If Its Authentic You 11 Find It In The Nenana Daily News First
THE NENANA DAILY NEWS
VOLUME ONE
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
NENANA. M-A3KA. FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1919.
WHOLE NUMBER 227
HUNS GATHER TO RESIST POLISH ARMY
COLORADO SENATOR WANTS PEACE SPEEDED
SEATTLE CONTRACTORS MAY COMPLETE RAILROAD
PRELIMINARY 10
PEACE MEETING
The Preliminary Interallied Peace
Conference Will Be Opened
On January Thirteenth.
PARIS.—There is every likeli
hood that the preliminary peace
conference between the four great
Allied powers will be opened on
January thirteenth.
The secretaries to the conference
have already been chosen. They
are Paul du Tasta, the French am
bassador to Switzerland and Philippe
Berthelot, of the French foreign
office.
Permanent Military Establishment
to Be Decided After the
Peace Conference.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Secretary
of War Baker told the House Mili
tary committee today that the war
department still remains undecided
regarding universal military service,
and that no definite project for a
permanent military establishment
will be presented to Congress until
after the peace conference has con
cludd their business.
He said that he hoped it will not
become iecessary to keep a large
American military force in Europe
for two years, as indicated shortly
after the signing of the armisitice.
Seven hundred thousand men, he
said, had been discharged from the
army since the signing of the amis
tice and that it is expected that an
other million men will be dis
charged within five weeks.
TROOPS LANDED
SAFELY EDOM THE
WRECKED LINER
Large Number of Troops, Including
Wounded, Are Landed; Work
Still Continue*.
NEW YORK.—According to the
reports received in this city today,
about one thousand troops, includ
ing some who were wounded have
been removed and landed safely
from the transport Northern Pacific
which grounded badly on Fire Is
land yesterday while making the
port- She was on a voyage from
France with homeward bound troops.
The remainder of those on board
are being removed in small boats
and by means of the breeches buoy.
Concrete floors can be made al
most noisless by covering them with
heavy Ur paper, atUched by cement.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Senator
Henry C. Lodge (Republican) of
Massachusetts, denied the statement
recently made by Senator James
Hamilton Lewis (Democrat) of Illi
nois, to the efect that the Republi
cans are attempting to embarrass
President Wilson abroad and pre
j vent unity in the Senate.
Senator Lodge declared that peace
negotiations ought to be completed
| as soon as possible, because every
| day’s delay made it more dificult
1 to make peace with Germany.
| _
m INVITED FOR
COMPLETING THE
GOVT. RAILROAD
Private Contracting Firm May Be
Given Contract to Finish the
Government Railroad.
!
According: to Seattle reports re
ceived in Fairbanks recently, the
Sims, Carey Co., of Seattle, have
been asked by he department of
the interior to submit bids for the
completion of the Alaska railroad.
They are reported to have signi
fied their willingness to submit bids
but make the stipulation that there
shall be no interference by the Fed
eral commission which has the hand
ling of the railroad proposition at
the present time.
I The Houghton company, well
' known railroad contractors, have
i also been asked by the department
to submit bids.
The Sims, Carey company are
contractors in a big way and until
recently were employed largely by
the government in connection with
the spruce production industry.
They are big railroad contractors
and own the longest logging rail
railroad in the world.
Enquiry at the Nenana office of
the Alaskan Engineering commission
failed to find confirmation of the
above story.
Frederick D. Browne, engineer
in charge, stated that he had heard
a rumor regarding the work being
let out on contract, but the rumor
was of so slight a nature that he
did not pay much attention to it.
He has not received any official
intimation of any change impending
or contemplated in the construction
of the Government railroad.
Carl Schmidt of the timekeeper’s
office of the A. E. C-, has been
transferred to the accounting de
partment as accountant.
Peter Grandison, of the store de
partment, has been transferred to
the timekeeping branch in the head
office of the A. E. C.
£ RRRRRRRRRRR**JtJ»» *
* R
* TEMPERATURE H
* at
R As reported by the government R
R observation station, Nenana R
R Friday, January 3 R
R Maximum .16 above R
R Minimum .zero R
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REPORT OF BAKER
I SHOWS VOLUME OF
WORK DURING WAR
WASHINGTON.—The question of
permanent organization of the army
has been deferred for consideration
after the close of the peace con
ference. Secretary Baker, in his
annual report, made public recently,
says this course is determined upon
since “the military needs of the
United States cannot be prudently
assessed until that conference shall
have determined the future inter
national relations of the world.”
