Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, February 22, 1918, Image 1
The Atlanta Semi-weekly Journal VOLUME XX. HUNS CONTROL JIS OVER U. S. FRONT. OFFICERS ADMIT Thirty-Five German Airplanes Destroyed in Past Three Days and Nineteen Driven Down—Bombing Operations WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Feb. -20.—(8y the Associated Press) —Control of the air in the Amer ican sector belongs to the enemy. Army officers at the front will make this de claration—all have made IL The con trol is obvious. German airplanes come and go over the American lines almost at will. Every time the Germans come over their path the sky is speck ed by fleecy shrapnel puffs, but the hances of hitting an airplane with an ti-aircraft shells is so remote that the enemy aviators calmly fly along as if on a pleasure tour. Every now and then airplanes on this side attack the enemy, always when they get a chance. Rut the Roche is clever while flying and manages to come over and take pictures, make observations and do virtually whatever else he desires and sail home without interruption. Nearly always he Is at an altitude of about 3,000 me ters where he is comparatively safe from anti-aircraft fire and knows it- It is not permitted to name any offi cer* of the American expeditionary force. It is not permitted to quote them If both were auowcd it would be possible to carry quotations from virtually every officer at th» front urg ing a speed.' appearance of large num bers of airplanes with American pilots. For there is only one way to wrest control of the air from the enemy, that ■ s to fight him for it in the sky and relieve • him of it by force of over whelming numbers. t Right now. if the Germans knew American airplanes were waiting for them every time they came over the line their trips would be less frequent. Neither would they dare to attempt sueh a bold piece of work as when they reeently flew over the line with an air plane disguised with the allied red. white and blue bulls rye marking and cut loose with a machine gun on American soldiers in the trenches. If there had been American plane s nearby the chances of the Germans get ting hack home after such a trick would bo anal!. And it is extremely doubt ful. officers say. if they ever would have tried it. An officer also will say that the safe ty of individual soldiers depends upon xeoping the enemy from doing as he pleases overhead. For days the Ger mana have been flying over certain towns where American troops have been rest ing after periods in the trenches. Once or twice theae daylight observation tours have been followed the same night by visits by enemy bombing plane.-. So free and unrestricted are the Ger man airmen that in some towns the commands are under -strict orders .to disappear under cover the moment a German airplane is sighted. Moreover, officers say. more and more German planes are appearing in the sky and In various quarters there is a prow :ng belief, that these are the first of the machines which the tiermans have been building feverishly to offset the large number of expected American airplanes in accordance with plans announced in the United States Whether this belief is true or not the fact remains that American troops are holding the sector and arc endangered daily became there arc no American air planes with them. The question most asked from one end of the American front to the other is: "When are some American planes coming here"” Aero Chib to Act on Condition at the Front NEW TORK. Feb. fll.—A special meeting of the executive board of the Aero Club of America was called here today to consider and take action upon the airplane situation on the American front in France as told in dispatches from the American front. The reports would indicate the situ ation is indeed serious,” an official of the club said. "Our executive board will meet today and we shall take im mediate steps to ascertain if we can : do anything that will assist the gov ernment in removing the menace. It has been truly said that ‘the war will be won in the air,’ and if the Germans, as the dispatches say. are In control, we must speed up our preparations to wrest It from them.” Famous Airmen Escape From German Prison AMSTERDAM. bVb. 31.