XLV. ITALY'S TERRIFIC DRIVE…

XLV. ITALY'S TERRIFIC DRIVE

For many months after the great Italian stand on the Piave there was inactivity on both fronts in Italy. The Italians had been reinforced by troops from France and Great Britain and their own army was now larger than it had been at any other time. On June 15th, about the time when the Germans were being driven back on the Marne and the Oise, the Austrians, urged to action by the Germans, suddenly undertook a great offensive on a front from the Asiago Plateau to the sea, a distance of ninety-seven miles.

From the very start it was plain that the Italians were resisting magnificently. The offensive was not unexpected, either in time or locality, and had been openly discussed in the Italian press. The Italians therefore were not taken by surprise, and moreover since the disaster of Caparetto the Italians had learned by a patient campaign of education what they were fighting for.

On the second day of the battle the Austrian troops made a desperate effort to break through the Italian lines, particularly in the eastern sector of the Asiago Plateau, and crossed the Piave River at two places. They also attacked the French positions between Osteria di Monfenera and Maranzine, but were driven back with heavy loss. At every point where the Austrians were able to advance the Italians initiated vigorous counter-attacks. The order to Italy's army was, "Hold at any cost."

On the third day of the battle the Austrian offensive was being strongly checked. They had established three bridgeheads on the Piave, but had not been able to advance. The most notable of these crossings was that in the Montello sector. Montello is of particular importance, because it is the hinge between the mountains and the Piave sectors of the Italian front. If it could be held the Austrians would be in a position to dominate from the flank and rear all the Italian positions defending the line of the Piave in the dead flat plain to the south.

[Illustration: Painting] STORMING THE MOLE AT ZEEBRUGGE One of the most brilliant and spectacular feats in naval history was the British blocking of the submarine harbor at Zeebrugge. The picture shows one of the detachments of marines that braved the terrific German defense fire and swarmed up the mole that protects the harbor, planting explosives that made a great breach and let the tides in.

[Illustration: Photograph] ITALIAN TROOPS TREKKING THE SNOW-FIELDS OF THE ALPS The Alpine troops of the Italian army have for years developed a military technique peculiar to the regions they must cover. Here a battalion of Alpini is seen on skis, the best method for traveling over the frozen snow crusts of the mountain region.

On the Lower Piave the Austrians had made gains and had captured Capo Sile. The Austrians were using a million men and were using liquid fire and gas bombs, but their every move was resisted strongly. Vienna was claiming the capture of 30,000 men, but the Italian reports claimed that the Austrian losses were stupendous. Thousands of dead were heaped before the Italian line in the mountain sectors, blocking the mule paths and choking the defiles. No fewer than nine desperate onslaughts upon Monte Grappa, always with fresh reserves, were broken upon Grappa heights, with terrific losses.

On July 19th the dispatches from Rome were emphasizing the Italian counter-attacks. Not only were the Italians preventing the enemy from making further gains, but they were beginning to crowd him back at the points where he had crossed the river, and were raining bombs and machine-gun bullets upon the Austrian troops at the bridgehead. They were also taking the initiative in the fighting in the mountain sectors.

By June 20th the Austrian defeat was clear. Their forces were backed against the flooded Piave, which had carried away their bridges and left them to the mercy of the Italians. Thousands were being killed and other thousands captured. Czecho-Slovak troops, it was reported, had joined in the fighting, and had given their first tribute of blood to the generous principles of freedom and independence for which they were in arms. In the Piave delta the Italians had regained Capo Sile, which had been captured early in the drive, and it was reported that all along the Piave line they had won complete control of the air, not a single Austrian machine being still aloft. The spirits of the Austrian troops had been definitely weakened. They were war wearied, and evidence began to accumulate that Austria's drive was a "hunger offensive."

As the battle continued reports began to arrive of the gallant deeds of American airmen, who were helping in the fighting along the front. The airmen were assisting in destroying the bridges that the Austrians were trying to throw across the river. The Piave was now a vast cataract and the bridges which it had not washed down were constantly destroyed by the aviators. The Austrians on the western bank were finding it difficult to obtain supplies and were resorting to hydroplanes for that purpose. On June 24th the Austrian attack had definitely failed and they were fleeing in disorder across the Piave. One hundred and eighty thousand men had already been lost and forty thousand were hemmed in on the western side of the river. The Austrian communications were emphasizing the difficulties they were meeting with through the heavy rains.

The victory of the Italians, which was now apparent, was received all over Italy with great public rejoicing. Italy had been repenting in sackcloth and ashes her defeat of the previous fall. Now they had made amends and were showing what the Italian soldier could really do. In America, and among the Allied Powers, there was great enthusiasm, and Secretary of War Baker sent this congratulatory message to the Italian Minister of War:

Your Excellency: The people of the United States are watching with enthusiasm and admiration the splendid exploits of the great army of Italy in resisting and driving back the enemy forces which recently undertook a major offensive on the Italian front. I take great pleasure in tendering my own hearty congratulations, and would be most happy to have a message of greeting and congratulation transmitted to General Diaz and his brave soldiers. NEWTON D. BAKER, Secretary of War of the United States.

In announcing to his victorious army the repulse of the Austrians General Diaz, the Italian Commander-in-Chief, said:

"The enemy who, with furious impetuosity, used all means to penetrate our territory has been repulsed at all points. His losses are very heavy. His pride is broken. Glory to all commands, all soldiers, all sailors."

On the 26th of June the Italian troops, having forced the last rear guard of the retreating Austrians to surrender and completely occupied the west bank of the Piave, began an offensive on the mountain front in the Monte Grappa sector. They gained more than 3,000 prisoners, and considerable territory. On the southern part of the Piave front they were carrying on a vigorous offensive against the Austrian positions within the Piave delta. The Austrian troops, at that point, were being prevented from retreat by the high water, and suffered terrible losses. On July 6th the Italians drove the last of the enemy from the delta.

The campaign in Italy now languished, until, on October 27th, Italy began her last terrible drive. The great Italian offensive was made not only by their own forces and the French and British troops, which had assisted them the previous June, but during the intervening period a large force of Americans had arrived in Italy. On June 27th Secretary Baker had made the announcement that General Pershing had been instructed to send into Italy a regiment that was then in training in France. The regiment thus sent was augmented considerably later. The purpose of sending troops to Italy, Mr. Baker explained, was rather political than military. It was desired to demonstrate again that the Allied nations and the United States were one in their purposes on all fronts, and to extend the intercourse between the troops of all the powers at war with Germany.

On the second day of the Italian offensive their success increased. More than nine thousand Austrians were taken prisoners and fifty-one guns were captured. The Piave River had been crossed, and the Italians had advanced four miles to its east. The attacks in the mountain region were being more bitterly contested, and counter-attacks had enabled the enemy to regain some of their lost positions.

On October 30th the Italian advance was continuing. The Austrian front appeared to be breaking under the heavy blows of the Allied troops. Dispatches indicated striking successes, not only on the Italian front but at the points where the British and the French were holding the line. The Americans were being held in reserve, but American airplanes were actively participating in the work at the front. By this time the last lines of the Austro-Hungarian resistance on the central positions along the Piave River had been broken, and more than fifteen thousand prisoners been taken. The Austrians, however, had been desperately resisting, and their artillery fire at many points was very effective, especially that which had been directed at the pontoon bridges thrown across the Piave.

King Victor Emanuel had been present in person during the crossing, and was often under the fire of the Austrian guns. On October 30th, 33,000 Austrians had been captured and the Italians had reached Vittorio. Americans had now joined in the fighting.

The Austrian retreat reached the proportion of a rout. They were still fighting, especially in the mountain region, but in the plains east of the Piave they were in full flight. Taking into consideration the numbers of troops in the Austrian lines and their apparently plentiful supplies, it began to seem probable that their break was due more to political maneuvers than to military force. The Austrians at this time were making a great peace drive, and the dissatisfaction at home had affected the morale of the troops at the front. The conditions in Italy were in close resemblance to those in Bulgaria just before Bulgaria applied for an armistice.

On the 1st of November the Austrians were completely routed, and were streaming in confusion down the valleys of the Alpine foothills, and fleeing northward from the Piave. Reports from Austria indicated riots at Vienna and Budapest. In Vienna people were parading the streets, shouting "Down with the Hapsburgs!" On October 29th, the Austrians asked for an armistice. Their announcement read as follows:

The High Command of the armies, early Tuesday, by means of a Parliamentaire, established communication with the Italian army command. Every effort is to be made for the avoidance of further useless sacrifice of blood, for the cessation of hostilities, and the conclusion of an armistice. Toward this step which is animated by the best intentions the Italian High Command at first assumed an attitude of unmistakable refusal, and it was only on the evening of Wednesday that, in accord with the Italian High Command, General Weber, accompanied by a deputation, was permitted to cross the fighting line for preliminary pourparlers.

General Diaz, the Italian Commander, had referred the Austrian request to the Versailles Conference, and had acted in accordance with their direction. In proposing the armistice the Austrians had also expressed their resolve to bring about peace and to evacuate the occupied territory of Italy. This was the beginning of the end.

The northern part of Italy is bounded by the Alps, and between those lofty ranges and the deep valleys there had been constant fighting. In this fighting, both on mountain and in valley, there were the most extraordinary deeds of individual heroism, constantly exhibited.

The Alpine regiments, known in Italy as the Alpini, were men of extraordinary physical powers, accustomed to mountain climbing, and filled with courage and patriotism. Owing to the nature of the territory in such contests, only a limited number of men could be used at one time, and the fighting went on over masses of snow or solid rock. Guns were hauled up precipices and dugouts excavated in the rock itself. The Italian troops, clothed in white overalls to prevent their being seen, moved with great rapidity from point to point, and forced their enemy to keep constantly on the alert. In the great Italian drive just described the most bitter fighting was that which occurred in these mountainous regions.

The work of the Italian aviators is also worthy of special attention. They not only secured entire command of the air, but by flying low they often threw into confusion with their machine guns the Austrian infantry. Their wonderful work in bringing in military information, and in bombing expeditions, was not excelled, if it was equaled, by the airmen of any other country. The Italian airplanes themselves were engineering triumphs. The inventive genius so notable in these days in Italy found expression in their development. Some of their machines were the biggest made during the whole war, and the long journeys made by such machines deserve special mention. The most interesting feat of this kind was performed on August 9th by the famous poet, Captain Gabrielle D'Annunzio. Accompanied by eight Italian machines, he flew to the city of Vienna, a total distance of 620 miles, and dropped copies of an Allied manifesto over the city. They crossed the Alps in a great wind storm at a height of ten thousand feet, and all but one returned safely. The manifesto, which was written by D'Annunzio reads as follows:

People of Vienna, you are fated to know the Italians. We are flying over Vienna and could drop tons of bombs. On the contrary we leave a salutation and the flag with its colors of liberty. We Italians do not make war on children, the aged and women. We make war on your government, which is the enemy of the liberty of nations,--on your blind, wanton, cruel government, which gives you neither peace nor bread, and nurtures you on hatred and delusions. People of Vienna, you have the reputation of being intelligent, why then do you wear the Prussian uniform? Now you see the entire world is against you, do you wish to continue the war? Keep on, then, but it will be your suicide. What can you hope from the victory promised to you by the Prussian generals? Their decisive victory is like the bread of the Ukraine,--one dies while awaiting it. People of Vienna, think of your dear ones, awake! Long live Italy, Liberty and the Entente!

It was said that copies of this proclamation in Vienna had a value of fifty dollars a copy. D'Annunzio's great fame had seized upon the popular imagination. His career in the war would have been interesting in itself, but when one recognizes that he was already a world figure, the greatest modern Italian dramatist and novelist, his life seems almost like a fairy story. Before the war began he made addresses all over his country, urging Italy's participation in the war, and when war was declared, to him, as much as to any other man, was due the credit. He entered the navy, and has written some fascinating descriptions of his life on board ship. Later he joined the airplane corps, and now was showering down upon the gaping populace of Vienna appeals to rise against its Hapsburg masters. D'Annunzio was extraordinary in his literary career. He had been the poet of passion, a writer of novels and plays, which, although artistic in the highest degree, showed him to be an egotist and a decadent. But long before the war he had tired of his erotic productions and had begun to write the praises of Nature and of heroes. He had been singing the praises of his country. "La Nave" symbolizes the glory of Venice. He had become more wholesome. War was making him not only a man but a hero.

Of course D'Annunzio was not the only great literary man who had left the study for the battle-field. AEschylus fought at Marathon and Salamis; Ariosto put down a rebellion for his prince between composition of cantos of Orlando Furioso; Sir Philip Sydney was scholar, poet and soldier, and many a soldier when his wars were over has turned to the labors of the pen. Yet it is not without surprise that one sees D'Annunzio join this distinguished company, and one's admiration grows as it becomes plain that he was not a mere poseur. He was a poet, but he was a soldier too. Not every great poet could drive an airplane to Vienna.

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XLVI. BULGARIA DESERTS GERMANY

During the year 1916 there was little movement in the Balkans. The Allies had settled down at Saloniki and intrenched themselves so strongly that their positions were practically impregnable. These intrenchments were on slopes facing north, heavily wired and with seven miles of swamp before them, over which an attacking army would have to pass. It was obviously inadvisable to withdraw entirely the armies at Saloniki. So long as they were there it was possible at any time to make an attack on Bulgaria in case Russia or Roumania should need such assistance. And moreover, it was evident that it was only the presence of the Saloniki army that kept Greece neutral. During the year there were a few fights which were little more than skirmishes; almost all of the German soldiers had been withdrawn, and it was chiefly the Bulgarian army that was facing the Allies. On May 26th Bulgarian forces advanced into Greece and occupied Fort Rupel, with the acquiescence of the Greek Government.

The Greeks were in a difficult position. It was not unnatural that King Constantine and the Greek General Staff believed that the Allies had small chance of victory. Moreover, they had no special ambitions which could be satisfied by a war against the Central Powers. On the other hand, Turkey was an hereditary enemy, and the big sea coast would put them at the mercy of the British navy in case they should join their fortunes to those of Austro-Germany. To an impartial observer their policy of neutrality, if not heroic, was at least wise. The Greek Government, therefore, did its best to preserve neutrality. The surrender of Fort Rupel was not, however, a neutral act and roused in Greece a strong popular protest.

Venizelos, who at all times was strongly friendly to the Allies and who was the one great Greek statesman who not only believed in their ultimate victory but who saw that the true interests of Greece were in Anatolia and the Islands of the AEgean, was strongly opposed to King Constantine's action. The Allies showed their resentment by a pacific blockade, to prevent the export of coal to Greece, with the object of preventing supplies from reaching the enemy. This led to a certain amount of excitement and the Allied embassies in Athens were insulted by mobs. The governments, therefore, presented an ultimatum commanding the demobilization of the Greek army, the appointment of a neutral Ministry, and the calling of a new election for the Greek Chamber of Deputies, as well as the proper punishment of those who were guilty of the disorder.

In substance, the Greeks yielded to the Allied demand, but before a new election could be held an attack by the Bulgarians on the 17th of August changed the situation. The Bulgarian armies entered deep in Greek territory in the eastern provinces and captured the city of Kavalla without resistance from the armies of Greece. A portion of the Greek army at Kavalla surrendered and was taken to Germany as "guests" of the German Government.

This action of the Greek army led to a Greek revolution which broke out at Saloniki on the 30th of August. The King pursued a tortuous policy, professing neutrality and yet constantly bringing himself under suspicion. The Revolutionists organized an army and finally M. Venizelos, after strong efforts to induce the King to act, became the head of the Provisional Government of the Revolutionists. The Allies pursued a policy almost as tortuous as that of King Constantine. They could not agree among themselves as to the proper policy, and took no decided course. King Constantine apparently had the support of Russia and of Italy.

Meantime the fighting against Bulgaria was still proceeding. The main force of the Allies was directed against the city of Monastir, which, after considerable fighting, was captured on November 19th. This gave the Serbians possession of an important point in their own country and naturally proved a great stimulus to the Serbian armies.

From that time on, and during the year 1917, little was done. Minor offensives were undertaken, some of which, like the Allied attack upon Doiran, deserve mention, but on the whole the fighting was a stalemate. Meanwhile the action of the Greek Government had become so unsatisfactory that it was finally determined to demand the abdication of King Constantine, and on June 11th he found himself compelled to yield. In his proclamation he said:

Obeying necessity of fulfilling my duty toward Greece, I am departing from my beloved country accompanied by the heir to the crown, and I leave my son Alexander on the throne. I beg you to accept my decision with calm.

Early the next morning the King and his family set sail for Italy on his way to Switzerland, where he became another "King in exile." His son Alexander accepted the throne and issued the following proclamation:

At the moment when my august father, making a supreme sacrifice to our dear country, entrusted to me the heavy duties of the Hellenic throne I express but one single wish--that God, hearing his prayer, will protect Greece, that He will permit us to see her again united and powerful. In my grief at being separated in circumstances so critical from my well-beloved father I have a single consolation: to carry out his sacred mandate which I will endeavor to realize with all my power, following the lines of his brilliant reign, with the help of the people upon whose love the Greek dynasty is supported. I am convinced that in obeying the wishes of my father the people by their submission will do their part in enabling us together to rescue our dear country from the terrible situation in which it finds itself.

The whole country to all appearances received the abdication with satisfaction. On June 21st, M. Venizelos came to Athens and the Greek Chamber, which was illegally dissolved in 1915, was convoked and Venizelos once again became Prime Minister. At last he had succeeded, and he proceeded at once to join the whole of the Grecian forces to the cause of the Allies. Of all the statesmen prominent in the Great War, there was none more wise, more consistent or more loyal than the great Greek statesman.

