Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 43, Number 46, 4 January 1918 — Page 1

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RICHMOND, 1ND., FRIDAY EVENING, JAN. 4, 1918.

WIN OR LOSE It! 1918 IS WARNING TIP

TO AMERICA Member of Colonel House's Mission Says U-boat Report

Was Pessimistic, but Twas

Edited. '

HUN IS REAL MENAGE

By ARTHUR SEARS HENNING nn the Chicaeo Tribune)

WASHINGTON. Jan. 4. "The Unit

ed States and the allies will win or lose the war in 1918." This remark by a member of the t American war mission, headed by Col. E. M. House, has stirred ud a ruction

In the administration. It is one of numerous utterances by members of the commission, which have Illuminated the actual military situation in Europe for more than the carefully edited and censored summary of Col. House's report to the president issued

by the state department yesterday. u.Boat Losses Hidden

It also was divulged that the report on. the German submarine campaign mad nubile by the commission was

pessimistic In the extreme. It set forth losses of shipping far larger than have been officially disclosed and indicated that to offset the continued destructlvcness of the submarine it would be necessary to launch more

Khlna this year than the United States

and England can possibly supply. f As a result of the private disclos

ures of the findings of the House commission it is not unlikely that demands will be heard in congress for the publication of the actual text of the report in order that the American people may be informed of the facts. Must Mass Troops The prediction that the United States and the allies will win or lose the war this year was the talk of the capital today. In military circles it was accepted as the real report of the House commission In a nutshell a finding that Germany, by virtue of the Russian collapse, has become a menace to the United States and the 'allies that must be met at once by massing all the men available on the western front.. Secretary Baker was silent. He apparently.'did not feel Justified to expressing the opinion that we shall win the war this year. It fa kflbwn, however, that he entertains no fear that we shall be defeated this year. The reluctance of the war minister to discuss the matter is attributed to the realisation that the present rate of progress the United States will be unable to exert its full strength this year, and that if the United States is to save the day, it will have to be in 1919. Call Crisis at Hand

Some war department officials nereed unreservedly that the crisis

Of the allied cause is at hand and that

there is not a moment to do iosi, m mustering full strength to resist the German forces strengthened by the regiments released from the eastern front.

To meet the emergency, it Is asserted, the United States and England

must not only rush troops in vast numbers to thf western front, but must initiate retrenchment on a hitherto unconcelved scale, cut out all nonessentials of life, and thereby release ships for exclusive war service and labor to be employed In shipbuilding and munitions manufacture. The administration has been promlsContinued On Page Seven.

ENVOYS LEAVE IN BRITISH SHAKE-UP

jam ""'MtM- n 1 i " ' ' f , i 1 2 - f "if" 1 v - "l Vfi - " - l

MEN MARRIED

SINCE WAY 18 IN CLASS ONE

"Positive Proof" Required to

Get Deferred Classification for These. Slacker husbands men who have

married since May 18 for the purpose of evading the selective service law

will be included in Class One with single men and subject to first call. Men in Class One may be the only men taken for service in the future. Already several men who have failed to give "positive proof that they did not marry to evade military service, have been placed in this class by the Richmond selective army board. Where "positive proof" is presented to the Richmond board showing that the registrant did not marry to evade service and that he had made arrangements prior to the enactment of the selective service act to marry, the registrant is given the same consideration as any other registrant who

has dependents. Called Up For Inquiry. All registrants who have married since the enactment of the law are being called before the army board for further testimony, where the board does not have personal knowledge of the attendant circumstances of the marriage. Where a registrant, who has married since May 18. makes claim for deferred classification because of de

pendency, the claim is taken as proof that the registrant did marry for the sole purpose of evading military serv

ice and he is placed in Class One, witn single men, until it is proved other

wise.

Several men married 6ince May 18, have refused to claim deferred classification.

Grocers Urged to

Sell Sugar Only to Regular Customers The Richmond housewife who purchases one pound of sugar at one grocery and then goes to another grocery to purchase another pound is going to be "fooled" in the future, if the plans of County Food Administrator W'eidner are carried out by grocers. The Food Administrator is urging grocers to sell sugar only to their "regular" customers, thus tending to equalize the amount of sugar sold each family. Many persons in the .past have been purchasing one pound of sugar at one grocery and then going to another and making another another purchase. All grocers in Richmond and the county have conformed to the government's price on sugar, according to information received by the adminis

trator. Beet sugar is retailing at nine cents a pound while cane sugar is selling for ten cents. Most grocers in the county are again able to get sugar and it is believed that a large supply will be available as soon as railroad facilities are improved. Grocers will be able to sell larger quantities to the customer in the near future, it is believed.