—Lieutenant Roland G. Garros, the famous French •aviator, and Lieut. Antoine Marchal. who flew over Berlin in the summer of 1916 and was forced to descend a few kilome tres from the Russian lines, reached Hol land yesterday. According io Les Nou vel les. of they escaped from a German prison. Lieutenant Marchai. starting from French soil, flew over Berlin in July. 1916. dropping proclamations, and con tinued his flight with the intention of landing within the Rusmm lines. He was forced by motor trouble to descend in Poland and was taken prisoner by the Austrians. He made a continuous flight of more than 800 miles, establish ing a record. Lieutenant Garro- was a prominent aviator before the war. holding several world's records. He brought down a number of German airplanes, and was taken prisoner in the spring of 1915. Kaiser Replies to Carranza’ MEXICO CITY. Feb. 31.—Emperor William's reply to President Carranza's birthday message to him of January 37 was given out officially here today. It reads: "I am very grateful to you for your tmfable telegram of felicitation on the occasion of my birthday. I send to you. Mr. President, my sincere thanks to getner with my best wishes for your self and for the prosperity of the Mex ican people. (Signed) “WILHELM. "Emperor and King.” Full Associated Press Service DETAILS OF PARLEY BETWEEN RUSSIANS AND KUEHLMANN German Representatives Said Nothing When Trotzky Sug gested Opposition of People of Central Powers to Force PETROGRAD. Feb. 16.—i Delayed)— The central powers delegates refused the proposal of Foreign Minister Trot sky to send a German officer to Kieff. to prove that the Ukraine rad a (governing body) did not exist. The following day the tenth plenary session of the peace conference was called. Foreign Minister Kuelniann. hushed with his diplomatic victory over the Ukraine, arose to present General Luden dorff's ultimatum directed at the Bolshe viki. Trotzky. anticipating him .took the floor and read the declaration, breaking off the negotiations. There was dead si lence. When Trotzky had concluded, Kuehlmann and General Hoffman sat apparently stunned. Kuehlman finally hinted it was “Impossible to quit the war cart without the proper ticket." “You evidently are suggesting that your guns are a proper substitute for proper judicial formula.” said Trotzky. Hoffman nodded affirmatively. "I don't believe the peoples of Aus tria and Germany will pennit you to do that.” continued the Russian minister. None of the central powers representa tives replied. Kuehlmann finally muttered that it was necessary to settle the diplomatic details and suggested another session. Trotzky refused saying: “We must return to Petrograd. We have no more to say. If you have any thing to say the radio is still working.” The Russian delegates departed with out bidding farewell and refusing to shake bands. The announcement of Russia's de cision to accept the German terms, was sent by wireless at 5 o'clock Tuesday morning. At first the German wireless station showed a disposition to refuse to take the message, but finally, four hours later, acknowledged it. Bolshevik leaders held repeated con ferences throughout Tuesday, and later in the afternoon received the German reply, refusing to accept the wireless message as official and requesting that a delegation be sent to Dvinsk to confer with regard to peace. The Russian press is divided as to the wisdom of the council’s action. The Pravda says the soldiers and work mens' delegates have again shown wil lingness to make peace and carry out their pledges and that whether Ger many accepts the offer or not. the Bol shevik! have won a moral victory. The Nova Jizn says the Bolshevik! have brought the affair to an ignominous end and have proved themselves adventur ers who are willing to keep the/nselves in power at any price. Cotton 801 l Weevil Not Exterminated by Recent Cold Weather WASHINGTON, Feb. 21.—“1t is ex tremely unwise for cotton farmery to assume that the freezes of the last few weeks have exterminated the- cotton boll weevil,” the department of agri culture announced today in answer to many inquiries from the south. The department said it was to be hoped that planters would not be led into increasing their cotton acreage at the expense of raising foodstuffs and thus not only fail in their patriotic duty, but at the same lime suffer finan cial loss from boll weevil. The neces sity for the south to produce its own food this year was stressed. "During the past winter the tempera tures have been lower than at any time since 1'99." the statment continued, "and there can hardly be any doubt that this extreme cold has reduced the num ber of weevils in many sections of the south. The impression has been gained by many planters that the weevil has been reduced to negligible numbers, if not altogether exterminated. It is too much to expect that the temperatures have been uniformly cold enough to absolutely exterminate the weevil from large areas.” Read the Second Installment of “The Truth About Belgium” in This Issue By BRAND WHITLOCK YOU who missed the first installment of this great story in the last issue of THE SEMI WEEKLY JOURNAL must not miss the rest. The second installment of this great narrative given by one who saw it with his own eyes—is given in this issue. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS IT. Brand Whitlock began his story before the Ger mans began their terrible ravage of Belgium, and he touches on the great personages of the Belgium legation— some of the German legation. He de scribes the beauty of their homes and cathedrals, which have since been destroyed and ruined —the owners having been exiled. He did not know at this time what terrible brutality and ignoble treat ment was to be practiced in this land of now — Peace and Beauty. But this is just the beginning of what is to come. He tells how the Germans enter Belgium; what treatment the people received. No man. ".oman or child was spared; what*devastation and Subscribe Now—We Cannot Furnish Back Numbers It will not be necessary for you to write a letter if you sign your name and address to this coupon and send to us with your remittance. , The Semi-Weekly Journal. Atlanta, Ga.: Enclosed find $ for which send me The Atlanta Semi-Weekly Journal for months Name P. O R. F. D. No ‘State sin cany busy ! ON WESTERN HUB WENTHER IS IDEAL ■Thirty-Five German Airplanes Destroyed During Past Three Days and Nineteen Driven Down BY WXLIIAM FHJXuLP SIWttS WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN ■ THE FIELD. Feb. 21.—Air cavalry has i been successfully and extremely busy during the past few gorgeous days in the high, freezing sun-filled heavens. Hindenburg’s aerial uhlans are at tempting to hold off Haig's cloud hurd i ling lancers, which are daily observing J preparations for the German offen | five. I Thirty-five German war planes have I been destroyed in the lft.st three days • and nineteen driven earthward, uncon ‘ trolled—a total of fifty-four “quietused" I by the Britishers, of whom only ten are ' missing despite the severest and aJinost I unending fighting day and night. While Hindenburg and Ludendorff i are poring over the details of their im- ■ pending forlorn hope the air is filled with the throbbing of motors, the faint , patter of machine guns and the thun der of air bombs exploding in towns and : villages behind the fighting lines. The Hrit'sh airmen have dropped [ huge quantities of explosives on billet*. ' ammunition dumps railway stations | and aerodromes in the roofs, machine- • gunned marching columns, disrupted I Iran, port trains ard wrecked big gun ' pits. The fine freezing weather has j a’ded them greatly. Meantime. British troops are busy raiding and repulsing raids. Short sharp clashes arc constantly occurring. , The ice in shell holes is suffiicently I strong to support the death grappling i men. The Britishers are in fine fettle, not I nervous and ready whenever Hinden- I burg starts. While this may happen any day, the Germans may try to sur prise the alliese by a sudden shift, or may attempt to produce a state of “crisis” by further delay. Two Postoffice Robbers Believed to Be Hiding In Vicinity of Juliette FORSYTH, Ga., Feb. 21.—Two rob , bers, who entered the postoffice here | yesterday morning and blew the safe, i are believed to be hiding near Juliette. That locality is being watched by of ficers. The two night marshals were iat the city hall whentncexplosioa.nfir* ! curred and upon hearing .the, report trashed to the postoffice just in time to give chase to the fleeing men. Both officers emptied their revolvers at the two men who were making their retreat. They were chased to the out skirts of town where they were lost sight of. Between twelve and fifteen hundred dollars worth of postage stamps were I taken front the demolished safe. Most lof the stamps were recovered this morning in Bookswood, in the edge of town. Hammond Eve Not Now Legislative Candidate SAVANNAH. Ga.. Feb. 21. —Hammond Eve. a representative in the legislature from Chatham county, says he will serve out his term in the legislature, but will not offer for re-election unless the war ends before the September pri mary. Business cares arc given as the reason for his not running again. Spy Organization Is Discovered in France PARIS. Feb. 21.