For more than a year the Allied armies facing Bulgaria remained upon the defensive, when, suddenly, on the 16th of September, 1918, in the midst of the wonderful movements that were forcing back the German armies in France, a dispatch was received from the Allied forces in Macedonia. The Serbian army, in co-operation with French and English forces, had attacked the Bulgarian positions on a ten-mile front, had stormed those positions and progressed more than five miles. On the next day news was received that the advance was continuing; that the Allies had occupied an important series of ridges, and had pierced the Bulgarian front; that more than three thousand prisoners had been captured and twenty-four guns. The movement took place about twelve miles east of Monastir and the ridge of Sokol, and the town of Gradeshnitsa were captured by the Allied troops.

It soon became evident that one of the most important movements in the whole war was being carried on. The Bulgarian armies were crumbling, and the German troops sent to aid them had been put to flight. The Allied troops had advanced on an average of ten miles and were continuing to advance. The Serbs, fighting at last near their own homes, were showing their real military strength. Four thousand prisoners had been taken, with an enormous quantity of war supplies. The Bulgarian positions which had yielded so easily were positions which they had been fortifying for three years, and had been previously thought to be impregnable.

On September 23d it became evident that the retreat of the Bulgarians had turned into a rout. Notwithstanding reinforcements of Germans and Bulgars rushed down in a frantic effort to check them, the Allied armies were advancing on an eighty-five mile front, crushing all resistance. The Italian army, on the west, was meeting with equal success, and the news dispatches reported that the first Bulgarian army in the region of Prilep had been cut off. A dispatch received by the British War Office reported "As the result of attacks and continual heavy pressure by British and Greek troops, in conjunction with the French and Serbian advance farther west, the enemy has evacuated his whole line from Doiran to the west of the Vardar." As it retreated the Bulgarian army was burning supplies and destroying ammunition dumps, burning railway stations and ravaging the country.

By this time it was felt throughout the Allied world that the Bulgarian defeat would have important political consequences. It was remembered that a short time before King Ferdinand had paid a visit to Germany, and after long conferences with the German War Lord, had hastily returned to Bulgaria. It was recalled that there had been many signs of serious disorder in Bulgaria, where the Socialist party had been in close touch with the advance parties in the Ukrainian Republic. It seemed possible that the Bulgarian defeats had been brought about by Bulgarian dissension and it was also evident that Germany was in no position to offer effective support to its Bulgarian accomplice.

As the days passed by the news from this front became more and more favorable. At all points the Bulgarian armies were retreating in the most disorderly manner, closely pursued by the Serbians, French, English, Italians, and Greeks. Bulgarian troops were deserting in thousands, and thousands of others were surrendering without resistance.

On September 26th it was announced that the Bulgar front had disappeared; that the armies had been cut into a number of groups and were fleeing before the Allied troops. Town after town was being captured, with enormous quantities of stores. On Friday, September 27th, it was announced that Bulgaria had asked the Allies for an armistice of forty-eight hours, with a view to making peace.

The situation was now causing intense excitement. The Germans tried to minimize the Bulgarian surrender. A dispatch from Berlin declared that Premier Malinoff's offer of an armistice was made without the support of other members of the Cabinet or of King Ferdinand, and that Germany would make a solemn protest against it. German newspapers were demanding that Malinoff be dismissed immediately and court-martialed for high treason. The Berlin message asserted that the Premier's offer had created great dissatisfaction in Bulgaria and that strong military measures had been taken to support the Bulgarian front. According to statements from Sofia it was added a counter-movement against the action of the Premier had already been set on foot. It was declared in Germany that the Premier's act was the result of Germany's refusal to send sufficient reinforcements to Bulgaria. Secretary Lansing made the announcement that the United States Government had received a proposal for an armistice.

It appeared that Bulgaria had been maneuvering toward peace for some time. The Bulgarians had foreseen their inability to meet the expected Allied attack, and had made every effort to obtain German reinforcements. Moreover, they were highly dissatisfied with the treatment they had received from Germany in connection with Bulgaria's dispute with Turkey as to territorial dispositions to be made after the war. Probably the most important reason, however, for the Bulgarian overthrow was that by this time they were sick of the war. They had not, in the first place, gone into it with any enthusiasm, and though they could fight bravely enough against their Serbian foe, no true Bulgarian could ever feel himself in a natural position facing his old-time Russian friend.

Bulgaria had come to the end. Malinoff, the Premier, had from the beginning been opposed to the war. Mobs in Sofia were demanding surrender. Ferdinand was compelled to give way to the wishes of his Cabinet and his people, and in spite of the fact that he had promised the Kaiser to remain faithful to the Alliance, he gave his consent to the movement for unconditional surrender.

An official Bulgarian statement read as follows: "In view of the conjunction of circumstances which have recently arisen, and after the position had been jointly discussed with all competent authorities, the Bulgarian Government, desiring to put an end to the bloodshed, has authorized the Commander-in-Chief of the army to propose to the Generalissimo of the armies of the Entente at Saloniki, a cessation of hostilities, and the entering into of negotiations for obtaining an armistice and peace. The members of the Bulgarian delegation left yesterday evening in order to get into touch with the Plenipotentiaries of the Entente belligerents." This statement was dated September 24th.

When the Bulgarian officers entrusted with the proposal for an armistice presented themselves at Saloniki, General d'Esperey gave the following reply: "My response cannot be, by reason of the military situation, other than the following. I can accord neither an armistice nor a suspension of hostilities tending to interrupt the operations in course. On the other hand, I will receive with all due courtesy the delegates duly qualified of the Royal Bulgarian Government." The Bulgarian delegates were General Lonkhoff, commander of the Bulgarian Second Army, M. Liapcheff, Finance Minister, and M. Radeff, a former member of the Bulgarian Cabinet.

On the evening of the 29th an armistice was signed. The terms of the surrender were approved by the Entente governments, and hostilities ceased at noon September 30th. The terms of the armistice were as follows:

Bulgaria agrees to evacuate all the territory she now occupies in Greece and Serbia; to demobilize her army immediately and surrender all means of transport to the Allies. Bulgaria also will surrender her boats and control of navigation on the Danube, and concede to the Allies free passage through Bulgaria for the development of military operations. All Bulgarian arms and ammunition are to be stored under the control of the Allies, to whom is conceded the right to occupy all important strategic points. The military occupation of Bulgaria will be entrusted to British, French and Italian forces, and the evacuated portions of Greece and Serbia, respectively, to Greek and Serbian troops.

This armistice meant a complete military surrender, and Bulgaria ceased to be a belligerent. All questions of territorial rearrangement in the Balkans were purposely omitted from the Convention. The Allies made no stipulation concerning King Ferdinand, his position being considered an internal matter, one for the Bulgarians themselves to deal with. The armistice was to remain in operation until the final general peace was concluded.

The request of Bulgaria for an armistice and peace, stunned Germany, which at that time was living in an atmosphere of political crisis and military misfortune. The German papers laid much of the blame on the desperate economic conditions in Bulgaria, which had been made worse by political strife.

After the Bulgarian collapse the Serbians, with the other Allied troops who had just captured Uskub, swept northward to drive the remaining Germans and Austrians out of Serbia and beyond the Danube. On October 13th they captured Nish, thus cutting the famous Orient railroad from Berlin to Constantinople. German authorities announced that henceforth trains on this line would run only to the Serbian border.

On October 4th King Ferdinand abdicated his throne in favor of his son Crown Prince Boris, and left Sofia the same night for Vienna. Before leaving he issued the following manifesto renouncing the Bulgarian crown:

By reason of the succession of events which have occurred in my kingdom, and which demand a sacrifice from each citizen, even to the surrendering of oneself for the well being of all, I desire to give as the first example the sacrifice of myself. Despite the sacred ties, which for thirty-two years have bound me so firmly to this country, for whose prosperity and greatness I have given all my powers, I have decided to renounce the royal Bulgarian crown in favor of my eldest son, His Highness the Prince Royal Boris of Tirnovo. I call upon all faithful subjects and true patriots to unite as one man about the throne of King Boris, to lift the country from its difficult situation, and to elevate new Bulgaria to the height to which it is predestined.

Before signing his declaration of abdication he had consulted with the party leaders and received their approval. King Ferdinand had lost his popularity ever since it became apparent that he had made a mistake in siding with the Teutonic Powers. He was undoubtedly in fear that a revolution might upset the whole dynasty. Premier Malinoff announced the abdication to the Bulgarian Parliament, and the accession of Prince Boris to the throne was received with much enthusiasm. The church bells were rung, and great crowds gathered in the streets.

Speaking from the steps of the Palace the new King said; "I thank you for your manifestation of patriotic sentiments. I have faith in the good star of Bulgaria, and I believe that the Bulgar people, by their good qualities and co-operation, are directed to a brilliant future." King Ferdinand, it was given out, had renounced politics and was intending in the future to devote himself to his favorite pursuits, chiefly to botany.

The surrender of Bulgaria was at once recognized as the overthrow of Germany's "Mittel-Europa" threat, which had apparently been carried into effect when Turkey and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers. It had for a long time been one of Germany's most coveted aims. After the Franco-Prussian war the German people had grown enormously in wealth and in numbers. It had become one of the greatest manufacturing powers in the world. Its ships were transporting its commerce on every sea, but it was not satisfied. The German leaders, most of whom were young men at the time of the war with France, and had been deeply impressed by a sense of the German power, were full of the idea that Germany was the greatest of nations, and that she should impress her will on all the world.

They might have done this peacefully, for the seas were free, but German self-esteem was not satisfied with peaceful progress. They felt that it was necessary to reach out in the world for colonies. They seized a province in China. They meddled with affairs in Morocco. They annexed colonies in Africa, but none of these projects were wholly satisfactory. They provided no great outlet for the products of their workshops, nor for their overflow population, which largely went to North and South America and became citizens of these foreign nations.

Their eyes finally turned to the great East. There in China and India and the neighboring countries were three hundred millions of men whose trade would be a worthy prize for even Germany's ambition. Then began the development of what is sometimes called Germany's Mittel-Europa dream. Her scholars encouraged it; her travelers brought reports which stimulated the interest, and soon she began practically to carry it into effect. It meant the building of a great railroad down to the Persian Gulf; a railroad to be controlled by nations where her influence would be all-powerful. She needed Austria, she needed Serbia, she needed Bulgaria and Turkey.

[Illustration: Map: Most of Asia, Africa and Australia, showing Germany's hoped for rail and ship routes from the North Sea to Australia, South Africa and China.] HOW THE PAN-GERMANS PLANNED TO EXTEND THEIR "MITTEL-EUROPA" DREAM

At first the project was carried out peacefully. Friendly relations were stimulated with Turkey and the other necessary powers; permits were obtained to build the railroad. But Germany was not the only power that had dreamed this dream. Alexander the Great had done it. Napoleon had done it, and England had carried it out. From the days of Queen Elizabeth the English control of India was one of its greatest assets.

Through most of the nineteenth century the English power in the East was threatened, not by Germany, but by Russia. It was because of this threat that England had always protected Turkey. Turkey and Constantinople were her barrier against Russia. The literature of England in the last days of the nineteenth century shows clearly her fear of Russian intrigues in India. Kipling's Indian stories are full of it. But now that fear had passed. It was no longer the imaginary danger which might come from the great Slavic Empire, but a trade weapon in the grasp of the most efficient military power ever developed that was threatening. Against this threat England had been doing her best. Here and there near the Persian Gulf she had been extending her influence. Here and there, as German Consuls obtained concessions, they would find them later withdrawn, because England had stepped in. Yet just before the war England, anxious for peace, had come to an agreement with Germany practically admitting the German plans to be carried out as far as Bagdad.

It looked as though it were only a question of time, but when the Balkan wars established Serbia as the greatest of the Balkan powers, and gave Russia a preponderating influence among the Balkan nations, and when it began to look as if some great Balkan state might be established which should be friendly to Russia and consequently a hindrance to the German scheme, then it was that it was necessary that war should come. The Germans had been wonderfully successful. For a time they controlled Austria, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey, but with Bulgaria's fall the end had come. They were compelled to awake from their Mittel-Europa dream.

[Illustration: Photograph] Copyright Press Illustrating Service BULGARIANS CELEBRATE PEACE The first peace picture. The Bulgarian army is holding a solemn thanksgiving mass on the battlefield just after the signing of the armistice which ended their participation in the war.

[Illustration: Photograph] Copyright Underwood and Underwood, N. Y. French Official Photograph AMERICAN COLORED SOLDIERS IN ALSACE Inspection of arms before going into action. Colored troops were in battles with the Germans many times and succeeded in beating the enemy in every instance.

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XLVII. THE CENTRAL EMPIRES WHINE FOR PEACE

The Allied victories in France during the months of August and September of 1918, led to a new peace offensive among the Central Powers. It was very plain to the German High Command, as well as to the Allied leaders, that Germany's great ambitions had now been definitely thwarted. It seems clear that, in spite of the hopeful and encouraging words which they addressed to their own armies, the expert soldiers, who were controlling the destinies of Germany, understood well the conditions they were facing. Putting aside all sentiment, therefore, they deliberately set out to obtain a peace which would leave them an opportunity to gain by diplomacy what they were sure that they were about to lose on the field of battle. They had made pleas for peace before, but their pleas had been rejected.

The Allied leaders were fighting for a principle. They could not be satisfied with a draw. They could not be satisfied if Germany were left in a position which would enable her after a rest of a few years to renew her effort to impose her will upon the world. It was unanimously recognized that the war must be carried on to the very end. The Allies took this position when the fortunes of war seemed to have gone against them, when Russia was defeated, Roumania and Serbia crushed, and the German lines in France were approaching the capital. It was unlikely that now, when Germany was suffering defeat and every day was yielding the Allied armies encouraging gains, there should be any change in the strong determination of the Allied leaders. Nevertheless, it was necessary to make the attempt.

On September 15th, the Austro-Hungarian Government addressed a communication to the Allied Powers and to the Holy See suggesting a meeting for a confidential and non-binding discussion of war aims, with a view to the possible calling of a peace conference.

The official communication from the Austro-Hungarian Government was handed to Secretary of State Lansing in Washington at 6.20 o'clock on September 16th.

At 6.45 the following abbreviated reply of the United States Government was made public, by the Secretary of State:

I am authorized by the President to state that the following will be the reply of this government to the Austro-Hungarian note proposing an unofficial conference of belligerents. "The Government of the United States feels that there is only one reply which it can make to the suggestion of the Austro-Hungarian Government. It has repeatedly and with entire candor stated the terms upon which the United States would consider peace, and can and will entertain no proposal for a conference upon the matter concerning which it has made its position and purpose so plain."

Arthur J. Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, in a statement made September 16th said: "It is incredible that anything can come of this proposal.... This cynical proposal of the Austrian Government is not a genuine attempt to obtain peace. It is an attempt to divide the Allies." Premier Clemenceau in France took similar grounds, and stated in the French Senate: "We will fight until the hour when the enemy comes to understand that bargaining between crime and right is no longer possible. We want a just and a strong peace, protecting the future against the abominations of the past." Italy joined with her Allies and declared that a negotiated peace was impossible.

The refusal on the part of the Allies to respond to the Austrian peace proposal evidently greatly disturbed the German leaders. The continued German reverses, and the surrender of Bulgaria had taken away all hope. They were anxious to conclude some kind of peace before meeting irretrievable disaster. They therefore determined to appoint as Chancellor of the Empire some statesman who might be represented as a supporter of an honest peace, and Count von Hertling, whose previous utterances might put under suspicion any peace move coming from him, was removed and Prince Maximilian of Baden appointed as his successor on September 30th.

Prince Maximilian was put forward as a Moderate, in accordance with the evident purpose of the government to continue peace proposals. He was the heir apparent to the Grand Ducal throne of Baden, and was the first man in public life in Germany to declare that the Empire could not conquer by the sword alone. He did this in an address to the Upper Chamber in Baden, of which he was President, on December 15, 1917. "Power alone can never secure our position," he said, "and our sword alone will never be able to tear down the opposition to us."

At the same time he made an attack upon the ideals set up by President Wilson. "President Wilson," he continued, "after three years of war gathers together all the outworn slogans of the Entente of 1914, and denounces Germany as the disturber of the peace, proclaiming a crusade for humanity, liberty and the rights of small nations." Then, forgetting that the United States had entered the war nearly a month after the abdication of the Czar of Russia, he added: "President Wilson has no right to speak in the name of democracy and liberty, for he was the mighty war ally of Russian Czardom, but he had deaf ears when the Russian democracy appealed to him to allow it to discuss peace conditions." The Baden address created a great sensation all over Germany, which was increased when, in an interview in January, he declared that all ideas of conquest must be abandoned, and that Germany must serve as a bulwark to prevent the spread of Bolshevism among the western nations.

There can be no doubt that the appointment of Prince Maximilian was a definite attempt to seek peace. It was thought that he would be recognized by the Allied leaders as an honest friend of peace, and that any effort he would make would be treated with respect. He was, however, a vigorous supporter of the Kaiser and of German autocracy, and while his appointment might mean that Germany was desirous of peace it did not mean that she had changed her ways. Three days before the appointment of Prince Maximilian, President Wilson, in an address delivered in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, had restated the issues of the war, declaring (1) for impartial justice, (2) settlement to be made in the common interests of all, (3) no leagues within the common family of the league of nations, (4) no selfish economic combination within that league, and (5) all international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world.

Prince Maximilian, coming into power undoubtedly for the purpose of arranging a peace, proceeded at once to make a new peace offer. He based his action on President Wilson's speech and on October 4th sent to President Wilson, through the Swiss Government, the following note:

The German Government requests the President of the United States to take in hand the restoration of peace, acquaint all the belligerent states with this request, and invite them to send plenipotentiaries for the purpose of opening negotiations. It accepts the program set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress on January 8th, and in his later pronouncements, especially his speech of September 27th, as a basis for peace negotiations. With a view to avoiding further bloodshed the German Government requests the immediate conclusion of an armistice on land and on water and in the air.

