R
[ 25.000
0 BiC GUNS AND
1 GUNS TO DATE
ASSAILANTS ARE IN POSSESSION OF VILLAGES THAT
ARE THREE AND ONE-HALF MILES BEHIND THE
FORMER BATTLEFRONT OF ENGLISH, WHO ARE
REPORTED TO BE RETIRING IN GOOD ORDER.
ATTACKING FORCE NUMBERS 600,000
Kaiser’s Troops Are in Front of Third Line of Their Oppon
ents,, and Admission Is Made in London That This Is First
Time Since Beginning of War That Enemy Has Been Able
eally to Penetrate Defense, Which Military Critics Have
Regarded As Impregnable.
LAST BATTLE BEFORE PEACE. *
* LONDON, March — Kaiser Wilhelm is in com- *
■* maud of tlu‘ German troops on the western trout. Lt is *
* believed that he lias staked all on tin* present offensive. *
+ German newspapers assert this is the last battle bet ore *
j, ‘ *
neace.
ll,
ii
1 r
r.
3RL.IX, Germany, March 23.—
nty-five thousand prisoners, 400
gurss and 300 machine guns have
captured so far by the Germans
> • drive against the British line
*-. western battlefront. according
■' official statement issued today
he German war office.
‘ween Fontaine, I.es Croiselles
idoevreues, the (Hermans have
.• .tl.! the second line positions
• British and have taken the vil
Yaulx, Vracouvt and Mor
Vaulx and Yracourt are about
, a half miles and Morcies is
i: two and a half miles behind
f aer British front.
I
"an battalions forced a crossing
O:sc river west of I.afore,
m:b-s south of St. Quentin.
i,f the Somme the Germans
, • British lines and then prac
.vitliout opposition continued
oivard movement and drove
iti.-li over the Crozat canal to
-tvard. The (Hermans are now
it of the third line of the Brit
Cwrmans Continue Attacks.
1. N'DON, March 23.—With great
* f infantry and heavy weight of
artillery, the Germans have contin
ued their attacks against the British
a. d have broken through the British
d oVn.-ive system west of St. Quentin,
according to the official statement of
the British war office.
The British on the line north of St.
Quentin are holding their positions.
West of St. Quentin, the British are
falling back in good order to prepared
positions. Mast of St. Quentin, there
is heavy lighting and fresh forces of
Germans are making progress.
Ueuter’s News Agency says that
lit'ty German divisions are engaged in
the tremendous onslaught and that
twenty-five divisions are held in re
serve. The German artillery concen
tration is the greatest in the world’s
history. Reuter’s says that the Brit
ish are retiring slowly and in good
order.
The London Mail declares that 600,
000 Germans are participating in the
battle. In one sector, there is one
German gun every fifteen yards.
The ins drenched the British
batteries with gas. For the first time
luring the war, British artillerymen
af *.i work wearing their gas masks.
Tibs is the first time that the Brit
sh d Tensive system? have been brok
er. a; ' penetrated since the establish
ment of the trench mode of warfare.
In ; p vious attacks, the Germans have
bent the British lines, but never have
they been able to strike through the
defense zone. Many criticis thought
the British defense systems were
impregnable.
Tire statement that the British are
retiring to prepared positions indi
cates that the Germans have now
pierced the entire defense zone of the
British and that the Britsh have re
tired to positions behind their main
hattlefront.
NO MATFRIAL DEPARTURES IN
v f:igiit are found in sil
ver AND GOLD MONEY
; EILADELI’HIA, March 23—Sam
ple- f specie tested in the annual in
,n of the United States mint
h r* > v the Coin Assay commission
r< ; 'vr'-nted the largest number of
ni'ns ever passed upon by a body of
t s sort. The work was completed
is cent'y.
No material departures from the
\\> ight and quality standards of coins
Fas ever been detected at the mints
in tr.is city. Ten-dollar and twenty
mi!1: •• gold pieces must assay within
half grain of the required weight
.•.ml 4 ve-dollar and two-and-one-half
do ’ . - gold coins within one-fourth of
a gram.
AMERICAN CABINET OFFICER
MEETS RULER OF BELGIUM
ON BATTLEFRONT.
LONDON, March 23.—Newton D.
Baker, secretary of war, yesterday
visited King Albert at the Belgium
front.
Job work at The Times office.
