AMERICA AND GERMANY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3292, 18 April 1917, Page 17

AMERICA AND GERMANY.

AMERICAN PREPARATIONS. In the House of Representatives, Congressman Kitchen introduced the Government Bill authorising the raising of £1,000.000,000 bond issue, also of £400,000.000 Treasury certificate*. The Bill for the greatest loan in history provides speoifically for aid to the Entente. The cost of its flotation is estimated at

12,000,000d0l (£2,400,000). The House adopted tno war loan unanimously.

Morgans have offered their services in dealing with financial problems in tho equipping of tho army and navy. America's income in 1916 was 50,0uu,00U,000d0l (£10,000,000,000). Economists predict that if tho Central Powers attempt to keep pace with America's and Britain's war budgets they will soon be bankrupt. The Government nas made plans for compulsory control of tho lake and coastwise shipping with the object of adding to the trans-Atlantio war supply services for the benefit of the Allies. A great fleet of destroyers and submarine chasers has been converted out of yachts, trawlers, and motor boats, and these are patrolling tho coast. The British and French Ambasadors had a conference with Mr XLansing regarding plans for joint action. A Munitions Board has been established. The New York Times Washington correspondent says that an expeditionary force will not bo sent to Europe until there are I,O'M,OCQ men in training. Official figures show that at the present rate of recruiting tho United States will require six years to raise an army of l,0 r OO,OOO men. Thousands of men of military age at New York, Chicago, and San Francisco are besieging the registry offices for marriage licenses, in order to escape conscription. Chicago already records 110(1 applications. A series of naval conferences is now proceeding between American and tho Allies' representatives, with a view to guarding all shipments to allied countries. It is announced that the American navy is assuming control of the Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. It is proposed that the United States shall be allowed to use the Bermuda and other British bases to facilitate operations.

Rear-admiral Sims (U.S.A.) has arrived ■in London to discuss with the British Admiralty the best means to employ for the •American fleet's co-operation. Swiss military writers are of the opinion that the entry of America, will result in an aggressive sea policy against Germany, ending in the landing of troops on the German coast, and involving a tremendous battle, completely outdoing Gallipoli. The leading American wheat speculators are patriotically promising, for the purpose of maintaining natural prices, not to speculate during War time. A conference of' agricultural experts is being held at St. Louis, under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, to devise means for increasing the wheat yield, to assist the Allies. It is suggested to limit grain for breweries and distilleries, and to mill a greater percentage of flour. The conference recommends that all men rejected for the army may be conscripted as farmers, under military organisation, and sent wherever a shortage in agriculturists prevails. THE SUPREME TEST. President Wilson has delivered a message to the people. He says: "Our entrance to this 'grim and horrible fight for democracy and human rights creates the gravest problems of national life. -We arc rapidly putting the navy on an effective war footing, and are about to create and equip a great; army. We must supply foodstuffs not only for ourselves, but for the Allies boside whom we will be lighting. We must supply ships by hundreds, and coal, steel, rails, locomotive's, horses, and everything the Allies can now not afford the men, materials, and machinery to make. There shall be no unwarranted manipulation of food supplies by middlemen, who aro expected to forgo the unusual profits and expedite shipments.'" President Wilson urges a concentrated effort for the greatest harvest possible. He suggests that the farmers in the south should plant foodstuffs in addition to cotton. The Government will give every assistance in the harvesting and transporting of the supplies, which must be maintained, no matter how many ships are sent to the bottom. America must correct her unpardonable waste and extravagance. Ho urges personal and national economy and the conversion of the great industrial forces to the service of the army. Foodstuffs for the Allies are the supreme need. The world's reserves are low, and_ unless there is abundant food for the Allies and the peoples of the Allies the whole great enterprise upon which they are embarked will break down and fail. "The supreme test has come, and we must'speak, act, and serve together.'* ARMADA OF MERCHANTMEN. Router's Washington correspondent, commenting on the war preparations, says that President Wilson believes ho can do the greatest aervico to the Allies by providing all armada of merchantmen to invalidate the undersea campaign. The country's entire shipbuilding facilities, including 100 new plants, will construct a fleet of wooden ships of 2000 tons and upwards. The first year's production will average three ships daily. The vessels will all bo armed. C'oloncl Goethals, the builder of the Panama Canal, will bo in charge of the scheme. GERMAN PLOTTERS. The Senate has adopted a Bill providing heavy penalties for the destruction of war materials. The Bill is aimed at German plotters. The Department of Justice supplies satisfactory reports of the attitudo of the German-Americans. It is expected that the thousands of arrests will bo sufficient to keep the remainder submissive. A German plot to dislocate the entire Western Pennsylvania coalfields has been discovered at Pittsburg. The guards at the Capitol have been increased, in consequence of reports of a plot to blow up the Congressional Buildings A German attempt to destroy extensive irrigation works in New Mexico State (between Texas and Arizona) is reported. The outrage was frustrated by the guards, who arrested the dynamitards. The New York Herald's correspondent at Tokio advises that the Emperor of Japan has sent a message to President Wilson welcoming the United States on joining the Allies to uphold the sacred liberties of mankind. May the step servo to cement and consecrate a lasting friendship between our two nations." MUNITION WORKS EXPLOSION. As a result of the Baldwin Works explosion there are 125 dead, the majority neing girls, and 150 injured. In addition,