—A formidable Ger man spy organiaztion. the object of which was to create insurrections in France, while the German offensive was destruction they wrought as they went. He tells of the horrible rapine worked on the young girls and women of Belgium while their brothers, fathers and husbands were forced to look on. Any man. woman or child that has any patriot ism at all should get the benefit of these stories. They are FACTS offered you—not mere fiction. Get these now—by subscribing for The Journal. No other paper is giving them. If your time has expired or you are not a sub st’Tiber now is the time to get your subscription to us so you will not miss a single part of this great story. Our prices are more than reasonable: 75 cents for one year, $1 for 18 months, $1.25 for two years or $1.50 for three years. Tell all you see about this great story and induce them to sub scribe. If you can raise a club of five or more subscribers and send to us at one time we will make a special club price of only 50 cents for a one year's subscription. Raise a club for us in your community. ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1918 VICTORY POSTAGE w™ “» ! :<s< - m /A SUBSTITUTES FM FLIMJR Iffl BE USED iS'OEJlflffl I Food Administration Recom mends Victory Bread Rec ipe to Housewives WASHINGTON. Feb. 21.—Housewives may use wheat flour substitutes in any manner they wish, the food administra tion jointed out today in a statement de claring that some grocers have misun derstood the wheat flour substitute rule and arc requiring purchasers of wheat flour to agree actually to use 50 per cent of other cereals i nthe breed they bake at home. The grocer is required to sell one pound of substitute cereals with every pound of wheat flour, but the housewife is free to use the substitutes in any way she chooses. The food administration, however, has requested women to bake a Victory bread in their homes contain ing 20 per cent or more of wheat flour substitutes. in full swing, has ben discovered In St. Etienne, it was announced today. The organization is said to have been directed by a German barkeeper. Many arrests have been made, including a draughtsman in an arms factory who was connected with the recent strikes. BOTH SIDES CONFIDENT 01/ER BUGIMJIIL TRIAL Mrs. Hirsch Better Thursday After Slight Illness—Cook Writes Card Their plans practically complete, coun sel for both the state and the defense are perfecting the details of their court room campaigns for the triad of Mrs. H. IH. Hirsch and J. W. Cook, jointly in dicted for an alleged attempt to black mail Mayor Asa G. Candler. Declining jto issue any further statements regarti ! ing the various phases of the case, At i tomeys .lames and Bedgood, for the de fense, and Attorney Reuben R. Arnold, i who is assisting Solicitor General John l A. Boykin for the state, expressed thern- I selves Thursday as being content to | await developments as they shall appear 'when the issue is joined in Judge Ben If. Hill’s division of the Fulton superior court on February 27. Attorney John R. Cooper, of Macon, who has been retained to assist in the defense of both Mrs. Hirsch and Cook, is expected to return to Atlanta on Fri day to hold further conferences with the defendants and their original counsel. He has already sj>ent one day here, ar riving Tuesday morning in response to a telegraphic summons and returning to Macon Tuesday night. Mrs. Hirsch, who was suffering from a cold on Wednesday, was somewhat im proved Thursday and displayed her us ual interest in the preparations for her approaching trial. A short statement was issued Wed nesday afternoon by J. W. Cook, who did not elaborate on his bare declaration contained in the signed card, which was as follows: “To the Public: Keep this for future reference. Asa G. Candler. Sr., Asa G. Candler. Jr., Judge John Candler, For rest Adair and George Adair know the truth as to this case now, and ev erybody will knodw, when the trial is over. •‘J. W. COOK.” Mrs. Hirsch had no callers at the ' Tower Thursday morning. Her husband ' left the city Wednesday night on a ' short business trip, expecting to re ; turn. It is understood, in time for the ; trial next Wednesday. His friends state i that he is determined to stand by his i original declaration that he would ful i fill every obligation placed upon him ■by the predicament in which his wife has been placed. Previous Relations As the result, of investigations con l ducted since the indictment of the two defendants, it is announced by Solicitor General John A. Boykin that- evidence has been secured to show that Mrs. Hirsch and Cook were on terms of fa miliarity for some time previous to the alleged attempt to extort $500,000 from Mayor Candler. Witnesses have been found, the solici tor general declared Thursday, who wtil 'testify regarding an incident occurring at the Southeastern Fair grounds last fall. On the occasion in