Rev. Rae to Speak at Prayer Meeting

Rev. J. J. Rae will speak on home missions Friday evening when the last of a series of union prayer meetings

will be held at the Reid Memonai u. P. church under the direction of the Richmond Ministerial association. Rev. Alexander F. Mitchell of the South Eighth Street Friends church will be the leader. The quartet of the Reid church composed of Miss Ruth Harris, Miss Lena Weisbrod, R. B. Jones and Hugh F. Foss. will sing several numbers. Miss Ruth James will sing. From 7:13 until 7:30 o'clock there will be an organ recital by Mrs. Hugh Foss. Howard Ball will play the chimes from 7 until 7:15 o'clock.

THE WEATHER

For Indiana by United States Weather Bureau Generally cloudy and warmer tonight and Saturday. Probably snow Saturday. Today's Temperature

Noon 21 Yesterday Maximum i5 Minimum 17 below For Wayne County by W. E. Moore Partly cloudy with conditions favorable for snow tonight or Saturday. Considerably warmer. Probably above freezing some time Saturday. General Conditions The great cold w ave Is moving away and considerably warmer weather may be expected during the next twenty-four to thirty-six hours. It probably will thaw' some, Saturday. Temperatures are now above seasonable average in the west and remain decidedly cold east and south; 18 above at Jacksonville, Fla.: :'8 at Tampa, and 33 at Miami, which Is very cold for that section.

Sir Cecil Sprlng-Rlee (above) and Lord Bertie.

LONDON, Jan. 4. In recently an

nouncing the approaching retirements

of Ambassadors Lord Cecil SpringRice and Lord Bertie, envoys to Washington and Paris, it is stated here that the shake-up does not indicate a change in the ambassadorial policies of tba. British government, but is a move to bring "fresh blood ' Into a service which has been divorced from the actualities of modern life." That the reorganization will not in any way disturb the policies of Great Britain in her prosecution of the war or in her relations with her allies, has been emphasized in authoritative circles here. Sir Cecil Spring-Rice same to Washington In 1913 .to succeed Ambassador Bryce, who was retiring on account of age in accordance with the practice of Britain's diplomatic service. The outbreak of the war brought extremely

hevy duties upon the British envoy

and for some while past it nas Deen known that he desired to be relieved as soon as a change could be made. Rir Cecil tendered his resignation at

the- time Foreien Minister Balfour

came to America last spring and since

that time has been awaiting its accept

ance. Among local papers the Dally Chron'

icle has led in pledine the need of re

form in the ambassadorial personaie of Great Britain and has stated "that

broadly speaking the prestige or tne British diplomatic service stands none too high today." That men whose chief qualifications are not aristocratic birth and welth and whose lives have not been spent in an atmosphere so utterly remote from the realities of the modern world are the real need of Britain's diplomatic service today, is the opinion of those in touch with the events that have brought about these Important changes. While there has been no statement as to who will succeed to the am

bassadorships or when the change will take place, it is felt that the information will soon be forthcoming. Colvllle Barclay, counsellor of the Washington embassy, will probably serve In the meantime as charge.

German Chancellor Explains Peace Situation to Reichstag

(By Associated Press) Forecasts that Russia's refractory

attitude regarding the German peace

terms, coupled with home objection to them, would lead the German government to put the situation before the reichstag in some form were made good byr today mews of the appear4' ance of Chancellor Hertling before the reichstag main committee. The chancellor's statement concerning the clauses in the German terms which the Russians have rejected was of an indefinite nature, merely declaring that the outcome of the incident might be awaited cheerfully in reliance upon Germany's strong and correct position and her "loyal Intentions" Ho announced that the Russian proposal for the transference of the negotiations to Stockholm had been rejected. Attacks by the British in the region west of Ypres and north of LaBassee

canal were repulsed by German troops, who captured prisoners and machine guns in the fighting, German army headquarters announced today. London says local fighting in that region produced no material changes.