a score were blown to pieces with dynamite Ten thousand shrapnel shells exploded. JLho explosion is believed to have been the work of epics. Suspects, including a German sailor, have been arrested. xhe oliieials are certain it was not an accident. There were many awful scenes. Girls, with their clothes ablaze, were blown jiiyti in the air, but their mangled remains have been recovered. Women's bodies were iound in a heap mcide the building. The- occurrence has called forth nationwide horror and anger. The death-roll in the Eddystone explosion is 140. There were agonising scenes at the morgues while the relatives were trying to identify their dead, who were unrecognisable. The officials are certain that plotters caused the explosion. The police believe .that whoever was responsible perished m the conflagration. AUSTRIA BREAKS OF.F RELATIONS. Austria has broken off relations with the United States. All Austrian ships in American waters have been seized. Sweden will take over Austria's interests. Bulgaria's and Turkey's relations are not affected yet. THE MEXICAN SITUATION. The Mexican situation is increasingly serious. A censorship has been established over the entire border. The United States destroyers _ chased a schooner near San Diego carrying munitions to a Mexican port. The schooner was beached and the munitions captured. The Washington State Department regards war with Mexico as. a, distinct possibility. General Carranza has transmitted positive assurances to Mr Lansing that the oil supplies at Tampico and other Mexican sources will not bo denied to the United States or Britain. According to United States army officials, 100,000 Mexican troops are mobilising on the border, and it is believed that General Carranza is asking Congress lor another 100,000. SOUTH AMERICAN STATES. The Buenos Aires Cabinet has considered the sinking of the Parana, and the President has stated that he is determined to act in a manner befitting the national dignity. The Argentine has issued a Note expressing solidarity with the United States policy. The Government is increasing the effectives in the army and navy. Anti-German demonstrations occurred on receipt of the news of the submarining of the Argentine schooner Monte Protegido in European waters, the mob in the streets crying " Down with the Germans." The mob attempted to set fire to the . German Legation and Consulate, but the outbreak was soon overcome. A wireless message reports that a rupture vetween Uruguay and Germany is expected, and that Uruguay is mobilising. Brazil has broken off relations with Germany. According to advices received by the State Department (Washington), civil war is pending in Brazil. The big German colonies there are likely to secede from the confederacy. The Brazilian Government is equipping a strong contingent to be concentrated in the States of Rio Grande do Sul, Panama, and Santa Catharina, where the Germans are numerous. Brazil is arming all her merchantment. She has also seized all German vessels in Brazilian ports. Bolivia has broken off relations with Germany. The Cuban Government authorities have offered an army of 10,000 men to co-oper-ate with the United States. CHINA'S ATTITUDE. , A conference of the provincial and military Governors is being held in Peking to decide China's attitude on the war. Parliament favours joining the United States, while the Cabinet and the military leaders favour the Entente. The Chinese Government has prohibited the navigation of the inland waters of China by vessels under the German flag, and has withdrawn the licenses of German pilots. GERMAN BRUTALITIES. A Berne correspondent gives revelations of systematic brutality by German t women to scores of soldiers of all ranks who were released from the German prison cainpe. During their long journey through Germany the common amusement of these women Was to tempt the wounded, who were in the last extremity of hunger and thirst, by holding food and drink before them, and then snatching it away. Many were begging for a drink, and had coffee, water, and- soup tendered thern. At the last moment a gentle nurse would epit into it. Frequently the wounded had their drink defiled with stuff, while the women laughed. Another common entertainment was to offei>a glass of water, and then pour it elowly to the ground. Cases of physical maltreatment of the wounded by the German nurses were equally common. They not only refused to attend to their wants, but regularly insulted and spat upon the wounded. They even struck and kicked bandaged limbs, in order to increase the pain. The correspondent adds: "The truth is that tho German Red Cross is merely a branch of militarism. It has prostituted tho sacred sign and shamed its name and forfeited all right to be regarded as an organisation for the good of humanity."

Mr Gerard, in the course of a speech, said that German townspeople had been punished for giving water to a trainload of famished Canadian prisoners. "I have seen and protested against German boys shooting arrows tipped with nails at, prisoners. Sheep dogs were trained to bite prisoners as they were taken through the. camps. French and British prisoners were housed with typhoid-infected Russians." FOOD .SHORTAGE IX ENGLAND. The Right Hon. Sir A. Alwyn Fellowes, addressing a meeting of agriculturists in London, said that as a result of the submarine activity the supply of foodstuffs was possibly lower than when Mr Lloyd George isued his warning, and the situation may grow worse when longer days and better weather would assist the submarines. He appealed to the farmers to exert their utmost efforts to produce foodstuffs. With a view to reducing the importation of foodstuffs, Mr R. E. Prothero, President of the Board of Agriculture, is urging farmers to substantially reduce their live stock before Christmas, and to economise in oil cake and corn meal by using grass, green crops, and rools. Mr Prothero has withdrawn the order restricting the slaughter of calves, and suggests the cancellation of fat stock shows.

His Majesty's Royal households have adopted the rationing principle since early in February. The Salvation Army is feeding 17,000 people m London daily at eight communal kitchens, and are establishing others. Diallers cost upwards of 3d.