BIRD SAVES LIVES
OF MEN AT SEA
HOMING PIGEON CARRIES MES
SAGE ASHORE I ROM STEAM
SHIP V* HIGH WAS ON EIRE.
LONDON, March 23.— Instances in
which homing pigeons that have been
ca e.'ully trained have been the means
of saving life and of blinking assist
mv in case of urgent need are cited
:ty the authorities as warnings against
-a1.dess shooting of t’ne birds.
Captain Thomas Crisp who died at
h.- wheel of his vessel under fire from
German submarine lived long
"ough to send a message by pigeon
ird the crew eventually were saved.
On another occasion a hvdroair
-1 me got into difficulties in stormy
rather and it was feared all lives
hi be lost. A pigeon was sent out
'. i'h a message for help and, in face
>f a fierce wind, the bird managed to
mike its way home. It died from ex
■ ustion on arrival but its message
had been delieverd, help was sent and
he ci ew saved.
NEW FISHING GROUNDS.
EUREKA, Cal., March 23. — Foi
! the first time in many years the
j rough stretch of coast line from Cape
: Mendocino to the Oregon line will
1 give up a yield of fish to help keep
i the cost of meats down. A local firm
! hes arranged for a fishing fleet of
j gasoline boats and halibut and othei
j sea foods will be taken. Most of il
j will be shipped to San Francisco.
MISSILE FALLS EVERY FIFTEEN
MINUTES AND TEN PERSONS
ARE KILLED.
DISTANCE IS INEXPLICABLE.
| Activity on Batlefront Extends South
ward During Night and French As
Well As British Are Now Reported
to Be Engaged.
PARIS, France, March 23.—Ger
| mans are bombarding Paris with
shells of 240 millimeters (about eight
| and one-half inches) in diameter.
A shell is falling in the suburbs of
i Paris about every fifteen minutes.
'fen persons have been killed and
fifteen have been wounded.
| The bombardment is inexplicable to
French military authorities. The
shortest distance between Paris and
the battlcfront is sixty-two miles.
A few German airplanes flying high
attacked Paris, but these were driven
off by French aviators.
Activity on the battlcfront extend
ed southward last night, and it is now
reported that the French, as well as
the British are engaged.
ATHLETES NOT
WANTED IN TRENCH
GLASGOW MEDICAL MAN SAYS
FOOTBALL PLAYERS ARE
LACKING IN ENDURANCE.
urnod
s.: nal
iji the
>N, Ma; h 2 >.—A prorain *n
nedieui man who has just r
o a prof •.-sioral vi.-ii U
t m France say.-4 that prof as
■o'.bad (havers are not \\ ante*
■| cnj... CKJ I ii
(1 or that of . a oiuiii:
C o (kid: <v tin
arm or the ••.Imp. Ho attributes Ur.
uo the fact that - bey ha e been so lot •
‘tuned’’ to the highest pitch to take
l>..rt in the game. In addition their
rn-rves are so acute that they cannot
: tand gunfire, as can tlie ordinary
man. The doctor says ‘‘it is like link
in gup a race horse with an artillety
■ earn.”
MESSAGES IN MISSILES.
Orders to Troops on Battle-front Art
Sent in Projectiles.
PARIS, March 23. — Transmission
of urgent orders to troops in the
first line and the sending of interest
ing information to the rear by pro
jectiles is one of the new developments
of trench warfare, according to the
monthly review, La Science et La Vie.
One of the instruments employed
for this purpose by the Germans was
captured in a recent successful attack
made by the French at Moronvilliers.
iV consists of a tin cylinder about fif
teen inches long and an inch and a
quarter in diameter at the mouth of
which is placed a box containing the
message.
The cylinder and message box are
placed in a grenade thrower, which
launches it in much the same way as
aerial torpedoes and grenades are
fired from a trench mortar.
The extreme range of these new en
gines is about thirteen hundred yards
which is generally sufficient to cross
the zone of French curtain fire.
The utility of such a system became
apparent with the development of
barring fires that made the carrying
; of messages by despatch bearers al
ways hazardous and frequently impos
sible, and with the wholesale destruc
i lion of telephone lines by intense de
I stmotive artillery fire.
TO MAKE STANDARD CLOTH.
LONDON, March 23. — Woolen
manufacturers throughout Great Bri
tain have be enordei*ed to alter their
looms to produce a “standard” cloth,
of which over two million yards have
been ordered for June delivery in ord
er to provide summer suits for British
men and women.