ROM

RELIEF F

COLD IS SEEN

RECOGNITION

OF ROSS BY ALLIES SEEN

London Paper Suggests Entente Will Make Democratic Move. By Associated Press) Unless there is a change in original plans, the emissaries ,of Russia and the Central Powers will meet to continue their discussion of peace terms which the Bolshevik! have declared are unacceptable. Russia's delegates have proposed that the conference meet in Stockholm, which if agreed to by the Germans will make for delay. A news dispatch received in London

says the Russians have made counterproposals to the Germans. It is added that they will be discussed at the next meeting at Brest-Litovsk on Saturday, which would indicate the Russians have not persisted in ther demand that future meetings be held on neutral soil. The new Russian proposals call for complete evacuation of occupied territory pending a referendum on self-definition. Reports that the German and Aus

trian emperors and their military and political advisors are much perturbed over. the Russian attitude are followed by one that Count Von Hertling, the

German imperial chancellor, is m. Von Buelow is Tipped. Berlin political circles have a rumor that Von Hertling, who is 74 years old, is to be ousted in favor of Prince Vou Buelow, the former chancellor, who is very close to the German crown prince. Recognition of the Lenine-Trotzky government in Russia as a de facto government by the" entente allies is probable, according to the London Daily Chronicle. Such change of sentiment, it is said, would be due to the threatened break in peace negotiations and might bring from the allies

a' statement of democratic policy to

ward Russia.

Meanwhile, the question of the constituent assembly still bothers the Bolsheviki and demands are made that It be called at once. The government of the Ukraine has sent to the Bolsheviki a demand that it withdraw its troops from the Ukraine and decide whether or not it is at war with that government. Nothing has occurred to break the inactivity of the Infantry on the western and Italian fronts. Small raids have taken place here , and there and the German artillery fire continues strong. at jyital. points, on the western front - '" -., England will soon be under compulsory rationing. In making this announcement, Lord Rhondda, the food controller, said the situation was not alartninfi and would improve, although shortage In certain foodstuffs would continue.

FORMER RICHMOND

SCRIBE NEWS EDITOR OF SERVICE PAPER

1'V 'vl j:sJ ' ' C ;' 4 ..

SINGLE COPY, 2 CENTS

COMPENSATION FOR RAILROADS IS REQUESTED

BY PRESIDENT

Wilson Asks Congress to Pass Bills Providing Payment of Dividends and Full Upkeep of Equipment.

Clifford T. Warner (above) and Basil U. Walters. Basil L. Walters is receiving recognition throughout the east as one of the organizers and news editor of the Ambulance Service News, weekly publication of the Allentown encampment of ambulance men. Warner is city editor of the paper. Walters worked on The Palladium as court house reporter for nearly a year.

Board to Pass on Claims

of Railroaders for Raises

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 Director General McAdoo and heads of the four railroad brotherhoods agreed today on a plan for threshing out all wage and labor disputes while government operation prevails, through an investigation board which will report recommendations to the director general.

GUARDS LEARN

GRENADE WORK

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Thursday, Jan. 3. By Associated Press With holiday diversIons over the entire American expeditionary force by today had resumed training which is to be unrelaxed hereafter unless unforeseen developments

occur. The newly-landed divisions of former national guardsmen began active

work in hand grenade training, their instructions going on despite the snow which today covered the ground in some - places to the depth of a foot. Only former guardsmen who had been found to be good marksmen were picked for sniping work and began learning the finer points of that practice. A division of army men which already has been at the front resumed today the carrying out of maneuvers during which airplanes co-operate with the artillery. This division is rapidly nearing the point where it will be classed as experts in this co-operation and the aerial observers are becoming equally efficient. Both 75s and guns of larger caliber are being used. The weather is clear and cold now and except for the snow on the ground conditions are ideal for instruction purposes.

The little red liquid, commonly

known as temperature, is scheduled to airplane soon, according to Weather Forecaster Moore. According to the prediction the temperature may soon jump above the freezing mark of thirty-two degrees, an unusual happening this season of the year. The scheduled relief from the extreme cold weather of the last few days is rapidly approaching Richmond, says the weather man. It may not last very long however and before the streets are cleared of the

present snow, more snow may join it, as the skies will be cloudy. The above-freezing temperature will be recorded some time Saturday, according to the prediction. SIAM MENACED BY GREAT FLOOD

WASHINGTON. Jan. 4 Floods in

Siam, the worst since 1831, are destroying the country. Dispatches to

day from the American legation at Bangkok say the water has risen to

the roofs of houses on wnicn peas ants are living.

Great crop losses have been caused

and cattle are dying from drowning

and starvation.

A relief commission has been ap

pointed. INQUIRY IS URGED.

Building Operations in

1917 Totaled $179,800 Inspector Hod gin Reports

A total of 181 buildings, costing $179,800, were erected in Richmond

during the year just ended, according to the annual report of City Building Inspector Hodgin.

New buildings were erectea as 101lows: One church, costing $30,000; five factory buildings costing $31,500; four store buildings, costing $2,500; fifteen two-story residences costing $29,000; twelve one-story residences, costing $22,800; forty-two garages, costing $13,000; 102 buildings were remodeled or repaired costing $51,000. A total of sixty-five fires during the

vear caused a loss of $6,638, one of

the lowest fire losses the city has ever

exnerienced. One lightning loss

amounted to $200.

