are to fight for us and our institutions.” The bureau of investigation, which lias charge of preparing the cases against violators of the trading with the enemy act, has been quietly gathering evidence on a large number of cases for the six weeks. The taking over by the government of the large German plant of the Scjiutte & Koertting company of Philadelphia, Pa., recently was done at the instigation of this bureau. Who Is an Enemy. Who is an enemy? Every person or corporation having the custody or possession of any property, or having a beneficial interest in any property belonging to anyone living within the boundaries of Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, or Turkey, or within any territory now occupied by the military forces of these countries is an alien enemy. Such persons must report such property or interest, or lay themselves open to the penalties provided by the act, which are a fine of not more than SIO,OOO, or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both. | An American citizen in Germany may be an enemy under the act. Thus American heiresses who married German husbands have their incomes from the -United States cut off. A' citizen of Germany, on the other hand, who peacefully resides in this country, obeys, the law, and does not engage in correspondence or trading with persons within the enemies’ lines or in pernicious activities against the U. S. A. escapes any interference with his property. All aliens Interned by the war department, however, are enemies.

CONDUCTOR SHOPS EN ROUTE

Pittsburgh Trolley Pilot Stops Car 20 Minutes to Buy Sugar at Grocery Store. Pittsburgh, Pa. —A new species of traffic delay was experienced by patrons of the PittsburglT'Raiiways company on an outbound Avalon street car while it was passing through Bellevue. The car stopped in front of a grocery and the conductor disappeared. Passengers waited many minutes, meanwhile craning necks in vain to ascertain the cause of the “tieup.” Just as one man was about to leave the car, saying lie wanted to get to his destination some time that day, the conductor hopped aboard the car with a bundle of groceries. “It took me twenty minutes to get a pound of sugar in that store,” he said. Whereupon he gave “two bells” and the car moved onward.

SENDS OUT S. O. S. IN VAIN

Passing Ships Feared Distressed Bark " i to Be Enemy Raider and Avoided Her. San Francisco. — : Bad!y leaking while only a few miles off Honolulu and In danger of sinking, the American bark Retriever failed t<v obtain help from passing ships, which apparently feared the bark to be an enemy raider, according to Capt. John Ross, who has arrived here. -—■ The Retriever sent up distress signals repeatedly, but they attracted no attention. Captain Ross said. Federal officials are Investigating. After ranch difficulty the Retriever made port, and is now in drydock at Honolulu.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. TNI).

NOW

i By George W. Cable of The i Vigilantes. i The thought that I cannot put f away, now is that' whatever I > might save now and fail 'to save [ now may be a hundred times | the worst waste I shall ever have committed though I have, like 1 most Americans, many a past ( wasteful habit to regret. [ It will be far the worsl! be- ■ cause not to save now is to throw away the co-operation of [ millions of others; because not 1 to save now, will tend to prolong ■f the war; because not to save > now will multiply the k vations, lengthen its death-roll, | and the vast procession of its i maimed men and will make sav [ ing more difficult and less effec- [ tive by and by when we shall [ be compelled to save through [ cruel conditions from which savl ing now might have saved us.

SHIPS TO NORSE UNMOLESTED

Germany Has Selfish Motive in Permitting American Supplies to Pass. Christiania. —Vessels sailing between America and Norway outside the danger zone and not touching British pqrts lately have not been attacked by Germans, probably more in their own interests than for any special love of Norway. Germany for a long while has nQt been able to send food to Norway, and as far as known has not promised to do so. German vessels sailing to Norway must now have provisions, oil and kerosene for the whole round trip. Some great Norwegian factories producing articles for export to Germany are run by German coal oil and kerosene, as are fishing vessels obtaining fish for export to Germany. Norway at present receives from Germany steel and iron for construction and is absolutely dependent on Germany for the import of potassium compound kainite.

PARIS EATS MORE HORSES

Prices Rise From 28 to 40 Cents for Ordinary Cuts—Supply From British. Paris.—A more extended sale of horse meat Is counted upon by the city authorities to relieve the provisions market. The sale of horse flesh for many years has been considerable in the poorer- quarters of Paris. It has increased considerably during the war. Last year 43,384 horses were killed at the Vaugirard slaughter houses. The increased supply of horse meat had no depressing effect upon prices, however. The British army is now the chief source of supply. More than 12,000 horses were received from that source last year, yet the prices went from the equivalent of 28 cents a pound to 40 cents for ordinary cuts and from 45 to 50 cents a pound for the choice.

SAVE YOUR SOLE

This* is the latest for saving shoe soles. It is a sole made of steei which Is attached to the leather sole by small screws. They are used by the soldiers “over there” who make them from " shells which they cut apart, shape and attach to the shoe. A pair 'of these protectors . can be made for about 42 cents and will lasi for a long time.