RESEARCHES OF SCIENTISTS
ENABLE THEM TO PREDICT
ERUPTIONS AND QUAKES.
PROF- JAGG AR’S STATEMENT.
| Lava Is Not Liquid, As Previously
Supposed, But in Reality Is Hard
Red Hot Body and Heat Is Mostly
Near Surface.
i HONOLULU, T. H., March 23.—
Volcano research, virtually the young
est branch of the sciences, has al
ready saved many thousands of lives,
according to a recent address by Pro
fessor T. A. Jaggar, volcanologist of
! the Kilguea Volcano observatory.
The main object of volcano re
j search, said Professor Jaggar, is to
| enable observers to predict volcano
I eruptions and earthquakes. Although
i there is still much to learn, material
: progress has been made along this
I line, largely through experimental
j work at the Kilauea observatory,
| which is situated on the blink of
Halemaumau pit.
“lias anyone yet been saved?” the
volcanologist asked. “Most certainly
I yt s.”
At the West Indies and Agoshima,
Japan, and right now in Guatamala
•ity. where destruction of the same
kind a hundred and fifty years ago
■ ed to improvements; where history
has promoted earthquake education;
where fresh disaster in l'J02 kept
f-'arfully alive the expectation; and
now we learn that only a few hundred
were left of a population of 1)0,000.
“flo at Kagoshima, Japan; when
Sakurajima erupted and the earth
quake came, people moved and re
turned. and not more than fifty peo
ple were killed; contrast this with the
.Messina straits in 1008 with 200,000
people killed.
; “'1 he lessons of St. Pierre, Mont
Polee with its rush of ‘cauliflower’
: clouds, its dome of lava and lava tow
er, ail this mechanism marking dan
ger; the discovery of moving earth
I quake rifts as at Nagoya, Japan; the
: Mitistics of recurrence, of time, of
; ;,iace, of distribution, topography and
: idal control; the relationships be
I tween volcanoes and earthquakes; the
1 marshalling of these Pacts according
j o mathematics of chance, the mak
ing of continuous measurements of
i changing features as at Kilauea ob
i servatory—the recognition of aU this
is not geology but a new science of
[ geonomy, earth law—these lessons of
! natural disaster have created a new
era in the study of the inner earth.”
Professor Jaggar in course of his
| address said that among other things
learned by the observers at Kilauea
! is that lava is not liquid as was pre
| viouslv supposed but is in reality a
! hard, red hot body. The seaming li
quid is a foam of burning gases and
j of glass melted by them. This oxidi
j/.alien beat is mostly near the sur
| face and the. deep heat is perhaps on
ly moderate.
The theory that volcanoes act as
“safety vents,” making improbable
earthquakes, was also denied by pro
fessor Jaggar. who said that on the
contrary earthquakes are more to be
expected in the vicinity of volcanoes
than anywhere else.
THREE MEMBERS OF INTERNA
TIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS AS
SOCIATION ARE ARRESTED.
SEATTLE, March 23.—Two thou
sand copies of a book written by
Pastor Russel containing alleged sedi
tious matter have been seized and
three members of the International
Bible Students association have been
arrested here in connection with the
distribution of the book.
Job Printing of Distinction at the
Times office.
ADUTANT GENERAL ENOCH H.
CROWDER MAKES INQUIRY
REGARDING CALIFORNIA.
I FISHERMEN ARE NOT EXEMPTED
i
I National Food Administration Appre
hends Serious Reduction in Produc
tion of Northern Waters Because of
Army Boards.
SACRAMENTO, March 23.—Adju
tant-General Enoch H. Crowder has
asked Governor Stephens, of Califor
nia, to report the number of draft reg
istrants in California’s class No. 1
engaged in the fishing industry. The
adjutant general's inquiry is made
at the request of the national food
administration, which fears a serious
reduction in the output of Alaska’s
lishing industry because exemption
boards in Alaska and the western
coast states are refusing to allow
fishermen in class No. 1 to leave for
the fishing banks.
STEAMER ALEXANDER AGASSIZ
INTENDED TO SEIZE ONE OF
PACIFIC MAIL BOATS.
RIFLES AND PISTOLS ABOARD.
I'.v'w Is Believed to Have Intended to
Turn '. esse! Taken by Them Into
Raider for Purpose of Operation Oil
West Coast.