Palsgrove Chosen For Training Camp

James E. Palsgrove, former circulation manager of The Palladium and

before that advertising solicitor, has

been chosen for the next oincers traJniiie camn.

He has been sergeant-major of the Three Hundred and Thirty-fourth Infantry at Camp Taylor, which is the highest non-commissioned place in the

Palsgrove was-among tne ursi solectlves to leave Richmond last summer for Camp Taylor and has risen successively through the non-com grades. FIRE THREATENS WATERFRONT AT NEW JERSEY PORT

HOBOKEN, N. J., Jan. 4. Fire tt-hih thrpatened rart of the water

front which is within government con-' trol broke out today. The blaze was discovered in a six-story building occupied by the Gattl-McQuade company, mill supplies manufacturers, in the barred zone. That structure seemed doomed." All the fire apparatus in Hoboken was called out to prevent spread .of the flames to the Hudson river piers and a nearby munitions factory. Several ambulances also were summoned. United States soldiers were placed on guard around the area threatened with destruction. The burned building occupies nearly an entire block. Wind carried the sparks as far as the water's edge, where munitions ships are tied up.

Ship Concern Made Million by Reselling Bottoms to Uncle Sam

NEW YORK, Jan. 4. Believing that scores of young men in New York, in an attempt to evade military service, have falsely contended in their answers to the draft questionnaires that they are subjects of the central powers, Henry W. Taft, chairman of the district legal advisory board, today forwarded a request for an investigation to Adjt. Gen. Charles W. Sherrill.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4. Profits amounting to more than a million dollars were made by the Clinchfield Navigation company In a deal involving government ship building contracts, according to testimony today before the senate commerce committee ingestigating the ship building program. This Information was disclosed by Theodore Ferris, chief inspector for the emergency fleet corporations, and by a report by a district officer of the shipping board at today's hearing. The Clinchfield company, it was declared, sold to the government four ships under construction for the company in the yards of the Sloane ship yards corporation of Seattle, making a profit of $420,000 and later obtained

for the Sloane corporation contracts for twelve more ships ou which it made a five percent profit. Senators questioned Mr. Ferris closely as to the reason for letting contracts for the twelve ships to the Clinchfield corporation an owned but not a builder of ships, and expressed dissatisfaction over a deal by which

the corporation sold to the govern

ment the four ships at a price so much higher than it was paying for

their construction. Mr. Ferris declared he knew noth

ing of the financial arrangements, but

admitted recommending tne unncn

field corporation to General Goethals

in a letter. The committee asked that

the letter be produced tommorrow.

EXPLAINS TAKING OVER

WASHINGTON. Jan. 4. President Wilson today laid before Congress assembled in joint session bis recommendations for carrying out government operation of railroads. Bills to carry out the president's idas already had been prepared under the supervision of the department of justice and were immediately introduced with plans for prompt consideration in both house and senate. The president spoke, as follows: "Gentlemen of the Congress I have asked the privilege of addressing yon in order to report that on the 28th of

December last, during the recess of Congress, acting through the secretary of war and under the authority con

ferred upon me by the act of Congress approved August 29, 1316, I took possession and assumed control of the railway lines of the country and the systems of water transportation under their controlSeemed to Be Necessary "This step seemed to be imperatively necessary In the Interest of the public welfare in the presence of the great task of war with, which we are now dealing. As our experience develops difficulties and makes it clear what they are, I have deemed It my duty to remove those difficulties wherever I have the legal power to do so. To assume control of the vast railway system of the country is, I realize, a very great responsibility but to fail to do so In the existing circumstances would have been a much greater. I assumed the less responsibility rather than the weightier. "I am sure that I am speaking the mind of all thoughtful Americans when I say that it is our duty as the representatives of the nation to do everything that it is necessary to do to secure the complete mobilization of the whole resonress of America by as

rapid and effective a means as can be found. ' . . "Transportation supplies all the arteries of mobilization. -Unless it be under a single and unified direction, the whole process of the nation's action is embarrassed. True Spirit of America. "It was in the true spirit of America, and it was right, that we should first try to effect the necessary unification under the voluntary action of those who are' in charge of the greatest railway properties, and we did try it.- The directors of the railways responded to the need promptly and generously. The group of railway executives who are charged with the task of actual co-ordination and general direction performed their difficult duties with patriotic zeal and marked ability, as was to have been expected, and did, I believe, everything that it was possible for them to do in the circumstances. "If I have taken the task out of their hands, it has not been because of any dereliction or failure on their part, but only because there are some things which the government can do

and private management can not. We

shall continue to value most highly the advice and assistance of these gentlemen, and lam sure we shall not find them withholding it