He followed this note on October 5th with an address before the German Reichstag, of which the following are the most important points:

In accordance with the Imperial decree of September 30th, the German Empire has undergone a basic alteration of its politic leadership. As successor to Count George F. von Hertling, whose services in behalf of the Fatherland deserve the highest acknowledgment, I have been summoned by the Emperor to lead the new government. In accordance with the governmental method now introduced I submit to the Reichstag, publicly and without delay, the principles by which I propose to conduct the grave responsibilities of the office. These principles were firmly established by the agreement of the federated governments and the leaders of the majority parties in this honorable House before I decided to assume the duties of Chancellor. They contain therefore not only my own confession of political faith, but that of an overwhelming portion of the German people's representatives--that is, of the German nation--which has constituted the Reichstag on the basis of a general, equal, and secret franchise and according to their will.

Only the fact that I know the conviction and will of the majority of the people are back of me, has given me strength to take upon myself conduct of the Empire's affairs in this hard and earnest time in which we are living. One man's shoulders would be too weak to carry alone the tremendous responsibility which falls upon the government at present. Only if the people take active part in the broader sense of the word in deciding their destinies, in other words, if responsibility also extends to the majority of their freely elected political leaders, can the leading statesman confidently assume his part of the responsibility in the service of folk and Fatherland.

My resolve to this has been especially lightened for me by the fact that prominent leaders of the laboring class have found a way in the new government to the highest offices of the Empire. I see therein a sure guarantee that the new government will be supported by the confidence of the broad masses of the people, without whose true support the whole undertaking would be compelled to failure in advance. Hence what I say today is not only in my own name, and those of my official helpers, but in the name of the German people.

The program of the majority parties, upon which I take my stand, contains first, an acceptance of the answer of the former Imperial Government to Pope Benedict's note of August 1, 1916, and an unconditional acceptance of the Reichstag resolution of July 19th, the same year. It further declares willingness to join the general league of nations based on the foundation of equal rights for all, both strong and weak. It considers the solution of the Belgian question to lie in the complete rehabilitation of Belgium, particularly of its independence and territorial integrity. An effort shall also be made to reach an understanding on the question of indemnity. The program will not permit the peace treaties hitherto concluded to be a hindrance to the conclusion of the general peace. Its particular aim is that popular representative bodies shall be formed immediately on a broad basis in the Baltic provinces, in Lithuania and Poland. We will promote the realization of necessary preliminary conditions therefore without delay by the introduction of civilian rule. All these lands shall regulate their constitutions and their relations with neighboring peoples without external interference.

He went on to point out the progressive political developments in Prussia and declared that the "message of the King of Prussia promising the democratic franchise must be fulfilled quickly and completely."

President Wilson did not find Prince Maximilian's proposal wholly satisfactory, and on October 8th, he inquired of the Imperial Chancellor whether the meaning of the proposal was that the German Government accepted the terms laid down in his address to the Congress of the United States and in subsequent addresses; and whether its object in entering into discussions would be only to agree upon the practical details of their application. He also suggested that so long as the armies of the Central Powers were upon the soil of the governments with which the United States was associated, he would not feel at liberty to propose a cessation of arms to those governments. He also inquired whether the Imperial Chancellor was speaking merely for the constituted authorities of the Empire, who had so far conducted the war.

President Wilson's reply aroused much difference of opinion among the Allies, but on the whole was regarded as a clever diplomatic move.

The German Government responded to these questions of the President on October 12th, by a message signed by Dr. W. S. Solf, who had just been appointed Imperial Foreign Secretary. In this reply the German Government declared that it did accept President Wilson's terms; that it was ready to comply with the suggestion of the President and withdraw its troops from Allied territory, and that the German Government was representing in all its actions the will of the great majority of the German people.

Germany had, indeed, made enormous concessions, and the German people appeared to have taken for granted that such an offer would be accepted. An Amsterdam despatch declared: "People in Berlin are kissing one another in the street, though they are perfect strangers and shouting peace congratulations to each other. The only words heard anywhere in Germany are 'Peace at last'."

The President however, had been struck by the news coming in from day to day of new atrocities in France, and of new cases of submarine murders, and in his reply of October 14th, he declared that while he was ready to refer the question of an armistice to the judgment and advice of military advisers of the government of the United States and the Allied governments, he felt sure that none of those governments would consent to consider an armistice as long as the armed forces of Germany continued the illegal and inhuman practices which they were persisting in. He also emphasized the fact that no armistice would be accepted that would not provide absolutely satisfactory safeguards and guarantees of the maintenance of the military supremacy of the armies of the United States and of the Allies in the field. The President also called the attention of the Government of Germany to that clause of his address on the Fourth of July in which he had demanded "the destruction of every arbitrary power that can separately, secretly and of its single choice disturb the peace of the world, or, if it cannot be presently destroyed, at least its reduction to virtual impotency." He declared that the power which had hitherto controlled the German nation was of the sort thus described, and that its alteration actually constituted a condition precedent to peace.

This answer of the President was greeted with approval in the United States and everywhere in the Allied countries. It meant that the Imperial Power of Germany was not to be allowed to hide itself behind a so-called reorganization done under its own direction. As one of the Senators of the United States expressed it: "It is an unequivocal demand that the Hohenzollerns shall get out."

During these negotiations the Allied armies under Marshal Foch had been driving the enemy before them. When Baron Burian was making his peace offer on behalf of Austria-Hungary the Americans were engaged in pinching off the St. Mihiel salient, and about that date the British were launching their great attack on the St. Quentin defenses. The reports of the great Allied drive indicated a constant succession of Allied victories.

On September 19th, the British advanced into the Hindenburg line, northwest of St. Quentin, and on September 20th, while the American guns were shelling Metz, the British were advancing steadily near Cambrai and La Bassee.

Day by day the advance proceeded. On September 26th, the first American army smashed through the Hindenburg line for an average gain of seven miles, between the Meuse and the Aisne rivers on a twenty-mile front. On September 27th, the French gained five miles in an advance east of Rheims, and the British were attacking in the Cambrai sector on a fourteen-mile front, crossing the Canal du Nord and piercing the Hindenburg line at several points. On September 28th, the Americans reached the Kriemhilde line, while the British were close in on Cambrai. On September 30th, the British took Messines Ridge, while the French were still advancing between the Aisne and Vesle Rivers. On October 1st, the French troops entered St. Quentin and the British took the northern and western suburbs of Cambrai. During the next week an enveloping movement was instituted north and south of Lille. On October 5th, the Germans evacuated Lille, on October 9th the British took Cambrai.

In these drives the American colored troops played a conspicuous part. The entire Three hundred and sixty-fifth regiment, composed wholly of colored troops, was later awarded the coveted Croix de Guerre, or War Cross, by the French Government. It was a well-deserved honor, for the boys of the Three hundred and sixty-fifth bore themselves with great gallantry in the September and October offensive in the Champagne sector and suffered heavy losses. In conferring the Croix de Guerre, the citation dealt in considerable detail with the valor of particular officers and praised the courage and tenacity of the whole regiment.

The Germans were retreating in Belgium day by day, under the attacks of the Belgian and French armies. On October 11th the Germans evacuated the Chemin des Dames. On October 16th the Germans began the evacuation of the Belgian coast region and each day increased the number of Belgian towns once more in Allied control.

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XLVIII. BATTLES IN THE AIR

He who conquers the fear of death is master of his fate. Upon this philosophy fifty thousand young men of the warring nations went forth to do battle among the clouds. The story of these battles is the real romance of the World War. In 1914 no one had ever known and history had never recorded a struggle to the death in the air. When the war ended a new literature of adventure had been created, a literature emblazoned with superb heroisms, with God-like daring, and with such utter disdain of death that they were raised out of the olden ranks of mere earth-crawling mankind and became supermen of the air.

Some of these heroic names became household words during the war. These were the aces of the French, American and German air-forces. The British adopted a policy in news concerning their airmen similar to that governing their publication of submarine sinkings. They argued that the naming of British, Canadian and Australian aces would direct the attacks of German aviators against the most useful men in the British forces. They also felt that publicity would tend toward the swagger which in English slang was "swank" and toward a deterioration in discipline.

Raoul Lufberry, Quentin Roosevelt, son of ex-President Roosevelt, and Edward Rickenbacher were names that figured extensively in news of the American air forces.

Lufberry and Roosevelt were killed in action. Rickenbacher, after dozens of hair-raising escapes from death, came through the war without injury. The pioneer of American aviators in the war was William Thaw of Yale, who formed the original Lafayette Escadrille.

Besides these men, America produced a number of other brilliant aces, an ace being one who brought down five enemy planes, each victory being attested by at least three witnesses.

The French had as their outstanding aces Georges Guynemer and Rene Fonck. Guynemer went into the flying game as a mechanician. He became the most formidable human fighting machine on the western front before he was sent to death in a blazing airplane.

Lieut. Rene Fonck ended the war with a total of seventy-five official aerial victories. He had an additional forty Huns to his credit but not officially confirmed. His greatest day was when he brought down six planes. His quickest work was the shooting down of three Germans in twenty seconds.

He fought three distinct battles in the air when, on May 8, 1918, he brought down six German airplanes in one day. All three engagements were fought within two hours. In all, Fonck fired only fifty-six shots, an average of little more than nine bullets for each enemy brought down--an extraordinary record, in view of the fact that aviators often fired hundreds of rounds without crippling their opponent.

The first fight, in which Lieutenant Fonck brought down three German machines, lasted only a minute and a half, and the young Frenchman fired only twenty-two shots. Fonck was leading two other companions on a patrol in the Moreuil-Montdidier sector on May 8th, when the French squadron met three German two-seater airplanes coming toward them in arrow formation. Signaling to his companions, Lieutenant Fonck dived at the leading German plane and, with a few shots sent it down in flames. Fonck turned to the left, and the second enemy flier followed in an effort to attack him from behind, but the Frenchman made a quick turn above him and, with five shots, sent the second German to death. Ten seconds had barely elapsed between the two victories.

The third enemy pilot headed for home, but when Lieutenant Fonck apparently gave up the chase and turned back toward the French lines the German went after him, and was flying parallel and a little below, when Fonck made a quick turn, drove straight at him and sent him down within half a mile of the spot where his two comrades hit the earth.

The German heroes were the celebrated Captain Boelke, and the no less famous inventor of the "flying circus," Count von Richthofen. Captain Boelke caused a great many Allied "crashes" by hiding in clouds and diving straight at planes flying beneath him. As he came within range, he opened up with a stream of machine-gun bullets. If he failed to get his prey, his rush carried him past his opponent into safety. He rarely re-attacked. Count von Richthofen was responsible for many airplane squadron tactics that later were used on both sides. The planes under his command were gaily painted for easy identification during the thick of a fight. Their usual method was to cut off single planes or small groups of Allied planes, and to circle around them in the method employed by Admiral Dewey for the reduction of the Spanish forts and ships in the Battle of Manila Bay.

The dangers of aerial warfare were instrumental in producing high chivalry in all the encampments of air men. Graves of fallen aviators were marked and decorated by their former foes, and captured aviators received exceptionally good treatment, where foemen aviators could procure such treatment for them.

Until the advent of America into the war, neither side had a marked advantage in aircraft. At first Germany had a slight advantage; then the balance swung to the Allied side; but at no time was the scale tipped very much. American quantity production of airplanes, however, gave to the Entente Allies an overwhelming advantage. Final standardization of tools and design for the "Soul of the American Airplane" was not accomplished until February, 1918. Yet within eight months more than 15,000 Liberty engines, each of them fully tested and of the highest quality, were delivered.

The United States did not follow European types of engines, but in a wonderfully short time developed an engine standardized in the most recent efficiency of American industries.

According to Secretary of War Baker, an inspiring feature of this work was the aid rendered by consulting engineers and motor manufacturers, who gave up their trade secrets under the emergency of war needs. Realizing that the new design would be a government design and no firm or individual would reap selfish benefit because of its making, the motor manufacturers, nevertheless, patriotically revealed their trade secrets and made available trade processes of great commercial value. These industries also contributed the services of approximately two hundred of their best draftsmen. Parts of the first engine were turned out at twelve different factories, located all the way from Connecticut to California. When the parts were assembled the adjustment was perfect and the performance of the engine was wonderfully gratifying.

Thirty days after the assembling of the first engine preliminary tests justified the government in formally accepting the engine as the best aircraft engine produced in any country. The final tests confirmed the faith in the new motor.

British and French machines as a rule were not adapted to American manufacturing methods. They were highly specialized machines, requiring much hand work from mechanics, who were, in fact, artisans.

The standardized United States aviation engine, produced under government supervision, said Secretary of War Baker, was expected "to solve the problem of building first-class, powerful and yet comparatively delicate aviation engines by American machine methods--the same standardized methods which revolutionized the automobile industry in this country."

The manufacture of De Haviland airplanes equipped with Liberty motors was a factor in the war. One of these De Havilands without tuning up, made a non-stop trip on November 11, 1918, from Dayton, Ohio, to Washington, D. C., a distance of 430 miles, in three hours and fifty minutes. Great battle squadrons of these De Haviland planes equipped with Liberty motors made bombing raids over the German lines in the Verdun sector. Others operated as scouting and reconnaissance planes and as spotters for American artillery.

In the period from September 12th to 11 o'clock on the morning on November 11th, the American aviators brought down 473 German machines. Of this number, 353 were confirmed officially. Day bombing groups, from the time they began operations, dropped a total of 116,818 kilograms of bombs within the German lines.

Bombing operations were begun in August by the 96th Squadron, which in five flying days dropped 18,080 kilograms of bombs. The first day bombardment group began work in September, the group including the 96th, the 20th and 11th Squadrons. The 166th Squadron joined the group in November.

In twelve flying days in September the bombers dropped 3,466 kilograms of bombs; in fifteen flying days in October, 46,133 kilograms, and in four flying days in November, 17,979 kilograms.

On November 11th, the day of the signing of the armistice, there were actually engaged on the front 740 American planes, 744 pilots, 457 observers and 23 aerial gunners.

Of the total number of planes, 329 were of the pursuit type, 296 were for observation and 115 were bombers. In addition, several hundred planes of various types were being used at the instruction camps when the war ended.

America, although the last of the great nations to embark upon a great aircraft production program, was the birthplace of the airplane, the Wright Brothers being the undisputed inventors of the modern type.

Wilbur and Orville Wright made their first experiments in flying at Kittyhawk, N. C. Their first attempts were of a gliding nature and were accomplished by starting from the top of a dune or sand hill, the operator lying full length, face downward, on the under plane of the machine. During these experiments they succeeded in flying six hundred feet.

Their first flight with an airplane driven by a motor was on December 17, 1903, when they succeeded in flying about two hundred and seventy yards in fifty-nine seconds. This machine was driven by a sixteen-horse-power motor.

Santos Dumont was one of the early pioneers in aeronautical experiments. After showing a marked talent with balloons, he turned his attention to heavier-than-air machines, and in 1906 created a world's record in a flight of 230 yards at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour.

In 1907 Henry Farnum made a half circular flight in a Voisin biplane, using a fifty-horse-power motor, returning to his starting point. About this time a flight of nine minutes and fifteen seconds was recorded by Delagrande on a Voisin constructed biplane.

The first previously announced public flight was made on July 4, 1908, by Glenn H. Curtiss at Hammondsport, N. Y., and was witnessed by a number of New Yorkers who had gone to Hammondsport to see the flight.

In the winter of 1913-14 Mr. Rodman Wanamaker gave Glenn H. Curtiss a commission to build a flying boat which would fly across the Atlantic. Commander Porte was brought from England, and he, with Mr. Curtiss, worked out the designs for a flying boat much larger than any previously built, and fitted with two motors instead of one. As entirely separate power plants would be used, one motor would naturally run somewhat faster than the other, and it was freely predicted that the machine could not be handled. The first trial, however, proved that it would not only fly, but that after it was once in the air, one motor could be slowed down and even stopped and the machine continue to fly. This machine was the forerunner of the seaplane, used by the American, British and other navies in the war, although somewhat changed in detail. The beginning of the war stopped the transatlantic experiments and this machine found its way into the British navy. It was christened the "America," and the larger flying boats or seaplanes which are now being built and used by the British and American navies are still known as the "America" or super-American type.

At first fighting operations were carried out by individual aviators or comparatively small squadrons, but the battles of March, 1918, witnessed the definite development of larger squadrons, maneuvering as effectively as bodies of cavalry, and in massed formation attacking infantry columns. The possibilities of the new aerial arm were further demonstrated in the creation of a barrage, as effective as that of heavy artillery, for the purpose of holding back advancing bodies of infantry.

In the first days of the German offensive there took place an aerial battle which up to that time was unique in the annals of warfare. It was a battle not merely for the purpose of gaining the mastery of the air, but to aid Allied infantry and artillery in stemming the tide of the German advance, and when the drive finally slowed down and came to a halt in Picardy, the Allied airmen had undoubtedly contributed largely to the result.

During March 21 and 22, 1918--the opening days of the great German drive--there was comparatively little aerial activity. The aviators of both sides were preparing for the impending battle, which actually began on the morning of March 23d and lasted all that day and the day following.

The story of the air battle of March 23d-24th reads like one of the most extraordinary adventure tales ever imagined. The struggle began with squadrons of airplanes ascending and maneuvering as perfectly as cavalry. They rose to dizzy heights, and, descending, swept the air close to the ground. The individual pilots of the opposing sides then began executing all manner of movements, climbing, diving, turning in every direction, and seeking to get into the best position to pour machine-gun fire into enemy airplanes. Every few minutes a machine belonging to an Allied or German squadron crashed to the ground, often in flames. At the end of the first day's fighting wrecked airplanes and the mangled bodies of aviators lay strewn all over the battle-field.

All next day, March 24th, the struggle in the air went on with unabated fury. The Allied air squadrons were now on the offensive and penetrated far inside the German lines. The German aviators counter-attacked whenever they could, and more than once succeeded in crossing the French lines. But at the close of the second day victory rested with the Allied airmen, and during the next five scarcely a German airplane took the air.