PACIFIC T>ORT, March 23.—The
steamer Alexander Agassiz, fitted as a
German raider, hying a German flag
and carrying rifles and pistols was
seized Tuesday by an American gun
boat off Mazatlan, Mexico.
American officials say that the
Agassiz is really too small to be used
as a raider but that her crew hoped
to capture one of the Pacific Mai!
boats running to Panama and outfit
her with heavy guns, which they had
cached and then work havoc on the
Pacific.
The Agassiz has been brought into
an American port.
SOLDIERS TO GET
LAND IN MONTANA
STATE PLANS TO LOCATE RE
TURNED TROOPS ON RE
C LAMATION PROJECTS.
HELENA, Mont., March 23.—A
campaign to locate thousands of re
turned soldiers on land reclamation
projects of Montana is under way in
the east, according to an announce
ment by Willis J. Eggleston, district
counsel for the reclamation service
located here, who has just returned
from the east. Settlement on similar
projects in other states also is in
volved in the plan, he said.
“It is feared that after the war, the
same as after nearly every other war,
j there will be a period of depression,”
he said. “The proposed plan provides
for intense cultivation of small
i tracts.”
OFFICER IS SO YEARS OLD.
—
ROME, March 23.—The oldest offi
| cer in the Italian army is Count Fran
cesco Pais-Serra who, on the celebra
tion of his eightieth birth recently,
was by a royal decree promted to the
rank of colonel. Count Pais-Serra
served as a volunteer with Caribaldi
in 1866-67, during the first war for a
greater Italy, and later in 1870-71
when he was a colonel. He joined the
present war as a volunter lieutenant.
Job printing at the Times office.
PROMINENT MEMBER OF NETH
ERLANDS PARLIAMENT TO
QUESTIO N GO VE R N M ENT.
WANTS MINISTER RECALLED.
Irritation Is Manifested Over Seizure
by United States in Ports of This
Country and Putting Steamers in
Entente Service.
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, March
23.—A dispatch from the Hague said
that one of the most prominent mem
bers of the Netherlands parliament
intends to ask the government wheth
er it is not time to recall the Dutch
minister at Washington and hand
passports to the American minister to
the Hague as the result of command
eering by the United States of Dutch
ships in American ports.
Seventy-Seven Ships
WASHINGTON, D. C., March 23.—
Seventy-sevn Dutch ships in Ameri
can ports are flying the Stars and
Stripes today as a result of President
Wilson’s proclamation requisitioning
Dutch tonnage in American ports.
The proclamation was issued upon
Holland’s refusal to agree to Ameri
ca’s demands that part of the cargo
space be devoted to supplies for en
tente nations and that guarantees be
given that no supplies reach Germany.
Compensation will be made the
owners.
One Million Tons
LONDON, March 23.—The seizure
of Dutch vessels by America and Eng
land and putting them to the use of
the entente allied governments re
duces materially shipping losses of
entente nations caused by German
submarines and mines since the be
ginning of the war.
The alies have taken over approxi
mately 1,000,000 tons of Dutch ships.
PLANT THAT GROWS WILD IN
MEXICO YIELDS SUBSTITUTE
FOR IODOFORM.
JUAREZ, Mex., March 23.—Grease
wood, which grows wild on the deserts
of northern Mexico has been found to
; contain properties which make it val
uable as a war-time drug, according
| to Major Gomez Tagle, of the Juarez
garrison, who is an expert chemist.
Major Tagle has been conducting a
; series of experiments with the grease
wood and says he has discovered a
substitute for iodoform which is con
tained in the plant. It is especially ,
valuable in medicine for treating
' wounds. A liniment for the relief of
rheumatic pains has also been obtain
! ed from the desert plant according to
the military chemist.
HORSE MEATSALES
INCREASE IN PARIS
PARIS, March 23.—The extended
sale of horse meat is one of the means
counted upon by the city authorities
to relieve the provisions market. The
; sale of horse flesh for many years has
been considerable in the popular
J quarters of Paris and it has increased
i considerably during the war. Last
! year 34,384 horses were killed at the
| Vaugirard sluaghter houses. The in
i creased supply of horse meat had no
I
depressing effect upon prices however.
The British army is now the chief
source of supply of horses for kil’ing.
More than 12,000 horses were received
from that source last year, yet the
prices went from the equivalent of 2S
cents a pound to 40 cents for ordinary
cuts and from 35 cent sto 50 cents a
pound for the choice bits of horse
flesh.
Job printing at Times office.