It. had become unmistakably plain

plain that only under government ad

ministration can the entire equipment of the several systems of transportation be fully and unreservedly thrown Into a common service without Injurious discrimination against particular properties. Only under government administration can an absolutelyunrestricted and unembarrassed common use be made of all tracks, terminals, terminal facilities and equipment of every kind. Only under that authority can new terminals be constructed and developed without regard to the equipment of limitations of particular roads. But under government administration all these things will be possible not instantly, but as fast as practical difficulties which can not be merely conjured away give way before the new management. Will Safeguard Owners. "The common administration will be carried out with as little disturbance of the present operating organization and personnel of the railways as possible. Nothing will be altered or disturbed which it is not necessary to disturb. We are serving the public interest and safeguarding the public , Continued On Page Seven.

1,000,000 Class One Men to Complete Army; Men With Dependents Unlikely to Go

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4. Americas fighting is to be done by young men without families dependent upon their labor for support and unskilled in necessary industrial and agricultural All men for the war armies still to be raised by the United States will come from Class 1 under the new selective service plan. Provost Marshal General Crowder announces the new policy in an exhaustive report upon the operation of too selective draft law submitted yesterday to Secretary Baker and sent to congress. Amendment Is Urged. He says Class 1 should provide men for all military needs of the country, and to accomplish that object he

urges amendment of the draft law so

as to provide that all men who have

reached their twenty-first birthday

since June 5, 1917. shall be required to register for classification. Also, in the interest of fair distribution of the military burden, he proposes that the quotas of states or districts be determined hereafter on the basis of the number of men in Class 1 and not upon population. Available figures indicate, the report says, that there are 1,000,000 physically and otherwise qualified men under the present registration who will be found in Class 1 when all questionnaires have been returned and the classification period ends February 15.

To this the extension of registra

tion to men turning 21 since June 5 of last year and thereafter will add 700,000 effective men a year. Class 1 comprises: Single men without dependent relatives; married men who have habitually failed to support their families, who arc dependent upon wives for support or not usefully engaged, and whose families are supported by income? independent of their labor; unskilled farm laborers, unskilled industrial laborers, registrants by or in respect of whom no deferred classification is claimed or made, registrants who fail to submit questionnaires and in respect of whom no deferred classificatlon is claimed or made, and all

registrants not included In any other

division of the schedule. Narrowed down under the analysis of the first draft made in the report, the plan places upon unattached single men and married men with independent incomes most of the weight of military duty, for the aggregate number of men in the other divisions of Class 1 is very small. ( General Crowder finds the first draft surpassed the highest expectations of the friends of the selective service idea. He pays high tribute not onlr to the thousands of civilians who gave ungrudging service to making the plan a success, but also to the high patriotism of the American people as a whole. "At the President's call," he says,

"all ranks of the nation, reluctantly entering the war, nevertheless Instantly responded to the first call of. the nation with a vigorous and unselfish co-operation that submerged air individual Interest in a single endeavor toward the consummation of the national task."I take it that no great national project- was ever attempted with so complete a reliance upon the voluntary co-operation of citizens for its execution. Certainly no such burdensome and sacrificial statute had ever before been executed without a great hierarchy of officials. Work Dene By Civilians "This law has been administered by official relations lie

1 " iww ill. I only in necessary powers .vim which

they are vested by the presidents designation of ' them to perform the duties that are laid upon them. They have accomplished the task. They have made some mistakes. The system offers room for Improvement. "But the great thing they were called upon to do they have done. The vaunted efficiency of - absolutism of which the German Empire stands as the avatar can offer nothing to compare with it It remains the ultimate test and proof of the intrinsic political idea upon which American Institutions of ''democracy and self-government have been based." Analyzing the first draft General Crowder shows that 9.586,508 men between the ages of 21 and 31 years registered themselves. Up to late la

December only 5,870 arrests bad been

made of those who bad sought to evade registration, and of that number 2,263 were released after having registered, and there remain only 2,035 cases to be prosecuted. The report declares that in the final analysis of the records it will be shown that only 0.00026 per cent of the men within draft age evaded registration. A rough figure of 8.2 per cent is given as the number of registrants who failed to appear when called by their local boards for examination, but General Crowder hastens to explain that most of these men already are in Europe in the .American, British and French armies. They did not await the draft processes in their eagerness to get into action. . '-. :? -