question, the solicitotr says, Mrs. Hirsch and Cook were seen at a refreshment stand on the ' midway, taking alternate bites from the same piece of pie. Additional evidence has been secured, according to the solicitor general, which will be Introduced in an effort to show that Mrs. Hirsch and Cook sought to obtain legal advice as to their status in the affair. Several days before the grand Jury was called upon to investi gate the case, it is claimed by the ' state, Mrs. Hirsch and Cook together visited the office of a well-known At lanta attorney, but details concerning this bit of evidence are not divulged by the prosecution. PRDFITEERIN6 PLOT fflS NUTIDN-WIK, IS ALLEGED Eleven Men Indicted for De frauding Government of $5,000,000 in Cloth NEW YORK, Feb. 21.—An alleged country-wide plot involving illegal profiteering in army cloths at the ex pense of the government was disclosed here today with the indictment by the federal grand jury of eleven men, one a clerk in the quartermaster's department of the army, on charges of fraaid. Investigations which will extend to other cities, federal authorities be lieve. will show the government has suffered to the extent of $5,000,000, but at the same time it was stated the in dictments today would serve to termi nate further conspiring and save the government from millions more in losses. The accused are Louis Davidson, Hy man Horwitz, and his son, Benjamin, in business as Horwitz & Muskowltz; Barnet iTetz, of B. Tietz and company; Jacob Weinstein and his son; Abraham Fursch and Leon, of Pursch & Le vine; Barney Robinson and Morris Ale witz, shipping clerks in the employ of the New York Manufacturing company, all of this city, and Ira D. Janowsky, a civilian clerk in the quartermaster’s of fice here. The manfucturers are ac cused of having received and retained army cloth. Robinson and Alewitz are charged with perjury before the grand jury and Janowsky is alleged to have destroyed government receipts so as to conceal thefts of the cloth. Eight of the defendants are manufac turers of uniforms. The profiteering is made possible, the federal investigators explained, by the methods in which the cloth is cut. From material which the government estimat ed would provide a dozen uniforms, the manufacturers would cut ten or less, ac cording to the authorities, and the ex cess cloth would be resold either to the government itself or to other manufac turers. Some of the defendants. Lieutenant Barnitz said, represented to the govern ment that their “clippings” amounted to 3 per cent, whereas, actually due to the method of cloth cutting, they amounted to 8 per cent, the difference representing the excess cloth alleged to have been retained. to the alleged activity of Janowsky in connection with the pur ported plot it was easy for concealment to be effected. U. S. Funeral Service Interrupted by Shell WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE. Feb. 19. —(Delayed.)—In a little cemetery immediately behind the lines of the American army, where now twenty-four Americans lie buried, a fu neral service was interrupted by a Gar man .155 shell. Swishing in during the services the shell burst within a few yards of a burial party. The roar of American guns sounded a requiem for those who have given their lives in the cause of democracy. A stone wall separates the American plots from a cemetery used by the French near the church. A priest was praying when suddenly.! a German shell exploded with terrific violence. Pieces flew against the stone wall and* flattened themselves. None I of the party was injured, but the serv ices were abandoned when the prayer had been finished. NUMBER 43. «UN FUND BT HUNS REPORTED; SLAV BOOTY TAKEN Germans Push on Into Russia, Taking Town, 1,000 Cat% Many Loaded With Food, Airplanes and War Material HAPARANDA, Sweden, Feb. 21. Four steamships have arrived at Vasa, in the Gulf of Bothnia, from Germany, carrying Finnish soldiers who have served in the Germany army and a number of German volunteers. The vessels also carried a large number of guns, machine guns, rifles and muni i tions. It is reported a strong offen sive will be taken by* these troops against Tammersfors and Viborg, :n ■ Finland. Vasa, also called Nikolaistad. is the capital of the province of Vasa in wes- “ tern Finland. The province has an area of 16,084 square miles and a popu lation of about 450,000. Vasa, the town, is 327 miles by rail northwest of Hel singfors and has steamer communica tion with Hernosand, Sweden. The town has a population of 11,000. Town, Food and War Material Taken by Huns BERLIN, Feb. 21.