The sudden termination of the war caused speculation throughout the world concerning the future of the airplane. When rumor declared that America's newly-won pre-eminence in aviation would disappear, Captain Roy N. Francis, of the Division of Military Aeronautics, made this statement.

America cannot afford to junk the airplane fleet which has cost her so many millions of dollars. I do not believe that any other nation will do so. Even if the peace congress should decide on universal disarmament, there are still any number of uses to which airplanes can be put in time of peace.

Take the air mail service, for instance. This is now only in its infancy, but it is destined to become as common as the railway mail service. It will employ hundreds of airplanes and aviators all over the country.

Then there is the possibility of our machines being used for seacoast patrol work, a valuable addition to our coast-guard forces which save many ocean vessels from disaster every year.

They will be largely used for army dispatch work. Instead of sending official messages from post to post by the present methods, airplanes will be used after the war as they are now being used at the front.

On the Great Lakes, airplanes can be used for coast-guard work, as on the seacoast, and they can also be used for patrolling the lakes themselves. Think how many wrecked lake vessels might have been saved in the past had there been an airplane nearby to carry its message of distress and guide rescue ships to the scene.

Forest patrol is still another opening for the use of expert aviators. Every year, almost, our great forest fires in the northwest demonstrate that our present methods of prevention of forest fires are faulty; chiefly because the fires are not discovered while they are still smoldering. Constant airplane patrol over our great forests would make forest fires a thing of the past.

Then there are any number of commercial uses to which airplanes can be put. Instead of a cargo of bombs, a commercial airplane could carry a cargo of small package freight for which immediate delivery is necessary.

The use of the airplane for passenger carrying is now being developed. The huge Caproni and Handley-Page machines will be used for this purpose in the future. Thousands of persons will want to fly just for the novelty, and the possibility of accidents will be reduced to the minimum.

Again, there is the need for scientific research and improvement of the airplane, which will keep scores of men and machines busy for years.

It will not be necessary, of course, to maintain the numerous government training fields for aviators after the war, but some of the best of them should be retained. I do not believe it will be necessary to discharge a single pilot or observer from the army or to junk a single undamaged airplane after the war.

Henry Woodhouse, Governor of the Aero Club of America and a world-wide authority on aeronautics, made the following forecast:

Aircraft capable of lifting fifteen tons, with a speed of one hundred miles an hour, are now in actual production. The first of the American-built Caproni planes, equipped with four Liberty motors and developing 1,750 horse-power has just been successfully tested. This giant plane has a total lifting capacity of 40,000 pounds, or twenty tons. The super-Handley-Page or the Caproni could easily carry fifty bags, or more than a ton of mail. This means 100,000 letters. Judging the future development of aircraft by what has taken place in the last two years, we may look for the building of a 5,000-horse-power airplane, possibly within a year.

If the people of the various cities along the eight great air-ways already proposed insist on it, at least a dozen additional aerial mail lines can be established within twelve months. This can be done by utilizing only machines not needed by the army or navy. That means it will be possible to send by postplane at least 50,000,000 of the 100,000,000 day and night letters, and at least 25,000,000 of the 50,000,000 special delivery letters that are sent each year in the United States.

Postoffice officials estimate that the average cost of telegraphic day and night letters now going over the wires is close to one dollar each. Special delivery letters average about thirteen cents apiece.

This makes a total of more than fifty million dollars' worth of potential aerial mail business that is simply waiting for the establishment of aerial mail routes which can easily be established within the next twelve months.

Four hundred miles is the distance over which postplane day mail is most effective. Aerial mail letters are effective over any distance, since, with proper stations, light signals and guides for night postplane flying, the air mail can be carried more than one thousand miles between the hours of 6 P. M. and 8 A. M.

The cost of aerial mail night and day letters will be less than that of wire communication. The cost of an aerial mail letter is sixteen cents for two ounces. For this price there can be sent a message that would cost five dollars to send by telegraph.

The estimate of $50,000,000 of potential postplane business takes no account of the possibilities of transporting parcel post aerial mail. One of the Caproni 2,100-horse-power machines now in operation could easily transport 2,500 pounds of mail. At least $25,000,000 worth of parcel post could be sent by airplane.

Enthusiasts who look forward to the transatlantic transportation of aerial mail as certain to come within the next twelve-month assert that there is another twenty-five million dollars' worth of transatlantic mail waiting for an aerial mail service. They point out that Uncle Sam now pays eighty cents a pound to American steamships to carry transatlantic mail and that a charge of one dollar per letter across the Atlantic would be a paying proposition.

[Illustration: Painting] Copyright Illustrated London News. PICKING ONE "OFF THE TAIL" The German Albatross airplane going down in flames was in pursuit of the light British "Quick" machine seen on the left, when suddenly a British Nieuport (at the right) dived through the clouds. The Albatross nose-dived, the British following with his guns working, and soon the German burst into flames and crashed to earth, his pursuer straightening out his course.

[Illustration: Photograph] CARRYING THE WAR INTO GERMANY Mechanics "tuning up" one of the giant British bombing machines developed in 1918 that raided Germany. The size is shown by comparison with the human figures. Note the forward gunner, the pilot, the rear gunner and the window of the commodious cock-pit within which the airmen could stand upright.

Charges of mismanagement and graft were investigated by the United States Senate and by the Department of Justice. Former Justice of the United States Supreme Court Charles E. Hughes was named by President Wilson to conduct the latter inquiry. Waste was found, due largely to the emergency nature of the contract. Justice Hughes recommended that Col. Edward Deeds, of the United States Signal Corps, be tried by court martial for his connection with certain contracts, and recommended that several other persons be tried in the United States courts. Justice Hughes and the Senate Investigation Committee gave their unqualified approval to the management of America's aircraft production by John D. Ryan. Mr. Ryan resigned his charge as head of the Aircraft Production Board in November, 1918. His last public announcement was of the invention of an aerial telephone, by which the commander of a squadron standing on the ground could communicate with-aviators flying in battle formation.

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XLIX. HEALTH AND HAPPINESS OF THE AMERICAN FORCES

Since the fateful day when Cain slew Abel, thereby setting a precedent for human warfare, no fighter has been so well protected from disease and discomfort of mind and body, so speedily cured of his wounds, as the American soldier and sailor during the World War.

The basis of this remarkable achievement was sanitary education preached first by competent physicians and sociologists; then by newspapers to the civilian population; and ultimately by the soldiers and sailors themselves, each man acting as an evangel of personal and community health and sanitation. In 1914, before war was declared, the words "venereal diseases" were relegated to the advertisements of quacks and patent medicines. When the war ended, virtually every young and old man and woman knew the meaning of the words and the miseries that come in their train. So it was with other details of the care of the human body, with sewage problems, with the grave community question of pure water, with the use of intoxicating beverages, and with other problems inter-woven with the health and happiness of humanity.

Among the leaders in this wide-flung campaign of education was the American Red Cross. Starting with a mere nominal membership before the war, its roster rose to the mighty total of more than 28,000,000 American men, women and children when the war ended. More than $300,000,000 was poured into the American Red Cross treasury. In addition to these contributions of money, came the free services of millions of Americans, mostly women. Red Cross workshops dotted the land, and from these came bandages, sweaters, comfort-kits, trench necessities, clothing for homeless refugees, and a vast quantity of material aid in every conceivable form. American Red Cross workers during the war knitted 14,089,000 garments for the army and navy. In addition, the workers turned out 253,196,000 surgical dressings, 22,255,000 hospital garments and 1,464,000 refugee garments. Sewing chapters repaired old clothing and sent it overseas to the orphaned and the widowed, and millions of Americans learned the sublime lesson of sacrifice through the Red Cross--a lesson that left its imprint upon America for generations.

The work of the American Red Cross extended through many lands. It followed the flags of the Entente Allies into Palestine, Mesopotamia, India, South Africa, and other battle-grounds. Its work on the western front was a miracle of achievement. In Russia through the Red Terror of the Revolution the workers of the American Red Cross went serenely about their tasks of mercy, relieving the hungry, aiding the sick, and clothing the ragged peasants.

Henry P. Davidson left the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company to devote his administrative genius to the affairs of the American Red Cross. Other men and women of rare executive ability joined in the free tender of their services to the work of the Red Cross.

While the organization strove mightily against famines, wounds and disease overseas, it was suddenly confronted during the period from September 8th to November 9th, 1918, with the severest epidemic America had experienced in generations. Returning American troops brought the germs of the malady known as "Spanish influenza" into New York and Boston. Thence it spread throughout the country. During its brief career the epidemic claimed a total of 82,306 deaths in forty-six American cities, having a combined population of 23,000,000. Philadelphia, a great center of war industry, with the Philadelphia Navy Yard harboring thousands of sailors and marines, showed the highest mortality in proportion to population, 7.4 per 1,000; Baltimore with 6.7 per 1,000 showed the next greatest mortality.

The record of the Red Cross in this epidemic was one of instant service. Hundreds of thousands of masks were made in Red Cross workrooms, and these were worn by nurses and by members of families in afflicted homes.

On May 1, 1917, just before the appointment of the War Council, the American Red Cross had 486,194 members working through 562 chapters. On July 31, 1918, the organization numbered 20,648,103 annual members, besides 8,000,000 members of the Junior Red Cross--a total enrollment of over one-fourth the population of the United States. These members carried on their Red Cross work through 3,854 chapters, which again divided themselves into some 30,000 branches and auxiliaries.

The total actual collections from the first war fund amounted to more than $115,000,000. The subscriptions to the second war fund amounted to upward of $176,000,000. From membership dues the collections approximated $24,500,000.

The Home Service of the Red Cross with its more than 40,000 workers, extended its ministrations of sympathy and counsel each month to upward of 100,000 families left behind by soldiers at the front.

Supplementing, but not duplicating, the work of the American Red Cross, were the services of the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Knights of Columbus, Jewish Welfare Association, Salvation Army, American Library Association and other bodies.

These operated under the general supervision of the War and Navy departments: Commissions on Training Camp Activities. Raymond B. Fosdick was the chairman of both these bodies. Concerning these commissions, President Wilson declared:

I do not believe it an exaggeration to say that no army ever before assembled has had more conscientious and painstaking thought given to the protection and stimulation of its mental, moral and physical manhood. Every endeavor has been made to surround the men, both here and abroad, with the kind of environment which a democracy owes to those who fight in its behalf. In this work the Commissions on Training Camp Activities have represented the government and the government's solicitude that the moral and spiritual resources of the nation should be mobilized behind the troops. The country is to be congratulated upon the fine spirit with which organizations and groups of many kinds, some of them of national standing, have harnessed themselves together under the leadership of the government's agency in a common ministry to the men of the army and navy.

Afloat and ashore the organizations operating under the supervision of the two commissions gave to the men of the American forces home care, suitable recreation, and constant protection. The club life of the army and navy, both in the training camps and after the men went into the service, was most capably directed by the Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, and the Jewish Welfare Association. Non-sectarianism was the rule in all of the huts and clubs conducted by these organizations. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains mingled with workers of the Salvation Army, with professional prize-fighters who became athletic instructors, with actors and actresses who contributed their talents freely to the entertainment of soldiers and sailors. Moving-picture shows, boxing contests, continuation schools, canteens where women workers served American-made dishes--these were some of the activities following the men. The Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus bore the largest share of this work. More than $300,000,000 was contributed by the people of America to the maintenance of these activities.

The other organizations rounded out the work of the first two organizations and filled in with special attention to needs on which the others did not specialize.

The larger organization, the Y. M. C. A., was chosen by the government to carry out a portion of the government program--the conducting of the canteens.

The Knights of Columbus specialized in comforts less considered by other war relief organizations.

Nothing gave greater relaxation to the fighting man, coming from the trenches, or the battle line caked with mud and blood and weary with long hours, than a shower bath, and generous facilities were provided close to the fighting front.

Back of the lines in the rest billets and concentration camps, provisions were less generous than at the front until the Knights of Columbus took up the task of seeing that the men who were temporarily away from the active fighting had these facilities for bathing. It was but one of the many activities of the Knights of Columbus, but one of the most appreciated.

One of the first requisitions made by Rev. John B. De Valles, one of the first chaplains sent over by the Knights of Columbus, was for a shower bath and he set it up in connection with his headquarters in a little French town and it was overworked from the first. From this spread the movement for establishing shower baths in club houses being opened behind the lines and in villages.

There was no preaching in a Knights of Columbus hall or club room, but there was clean moral environment and healthy recreation and amusement, for this was proven the thing to keep up the morale of fighting men.

The Y. M. C. A. built 1,500 huts in Europe costing from $2,000 to $20,000 each, equipped with canteen, reading and writing and recreational facilities to soldiers. It operated twenty-eight different leave areas with hotels that had a total of 35,000 beds. In addition, in Paris, port towns, and several big centers in the war zone there were "Y" hotels for transient soldiers where one could get a clean bed and a good meal at about half the price charged by French hotels. Over 3,000 movie and theatrical shows a week were provided free, and 300 "Y" athletic directors had charge of the sports in the American army, operating 836 athletic fields. Enormous quantities of cookies and chocolate and cigarettes were supplied.

A hundred of the best known educators from America directed educational work. The staff consisted of Professor Erskine of Columbia University, Professor Daly of Harvard, Professor Coleman of Chicago University, Professor Appleton of the University of Kansas and Frank Spaulding, superintendent of the Cleveland public schools.

Seconding the work of the Y. M. C. A., its sister organization, the Y. W. C. A., extended its activities from the training camps of America to the battle-fields of Europe.

At the close of its first year of America's participation in the war, the Y. W. C. A. had six established lines of work in France:

Hostess Houses, clubs for French working women and business girls, clubs for nurses with the American army, clubs for women of the signal corps, clubs for British women (Waac's) working with the American army, and recreation work for all women employed in any way by the American Expeditionary Force. In one year its activities spread to twenty-five cities, and it had forty-three units.

The Hostess Houses were at Paris and Tours. The Hotel Petrograd, on the Rue Caumartin, was leased in Paris and turned out to be one of the most interesting centers of American life in France. It was run on the most liberal lines, in a thoroughly democratic way. The meals were good and in the big dining-room men were admitted on the same footing as women. There were two of these Hostess Houses at Tours.

For the girls of the signal corps twenty-two homes were opened and there were huts for the Waacs at Bourges and Tours. Y. W. C. A. secretaries were attached to twenty base hospital units and opened fourteen clubs for nurses.

The most interesting and unique work of the Y. W. C. A. was that of its foyers for French working women and business girls. There were thirteen of these in Lyons, Rouen, Bourges, Tours, Ste. Etienne, Paris and Mont Lucon.

The Salvation Army erected hotels at the various large training camps in America, and its workers made American doughnuts for the soldiers close to the battle-lines in France. The work done by the men and women of the Salvation Army aided materially in bringing the heart of America into France.

The Jewish Welfare Association not only performed notable service in following the men from training camps into actual service, but it also planned and executed a great reconstruction program under the direction of Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee.

The American Library Association solved the grave problem of providing the soldiers and sailors with suitable reading matter. Each of the cantonments had its special library building in charge of a trained librarian, and interesting literature followed the men into the field through the services of this organization.

Some idea of the work of these various organizations is gained by reading the following order received by Raymond B. Fosdick at his headquarters in Washington after the steamship Kansas carrying supplies for the various huts at American field quarters, was sunk:

Send 20 tons plain soap, 20 tons condensed milk, 10 tons chocolate, 5 tons cocoa, 2 tons tea, 5 tons coffee, 5 tons vanilla wafers, 50 tons sugar, 20 tons flour, 2 tons fruit essences, 2 tons lemonade powder, 120,000 Testaments, 120,000 hymn-books, tons of magazines and other literature, 30 tons writing-paper and envelopes, 50,000 folding chairs, 500 camp cots, 2,000 blankets, 20 typewriters, 60 tents, 75 moving-picture machines, 200 phonographs, 5,000 records, 1 ton ink blotters, $75,000 worth athletic goods, 30 automobiles and trucks.

The order was filled at once.

Besides the associations above enumerated, other volunteer organizations contributed to the health and happiness of American soldiers and sailors. The Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania established two clubs, one in Paris, the other in Tours, both of which performed notable services in feeding and restoring the spirits of American soldiers and sailors. The club in Paris was under the direction of the Rev. Frederick W. Beekman, and that at Tours was directed by Amos Tuck French. Mrs. Barclay Warburton of Philadelphia was designated by Governor Brumbaugh as Commissioner-General of Overseas Work for the Emergency Aid. Other states had similar organizations looking after the comfort of the men.

But it was upon the professional doctors, nurses and sanitarians that the bulk of the task devolved. This task included the prevention as well as the cure of maladies menacing the American forces. It reached out into years after the war into the problems of re-education and re-habilitation of the shell-shocked and the wounded. Major-General William C. Gorgas, former Surgeon General of the Army, stated this concept when he said:

"The whole conception of governmental and national responsibility for caring for the wounded has undergone radical change during the months of study given the subject by experts serving with the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps and others consulting with them. Instead of the old idea that responsibility ended with the return of the soldier to private life with his wounds healed and such pension as he might be given, it is now considered that it is the duty of the government to equip and re-educate the wounded man, after healing his wounds, and to return him to civil life ready to be as useful to himself and his country as possible."

To carry out this idea reconstruction hospitals were established in large centers of population. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Paul, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Richmond, Atlanta and New Orleans were sites of these institutions. Each was planned as a 500-bed hospital but with provision for enlargement to 1,000 beds if needed.

These hospitals were not the last step in the return of the wounded soldiers to civil life. When the soldiers were able to take up industrial training, further provision was ready.

Arrangements were made by the Department of Military Orthopedics to care for soldiers, so far as orthopedics (the prevention of deformity) was concerned, continuously until they were returned to civil life. Orthopedic surgeons were attached to the medical force near the firing line and to the different hospitals back to the base orthopedic hospital which was established within one hundred miles of the firing line. In this hospital, in addition to orthopedic surgical care, there was equipment for surgical reconstruction work and "curative workshops" in which men acquired ability to use injured members while doing work interesting and useful in itself. This method supplanted the old and tiresome one of prescribing a set of motions for a man to go through with no other purpose than to re-acquire use of his injured part.

