6 aagKaN
CHITINA, ALASKA, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1914.
NUMBER 11
SEATTLE, Dec. 28.—A report received from Washington
today says that J. P. Morgan has tendered the use of the
Copper River & Northwestern Railway to the government, for
a period of time as long as the latter desires, free of charge
providing it will haul the Alaska Syndicate’s ore for the same
rate as charged other shippers and in time return the road to
the owners in as good condition as when the government takes
possession. No intimation is given by Secretary Lane as to
what action may be taken on the offer.
The present through rate from the Kennecott mines to the
Tacoma smelter by rail and boat varies from $11 to $33.90 per
ton of ore in sacks and depends on the value of the ora. The
rate is $1 a ton less for loose ore. The same rate is charged
for shipments made from any point on the bi’anch line between
Shushanna Junctioxi and Kennecott. The rate for shipments by
rail to Cordova only are not available, as that above cpxoted
covers both rail and water rates, in oi’der to insure shipment
to the syndicate’s smelter.
BUFFALO, Dec. 28.—One American was killed and
another wounded by Canadian troops pati'olling the border at;
Fort Erie. Ontario, today. The Americans were hunting ducks]
out of season on the Niagara River and in Canadian waters
when Thomas Delaney, a provincial officer, ordered them to
stop shooting. They refused and Delaney called on a corporal
and two privates of the Canadian militia for assistance. The ;
corporal ordered the men to come ashore. Instead of doing so. \
they headed for the American shore and when Delaney ordered
the soldiers to shoot, the order was complied with. Walter
Smith was shot through the head and killed and Charles]
Dorseh was wounded.
Secretary of State Bryan lias been notified of the shooting.
GENEVA. Switzerland, Dec. 29.—The latest and strongest]
Zeppelin ever built recently sailed to the north direct from the
Friedrichshafen works without any previous trial trips. It
is 400 yards long, about 14 yards broad and its motive power
consisted of three motors of 800 horsepower. It carried a crew
of 30 officers and men. In a special basket the Zeppelin carried
50 torpedo bombs, each said to be capable of as much damage
as the shells of the famous 16-inch guns.
One of these bombs during a trial near Friedrichshafen
penetrated the earth five yards. All the Zeppelins built since
the beginning of the war have been similarly armed. “Dread
nought” Zeppelins were launched August 15. September 3 and
24, October 15 and November 5, and two others of the same
type at the beginning of August, making a total of seven.
These formidable aerial vessels are said to be able to
resist successfully any aeroplane attack. They can “sail” with
a weight of two or three tons; they have 17 to 18 independent
gas compartments and water planes that will allow them to
Friedrichshafen they are called “Marine airships.”
Sidelights on the war
The tragedy of silence is killing the women of Europe.
Suicides are -occurring by thousands, especially in Austria.
Women do not know whether their husbands and sons are alive!
or dead. They are given no news. Wherever they turn for
li<rht they are confronted by an impenetrable wall of silence.
They are not permitted to dress in mourning nor are the bodies
of their dead brought home for burial. Insanity comes to the
relief of many. Thousands of others go to suicide’s graves.
Upon raiding a building suspected of being used by Ger
mans who export cocoa, London police found the cocoa and
also many barrels of sand and sawdust used as substitutes.
Severe arraignment of American business men who have
been selling arms, ammunition, food and clothirfg to the
nations at war in Europe was voiced in the Senate one day this
week by Senator Works of California, who has a bill pending
to prohibit such sales.
Prominent Hindus of British Columbia have offered to
raise a company of volunteers among their countrymen to aid
the allies.
Agents representing the European nations now at war
have been busy scouring the Northwest for needed supplies,
but the widest field of their operation has been in the search
for horses. Practically every available horse within easy
reach has been contracted for by one of several buyers, until
such contracts run up already for the Northwest into the tens
of thousands. It is claimed for one buyer that he expects to
close a contract to supply the British government wiih 30,000
horses this month. Another concern, composed mostly of
British, has advanced negotiations for an even larger deal,
and assert that they have options on all they will need and
contracts for half. The inspection is very rigid, and any fine
horses are rejected by government officials on the ground for
that purpose, simply because they do not fill the specific
requirements established by headquarters.
Austrian monitors on the Danube and Save are said to
have proved of great service in preventing Servian raids into
Hungary and Slavonia.
Christmas presents to the soldiers at the front in France
and Flanders are reported to average 100 freight cars a day
There are reiterated minors as to mutiny among the
Bavarians garrisoning Antwerp.
M. Merunovitch, an influential Polish member of the
Austrian parliament has printed an appeal in Lemberg papers
asking all Poles to endeavor to conclude a peace between
Austria and Russia, irrespective of Germany. 1
Austrian newspapers sav that when negotiations for peace
begin the United States will have earned the right to act as
an intermediary.