An American Woman at Front

Descendant of Robert E. Lee Has Famous Hospital in France ::

7 HF publication of statistics I f of all army hospitals shows M ' that an American woman — K Mrs. Zalma Bradley Lee, formerly of Baltimore and New York —operates a hospital having the lowest mortality rate of all the institutions in France. Although the hospital of Mrs. Bradley Lee at Creil is for contagious cases—and nearly every patient is also suffering from a wound or from gas besides—the death rate is only a little more than 3 per cent. Having received the bronze and silver medals of honor for services for la Patrie, Mrs. Bradley Lee has now been proposed for the gold medal and will be decorated with it when she takes possession of her new hospital. French army engineers are building this hospital with a capacity of 500 beds, on the hill just south of this town, which is the principal base and depot of the Army of the North and Centre. > Nearly 5,000 men have passed through Mrs. Bradley Lee’s hospital during the three years she has had it, and the beautiful American woman has been seen at the bedside of eVery one of the hundred-odd men who have died there, ministering to him until the end. Mrs. Bradley Lee is the widow of David Bradley, and a descendant-of Gen. Robert E. Lee. She has lived in France for some years, owning a handsome chateau near Chantilly. At the beginning of the wmr she served as a nurse and assistant on an army automobile carrying a portable X-ray machine.

In those early days of the great struggle the hospital arrangements for wounded had not been organized, and few X-ray machines were available anywhere near the front. So they were taken from hospitals and laboratories in Paris, mounted in big highpowered cars and sent tearing along the front from place to place, where photographs were made of wounded soldier’s. The X-ray ambulance squad to which Mrs. Bradley Lee was attached worked along the Flanders front during the terrible battle of the Yser, when the Germans were trying to break through to the Channel ports, and during the first battle of Ypres, when attempts were made to drive a wedge between the French army and the British expeditionary force. Wounded by Shell Splinter. In November of 1914 Mrs. Bradley Lee was wounded by a shell splinter, just .behind the Yser line, as her Xray automobile convoy was approaching a field hospital, to photograph a number of Belgian, British and French soldiers in whom were fragments of bullets and steel. After Mrs. Bradley Lee was wounded a general order was issued by the allied armies prohibiting women In Red Cross work from going so near the fighting area as to be under fire. Mrs. Bradley Lee’s wound proved only slight, and in January, 1915, she opened her hospital for contagious cases here, only a few miles from her chateau at Chantilly. In the three years that have elapsed. she has not slept once under her own roof, and has only visited her Jome a score of times a year to Inspect it and obtain new outfits of clothing and other necessaries. She has been to Paris only half a doze?i times in the three years, and was then oh business, with the ministry for health. She has not taken a single “day off” since the hospital was opened. Owing to its Importance as a military b.\se and army headquarters, Creil Is one of the hardest towns alotfS the front for any civilian to go Before the war It was the junction point where passengers from England, who had come down by rail

ENJOYED SIGHT OF CROWDS

British Soldier, Home on Leave, Avers That Even to See’White People / Is a Luxury. The man who thinks he has the loneliest job In all war was recently on leave, in London. There he was spending all his walking hours, walking the streets and looking at the crowds. Three years ago he was a cog in London’s commercial machine. Then ha-went to Gallipoli. Now he is at*

Wounded Poilus recuperating at Mrs. Bradley Lee's hospital. Mrs. Bradley Lee is shown in first row dressed In white Red Cross nurse costume.

from Calais, could change cars and take through express trains for the Riviera, for Switzerland or for Germany. The great steel bridge across the Oise, which the retreating French blew up in August, 1914, before the battle of the Marne, is still resting in the river bed, and traffic is carried' on by several smaller bridges thrown across the stream by army engineers. Introduced American Methods. "What sort of diseases do we get here?” she repeated in answer to a question; “why, everything from smallpox and typhus down to scarlet fever and measles, with diphtheria and typhoid and bronchitis perhaps the most prevalent. And whatever success I have made of this hospital Is due primarily to the fact that I have used American methods everywhere. I have scandalized the patients and shocked the French doctors, but at the beginning they were kind with me and let me have my way. Since they have seen the results that have followed the application of our American treatment and methods they have been willing for me to do so, and a few of them —a few of the more advanced physicians—have followed my example and have instituted American practices themselves in other hospitals.

“I have had wonderful success with my typhoid cases, using the ice-bag methods instead of the hot bath treatments that they wanted to insist on giving. And I have always specialized on fresh air and cold air, too, except under certain circumstances, and cleanliness everywhere. “No patient has ever used a handkerchief In this, hospital, and no one ever will while I have anything to do with it,” continued Mrs. Bradley Lee. “Science knows that nearly all contagion is spread through the nose and mouth. Well, none of the soldiers here nrc given handkerchiefs or are permitted to wipe their noses or mouths with anything but little squares of gauze which they throw Into closed receptacles immediately after they use them once. “That is one reason why this is the only hospital in all of France in which no member of the staff, no physician, no nurse, nor even an orderly or scrubwoman has ever caught a disease harp; I have never had anything worse than the cold and the sore throat that I have now since I have worked on men suffering with typhus and smallpox, and been with them for days and nights, hour after hour. “There is not another hospital In France that has that record, and I have only-lost one typhoid patient In all these three years, just by strictly following the American method of treatment all the time. Patients Frightened at First. “The poor patients were a little frightened at first; they who have been taught that fresh air means a ‘draught’ and who have never become on too intimate terms with soap and water, especially during cold weather.