Instructors and examiners for all the troops were furnished by the Department of Military Orthopedic Surgery. A number of older and more experienced surgeons acted as instructors and supervisors for each of the groups into which the army was divided.

A peculiar condition arising from the use of heavy artillery in the war was that called "shell-shock."

The most pathetic wrecks of war were soldiers suffering from shattered nerves. Paris had many of them. They appeared to be normal. But they were human wrecks.

Shell-shock or the aftermath of illness from wounds left them in weakened health, subject to violent heart attacks. Most of them lacked energy and perseverance. They became awkward, like big children. If employment was found for them--for many had large families to support--they quickly lost their jobs through apathy or collapse.

A society in Paris did everything possible to relieve the sufferings of these victims of the war. It operated with the authorization of the French Government under the name "L'Assistance aux Blesses Nerveux de la Guerre."

American hospitals after the war contained many of these cases. Some of the victims became incurably insane.

Besides the noble work done by the great army of American physicians, surgeons and nurses, in caring for soldiers and sailors, a service of scarcely less magnitude was rendered to the civilian populations of France, Belgium and Italy. Tuberculosis in France was a real plague, taking a toll of 80,000 lives every year. American physicians and nurses preached the doctrine of fresh air, care of the teeth and proper food for children. Almost immediately this campaign of sanitation had its effect in a decreasing death-rate from tuberculosis.

European nations generally were benefited by the stay of the American army overseas. The straightforward manner in which the social evil was attacked had direct benefits. The important detail of dental care also received an interest through the advent of the American soldier. The London Daily Mail made this comment on that question:

"One thing about the American soldiers and sailors must strike English people when they see these gallant fighters, and that is the soundness and general whiteness of their teeth. From childhood the 'Yank' is taught to take care of his teeth. He has 'tooth drill' thrice daily and visits his dentist at fixed periods, say, every three or four months. If by chance a tooth does decay, the rot is at once arrested by gold or platinum filling. American dentists never extract a tooth. No matter how badly decayed it may be, they save the molar by crowning it with gold.

"The United States soldiers have set us a splendid example in this matter. They fairly shame the ordinary 'Tommy' by the brilliance of their molars, but they will do so no longer if young English mothers will only wake up to the fact that bad teeth cause bad health, and that doctors' and dentists' bills will be saved by the regular use of the tooth-brush."

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L. THE PIRATES OF THE UNDER-SEAS

Germany relied upon the submarine to win the war. This in a nut-shell explains the main reason why the United States was drawn into the World War. Von Tirpitz, the German Admiral, obsessed with the theory that no effective answer could be made to the submarine, convinced the German High Command and the Kaiser that only through unrestricted submarine warfare could England be starved and the war brought to an end with victory for Germany. Since August, 1914, the theory held by von Tirpitz and his party of extremists had been combated by Prince Maximilian of Baden and by Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg and by others high in the council of the Kaiser. These men pointed out that, leaving out such questions as piracy on the high seas, the drowning of women and children, the destruction of the property of neutrals, there still remained the question of expediency. America, they asserted, was certain to enter the war if unrestricted submarine warfare was decreed. These men were denounced as cowards and von Tirpitz finally triumphed.

The submarine employed by the Germans was of the type designed by Simon Lake, an American. The Germans bought two submarines built by Mr. Lake at Kronstadt for the Russians during the Russian-Japanese war. Various improvements upon the Diesel engine and special training for submarine crews enabled the German navy to strike terrible blows during the early part of the war.

Little by little, however, the Allies discovered the answer to the submarine menace. One of these was the convoy: fleets of merchant vessels surrounded by fast destroyers made life a misery for the submarine crews. In the early days vessels of all character fled from the approach of the submarine. The destroyers of the convoys, however, adopted a different method. They rushed at the periscopes in efforts to ram the submarine, and as they raced over the spot where the submarine had been at the rate of twenty-two knots or more an hour, they dropped huge containers, dubbed "ash cans", containing depth charges of trinitrotoluol.

Sea planes carrying bombs, small dirigible balloons known as "blimps," observation balloons moored on the decks of warships, steel nets, and especially devised anti-submarine mines, were also factors in the general work of submarine destruction.

In addition to all these, every ship, both cargo carrier and war vessel, had its well-trained gun crew, and hundreds of thousands of keen-eyed mariners daily and nightly swept the seas with binoculars watching for anything that resembled a periscope.

As a consequence of this combination of destructive agencies the British Admiralty was enabled to announce at the close of the war that more than 150 German submarines had been destroyed.

The names of the commanding officers of the German submarines which had been disposed of were given out by the government in order to substantiate to the world the statement made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on August 7th, and denied in the German papers, that "at least 150 of these ocean pests had been destroyed." The statement included no officers commanding the Austrian submarines, of which a number had been destroyed, and did not exhaust the list of German submarines put out of action.

The fate of the officers was given, and of these the majority (116) were dead; twenty-seven were prisoners of war, six were interned in neutral countries where they took refuge, and one succeeded in returning to Germany.

Further light on the subject of German submarines was given on September 18, 1918, by Senator William H. Thompson of Kansas in a speech in which he told the Senate:

The submarine is no longer a serious menace to transportation across the seas. It is, of course, an annoyance and a great hindrance, and as long as there is a single submarine in the waters of the sea every effort must be made by the allied powers to destroy it, for it is an outlaw and must not exist. The truth is that Germany never had more than 320 submarines all told, including all construction before and since the war.

We have positive knowledge of the destruction of more than one-half of these submarines, and we also know that it is practically impossible for Germany to keep in operation more than 10 per cent of those remaining. It is therefore reduced to a negligible quantity so far as its ultimate effect upon the result of the war is concerned.

1 saw a reliable statement in France to the effect that there is one ship of some character leaving the eastern shores of America for the war zone every six minutes, and it is only a few vessels which are ever torpedoed, estimated at about one per cent. This is less than the loss by storm and accident in the earlier days of transportation and is not much greater than such loss now. We must bear in mind that we read only of the ships which have been torpedoed and see but little account of the hundreds of ships which pass over the ocean safely and undisturbed. Three hundred thousand soldiers are conveyed across the Atlantic every thirty days, and an average of about 500,000 tons of freight carried to the French coast. There are warehouses in only one of the many ports of France with a capacity of over 2,000,000 tons.

It is to the navy that the credit for the destruction of this outlaw seagoing craft is due. The navy is and has been the backbone of this war, the same as it has been of almost every great war in history. Without the allied navy the submarine would have perhaps accomplished its nefarious purpose in starving the European allies and in preventing them from securing the necessary munitions of war to defend themselves. It has utterly failed in this respect. The Allies are amply supplied with food, and there are provisions enough on hand now, if every ship should be sunk, to last the Allies and armies for months. The destroyer is the ship which has brought Germany to her knees in submarine warfare and will keep her there. We have not enough destroyers, and it is for this reason we are obliged in this great transportation problem to run risks which would not be taken under ordinary conditions. If every ship was escorted by a sufficient number of destroyers I doubt if there would be a single ship of any consequence sunk, except by the merest accident.

Upon the same subject, Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the British Admiralty, on October 14th, reviewing the British effort in the war said that during 1918 the casualties of the British on the western front equaled those of all the Allies combined. The British navy, he said, since the beginning of the war had lost in fighting ships of all classes a total of 230, more than twice the losses in war vessels of all the Allies.

In addition to these, Great Britain had lost 450 auxiliary craft, such as mine-sweepers and trawlers, making a total of 680. He revealed the fact that the effective warship barrage, which had been drawn between the Orkneys and Norway against German submarines and surface craft, was, during the later months of the war, maintained largely by ships of the United States.

The British merchant ships lost since 1914 exceeded 2,400, representing a gross tonnage of 7,750,000, nearly three times the aggregate loss of all other allied and neutral countries.

In his statement on the submarine situation he said:

In February, 1917, the ruthless submarine warfare confronted us, whilst the armies in France at that time were feeling a sense of superiority over the enemy which was illustrated by the successes of the battle of Arras, the taking of Vimy Ridge, the advance between the Ancre and the Somme, the offensive in Champagne, Chemin des Dames, Messines and Passchendaele Ridges. Thus we felt, and rightly felt, that the weakest front at that time was the sea--not on the surface, but under water.

The whole of the available energies of the Allies were consequently thrown into overcoming the submarine and the menace which threatened to destroy the lines of communication of the Alliance. The reduced sinkings which have been published since that period show how we gradually overcame that menace--and today most men say that the submarine menace is a thing of the past.

That it is a thing of the past in so far as it can never win the war for the enemy or enable the enemy to prevent us from winning the war, provided we do not underrate the danger but take adequate steps against it, I affirm now as the opinion of the British Admiralty; but it is a menace that comes and goes.

The end of the great submarine menace came on November 20th, when twenty German submarines were officially surrendered to Rear-Admiral Tyrwhitt of the British Navy, thirty miles off Harwich, England. Within the following week more than eighty other German submarines and a number of Austrian craft were also surrendered to the British. The spectacle of the surrender was most impressive.

After steaming some twenty miles across the North Sea, the Harwich forces, which consisted of five light cruisers and twenty destroyers, were sighted. The flagship of Admiral Tyrwhitt, the commander, was the Curacao. High above about the squadron hung a big observation balloon.

The squadron, headed by the flagship, then steamed toward the Dutch coast, followed by the Coventry, Dragoon, Danal and Centaur. Other ships followed in line with their navigation lights showing. The picture was a noble one as the great vessels, with the moon still shining, plowed their way to take part in the surrender of the German U-boats.

Soon after the British squadron started the "paravanes" were dropped overboard. These devices are shaped like tops and divert any mines which may be encountered, for the vessels were now entering a mine field.

Almost everyone on board donned a life belt and just as the red sun appeared above the horizon the first German submarine appeared in sight.

Soon after seven o'clock twenty submarines were seen in line, accompanied by two German destroyers, the Tibania and the Sierra Ventana, which were to take the submarine crews back to Germany after the transfer.

All the submarines were on the surface with their hatches open and their crews standing on deck. The vessels were flying no flags whatever and their guns were trained fore and aft, in accordance with the terms of surrender.

A bugle sounded on the Curacao and all the gun crews took up their stations, ready for any possible treachery.

The leading destroyer, in response to a signal from the admiral, turned and led the way towards England and the submarines were ordered to follow. They immediately did so. The surrender had been accomplished.

Each cruiser turned, and, keeping a careful lookout, steamed toward Harwich. On the deck of one of the largest of the submarines, which carried two 5.9 guns, twenty-three officers and men were counted. The craft was estimated to be nearly 300 feet in length. Its number had been painted out.

Near the Ship Wash lightship three large British seaplanes, followed by an airship, were observed. One of the submarines was seen to send up a couple of carrier pigeons and at once a signal was flashed from the admiral that it had no right to do this.

When the ships had cleared the mine field and entered the war channel the "paravanes" were hauled aboard. On reaching a point some twenty miles off Harwich the ships dropped anchor and Captain Addison went out on the warship Maidstone.

British crews were then put on board the submarines to take them into harbor. With the exception of the engine staffs all the German sailors remained on deck. The submarines were then taken through the gates of the harbor and the German crews were transferred to the transports and taken back to Germany.

As the boats went through the gates a white signal was run up on each of them with the German flag underneath.

Each German submarine commander at the transfer was required to sign a declaration to the effect that his vessel was in running order, that its periscope was intact, that its torpedoes were unloaded and that its torpedo heads were safe.

Orders had been issued forbidding any demonstration and these instructions were obeyed to the letter. There was complete silence as the submarines surrendered and as the crews were transferred.

On November 21st, the German High Seas fleet that had been protected by the submarines surrendered to the combined fleet consisting of British, American and French battleships. The British admiralty's terse statement concerning the historic spectacle follows:

The commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet has reported that at 9.30 o'clock this morning he met the first and main installment of the German high seas fleet, which is surrendering for internment. Admiral Sir David Beatty is Commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet.

On the same day another flotilla of German U-boats also was surrendered to a British squadron. There were nineteen submarines in all; the twentieth broke down on the way.

The Grand Fleet, accompanied by five American battleships and three French cruisers, steamed out at 3 o'clock on the morning of November 21st, from its Scottish base to accept the surrender. The vessels moved in two long columns.

The German fleet which surrendered consisted of nine battleships, five cruisers, seven light cruisers and fifty destroyers, Seventy-one vessels in all. There remained to be surrendered two battleships, which were under repair, and fifty modern torpedo-boat destroyers.

One German destroyer while on its way across the North Sea with the other ships of the German High Seas fleet to surrender struck a mine. It was so badly damaged that it sank.

Describing the surrender of the German warships to Sir David Beatty, the Commander-in-Chief of the grand fleet, correspondents said that after all the German ships had been taken over, the British admiral went through the line on the Queen Elizabeth, every Allied vessel being manned and greeting the admiral and the flagship with loud and ringing cheers.

[Illustration: Painting] GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.

[Illustration: Painting] Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila. THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of water, a picture of the sea's surface is reflected downward from a prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism, hence to the officer's eye. It turns in any direction.

The British grand fleet put to sea in two single lines six miles apart, and so formed as to enable the surrendering fleet to come up the center. The leading ship of the German line was sighted between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning. It was the Seydlitz, flying the German naval ensign.

A telegram received in Amsterdam from Berlin gave this list of surrendered warships, which includes one more battleship than later reports showed:

Battleships--Kaiser, 24,113 tons; Kaiserin, 24,113 tons; Koenig Albert, 24,113 tons; Kronprinz Wilhelm, 25,000 tons; Prinzregent Luitpold, 24,113 tons; Markgraf, 25,293 tons; Grosser Kurfuerst, 25,293 tons; Bayern, 28,000 tons; Koenig, 25,293 tons, and Friedrich der Grosse, 24,113.

Battle Cruisers--Hindenburg, 27,000 tons; Derflinger, 28,000 tons; Seydlitz, 25,000 tons; Moltke, 23,000 tons, and Van Der Tann, 18,800 tons.

Light Cruisers--Bremen, 4,000 tons; Brummer, 4,000 tons; Frankfurt, 5,400 tons; Koeln, tonnage uncertain; Dresden, tonnage uncertain, and Emden, 5,400 tons.

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LI. APPROACHING THE FINAL STAGE

The might and pride of Germany were smashed and humbled by Foch in frontal attacks divided roughly into three great sectors. The first of these attacks was delivered by the French and Americans in the southern sector which included Verdun and the Argonne. The second smash was delivered by British, French and Americans in the Cambrai sector. The third was delivered by British, Belgians, French and Americans in the Belgian sector on the north of the great battle line.

The Cambrai operation had as its first objectives the possession of the strategic railways both of which ran from Valenciennes, one to the huge distribution center at Douai; the other to Cambrai itself. To reach these objectives the Allies were obliged to cross the Sensee and the Escaut canals under infantry and artillery fire. Besides these natural obstacles, there was the famous Hunding line of fortifications erected by the Germans between the Scarpe and the Oise River.

The attack was opened in force on September 18, 1918, by the Fourth British army under General Rawlinson and the First French army under General Debeney. The assault was successful northwest of St. Quentin and determined German counter-attacks were broken down by French and British artillery fire.

The Third British army under General Byng and the Thirtieth American division co-operating with the First British army under Sir Henry Horne, attacked furiously over a fourteen-mile front toward Cambrai. The net result of this operation was the possession of the Canal du Nord, the taking of several villages, and 6,000 prisoners. This was on September 27th. The following day the same forces captured Fontaine-Notre Dame, Marcoing, Noyelles, and Cantaing. More than 200 guns were captured and 10,000 prisoners. On September 29th the Americans took Bellecourt and Nauroy, and invested the suburbs of Cambrai. The British crossed the Escaut canal and the Canadians penetrated some of the environs of Cambrai.

The resolution and ferocity of the attack thoroughly dismayed the Germans, and the salient produced by the smash forced the Teutons to evacuate the greatly prized Lens coal fields on October 3d. Horne and Byng continued their advance, the former occupying Biache-St. Vaast southwest of Douai, and the latter reaching a position five miles northwest of Cambrai.

Caught between the jaws of the pincers, the German forces occupying Cambrai made haste to escape outright capture. The city that had been the objective of British hopes and thrusts for two years, fell into the hands of the Allies. The German retreat extended over a thirty-mile front and included both St. Quentin and Cambrai. Simultaneously the German forces between Arras and St. Quentin fell steadily backward. Le Cateau and Zazeuel fell into the hands of the British October 17th, three thousand prisoners and a quantity of war material being included in the bag.

In the meantime General Mangin attacking in the Laon sector, drove the Germans from the strategic Chemin des Dames and with General Berthelot captured Berry-au-Bac, the St. Gobain massif and completed contact with Generals Pershing and Gouraud on the right and with Generals Rawlinson and Debeney on the left.

The Allied advance now became a huge steel broom, sweeping the Germans irresistibly before it. The operation extended from the Oise southeast to the Aisne, broadening thence until it included the entire front. The Hindenburg line, the Somme battle-field, the Hunding line, were all quickly overrun. The fortress of Maubeuge, fifty miles northeast of St. Quentin, which was connected with that city by a triple railway connection, was evacuated as a direct result of this operation.

When St. Quentin itself fell into the hands of Debeney, it was found that the Germans had deported the entire civilian population of 50,000.

This was the crux of the operations by Foch. Germans were given no rest; night and day the pressure continued. Every clash showed the increasing superiority of the Allies both in men and material and the corresponding deterioration of the German forces. This demoralization of the Germans extended from the High Command to the private soldier. Prisoners poured into the hands of the Allies. Evacuation of Lille was commenced on October 2d and Roubaix and Turcoing also fell.