EUROPEAN WAR
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—The President referred to
Congress, when it reconvened today, a note to Great Britain
in which he insisted on better treatment for American com
merce and declared that large damages eventually have to be
paid by England for unlawful detention of American cargoes.
The President pointed out that many protests were vigorously
being sent in specific cases, and that if the contentions of the
American government were correct, as he was formally con
vinced, it was plain indemnification ultimately would have to
be met by the British.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—Secretary of State Bryan has
cabled to the British government a protest against further
hampering of United States commerce by the British fleet and
asking for early improvement in conditions now prevailing.
The protest contains broad intimation that American vessels
are being persistently harrassed and without cause.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 29.—Secretary of State Bryan had
before him today for consideration a formal notification from
Germany that American consuls in Belgium must be acceptable
to the German military authorities and asking for withdrawal
of certain consuls for the present at least. The United States
now has consular representatives only at four points as follows:
Antwerp—H. W. Diedrich, consul general; Harry T. Sherman,
vice and deputy. Brussels—E. Watts, consul general; E. E.
Palmer, vice and deputy. Ghent—H. A. Johnson, consul;
Julius A. Van Hee. vice and deputy. Liege—Alexander
Ileingartner, consul general; V. II. Duras, vice and deputy.
PETROGRAD, Dec. 29.—An official statement is to the
effect that the Russian army defeated and is vigorously
pursuing the Austrians in Galicia, and that in the retreat‘the
latter have become greatly disorganized.
LONDON, Dec. 28.—Assisted by a fleet of cruisers,
destroyers and submarines, seven British aeromen piloting
seaplanes made an attack Christmas day on the German naval
base at Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe River. Six of the
aeromen returned safely, but it is feared that Commander
Hewlett of the seventh machine has been lost, as the wrecked
machine has been found in the North Sea off Helgoland
Island. Commander Hewlett Was a son of Maurice Hewlett,
the English novelist.
BERLIN, Dec. 28.—Englit British warships conveying
hydroplanes attacked the town of Cuxhaven, Germany, off the
western entrance of the Kiel Canal and at the mouth of the
Elbe River. The hydroplanes dropped a number of bombs but
missed the German ships at which they were aimed. German
airships and aeroplanes were sent out to reconnoiter and
succeeded in hitting with bombs two of the British destroyers
and in driving off the hydroplanes. Cuxhaven is about 60
miles from the outer German fort on Helgoland Island.
PETROGRAD, Dec. 28.—The investment of Cracow bv
the Russians has been raised. Following discovery of an
attempt by the Austrians to drive out the Russian forces in
Galicia, the latter retreated eastward about 50 miles, joined
another division and are again prepared to give battle to the
enemy on grounds more favorable to themselves.
LONDON, Dec. 28. -'i he American vessel wnich recent!/
threatened to use its guns on Tripoli was the cruiser North
Carolina, and the threat was made because a mob of Turks in
attacking French residents wounded the master of the Ameri
can steamship Virginia.
LONDON, Dec. 26.—An aeroplane battle occurred Christ
mas afternoon at the mouth of the Thames, between one
German and two British machines. Many shots were exchanged
at a great height and the German was driven off. Neither of
the British aeroplanes was injured and none of the crews was
wounded.
PETROGRAD, Dec. 26.—The war office has announced
that no change has taken place on the left bank of the Vistula
or in Galicia and that every German attack has been repulsed.
Furious fighting continues along the banks of the Pilicia.
WASHINGTON, Dee. 26.—-Secretary Daniels of the navy
has called on Captain Oman, commanding the cruiser North
Carolina, to report whether threats of violence had been made
by Turks at Tripoli against American sailors.
LONDON, Dec. 26.—British authorities have been advised
that German has issued notification to neutral governments
that it will no longer recognize exequatures crediting their
consuls to Belgium.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26.—An officer in the Japanese
embassy has received advices from Tokio stating that Russia
has ceded to Japan its half of the Island of Sakhalin for a
number of heavy guns.
CONSTANTINOPLE, via Amsterdam and London, Dec.
26.—The claim that his country was forced, much against its
will, into the European war by an attack from the allies, was
made by the sultan, in opening the Turkish parliament.
“At a time when our government was resolved firmly to
maintain the strictest ndhtrality,” he asserted, “our fleet was
suddenly attacked by Russian vessels in the Black Sea. Then
Great Britain and France opened hostilities on our frontier.
“Thus we were compelled to resist the policy of destruc
tion which these powers have at all times pursued against the
Mohammedan world, a policy which has assumed the character
^f religious persecution. Because of this fact I called all
Moslems into a holy war.”
