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Press, Volume LII, Issue 15561, 10 April 1916, Page 6

A recent cable message announced that tho "Standard," once one of the most profitable and powerful of the London daily papers had stopped publication. A few weeks ago tho goodwill and copyright of tho newspaper, with the receiver's interest in tho machinery and plant used in its production, were offered by auction, but failed to secure a purchaser. "When tho "Standard" was in the hands of the Johnson family, its net annual profits were at least £40,000 a year, and probably more. "When it became the property of a joint stock company its prosperity steadily declined. In 1910 it was still making a net profit of £29,000, in 1911 it was £16,000. and in 1912 £12,000. In tho first half of 1912 the advertisements amounted to £15,430. in the corresponding half of ±913 to £52,238, and' in that of 1914 to £51,298, showing practically no drop whatever. Then came the war. and within one fortnight the advertisements dropped from £2075 to £757 a week. Subsequently there was some recovery in tho advertisements, but the "Standard," like every other newspaper, felt the effects of the war severely, owing to the increased expenditure it entailed. The attempt to dispose of the paper by auction was a failure. The highest bid for the goodwill, machinery, etc., -was £10,000, and for the goodwill and copyright, with benefit of the subscriptions and .contracts alone, only £200 was offered. Neither bid was accepted.

A few weeks before the resignation of Dr. Lyttelton as Headmaster of Eton, was announced, a German woman v.-ho was in the employ of the Hon. Mrs Lyttelton as lady's maid was charged in the Slough Police Court with being prepared, betyrecn September 20th and 2Gth, 1915, to transmit without lawful authority from the United Kingdom and otherwise than through the post a written message. It appears that defendant wrote a letter to her married sister in Germany, and gave it to a friend who was going to that country. Counsel, who pleaded "guilty" on her behalf, said she had been in England twenty-three years, and for the last eight years had been personal maid to Mrs Lyttelton. He read a letter from Mrs Lyttelton, expressing her "profound belief in her maid. Miss Kamb's, absolute trustworthiness, honesty of purpose, and innocenco of anything harmful." 31 rs Lyttelton added: "She is just breaking her heart at leaving England. All her poor iittlc spare earnings are spent on things for our soldiers, and her little savings are left with me to spend on English Avar charities if she should die during her absence in Germany." The Bench imposed a fine of £5, and refused an application for costs.

According to statements made in American and Italian papers, it would seem that the Japanese Navy is lending some assistance to the Allies in European waters. Immediately after the sinking of the two Japanese steamships in the Mediterranean, a, squadron of three armed cruisers, the Ksuga, the Tokiwa, and the Chitose wore despatched through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, and the German newspapers on February 22 nd quoted the Italian journals for the statement that the Japanese fleet "safely arrived in the Mediterranean, having with them a great number of aircraft."

When the latest mail left America the police of Chicago and New York were hot upon the trail»of the anarchist chef, Jean Crones, who attempted, on February 10th, to poison Archbishop Mundelein and 295 other guests of the University Club, Chicago, by putting arsenic in the soup. He only succeeded

in making them unwell, but the wholesale nature of the crime and the fact that Clones was discovered to have been connected with the group of anarchists who wore believed to have had a hand in the attempted destruction of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New \ork, aroused a etrong hue-and-cry after him. The search for Crones v.*as prosecuted by hundreds of detectives and police all over America, but was keenest in Chicago and Now ork, and in both cities the known ccntres of anarchist propaganda were raided, and a quantity of valuable information was secured. It was learned, among other things, that Crones had been living with the widow of the anarchist Brcscia, who assassinated King Humbert of Italy, and that he had been n student of the International Correspondence School of Scranton, showing great proficiency as a student of chemistry. In a letter which he sent to the policc after his flight, Cronos expressed a wish to emulate Brescia's deed, which connects him closely vjith the conspiracy of murder said, by ut-day's cable, to have been discovered by tho Chicago police. The letter also contained a mysterious formula which the records of the correspondence school showed to be that of a high explosive invented by C'ronc-3. The )>olicc view of Crones was that lie was a dangerous maniac,-and, like others of his type, was bound in the end to bring about his own capture, for his unbounded conceit and bravado led him to write continually to the policc while they were searching for him, and even to show himself in the streets. His arrest has unveiled ono of the greatest murder conspiracies of recent years, and doubtless brought about the seizure of as many members of tho group of Chicago anarchists known as the "Death Circlo" as the policc could lay their hands on.

The capacity for organisation which the French have shown in this war i-3 further indicated by the establishment of a sort of clearing-house for donations ior tho G3OO "war hospitals in the country. "Pour les Hopitaux Militaires," as this is termed, is intended to systematise tho immense work of distributing relief to all these institutions. The needs of each are entered in books, and contributions can thereby be sent to those in greatest need. The demand for such an organisation, it is explained, appeared in the inability of many small communities to furnish their hospitals with certain requisites, while they might over-supply them with others of which there was a shortage in some other institutions. There will bo 110 overlapping now, nor, so far as available supplies go, any shortage, but the demand for everything that is used in hospitals, from money down to towels, is enormous. —

The "Hamburger Naehrichten's" comment 011 the American enquiries into the sinking of the steamers Sussex and Englishman—"whether these vessels were torpedoed bv a German submarine or not, who cares about such trifles in Germany?"—expresses the views of Germany much more candidly and truthfully than the hair-splitting "explanations" with which tho Wilhelmstrasso replies to President Wilson's recurring Note of protest. For it is tho essence of the gospel of Troitschko with which the policy of Germany's statesmen, and of her military and naval leaders, is permeated. What chance have arguments based 011 recognised international law against the doctrino which Treitschke preached in the following passage from his treatise on "International Law?":— "The doctrinaire exponent of international law fondly imagines that he need only emit a few aphorisms and that the nations of the world will forthwith, as reasonable men, accept them. . . It is vain to ask nations to listen to empty commonplaces about humanity. . . . The State must not be used as a n instrument wherewith to try experiments in liumanitarianism. .* . . It is then legitimate to carry on war in the most drastic manner. . . . If a State is not in a condition to maintain its neutrality, all talk about the same is mere claptrap. '. These countries have fallen into the custom of addressing to tho conqueror demands in the name of humanity which contradict the power of the State and are unnatural and -unreasonable." German opinion in America is possibly not uninfluenced by another passage from the same treatise:— "A nation can recover from material loss far sooner than from the slightest insult to its honour. . . . That State which will not bo untrue to itself must possess nn acute sense of honour. If its flag be insulted, it must ask satisfaction • if .that satisfaction be not forthcoming, it must declare war, however trifling the occasion may seem." According to this codo of Prussianism, America's honour has undoubtedly been insulted, and it is Germany's knowledge that America cannot declare war, and, under .President, Wilson's guidance, probably would not if she could, that encourages her to- continue torpedoing passenger ships with Americans on board. * As Senator Elihu Root 3 who, according to a message in to-day' 6 news, may be a candidate for tho Presidency, remarked in .a recent speech, in which he denounced America's foreign policy:—"Tho Government that shakes its fist first an d its finger afterwards falls into contempt." He added that the United States had not been following the path of peace, but had been "blindly stumbling along the read that, if continued, would lead to inevitable war." American diplomacy had lost its authority and influence because America had been "brave in words and irresolute in action."