It was the beginning of Germany's military debacle. The time was ripe for the coup-de-grace soon to be delivered by Americans co-operating with the Allies on a seventy-one mile front.

The Kaiser, Ludendorf and von Hindenburg abandoned hope. The command went forth from the German general headquarters to retreat, retreat, retreat, while Prince Maximilian of Baden appealed to America for an armistice. The sword in Germany's hand was broken. Autocracy, defeated in the eyes of its deluded subjects and discredited in the eyes of the world, was in headlong flight. Its only concern was to save as much as possible from the ruins of the ostentatious temple it had reared.

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LII. LAST DAYS OF THE WAR

From November 1st until November 11th, the day when the armistice granting terms to Germany was signed, the collapse of the German defensive was complete. The army that under von Hindenburg and Ludendorf had smashed its way over Poland, Roumania, Serbia, Belgium, and into the heart of France, was now a military machine in full retreat. It is only justice to that machine to say that the great retreat at no place degenerated into a rout. Von Hindenburg and the German General Staff had planned a series of rear-guard actions that were effective in protecting the main bodies of infantry and artillery. Machine-gun nests and airplane attacks were the main reliance of the Germans in these maneuvers of delay, but the German field artillery also did its share.

Immense quantities of material and many thousands of prisoners were captured by the British, Canadians and Australians in the north, and by the French and Americans in the south. Simultaneously with this wide and savage drive upon the Germans along the Belgian and French fronts, came the heaviest Italian attack of the war. Before it the Austrians were swept in a torrent that was irresistible. French, English and American troops co-operated in this thrust that extended from the plains of the Piave into Trentino. The immediate effect of the Italian offensive was to force Austria to her knees in abject surrender. An armistice, humiliating in its terms, was signed by the Austrian representatives, and the back door to Germany was opened to the Allies.

Germany's frantic plea for an armistice followed. There were those in the Allied countries who maintained that nothing short of unconditional surrender should be permitted. Cooler counsel prevailed, and an armistice was offered to the German High Command through General Foch, the terms of which far exceeded in severity those granted to Turkey and Austria. These were read for the first time by Germany's representatives on Friday, November 8th. General Foch, when he gave the document to the German delegation, declared that Germany's decision must be made within seventy-two hours. Eleven o'clock on Monday, November 11th, was the time limit permitted to Germany. The armistice was signed by General Foch and the German representatives on the morning of November 11th, but fighting did not actually cease until eleven o'clock, several hours after the terms had been agreed to. This was in accordance with arrangement made between the signers.

Sedan, where Marshals McMahon and Bazaine, commanding the armies of Napoleon III, surrendered to the King of Prussia in 1870, marked the last notable victory of the American forces in France. The Sedan of 1870 marked the birth of German militarism. The Sedan of 1918 marked its death.

Preceding the advance of the Americans upon Sedan, came a cloud of aviators in pursuit and bombing planes, headed by the famous aces of the American forces. The First and Second divisions of the First army led the way. In the van of the Second division were the Marines, whose heroism in Belleau Wood marked the beginning of Germany's end. The famous Rainbow division made the most savage thrust of the action, pursuing the foe for ten miles and sweeping the Freya Hills clear of machine nests and German artillery.

The last action of the war for the Americans followed immediately on the heels of the battle of Sedan. It was the taking of the town of Stenay. The engagement was deliberately planned by the Americans as a sort of battle celebration of the end of the war. The order fixing eleven o'clock as the time for the conclusion of hostilities, had been sent from end to end of the American lines. Its text follows:

1. You are informed that hostilities will cease along the whole front at 11 o'clock A. M., November 11, 1918, Paris time.

2. No Allied troops will pass the line reached by them at that hour in date until further orders.

3. Division commanders will immediately sketch the location of their line. This sketch will be returned to headquarters by the courier bearing these orders.

4. All communication with the enemy, both before and after the termination of hostilities, is absolutely forbidden. In case of violation of this order severest disciplinary measures will be immediately taken. Any officer offending will be sent to headquarters under guard.

5. Every emphasis will be laid on the fact that the arrangement is an armistice only and not a peace.

6. There must not be the slightest relaxation of vigilance. Troops must be prepared at any moment for further operations.

7. Special steps will be taken by all commanders to insure strictest discipline and that all troops be held in readiness fully prepared for any eventuality.

8. Division and brigade commanders will personally communicate these orders to all organizations.

Signal corps wires, telephones and runners were used in carrying the orders and so well did the big machine work that even patrol commanders had received the orders well in advance of the hour. Apparently the Germans also had been equally diligent in getting the orders to the front line. Notwithstanding the hard fighting they did Sunday to hold back the Americans, the Germans were able to bring the firing to an abrupt end at the scheduled hour.

The staff and field officers of the American army were disposed early in the day to approach the hour of eleven with lessened activity. The day began with less firing and doubtless the fighting would have ended according to plan, had there not been a sharp resumption on the part of German batteries. The Americans looked upon this as wantonly useless. It was then that orders were sent to the battery commanders for increased fire.

Although there was no reason for it, German ruthlessness was still rampant Sunday, stirring the American artillery in the region of Dun-sur-Meuse and Mouzay to greater activity. Six hundred aged men and women and children were in Mouzay when the Germans attacked it with gas. There was only a small detachment of American troops there and the town no longer was of strategical value. However, it was made the direct target of shells filled with phosgene. Every street reeked with gas.

Poorly clad and showing plainly evidences of malnutrition, the inhabitants crowded about the Americans, kissing their hands and hailing them as deliverers. They declared they had had no meat for six weeks. They virtually had been prisoners of war for four years and were overwhelmed with joy when they learned that an armistice was probable.

The last French town to fall into American hands before the armistice went into effect was Stenay. Patrols reported they had found it empty not more than a quarter of an hour before eleven o'clock. American troops rushed through the town and in a few minutes Allied flags were beginning to appear from the windows. As the church bell solemnly tolled the hour of eleven, troops from the Ninetieth division were pouring into the town.

The inhabitants told the usual stories of German treatment. They were forced to work at all sorts of tasks from seven in the morning until six at night. In return they received paper bills with which they were unable to purchase milk and similar necessities. The majority, however, were so overjoyed at their deliverance that they were almost incoherent in discussing the enemy occupation.

The inhabitants of Stenay remained hiding in their cellars even after the Americans had entered the town. They came out hesitatingly and in small groups.

Hostilities along the American front ended with a crash of cannon.

The early forenoon had been marked by a falling off in fire all along the line, but an increasing bombardment from the retreating Germans at certain points stimulated the Americans to a quick retort. From their positions north of Stenay to southeast of the town the Americans began to bombard fixed targets. The firing reached a volume at times almost equivalent to a barrage.

Two minutes before eleven o'clock the firing dwindled, the last shells shrieking over No Man's Land precisely on time.

There was little celebration on the front line, where American routine was scarcely disturbed over the cessation of fighting. In the areas behind the battle zone there were celebrations on all sides. Here and there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances were not on the immediate front.

Many of the French soldiers went about singing.

"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."

The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went about their appointed tasks.

In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet. They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.

Flags appeared like magic over the shell-torn buildings of Verdun, French and American colors flying side by side.

In every village, even those from which the Germans had been driven, there were flags and decorations which were brought up to the front by the soldiers. In the villages back of the line there were impromptu celebrations and the civilians in holiday spirit saluted the Americans, shouting "the war is finished."

Northeast of Verdun, just before 11 o'clock, American artillery-men in loading a six-inch howitzer, wrote "good-luck" on a ninety-pound shell and "let 'er go." The shot was aimed at the crossroad at Ornas, just ahead of the American lines.

While the bells of the ancient Verdun Cathedral were ringing the news of peace the fortress city was illuminated and a military procession headed by the drum corps of the Twenty-sixth American division swung along the crowded streets accompanied by a French detachment of buglers representing the famed defenders of Verdun.

Only a half hour before the Germans had thrown large shells within the city walls, apparently as a reminder that Verdun was still within the range of their guns to the hills to the northeast.

Monday afternoon and night virtually was the first time that Verdun had not been shelled in many hours almost since the war began.

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LIII. THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER

The end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional Surrender."

Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice. The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five severe requirements.

The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Austria's hand. The terms under which it was permitted to capitulate were even harder than those granted to Turkey. They comprised eighteen requirements divided into military and naval clauses.

Germany, proud, imperial Germany, met the greatest humiliation of all the Teutonic allies when the Kaiser and the German High Command were brought to their knees. Thirty-five clauses, the most severe and drastic ever demanded from a great power, were included in the armistice agreement. Only the imminent menace of an invasion of Germany would have sufficed to compel the German representatives to sign such a document. Following are the drafts of the Turkish, Austrian and German armistice agreements.

THE TURKISH AGREEMENT

1. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the Black Sea. Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Bosporus forts.

2. The positions of all mine fields, torpedo tubes and other obstructions in Turkish waters are to be indicated, and assistance given to sweep or remove them, as may be required.

3. All available information concerning mines in the Black Sea is to be communicated.

4. All Allied prisoners of war and Armenian interned persons and prisoners are to be collected in Constantinople and handed over unconditionally to the Allies.

5. Immediate demobilization of the Turkish army, except such troops as are required for surveillance on the frontiers and for the maintenance of internal order. The number of effectives and their disposition to be determined later by the Allies.

6. The surrender of all war vessels in Turkish waters or waters occupied by Turkey. These ships will be interned in such Turkish port or ports as may be directed, except such small vessels as are required for police and similar purposes in Turkish territorial waters.

7. The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies.

8. Use by Allied ships of all ports and anchorages now in Turkish occupation and denial of their use by the enemy. Similar conditions are to apply to Turkish mercantile shipping in Turkish waters for the purposes of trade and the demobilization of the army.

9. Allied occupation of the Taurus Tunnel system.

10. Immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from Northern Persia to behind the pre-war frontier already has been ordered and will be carried out.

11. A part of Transcaucasia already has been ordered to be evacuated by Turkish troops. The remainder to be evacuated, if required by the Allies, after they have studied the situation.

12. Wireless, telegraph and cable stations to be controlled by the Allies. Turkish Government messages to be excepted.

13. Prohibition against the destruction of any naval, military or commercial material.

14. Facilities are to be given for the purchase of coal, oil, fuel and naval material from Turkish sources, after the requirements of the country have been met. None of the above materials are to be exported.

15. The surrender of all Turkish offices in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to the nearest Italian garrison. Turkey agrees to stop supplies and communication with these officers if they do not obey the order to surrender.

16. The surrender of all garrisons in Hedjaz, Assir, Yemen, Syria and Mesopotamia to the nearest Allied commander, and withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cilicia, except those necessary to maintain order, as will be determined under Clause 6.

17. The use of all ships and repair facilities at all Turkish ports and arsenals.

18. The surrender of all ports occupied in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, including Mizurata, to the nearest Allied garrison.

19. All Germans and Austrians, naval, military or civilian, to be evacuated within one month from Turkish dominions, and those in remote districts as soon after that time as may be possible.

20. Compliance with such orders as may be conveyed for the disposal of equipment, arms and ammunition, including the transport of that portion of the Turkish army which is demobilized under Clause 5.

21. An Allied representative to be attached to the Turkish Ministry of Supplies in order to safeguard Allied interests. This representative to be furnished with all aid necessary for this purpose.

22. Turkish prisoners are to be kept at the disposal of the Allied Powers. The release of Turkish civilian prisoners and prisoners over military age is to be considered.

23. An obligation on the part of Turkey to cease all relations with the Central Powers.

24. In case of disorder in the six Armenian vilayets the Allies reserve to themselves the right to occupy any part of them.

25. Hostilities between the Allies and Turkey shall cease from noon, local time, Thursday, the 31st of October, 1918.

THE AUSTRIAN AGREEMENT Military Clauses

1. The immediate cessation of hostilities by land, sea and air.

2. Total demobilization of the Austro-Hungarian army and immediate withdrawal of all Austro-Hungarian forces operating on the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. Within Austro-Hungarian territory, limited as in Clause 3 below, there shall only be maintained as an organized military force reduced to pre-war effectiveness. Half the divisional, corps and army artillery and equipment shall be collected at points to be indicated by the Allies and United States of America for delivery to them, beginning with all such material as exists in the territories to be evacuated by the Austro-Hungarian forces.

3. Evacuation of all territories invaded by Austro-Hungary since the beginning of the war. Withdrawal within such periods as shall be determined by the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces on each front of the Austro-Hungarian armies behind a line fixed as follows:--

From Pic Umbrail to the north of the Stelivo it will follow the crest of the Rhetian Alps up to the sources of the Adige and the Eisaeh, passing thence by Mounts Reschen and Brenner and the heights of Oetz and Zoaller. The line thence turns south, crossing Mount Toblach and meeting the present frontier Carnic Alps. It follows this frontier up to Mount Tarvis and after Mount Tarvis the watershed of the Julian Alps by the Col of Predil, Mount Mangart, the Terglou and the watershed of the Cols di Podberdo, Podlaniscam and Idria. From this point the line turns southeast towards the Schneeberg, excludes the whole basin of the Save and its tributaries. From Schneeberg it goes down towards the coast in such a way as to include Castua, Mattuglia and Volosca in the evacuated territories.

It will also follow the administrative limits of the present province of Dalmatia, including the north Lisarica and Trivania and, to the south, territory limited by a line from the Semigrand of Cape Planca to the summits of the watersheds eastwards, so as to include in the evacuated area all the valleys and water course flowing towards Sebenaco, such as the Cicola, Kerka, Butisnica and their tributaries. It will also include all the islands in the north and west of Dalmatia from Premuda, Selve, Ulbo, Scherda, Maon, Paga and Puntadura in the north up to Meleda in the south, embracing Santandrea, Busi, Lisa, Lesina, Tercola, Curzola, Cazza and Lagosta, as well as the neighboring rocks and islets and passages, only excepting the islands of Great and Small Zirona, Bua, Solta and Brazza. All territory thus evacuated shall be occupied by the forces of the Allies and of the United States of America.

All military and railway equipment of all kinds, including coal belonging or within those territories, to be left in situ and surrendered to the Allies, according to special orders given by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the different fronts. No new destruction, pillage or requisition to be done by enemy troops in the territories to be evacuated by them and occupied by the forces of the associated Powers.

4. The Allies shall have the right of free movement over all road and rail and waterways in Austro-Hungarian territory and of the use of the necessary Austrian and Hungarian means of transportation. The armies of the associated Powers shall occupy such strategic points in Austria-Hungary at times as they may deem necessary to enable them to conduct military operations or to maintain order. They shall have the right of requisition on payment for the troops of the associated Powers whatever they may be.

5. Complete evacuation of all German troops within fifteen days not only from the Italian and Balkan fronts, but from all Austro-Hungarian territory. Internment of all German troops which have not left Austro-Hungary within the date.

6. The administration of the evacuated territories of Austria-Hungary will be entrusted to the local authorities under the control of the Allied and associated armies of occupation.

7. The immediate repatriation without reciprocity of all Allied prisoners of war and internal subjects and of civil populations evacuated from their homes on conditions to be laid down by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the various fronts. Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by Austria-Hungary personnel, who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.

Naval Clauses

1. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all Austro-Hungarian ships. Notification to be made to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.

2. Surrender to Allies and the United States of fifteen Austro-Hungarian submarines completed between the years 1910 and 1918 and of all German submarines which are in or may hereafter enter Austro-Hungarian territorial waters. All other Austro-Hungarian submarines to be paid off and completely disarmed and to remain under the supervision of the Allies and United States.

3. Surrender to Allies and United States with their complete armament and equipment of three battleships, three light cruisers, nine destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, one mine layer, six Danube monitors, to be designated by the Allies and United States of America. All other surface warships, including river craft, are to be concentrated in Austro-Hungarian naval bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of Allies and United States of America.

4. Freedom of navigation to all warships and merchant ships of Allied and associated Powers to be given in the Adriatic and up the River Danube and its tributaries in the territorial waters and territory of Austria-Hungary. The Allies and associated Powers shall have the right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions, and the positions of these are to be indicated. In order to insure the freedom of navigation on the Danube, the Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy or to dismantle all fortifications or defense work.

5. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allied and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all Austro-Hungarian merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture, save exceptions may be made by a commission nominated by the Allies and the United States of America.

6. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and impactionized in Austro-Hungarian bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America.

7. Evacuation of all the Italian coasts and of all ports occupied by Austria-Hungary outside their national territory and the abandonment of all floating craft, naval materials, equipment and materials for inland navigation of all kinds.

8. Occupation by the Allies and the United States of America of the land and sea fortifications and the islands which form the defenses and of the dockyards and arsenal at Pola.

9. All merchant vessels held by Austria-Hungary belonging to the Allies and associated Powers to be returned.

10. No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.

11. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the Allied and associated Powers in Austro-Hungarian hands to be returned without reciprocity.

THE GERMAN AGREEMENT

1. Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the signature of the armistice.

2. Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which have not left the above-mentioned territories within the period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms.

3. Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within fifteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, including hostages and persons under trial or convicted.

4. Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred heavy, two thousand five hundred field), twenty-five thousand machine guns, three thousand minenwerfers, seventeen hundred airplanes. The above to be delivered in situ to the Allies and the United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the annexed note.

5. Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be administered by the local troops of occupation under the control of the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation of these territories will be carried out by Allied and United States garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in thirty kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly holding the strategic points of the regions.

A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometers (twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of thirty kilometers (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further period of sixteen days, in all thirty-one days after the signature of the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated according to the note annexed.

6. In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered as well as military stores of food, munitions, equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner impaired. No person shall be prosecuted for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing of the armistice.

7. All civil and military personnel at present employed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, one hundred fifty thousand wagons and five thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated Powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within thirty-six days, together with all pre-war personnel and material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. All civil and military personnel at present employed on such means of communication and transporting including waterways shall remain.