LONDON, Dec. 24.—The city of Dover, which is about 70
miles in a direct line from London, was today bombarded from
a German aeroplane. The Dover forts replied to the aerial
fire and a British aeroplane, ascending at once, pursued the
enemy for some distance. The latest report indicated that the
German escapee! because of superior speed. No serious damage
resulted because of the bombardment, but the entire popula
tion was thrown into a high state of excitement, many taking
refuge in cellars.
LONDON, Dec. 24.—Christmas eve will witness little if
any change in the underground warefarc now being conducted
by the allies in the westeni theater of war, but so far as
possible plum pudding will be served to all of the British
troops in the trenches and elsewhere.
BERLIN, Dec. 24.—The Kaiser will spend Christmas close
to the front, according to a message from him to be delivered
to each soldier. It is possible that the day will be celebrated
in the German trenches, with all the customary services
possible under the trying conditions.
E\ ERETT, Dec. 24.—Two German spies who chartered
the steam sehooner Olson & Mahoney at San Francisco and
loaded her with supplies for the now extinct fleet which was.
operating in the Southern Pacific, have succeeded in dodging
secret service officers and have sailed for China on the
Norwegian tramp steamer Christian Bors, which cleared from
Everett on the loth.
PETROL RAD. Dec. 24.-—-Opening fire witli concealed
machine guns, the Russians today surprised the entire
Twenty-Sixth Austrian brigade, at a point south of Tarnow.
and almost annihilated the entire brigade.
LONDON, Dee. 24.— Dio German Kaiser’s two great
walls of men which stretch along two hundred miles of battle
front in the west are frequently riddled by the enemy’s guns,
and every now and then they sway backward under the blows
of the allies, but as yet they never thinned. The killing or
wounding of 700,000 or more Germans has not weakened the
tidal wave of blood. Berlin dispatches say that there are still
4,000,000 Germans in the service, and probably a million more
can be recruited; but, of course, the Kaiser’s coming-on forces
cannot last forever. The Germans have lost as many if not
more than their enemies, and in a wearing-out struggle they
cannot last half so long. And Austria, which has lost approxi
mately 900.000 men, about one-third of her entire forces, can
not be safely depended upon to help Germany any more than
she has done. Furthermore, the Kaiser’s armies have already
doir^ as good fighting as they can be expected to do. They
have reached top speed without permanently crippling Russia,
France, or England.
LONDON, Dec. 23.—Eight million men are facing each
other on the battlefront in Russian Poland to the west of
Warsaw, where the Germans and Russians are engaged in a
struggle which may prove the turning point of the war. The
banks of the Bazura and Pawka rivers continue to be the scenes
of desperate fighting. The weather is intensely cold, adding
to the sufferings of the able-bodied as well as of the wounded.
Each side is sustaining terribles losses in this battle.
BERLIN, Dec. 23.—An official report from the German
headquarters in Russian Poland states that the Russians are
making a stand between the Bazura and Pawka rivers in an
attempt to check the advance of General Mackenze.
LISBON, Dec. 23.—The Portuguese Chamber of Deputies
has voted in favor of making preparations to join Great
Britain in the war.
PARIS, Dec. 23.—The Chamber of Deputies, assembled
yesterday for an extraordinary session, voted today an appro
priation of 1,700,000,000 francs to meet war expenses during
the next six months.
AMSTERDAM, Dec. 23.—The Kaiser arrived at Cologne
todav on his way to the front of the western army.
ROME, Nov. 21.—(By Mail to New York)—The Federal
Council of Germany has adopted rigorous measures for
conserving Germany’s cereal supply during the present war,
according to advices here. Statistics completed by experts
establish that on the basis now provided for Germany will
have no difficultv in getting along until next year’s crops are
harvested.
One of the new measures provides that all millers shall
grind wheat to the extent of 75 per cent of it becomes flour.
This does away with the waste that ensues in the grinding of
fine qualities of flour. The precentage for rye is fixed at 70
per cent.
All bakers are ordered to mix with wheat flour at least
10 per cent of rye flour. Five per cent of potatoes must also
be mixed in bread made exclusively of rye flour and this may
even be increased up to 20 per cent. On bread of this kind the
bakers are required to place the letter “K” indicating that
potatoes are used in its manufacture but they are not required
to state to what extent. Failure to exact this, has already
caused considerable protest by the public who say that bakers
can thus charge them the same price for 20 per cent “spud”
bread as for the 5 per cent variety.
The feeding to animals of grains which can be made into
bread has also been prohibited. An exception has been made
in the case of small land proprietors who wish to fatten their
livestock. They can feed a small amount of rye if it has been
grown on their own land.
Owing to the fact that the potato supply is somewhat
short this year, a shortage which will he increased by the fact
that they must also be used in bread making, has also resulted
in restrictive measures to conserve them. The use of potatoes
in the making of spirits is limited to CO per cent of the usual
amount.