For temporary purposes, however,
Mr. Baker announces that he will
lay before Congress a plan for re
organization for the regular army,
“which shall continue as the nucleus
of any future military establish
ment”
The secretary also indicates his
intention to press for perpetuation
' by law of the strong general staff
i organization built up during the
war.
I “I have refrained in this report,”
Mr. Baker says, “ from making spe
cific recommendations fo» future
legislation for two reasons. In the
first place the signing of the armis
tice has not formally closed the
war. We have at present a great
military establishment which can not
be immediately dissolved, and the
activities of the department for some
time at least must be concerned
with what we have. In the second
place, the peace conference is about
: to assemble and the military needs
j of the United States can not be
' prudently assessed until that con
ference shall have determined the
future international relations of the
world. The department will present
to the Congress a plan for the main
tenance of a regular army which
shall continue as the nucleus of any
future military establishment, pend
ing the time when the experience
through which we have gone can be
digested and the future needs of the
nation maturely considered.
“In any case it is clear that the!
education of officers and a constant
study of the science of warfare will
be necessary, and it is my hope
that the great military academy at
West Point can be supplemented by
an enlargement and broadening of
the special schools which are at
present organized but should be
made to take on more the character
of post graduate courses and to de-1
velop and train research specialists
in the several arms. This subject
however, is one upon which casual
comment is not helpful and I refer I
to it only because it seems the;
one clear indication from our A-1
perience as to our future policy.”
The story of the American army’s
part in the war overseas, Secretary
Baker leaves very largely to Gen
eral Pershing, whose report cover
ing operations up to November 20,!
following the cessation of hostilities,
it attached to that of the secretfrd’
as is the report of Chairman Foa*:
dick, of the Commission on Train
ing Camp Activities. Vj
“An adequate account of the ac
tivities of the department for the
year now ended can be written,?
Mr. Baker says, “only in the long
reaches of historical inquiry when
there will be time and opportunity 1
to examine in detail not merely
statistical exhibits which tell in num
bers of men and guns what America
did, but also to appraise the con
tributions of patriotic zeal and serv
ice which came from field and fac
tory, from civilian and soldier alike
and which represent in their aggre
gate the life of the nation concen
trated upon a single purpose ”
In his brief recital of the events
of the war, Mr. Baker selects the
battle of the Meuse as “from the
viewpoint of military strategy,
America’s greatest contribution to
the successful outcome of the war,”
since by that attack of the Ameri
can armies the Sedan-Mezieres rail
way, the main artery of the German
supply system, was cut. The entire
available strength of the American
army in France, 28 divisions, were
in line in the second week of Octo
ber, he says, making yard by yard
progress against desperate enemy re
sistance which finally was worn out
“and on November 1, the American
troops broke through.” The object
of the drive the strategic conception
of which included the British drive
at the northern end of the railway
system and the French advance in
the center, was accomplished on
November 7, when the Americans
entered the outskirts of Sedan to
be joined there the next day by the
French.
“The meeting of the French and
American troops on this historic
spot,” Mr. Baker says, “signalized
the defeat of the German arms, a
defeat as decisive and humilating
as that forced upon France 47
years before at the same spot. If
there had been questions before as
to the acceptance of the armistice
terms, the Allied advance culminat
ing in this meeting at Sedan left no
choice in the matter.”
In sketching the building up of
the war army, Mr. Baker selects a
few striking figures as illstrations
bf what each step meant and what
has been accomplished. On the day
the armistice was signed, he de
clares more than 25 per cent of
the entire male population of the
country between the ages of 18 and
31 was in the military service, the
army having reached a total of
3,664,000 men, more than 2,000,000
of whom were in Europe, as com
pared with a strength of 189,674 in
March, 1917, a week before war was!
declared.
To illustrate the speed of this
expansion, the report cites the fact
that- the British army in France had
reached its high mark in the sum-1
mer of 1917, three years after the'
beginning of the war, and that
figure was “slightly more than
2,000,000 men.” It took 19 months
ror the United States to reach the
lame strength there, but Mr. Baker
points out that during those years
>f battle, British manpower had.
been heavily called upon to replace;
:asualties, while for many months j
die flow of American troops allI
vent to augment the force being j
assembled. To some extent this |
was offset, he adds, by the far!