8. The German command shall be responsible for revealing within forty-eight hours all mines or delay acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals.

9. The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allies and the United States armies in all occupied territory, "subject to regulation of accounts with those whom it may concern." The upkeep of the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be charged to the German Government.

10. An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United States prisoners of war. The Allied Powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, in course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of war interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. The repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the conclusion of the preliminaries of peace.

11. Sick and wounded, who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.

12. All German troops at present in any territory which before the war belonged to Roumania, Turkey or Austria-Hungary shall immediately withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914. German troops now in Russian territory shall withdraw within the frontiers of Germany, as soon as the Allies, taking into account the internal situation of those territories, shall decide that the time for this has come.

13. Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military agents now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled.

[Illustration: Photograph] French Official Photograph. DRAFTING THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER The above French official photograph is the first received in this country showing the statesmen of the Allied Powers at Versailles drafting the armistice terms, which later were accepted by the German plenipotentiaries, and virtually brought the World War to an end. The men in the photograph are: Left side of table, left to right--General di Robilant of Italy; Baron Sidney Sonnino, Italian Foreign Minister; Vittorio Orlando, Italian Premier; Colonel E. M. House, representative of President Wilson; General Tasker H. Bliss, U. S. A.; (next man unknown); Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek Premier; Vesnitch, Serbian Premier. Right, side of table, left to right--Admiral Wemyss, R. N. (with back turned); General Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; General Sackville-West; Andrew Bonar Law, British Chancellor of the Exchequer; David Lloyd George, British Premier; Georges Clemenceau, French Premier; Stephen Pichon, French Foreign Minister.

[Illustration: Photograph] Copyright Press Illustrating Service. GERMANS FLEEING BEFORE ALLIED ADVANCE To speed their retreat the German engineers built a temporary bridge using a British tank as a foundation.

[Illustration: Photograph] Copyright Press Illustrating Service. THE GERMAN GOOSE-STEP The Kaiser reviews his troops marching with the goose-step. This photograph shows the pick of the German army. Most of these men were killed by the end of the first year of the war.

14. German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures and any other undertakings with a view to obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914).

15. Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties.

16. The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the populations of those territories and for the purpose of maintaining order.

17. Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa within a period to be fixed by the Allies.

18. Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause three, paragraph nineteen.

19. The following financial conditions are required: Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation of the cash deposit, in the National Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money together with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Roumanian gold yielded to Germany or taken by that Power. This gold to be delivered in trust to the Allies until the signature of peace.

20. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and merchant marines of the Allied and associate Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.

21. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the Allied and associated Powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity.

22. Surrender to the Allies and the United States of America of all German submarines now existing (including all submarine cruisers and mine-laying submarines), with their complete armament and equipment, in ports which will be specified by the Allies and the United States of America. Those which cannot take the sea shall be disarmed of the material and personnel and shall remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. All the conditions of the article shall be carried into effect within fourteen days. Submarines ready for sea shall be prepared to leave German ports immediately upon orders by wireless, and the remainder at the earliest possible moment.

23. The following German surface warships which shall be designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports, to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely:

Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the United States of America. All vessels of the auxiliary fleet (trawlers, motor vessels, etc.) are to [be] disarmed. Vessels designated for internment, shall be ready to leave German ports within seven days upon directions by wireless, and the military armament of all vessels of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore.

24. The Allies and the United States of America shall have the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be indicated.

25. Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers. To secure this Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and without German territorial waters without any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are to be indicated.

26. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all German merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United States shall give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary.

27. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States.

28. In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and all stores and apparatus of all kinds.

29. All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned.

30. All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the Allied and associated Powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity.

31. No destruction of ships or materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.

32. The German Government will notify neutral governments of the world, and particularly the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether by the German Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately canceled.

33. No transfers of German merchant shipping of any description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the armistice.

34. The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice. It is understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them into execution. In order to assume the execution of this convention under the best conditions, the principle of a Permanent International Armistice Commission is admitted. This commission shall act under authority of the Allied military and naval commanders-in-chief.

35. This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within seventy-two hours of notification.

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LIV. PEACE AT LAST

War came upon the world in August, 1914, with a suddenness and an impact that dazed the world. When it seemed, in 1918, that mankind had habituated himself to war and that the bloody struggle would continue until the actual exhaustion and extinction of the nations involved, peace suddenly appeared. The debacle of the Teutonic alliance was both dramatic and unexpected, except to those who knew how desperate were the conditions in the nations that were battling for autocracy. Bulgaria was first to crumble, then Turkey fell, and Austria-Hungary deserted Germany. The Kaiser and his military advisers, left alone, appealed to the Allies through President Wilson, for an armistice during which peace terms might be negotiated. Prince Maximilian of Baden, a statesman whose liberal ideas were rumored rather than demonstrated, was chosen to open negotiations. President Wilson, acting in concert with the Allies, referred Prince Maximilian to Marshal Foch.

While negotiations were pending, a cabled message was received on November 7th to the effect that the armistice had been signed and that all soldiers would cease fighting on two o'clock of that afternoon. It was a false report, but it spread with incredible speed throughout the country. Celebrations which included virtually every American, made the country a gala place for twenty-four hours. The American people with characteristic good nature laughed at the hoax next day and settled down in patience to await the inevitable declaration of an armistice.

The true report arrived about three o'clock, Eastern time, in the morning of November 11th. Shrieks of whistles, the booming of cannon, and the clangor of bells, awoke millions of sleeping persons, many of whom trooped into the streets to mingle their rejoicings with those of their neighbors. For a day there was high carnival in town and country throughout the land, then the nation settled down to face the imminent problems of reconstruction.

One of these had to do with the immediate reduction of governmental expenditures during the approaching year. President Wilson had appealed to the voters to elect a Democratic Congress as an evidence of approval for his administration. The reply was a Republican House of Representatives and a Republican Senate.

The Congress that had been in continuous session since America entered the war, ended its labors in mid-November.

For length, bulk of appropriations for the war and the number and importance of legislative measures passed, the session was unprecedented.

Appropriations passed aggregated $36,298,000,000, making the total for this Congress more than $45,000,000,000, of which $19,412,000,000 was appropriated at the first (an extra) session, at which war was declared on Germany.

Legislation passed included bills authorizing billions of Liberty bonds; creation of the War Finance Corporation; government control of telegraphs, telephones and cables; executive reorganization of government agencies, and extensions of the espionage act and the army draft law by which men between eighteen and forty-five years of age were required to register.

Prohibition and woman suffrage furnished sharp controversies throughout the session. The war-time "dry" measure was completed, but after the woman suffrage constitutional amendment resolution had been adopted, January 10th, by the House, it was defeated in the Senate by two votes.

Every man, woman and child in the belligerent nations owed almost seven times as much money when peace came as he did at the beginning of the war.

Figures of the war's cost to the world compiled by the Federal Reserve Board were summarized in the statement that the approximate public debt per capita had increased from $60 before the war to almost $400 at the end of July, 1918. To this was added the cost since July, which is at the highest rate of the entire period.

The direct cost of the war was calculated by the board at somewhere between $170,000,000,000 and $180,000,000,000, not taking into account the authorization of the debt or the cost of indemnities.

Four-fifths of the huge burden fell upon the shoulders of the future, only Great Britain and America absorbing a considerable amount by taxation.

The total debt of the seven principal belligerents before the war did not exceed $25,000,000,000.

The board contrasted these figures with the total value of the gold and silver extracted from the earth since the beginning of the world, which, it said, hardly exceeded $30,000,000,000.

The belligerent nations, therefore, owed about six times the amount of all the gold and silver produced in all time.

Prices rose to three times the average of what they were at the beginning of the war.

Great Britain's debt increased almost ten times over in the period of the war, or from $3,580,000,000 to $32,450,000,000 down to June, 1918. These figures do not include the debts of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, British colonies.

France's debt was quadrupled by the beginning of 1918, increasing from $6,833,000,000 to $25,410,000,000.

Italy's debt rose from $2,929,000,000 to $6,918,000,000.

Figures for Russia were brought up only to September, 1917, but they showed that at that time she owed $26,287,000,000, as compared with $5,234,000,000 at the beginning of the war.

The public debt of the United States was calculated to January 1, 1918, in order to be in line with those of other countries, increasing by that date to over $8,000,000,000 from a pre-war figure of a billion and a quarter. Since that time $11,500,000,000 have been subscribed to the Liberty Loans, thus increasing the national debt about sixteen fold.

The most extraordinary increase of all was that of Germany, rising from $1,208,000,000 to $26,332,000,000.

Austria owed $2,736,000,000 at the beginning of the war, which was increased by June, 1917, to $11,573,000,000.

Hungary increased her debt from $1,392,000,000 to $5,910,000,000 by December, 1917.

The neutrals, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland together owed $2,871,000,000 when war began and increased their debts only to $3,710,000,000.

Existing war obligations of the United States at the close of 1918 matured as follows:

First Liberty Loan, $2,000,000,000, redeemable at the option of the Treasury after 1932 and payable not later than 1947; Second Liberty Loan, $3,808,000,000, redeemable after 1927, payable in 1942; Third Liberty Loan, $4,176,000,000, redeemable and payable without option in 1928; Fourth Liberty Loan, $6,989,047,000, redeemable after 1933, payable in 1938; War Savings, $879,300,000 up to November, 1918, payable in 1923.

With this program of maturity, the Treasury by exercising its option could call in the nation's war debt for redemption in installments every five years until 1947.

Secretary of the Treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo, who was also Director General of Transportation, created a sensation when he resigned both offices in November, 1918, the resignation to take effect January 1, 1919. Coming upon the eve of the peace conference in Paris and the announcement that President Wilson intended to head the American delegates to the conference, the resignation caused widespread surprise. The reasons given by Mr. McAdoo were ill-health and a serious depreciation of his private fortune during his incumbency of governmental positions.

Following the armistice, steps were immediately taken for the repatriation of a considerable portion of the American forces in France and the return to their homes of the men in American training camps. The Third Army of the United States, commanded by General Dickman, was ordered to the western shore of the Rhine, there to co-operate with the troops of the Allies until the conclusion of peace negotiations.

The country was amazed on November 23d when General March announced that the casualties of the American forces which had been anticipated as being less than 100,000, had in reality exceeded 236,000. Explanation for this lay in the fierce on-rush of the American forces during the last month of the war.

A forecast that many thousands of American boys would remain in France was given by Andre Tardieu, General Commissioner for Franco-American affairs, when addressing the Association of Foreign Correspondents in New York City, after the armistice had been signed.

M. Tardieu appealed for permission to retain American soldiers in France. He said:

"We want first an immediate assistance in the matter of labor. We hope that, during the preparation and the carrying out of the transportation of your troops back to America your technical units as well as other units with their equipment will be able to co-operate in that effort. We soon will have to carry out a colossal work of transportation in view of the supplying of the regions evacuated by the enemy, of the recovering of the railroads in Northern and Eastern France and in Alsace-Lorraine. We will have to clean the reconquered ground of the ruins accumulated by the German hordes. Your army will help us in this work while our population will restore her cities and villages.

"Again in reference, not to all purchases--as a large part of our needs will be supplied outside of the United States--but in reference to those purchases which will be made in America, we are in need of credits in dollars covering about fifty per cent of our total purchases for reconstruction. The assurance of that financial help will bring to every one in France, government and private enterprise, the courage and faith necessary to apply to peace reconstruction the energy and the spirit of enterprise she has so prominently shown during the war.

"We will exact from Germany the restitution of each part of the material taken away from us as can be recovered. But, besides that restitution, we must bear in mind that speed is a primary condition in the reconstruction of France, and that America, on account of her immense capacities for production, ought to give us the first help. We need ships, chartered ships as well as ships transferred to our flag; the speedy reconstruction of the country is strictly depending on the revival of our mercantile fleet.

"The colossal effort put up by the United States in the building of her fleet for war purposes will not be diverted from this sacred end if it, in part, helps France to recover on the seas, for the revival of her forces in peace, the means of transportation which were lost to her on account of the war.

"In reference to these four items--labor; credit, raw materials, ships--I have explained in detail our needs to your administration, by whose welcome I have been deeply moved. What I told them, what I asked for, I am telling it to you again, because a policy of secrecy does not befit our day.

"We have lost two million and a half men; some are dead, some maimed, some have returned sick and incapacitated from German prisons. Whether they be lost altogether, or whether their working capacity be permanently reduced, they will not participate in this reconstruction. The fifteenth part of our people is missing at the very time we need all our material and moral forces in order to build up our life again. The younger part, yea, the stronger part of our nation, the flower of France, has died away on the battle-fields. Our country has been bereft of its most precious resources.

"Our war expenses, on the other side, 120,000,000,000 francs, are weighing heavily on our shoulders. To payoff this debt there are at hand only such limited resources as invasion has left us. The territories which have been under German occupation for four years were the wealthiest part of France. Their area did not exceed six per cent of the whole country. They paid, however, twenty-five per cent of the sum total of our taxes.

"These territories which have been, for the last three months, occupied again by us at the cost of our own blood and of the blood of our allies, are now in a state of ruin even worse than we had anticipated. Of the cities and villages nothing remains but ruins; 350,000 homes have been destroyed. To build them up again--I am referring to the building proper, without the furnishings--600 million days' of work will be necessary, involving, together with building material, an outlay of 10,000,000,000 francs. As regards personal property of every description either destroyed by battle, or stolen by the Germans, there stands an additional loss of at least 4,000,000,000 francs.

"This valuation of lost personal property does not include--as definite figures are lacking as yet--the countless war contributions and fines by the enemy, amounting also to billions. I need hardly say that, in those wealthy lands, practically no agricultural resources are left.

"The losses in horses and in cattle, bovine and ovine species, hogs, goats, amount to 1,510,000 head--in agricultural equipment to 454,000 machines or carts--the two items worth together 6,000,000,000 francs.

"Now as regards industries, the disaster is even more complete. These districts occupied by the Germans and whose machinery has been methodically destroyed or taken away by the enemy, were, industrially speaking, the very heart of France. They were the very backbone of our production, as shown in the following startling figures:

"In 1913 the wool output of our invaded regions amounted to 94 per cent of the total. French production and corresponding figures were: For flax from the spinning mills, 90 per cent; iron ore, 90 per cent; pig iron, 83 per cent; steel, 70 per cent; sugar, 70 per cent; cotton, 60 per cent; coal 55 per cent; electric power, 45 per cent. Of all that, plants, machinery, mines, nothing is left. Everything has been carried away or destroyed by the enemy. So complete is the destruction that, in the case of our great coal mines in the north, two years of work will be needed before a single ton of coal can be extracted and ten years before the output is brought back to the figures of 1913.

"All that must be rebuilt, and to carry out that kind of reconstruction only, there will be a need of over 2,000,000 tons of pig iron, nearly 4,000,000 tons of steel--not to mention the replenishing of stocks and of raw materials which must of necessity be supplied to the plants during the first year of resumed activity. If we take into account these different items we reach as regards industrial needs a total of 25,000,000,000 francs.

"To resurrect these regions, to reconstruct these factories, raw materials are not now sufficient; we need means of transportation. Now the enemy has destroyed our railroad tracks, our railroad equipment, and our rolling stock, which in the first month of the war, in 1914, was reduced by 50,000 cars, has undergone the wear and tear of fifty months of war.

"Our merchant fleet, on the other hand, has lost more than a million tons through submarine warfare. Our shipyards during the last four years have not built any ships. For they have produced for us and for our allies cannon, ammunition, and tanks. Here, again, for this item alone of means of transportation we must figure on an expense of 2,500,000,000 francs.

"This makes, if I sum up these different items, a need of raw material which represents in cost, at the present rate of prices in France, not less than 50,000,000,000 francs.

"And this formidable figure, gentlemen, does not cover everything. I have not taken into account the loss represented for the future production of France by the transformation of so many factories which for four years were exclusively devoted to war munitions. I have not taken into account foreign markets lost to us as a result of the destruction of one-fourth of our productive capital and the almost total collapse of our trade. I have not taken into account the economic weakening that we will suffer tomorrow owing to that loss, to which I referred a while ago, of 2,500,000 young an vigorous men."

This was one of the great by-products of the war. Thousands of young Americans, vigorous evangels of democratic thought, remained in Europe to bring American ideals and American force into the affairs of the old world.

Those who returned were formidable factors in re-shaping the affairs of the nation. Grave injustices were done in some instances to young men who had volunteered in the early days of the war through patriotic motives and who returned to find their places in industry taken by others. In the main, however, the process of absorption went forward steadily and without serious incident.

One factor making for satisfactory adjustment was the insurance system put into effect by the United States Government, affecting its war forces. Immediately following the armistice, the following announcement was made:

Preparations by the government for re-insuring the lives of soldiers and sailors on their return have been hastened by the signing of the armistice. Although regulations have not yet been fully drafted, it is certain that each of the 4,250,000 men in the military or naval service now holding voluntary government insurance will be permitted within five years after peace is declared to convert it without further medical examination into ordinary life, twenty-pay life, endowment maturing at the age of sixty-two, or other prescribed forms of insurance.

This insurance will be arranged by the government, not by private companies, and the cost is expected to be at least one-fourth less than similar forms offered by private agencies. The low cost will result from the fact that the government will pay all overhead administration expenses, which, for private companies, amount to about seventeen per cent of premium receipts; will save the usual solicitation fees and, in addition, bear the risk resulting from the wounding or weakening of men while in the service. Private companies would not write insurance on many wounded men, or their rates would be unusually high.

The government will arrange to collect premiums monthly, if men wish to pay that way, or for longer periods in advance. This may be done through post-offices. The minimum amount of insurance to be issued probably will be $1,000, and the maximum $10,000, with any amount between those sums in multiple of $500. There will be provision for payments in case of disability as well as death, according to the tentative plan.