—(Via Izindon.) — ; The Russian town of Rovno has been • cleared of the Russians, the war office reports. TraJns wtih about 1.000 cars, ! many laden with food, have been captur jed, as well as airplanes and an incalcu i iable amount of war material. Between Dvinsk and Pinsk the Ger- ■ mans are pressing eastward. General i von Lmsingen’s movement ’continues Important railway and highway junc- 1 tiOiis have ben occupied. Germans have passed through Wen den, 55 miles northeast of Riga, and are now before Wolmar, 70 miles north east of Riga. Rovno is the most easterly of the tri angle of Russian fortresses in Vol hynia. Lutsk, the western citadel in the triangle, capitulated to the Ger mans February 18 without fighting. The third fortress in Volhynia, Dubno. lies about midway between Rovno and the town of Brody on the Galician frontier. Further Advance Made By British in Palestine LONDON, Feb. 21.—A further ad vance of three and one-half miles on a front of seven and three-quarter miles has been made by the British forces in Palestine, the war office announces, i The British are now within four miles of Jericho. The operations are being continued. The British losses on Tuesday, when an advance was made on a fifteen-mile front east of Jerusalem, were very slight. Yesterday’s losses have not been reported. The British also advanced northwest of Jerusalem to a maximum depth of one mile on a front of four miles. Germans Preparing to Occupy Petrograd Itself LONDON, Feb. 21.—German detach ments twenty miles cast of Vitebsk dis tributed proclamations, declaring resist ance to Germany was futile and that German forces are preparing to occupy Petrograd, according to an agency dis patch from the Russian capital today. News of War Fronts Condensed From Cables NEW YORK, Feb. 21.—(Summary of European Cables.) —The German ad vance into Russia will probably The German advance will probably continue until an authenticated copy of the message of surrender is received from the Bolshevik government in Petrograd. This is now on its way. For eign Minister von Kuehlmann told the German reichstag that he believed the new war would bring peace in the east. The treaty with the Ukraine was made for the purpose of forcing the Bolshevik to accept the German terms. Germany, he declared, wanted a peace with Rus sia that corresponded to German inter ests. In announcing that the German invasion of Esthonia was in answer to appeals for help. Dr. von Seydler, the Austrian premier, declared that Austria- Hungary will not aid Germany in her renewal of the war on Russia. In a brilliant attack in Lorraine French troops have gone through the German first line on a lengthy front and captured more than 400 prisoners. This attack, the first of large proportions on the western front in 1918, was carried out north of Bures and east of Moncel. virtually on the Franco-German border south of Chateau Salins. Complete details of the successful ef fort are lacking. There have been many raiding enterprises by both sides in this section of Lorraine recently and this front has been looked upon by French military leaders as one where the Ger mans might make their heralded drive It lies northeast of Luneville and east-- northeast of Nancy. A German attack at Four de Paris, in the Argonne, has been repulsed with losses by the French. On the British front in France there has been no increase in the raiding and the artillery activity. American troops in their sector north' west of Toul have checked another Ger man attempted raid, the enemy being driven back by artillery fire. German airmen are reported to con trol the air over the American sector, and Wednesday enemy aviators flew I 1 over the entire position repeatedly. Al though apparently outnumbered the American airmen are active and on- I has attacked an enemy trench with ma • chine gun fire. Entente airmen continued to be busy ; in air fighting and bombing expeditions. ' 'French and British fliers have brought , • down twenty German machines, and (Continued on Page S, Column 1.) Cured His Daughter of Fits A well-known resident of Milwaukee. Wisconsin, reports that his daughter has been completely cured of Epileps - (Fits) by a prescription secured from a friend. This girl had suffered an many as one hundred attacks in a da;- and seemed beyond all hope of relief. ’ Her father says he is so grateful for i her recovery that he will gladly mail ' a bottle of this wonderful medicine in \ plain sealed wrapper, free, to any suf i serer who writes him. If you, a friend, or a relative, suffer, write R. P. N. Lepso, 18 Island Ave., Milwaukee, Wis consin, and get a free bottle.—(AdTtj