“Today I received a Kabyle—a native from the French colonies in northern Africa —and that man finished my collection. I have had a man from every nationality fighting in this war during the last three years. Chiefly my patients have been French, of course, but I have also had a good many Belgians and British, sent down on the main line railroad through Amiens. Then when the Russians were on the front I had a number of them with scarlet'fever. We had Senegalese, the black troops from Central Africa; we had Moors and Algerians, Italians and Roumanians from the foreign legion, a Portuguese aviator, and the chauffeur fori the king of Montenegro. Many Germnn prisoners of war; haveJj<een brought here, and I had an Auspian aviator who was with the Gerinrm flyhig service and had been shot down on this front. Then a Turk w’ho had escaped from n concentration camp was picked up here with diphtheria, and finally a Bulgarian who had smuggled his way

tached to the Sudanese army near the Abyssinian and Belglnn-Codgo frontiers. He is the only Englishman in an area of 200 miles and node of the native troops In his command speak English. He has a smattering of Arabic and his only conversation Is in that language. Some of his men, who, he says, are fine soldiers, were enemies not many years ago. In an interview reported by the Manchester Guardian he remarked that the very sight of crowds was a luxury after his experience. His

from Greece to Marseilles and had wandered all the way up here. The two Americans who were just released after getting over the mumps were the first Sammies I had. “During the first two years I was here It was mighty exciting, particularly at night, when the German airplanes used to fly over and bombard the town. Recently they have not come very often.” Sister Is German Countess. Mrs. Bradley Lee is a, sister of tho beautiful Mary Lee, who married Count Waldersee, former chief of th» German general staff. She was formerly the intimate friend of the kaiserin, and is rumored to have "taught religion to the kaiser” several years before the w ? ar. Mrs. Bradley Lee often visited her titled sister in Berlin or Altona before the war, and had a large acquaintance in the German “army set,” 1 among which Countess Walderseei moved. The German army under Von Kluck, occupied Chantilly, after Creil and Senlis, during the first w#ks of the war, and a German general and his staff stopped in Mrs. Bradley Lee’* chateau, doing no damage there, although the Rothschild estates and the property of Duchess de Chartres, adjoining were looted by the invaders. This fact, together with the fact that it was known that Mrs. Bradley Lee had a sister married to a German field marshal, caused considerable gossip, and there have been many unfounded rumors current that the beautiful American Woman who has operated the hospital at Creil for so'long had been arrested for giving intelligence to the enemy.

WAR AIDS GENERAL HEALTH

Sight Sturdy Soldiers and Sailor* on the Streets Declared to Have Had Good Effect. An observing physician says that the presence In New York’s streets of many soldiers and sailors has an indl-\ rect effect on the health of civilians. He believes that most persons become Imitative when they see one of Uncle Sam’s men with head erect, shoulders back and chest thrown out. The natural resold is deep breathing, and from this comes Improved digestion and circulation, thus causing better health. The doctor called attention to the fact that Poe in pointing out the psychological effect of one person on another In regard to acts and isms said he could figure many! thoughts of persons in the streets byj watching their actions. As an Ulus- 1 . tration, Poe told of a man hurrying! along in a slouchy manner until he approached a hunchback, when he immediately straightened, the similarity of carriage causing an unconscious effort at the instant the hunchback’s misfortune was flashed to the brain, of the normal man. Still another influence affecting the general health of t6e public, due to the war, is the Increased number of patriotic men who have gone Into training after rejection by army or navy surgeons due to minor physical disability. Others, too, have undergone lesser surgical operations, long neglected, so that they might pass.

Money in Snails.

An investment of ten cents three years ago In two red snails has net-! ted a profitable business for Mme., Veronica Varje Scrimshaw, who is. known to hundreds of school ehildrea| as “The SnalV Queen.” The snail Investment brought thousands of snails, which Mme. Scrimshaw sells to school children 50 for five cents, and the madnme throw* in a bit of seaweed and sand. The children ore so eager for snails that: the madame’s profits sometimes reach sl2 a day. She is said to be the only' woman known to raise snails.

chief diversion In Africa is playing “patience,” although this is diversified: by incidental lion hunting and the cas, uul chance of shooting other big game. None the less he could say that while “the loneliness gets on my nerves occasionally, on the whole I like the Job ti and we get some Jolly little scraps which are not reported In the newspapers. Still I should welcome the society of a war correspondent or two. Which possibly goes to show that even in the desert the newspaper has its uses.