Thus will be created out of the government's emergency war insurance bureau the greatest life insurance institution in the world for peace times, with more policyholders and greater aggregate risks than a half dozen of the world's biggest private companies combined. Out of the experience gained may eventually develop expansion of government insurance to old age, industrial and other forms of insurance, in the opinion of officials who have studied the subject.

Regulations for reinsuring returning soldiers and sailors are being framed by an advisory board to the military and naval section of the war risk bureau, consisting of Arthur Hunter, actuary of the New York Life Insurance Company; W. A. Fraser, Omaha, of the Woodmen of the World, and F. Robertson Jones, of the Workmen's Compensation Publicity Bureau, New York.

Plans also are under consideration for allowing beneficiaries of men who have died or been killed in the service to choose between taking monthly payments over a period of twenty years or to commute these payments in a lump sum.

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LV. AMERICA'S POSITION IN WAR AND PEACE

By common consent of the Entente Allies, President Wilson was made the spokesman for the democracy of the world. As Lloyd George, Premier Clemenceau of France, Premier Orlando of Italy, and other Europeans recognized, his utterances most clearly and cogently expressed the principles for which civilization was battling against the Hun. More than that, these statesmen and the peoples they represented recognized that back of President Wilson were the high ideals of an America pledged to the redemption of a war-weary world.

The war produced a sterility in literature. Out of the great mass that was written, however, two productions stood out in their nobility of thought and in their classic directness of expression. These were the address before Congress by President Wilson on the night of April 2, 1917, when, recognizing fully the dread responsibility of his action, he pronounced the words which led America into the World War, and the speech made by him on Monday, November 11, 1918, when addressing Congress he announced the end of the war. Other declarations of the President that will be treasured as long as democracy survives, are those enunciating the fourteen points upon which America would make peace, and two later declarations as to America's purposes.

His address of April 2d was delivered before the most distinguished assemblage ever gathered within the hall of the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court of the United States, headed by the Chief Justice, every member of the embassies then resident in Washington, the entire membership of the House and Senate, and a host of the most distinguished men and women that could crowd themselves into the great hall, listened to what was virtually America's Declaration of War.

The air was still and tragic suspense was upon every face as the President began his address. At first he was pale as the marble rostrum against which he leaned. As he read from small sheets typewritten with his own hand, his voice grew firmer and the flush of indignation and of resolution overspread his countenance. He said:

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:

I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making.

On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland on the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.

I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of noncombatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people can not be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

It is a war against all nations: American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion.

When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual: it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice we can not make, we are incapable of making; we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life.

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it; and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war.

What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable co-operation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all respects but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of war at least five hundred thousand men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation.

I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans.

In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our own military forces with the duty--for it will be a very practical duty--of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there.

[Illustration: Photograph] British Official Photograph BELGIAN SOVEREIGNS RE-ENTER BRUGES King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium saluting the Allied colors, on their triumphal entry into Bruges at the head of their victorious army, October 23, 1918.

[Illustration: Photograph] Copyright International Film Service. SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN HIGH SEAS FLEET Actual photograph showing the greatest naval surrender in history--the German fleet arriving to surrender. Below, The commanders of the British and American fleets, Admirals Beatty and Rodman, the King of England and the Prince of Wales viewing the surrender.

I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees, measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly fall.

While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the 22d of January last; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states.

We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs.

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own.

Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thoughts, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a League of Honor.

One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gauge of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.

Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion, and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.

I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights.

It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us--however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship--exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few.

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.

His address to Congress on November 11, 1918, while all the Allied Nations were celebrating with exultant hearts the victory that had come to them, was no less dramatic than the speech that had marked the beginning of the war. He prefaced it by reading the drastic terms of the armistice granted to Germany. Continuing he said:

The war thus comes to an end; for, having accepted these terms of armistice, it will be impossible for the German command to renew it.

It is not now possible to assess the consequences of this great consummation. We know only that this tragical war, whose consuming flames swept from one nation to another until all the world was on fire, is at an end and that it was the privilege of our own people to enter it at its most critical juncture in such fashion and in such force as to contribute, in a way of which we are all deeply proud, to the great result. We know, too, that the object of the war is attained; the object upon which all free men had set their hearts; and attained with a sweeping completeness which even now we do not realize. Armed imperialism such as the men conceived who were but yesterday the masters of Germany is at an end, its illicit ambitions engulfed in black disaster. Who will now seek to revive it?

The arbitrary power of the military caste of Germany which once could secretly and of its own single choice disturb the peace of the world is discredited and destroyed. And more than that--much more than that--has been accomplished. The great nations which associated themselves to destroy it have now definitely united in the common purpose to set up such a peace as will satisfy the longing of the whole world for disinterested justice, embodied in settlements which are based upon something much better and more lasting than the selfish competitive interests of powerful states. There is no longer conjecture as to the objects the victors have in mind. They have a mind in the matter, not only, but a heart also. Their avowed and concerted purpose is to satisfy and protect the weak as well as to accord their just rights to the strong.

The humane temper and intention of the victorious governments have already been manifested in a very practical way. Their representatives in the Supreme War Council at Versailles have by unanimous resolution assured the peoples of the Central Empires that everything that is possible in the circumstances will be done to supply them with food and relieve the distressing want that is in so many places threatening their very lives; and steps are to be taken immediately to organize these efforts at relief in the same systematic manner that they were organized in the case of Belgium. By the use of the idle tonnage of the Central Empires it ought presently to be possible to lift the fear of utter misery from their oppressed populations and set their minds and energies free for the great and hazardous tasks of political reconstruction which now face them on every hand. Hunger does not breed reform; it breeds madness and all the ugly distempers that make an ordered life impossible.

For with the fall of the ancient governments, which rested like an incubus on the peoples of the Central Empires, has come political change not merely, but revolution; and revolution which seems as yet to assume no final and ordered form, but to run from one fluid change to another, until thoughtful men are forced to ask themselves, with what governments and of what sort are we about to deal in the making of the covenants of peace? With what authority will they meet us, and with what assurance that their authority will abide and sustain securely the international arrangements into which we are about to enter? There is here matter for no small anxiety and misgiving. When peace is made, upon whose promises and engagements besides our own is it to rest?

Let us be perfectly frank with ourselves and admit that these questions cannot be satisfactorily answered now or at once. But the moral is not that there is little hope of an early answer that will suffice. It is only that we must be patient and helpful and mindful above all of the great hope and confidence that lie at the heart of what is taking place. Excesses accomplish nothing. Unhappy Russia has furnished abundant recent proof of that. Disorder immediately defeats itself. If excesses should occur, if disorder should for a time raise its head, a sober second thought will follow and a day of constructive action, if we help and do not hinder.

The present and all that it holds belongs to the nations and the peoples who preserve their self-control and the orderly processes of their governments; the future to those who prove themselves the true friends of mankind. To conquer with arms is to make only a temporary conquest; to conquer the world by earning its esteem is to make permanent conquest. I am confident that the nations that have learned the discipline of freedom and that have settled with self-possession to its ordered practice are now about to make conquest of the world by the sheer power of example and of friendly helpfulness.

The peoples who have but just come out from under the yoke of arbitrary government and who are now coming at last into their freedom will never find the treasures of liberty they are in search of if they look for them by the light of the torch. They will find that every pathway that is stained with the blood of their own brothers leads to the wilderness, not to the seat of their hope. They are now face to face with their initial test. We must hold the light steady until they find themselves. And in the meantime, if it be possible, we must establish a peace that will justly define their place among the nations, remove all fear of their neighbors and of their former masters, and enable them to live in security and contentment when they have set their own affairs in order. I, for one, do not doubt their purpose or their capacity. There are some happy signs that they know and will choose the way of self-control and peaceful accommodation. If they do, we shall put our aid at their disposal in every way that we can. If they do not, we must await with patience and sympathy the awakening and recovery that will assuredly come at last.

FOURTEEN PRINCIPLES OF PEACE

On Tuesday, January 8, 1918, President Wilson placed the peace terms of the United States Government before both houses of Congress, in joint session. The fourteen principles were:

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understanding of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

3. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

5. A free, open-minded and absolutely impartial adjustment of all Colonial claims based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty, the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest co-operation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy, and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs, as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.

8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871, in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interests of all.

9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognized lines of nationality.

10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and restored, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development.

11. Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro should be evacuated, occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea, and the relations of the several Balkan States to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity, of the several Balkan States, should be entered into.

12. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule, should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

13. An independent Polish State should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenants.

14. General association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

President Wilson in his address to Congress on February 11, 1918, presented these four principles which are to be applied in arranging world peace:

1. That each part of the final settlement must be based upon the essential justice of that particular case and upon such adjustments, as are most likely to bring a peace that will be permanent.

2. That peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game now forever discredited, of the balance of power; but that

3: Every territorial settlement must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned, and not as part of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims amongst rival states; and,

4. That all well-defined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them without introducing new or perpetuating old elements of discord and antagonism that would be likely in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently of the world.

President Wilson, in his Liberty Loan address in New York on September 27th, thus stated this government's interpretation of its duty with regard to peace:

1. The impartial justice meted out must involve no discrimination between those to whom we wish to be just and those to whom we do not wish to be just. It must be a justice that plays no favorites and knows no standard but the equal rights of the several peoples concerned;

2. No special or separate interest of any single nation or any group of nations can be made the basis of any part of the settlement which is not consistent with the common interests of all;

3. There can be no leagues or alliances or special covenants and understandings within the general and common family of the League of Nations;

4. And more specifically, there can be no special, selfish economic combinations within the league and no employment of any form of economic boycott or exclusion except as the power of economic penalty by exclusion from the markets of the world may be vested in the League of Nations itself as a means of discipline and control.

5. All international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world.

[Illustration: Map: Europe, North Africa, East Asia.] THE WAR ZONE ESTABLISHED BY GERMANY, FEBRUARY, 1917, THAT BROUGHT AMERICA INTO THE WAR.

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LVI. THE WAR BY YEARS

Germany's military strength developed during forty years of preparation, and the offensive plans of the German High Command developed in connection with an extraordinary spy service in France, Belgium, Russia, England and the United States, culminated in a simultaneous campaign on land and by sea, affecting these five nations.

AUGUST 1, 1914-AUGUST 1, 1915

Belgium and Northern France were overrun by a German invading force under General von Kluck. The heroic effort of the French army under General Joffre and a supreme strategic thrust at the German center by General Foch turned back the German tide at the battle of the Marne. The scientific diabolism of the German High Command was revealed when poison gas was projected against the Canadians at Ypres, torturing, blinding and killing thousands.

German terrorism on the high seas culminated in the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast. Men, women and children to the number of 1,152 lost their lives. Of these 102 were Americans.

German colonies in South Africa were invaded by British South African troops under General Louis Botha, who during the Boer War commanded a division against the British. The German holdings at Tsing-Tau and in the Marshall Islands were seized by Japan.

German cruisers that had raided sea-going commerce were destroyed. The most noted of these was the Emden, which was defeated and destroyed by the Australian cruiser Sydney off the Cocos Islands.

German sea power was further humiliated in a running fight off Helgoland in which the battle cruiser Blucher was sunk and in a battle off the Falkland Islands in which three German cruisers were destroyed.

Italy entered the war on May 23,1915, and invaded Austria on a sixty-mile front. Russian forces, after early successes, were defeated at Tannenburg by von Hindenburg, the outstanding military genius on the German side.

The development of aircraft as an aid to artillery and as a destructive force on its own account, was rapid, and the use of machine guns and hand grenades in trench operations became general.

AUGUST 1, 1915-AUGUST 1, 1916

The tragic sea and land operations at the Dardanelles and Gallipoli marked this year with red in British history. Sir Douglas Haig succeeded Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of British forces in France. The outstanding operation of the British forces on the western front was the bloody battle of the Somme, beginning July 1st, and continuing until the fall of 1915. The losses on both sides in that titanic struggle staggered two continents. Especially heroic were the attacks of the Canadians in that great battle and especially heavy were the losses in killed and wounded of the Canadian regiments. They ranked in magnitude with the depletion that came to the Australian and New Zealand armies in the fatal Gallipoli campaign.

This year will be glorious forever in the annals of France because of the heroic defense at Verdun. That battle tested to the limit the offensive strength of the German machine and it was found lacking in power to pierce the superhuman defense of the heroic French forces under Petain and Nivelle.

Bulgaria entered the war on October 14, 1915, with a declaration of war against helpless Serbia. Greece, torn by internal dissensions, inclined first to one side, then to the other. The occupation of Saloniki by French and British expeditionary forces finally swung the archipelago to the Allies.

A British Mesopotamian force under General Townshend, poorly equipped and unsupported, was cut off in Kut-el-Amara, and surrendered to the Turks on April 29, 1916.

The Italian forces under General Cadorna made a sensational advance terminating in the capture of Gorizia. Portugal entered the war on the side of the Allies after it had refused to give up to Germany several German ships interned in Portuguese ports.

An object lesson in German submarine possibilities was given America when the Deutschland, a super-submarine cargo vessel, arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 9, 1916. The Deutschland later was converted into a naval submarine and re-visited American shores, sinking a number of merchant vessels. It was one of the German submarine fleet surrendered to the Allies in November, 1918.

Russia proved itself to be a military ineffective. German armies under von Mackensen and von Hindenburg occupied Warsaw, Brest-Litovsk, Lutsk, and Grodno. Grand Duke Nicholas was removed from the command of the Russian armies and Czar Nicholas assumed command.

Germany's pretensions to sea power ended with the battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916, when its High Seas fleet fled after a running fight with British cruisers and destroyers. Never, thereafter, during the war did the German ships venture out of the Bight of Helgoland.

AUGUST 1, 1916-AUGUST 1, 1917

This year was marked by two dramatic episodes. The first of these was the sudden entrance and the equally sudden exit of Roumania as a factor in the World War.

The second was the appearance of the United States which became the deciding factor in the war.

Roumania created enthusiasm in Allied countries when it declared war on Austria-Hungary August 27th. A sudden descent by a Roumanian army into Transylvania on August 30th was hailed as the harbinger of further successes. These hopes were turned to ashes when von Mackensen headed an irresistible German and Austrian rush which fairly inundated Roumania. The retreat from Transylvania by the Roumanians was turned into a rout. Bulgarian forces invaded the Dobrudja region of Roumania and on November 28th the seat of the Roumanian Government was transferred from Bucharest, the capital, to Jassy. Roumania ceased to be a factor in the war on December 6th, when Bucharest fell to von Mackensen. Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary died on November 22d, while Austrian hopes were at their highest.

America's appearance as a belligerent was forecast on January 31, 1917, when Germany announced its intention of sinking all vessels in a blockade zone around the British Isles. Count von Bernstorff was handed his passports on February 3d, and on April 2d President Wilson, in a remarkable address to Congress, advised a declaration of war by the United States against Germany. This was consummated by a formal vote of Congress declaring war on April 6th.

This action by America was followed by the organization of a Council of National Defense. Under this body the resources of the nation were mobilized. The council was later virtually abandoned as an organizing factor, its functions going to the War Industries Board, presided over by Bernard Baruch; the Fuel Administration, under Dr. Harry A. Garfield; the War Trade Board, with Vance C. McCormick at its head; and other governmental bodies. George Creel headed the Committee on Public Information.

Conscription was decided upon as the foundation of America's war-making policy, and the training of officers and privates in great training camps was commenced. Great shipping and aircraft programs were formulated and the nation as a whole was placed upon a war footing.

The Russian revolution beginning in bread riots in Petrograd, spread throughout that country, with the result that Russia disappeared as one of the Entente Allies.

FROM AUGUST 1, 1917-NOVEMBER 11, 1918

America's might and efficiency were revealed in the speed and thoroughness with which her military, naval and civilian resources were mobilized and thrown into the conflict. Under the supervision of the Chief of Staff, two million American soldiers received the final touches in their military training and were transported safely overseas. They became the decisive factor in the war during the summer and fall of 1918. To their glory be it recorded they never retreated. Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel, Siecheprey, Boureches Wood, Cantigny, Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Sedan and Stenay are names that will rank in American history with Yorktown, New Orleans and Gettysburg. The "land of dollars" became over night the "land of high ideals" to the civilized world. Lightless nights in cities, restriction of the use of gasoline on Sundays and daylight-saving legislation linked civilians to soldiers in war effort.

Italy suffered a severe reverse beginning October 24, 1917, when the German forces rushed through a portion of the Italian army that had been honey-combed with pro-German Socialistic propaganda.

Canada again emblazoned its name in history through the heroic capture of Passchendaele on November 6, 1917.

The Russian revolution turned to the Bolsheviki when Lenine and Trotsky at the head of the Reds seized Petrograd on November 7th and deposed Alexander Kerensky, leader of the Moderate Socialists. The Czar Nicholas was executed by the victorious Bolsheviki and the Imperial family made captives.

The British Mesopotamian forces advanced into Palestine and Mesopotamia, destroying the Turkish army under Ahmed Bey in a battle terminating September 29, 1917. General Stanley Maude, the leader of the expedition, died in Mesopotamia November 18, 1917.

General Allenby commanding British and Arabian forces, routed and destroyed three Turkish armies in Palestine, capturing Jerusalem which had been held by the Turks for six hundred and seventy three years.

The turning point of the war came on March 29, 1918, when General Foch was chosen Commander-in-Chief of all the Allied forces. This followed Germany's great drive on a fifty-mile front from Arras to La Fere. Successive German thrusts were halted by the Allied forces now strongly reinforced by Americans.

Foch, patiently biding his time, elected to halt the German drive with Americans. The Marines of the United States forces were given the post of honor, and at Chateau-Thierry the counter-thrust of Foch was commenced by a complete defeat of the Prussian Guard and other crack German regiments, by the untried soldiers of America.

From Chateau-Thierry to the armistice which went into effect at eleven o'clock on November 11th was only a short span of time, but in it was compressed the humiliation of arrogant Teutonic imperialism, the destruction of militaristic autocracy, and the liberation of the world.

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