(CmtluMd m Pag* Tss.)
I
A shipment of first class Outside
and local mail arrived from Fair
banks on a Thelin stage today and
was promptly distributed by the
postoffice staff.
A Roland stage left Fairbanks
this morning with another shipment
of mail, which is thought to con
sist of second class mail only. It
is expected to reach the postoffice
tomorrow afternoon, and will be
distributed, as usual,
j The mails for despatch will be
i closed at the local postoffice at
j 5 o’clock tomorrow afternoon.
FROM IMS
The King and Queen of Italy and
Enthusiastic Crowds Greet
President Wilson At Rome
ROME,—The arrival of President
(Wilson at the Italian capital was
made an occasion for much rejoic
j ing and vast holiday crowds throng
j ed the railroad depot and all of the
; approaches to it to catch a glimpse
of the American president.
The king and queen of Italy with
their brilliant staff and other high
[Italian officials, met the Wilson
party at the depot and gave them
a hearty welcome to Italy.
President Wilson will lunch with
the king today, after which he will
be the guest of honor at a great
reception and banquet which the
Italian parliament 'will tender him.
At the parliamentary reception the
citizenship of Rome will be con
ferred on the President.
Tomorrow President Wilson will
visit the pope and also the Ameri
can churches in Rome. On Sunday
he will go to Genoa and possibly
Milan. On Monday he will visit
Turin and on the same night will
leave on his return trip to Paris
CANADIAN SOLDIERS
TO GET FARM LAND
OTTAWA—Statistics obtained by
Canadian officials from 230,000
members of the Canadian forces
overseas, show that more than 105,
000 soldiers or 43.9 per cent, de-,
sire to go on the land after their,
return to Canada. Special plans j
are being made by the Dominion1
government, and by the various
provinces in some cases, to gratify
this wish of the men who repre
sented the Maple Leaf so brilliantly
on the battlefields.
MILD WEATHER AIDS
COPPER RIVER ROAD
CORDOVA.—Weather along the1
Copper River & Northewestern rail
road this season has not been sever
ely cold up to the middle of Novem
ber, and the snowfall has been far1
below normal. Thus far it has not
been necessary to send out the I
rotary snow plows, whereas last year
the rotaries were put to work Nov
ember 8 and were not borught in*
until May. !
HONS PREPARE
POSEN DEFENCE
; AGAINST POLES
German Army Corps Concentrating
On Border to Defend Province
of Posen.
| BERLIN.—To offset tho effects
' of the Polish invasion of Germany
land for tho purpose of defending
her rights to the province of Posen,
j the Germans have concentrated sev
1 oral German army corps on the
| border between the province of
; Posen and Prussia.
THe Poles, who are well armed
; and equipped and have a strong
army, are advancing against the
Germans and some heavy fighting
is expected soon.
I
Seattle Health Commissioner Thinks
Acute Stage of Epidemic
Is Now Over.
SEATTLE—Health Commissioner
McBride said that Seattle has the
lowest influenza death rate of fif
teen representative cities.
There were, he said, five hundred
and seventy-one deaths from influ
enza in Seattle during the first
eleven months of last year.
The schools have now been re
opened, as the officials in charge
of the situation believe that the
acute stage of the epidemic is now
over once more.
Several other Washington cities,
however, are still quarantined
against Seattle.
WILSON MISSION
WILL BE SUCCESS
AVERS SENATOR
Wilton Will Acquit Himself to the
Satisfaction of Nation At
Peace Conference.
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Senator
Charles S. Thomas (Democrat) of
Colorado, speaking it the Senate
chamber today, made the prediction
that President Wilson at this criti
cal hour in the diplomatic history of
the world, would acquit himself
well and to the ultimate satisfaction
of his countrymen.
The senator quoted the opinions
contained in the letters of Thomas
Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
to show that the Constitution of
the United States gives the Presi
dent supreme powers to make
treaties.
William Sborgia, the Kantishna
mining man arrived from Fairabnka
and is preparang to leave for the
Kantishna in a few days.