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Powerful New French Gun, the Mobile 380- Millimeter Mortar, Bombarding the German Lines on the Somme.

(Photo A. P. A., Medem Service.)

J. H. RYCKMAN

CURRENT HISTORY

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

NOVEMBER, 1916

WORLD EVENTS OF THE MONTH

WAR'S HORRORS IN ARMENIA

CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE

prints elsewhere the essential features of a report issued by Viscount Bryce, under the direction of the British Government, on the persecutions of the Armenians in Asia Minor and Syria; also an official report issued at the instance of the allied Governments by Professor Reiss of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, on the atrocities by Austro-Hungarian troops during the invasion of Serbia late in 1914. These reports are valuable records in the history of the great European war, and though perhaps colored by the bias of the witnesses, furnish harrowing proof of the incredible extremes to which the passions of war have driven enlightened peoples supposed to be refined by twenty centuries of civilization.

It is the purpose of this magazine to print the essence of all the official reports emanating from each of the belligerents regarding the treatment of civilians as well as prisoners of war, so that the truth may be ascertained from the conflicting statements of all the nations. These reports unfold a tale of unbelievable brutality; it seems impossible to accept them unreservedly; they doubtless proceed from witnesses inflamed and blinded by hatred, made reckless by suffering and grief. Yet from the mass of testimony the truth may be deduced. Even when heavily discounted these documents lay so grave a burden on the offending nations that one shrinks from visualizing the horrors they depict.

Still worse charges than any contained

in these reports are circulated, to the effect that French prisoners are being inoculated with tuberculosis by their German captors, and that Teutonic airmen have dropped bombs in Rumanian cities charged with poisoned sweets and garlic infected with cholera bacilli; but these charges are not worthy of serious consideration, and CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE dismisses them as phantasms of a diseased imagination.

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BOTH SIDES IMPLACABLE

WHEN one reads the official utter

ances of leading statesmen printed elsewhere in these pages, the conclusion is unescapable that the end of the war is not in sight. Each belligerent nation seems possessed with the fixed idea that it must conquer or become a vassal State. Each asserts a confident belief that, though the struggle may be prolonged, victory in the end is certain.

The Entente Governments have let it be understood officially that a present move by any neutral looking to mediation will be resented as a hostile act, and the Teutonic allies officially declare that, while they are ready to discuss peace on the present status quo of the battle lines, they realize that this proposal will not be considered by their enemies, who, they assert, are bent upon the annihilation of the Central Powers. A fresh outburst of rancor toward Great Britain is manifest in Germany, while frequent Zeppelin raids upon England and a renewal of submarine activity have intensified the bitterness of the Allies. All the combatants at present seem to be at the very

zenith of implacable hatred, and are fighting with a desperation unparalleled in history.

PREMIER BRIAND AND PEACE

NOWARD the end of September, Aris

TOWA

tide Briand, President of the French Council of Ministers, who, as head of the Parliamentary Government of France, speaks with even greater authority than the President of the Republic, made two important declarations, which make absolutely clear the position of his nation on the question of a premature peace. Speaking on Sept. 13, the day after the reconvening of the French Parliament, Premier Briand had two very important pieces of news to announce: Rumania's entry into the war and the declaration of war by Italy against Germany. He also vehemently denounced the deportation of French women and girls by German military authorities as "an abomination, which had aroused the conscience of the world."

But most important was his declaration of policy. He summoned his country to persevere in her magnanimous effort, to unite all her vital forces and bend them toward the final goal-" peace through victory, a peace solid and enduring, guaranteed against every renewal of violence by fitting international sanctions."

On Sept. 19 M. Briand delivered another notable utterance in reply to M. Brizon, a Socialist Deputy, who suggested that it would be unreasonable and culpable to prolong the war when, by negotiations begun at the present time, it would be possible "to save billions of money and rivers of blood." The French Premier reminded the Chamber that France "had been brutally torn from her peaceful toil, traitorously attacked and dragged into war, invaded, tortured," and was now struggling with all her energies "for all humanity." He branded as "a challenge, an outrage against the memory of so many heroes who had fallen for France, so many glorious dead," the Socialist Deputy's proposal. "If peace," he said, came before the necessary work was done, it would be a peace of

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war; generations to come would find themselves condemned to lasting anguish, menaced unceasingly." The degree to which Briand spoke for his countrymen, and uttered their conviction, was shown in the vote of confidence, 421 against 21, which followed his oration.

THE

A TYPICAL WAR CARGO THE British liner Adriatic sailed from New York Thursday, July 14, notwithstanding the possibility that the German U-53 was lying in wait for her outside the three-mile limit. The vessel remained at Ambrose Channel, within American waters, until after dark and proceeded rapidly on a new course convoyed by British warships. She carried a large number of passengers, including five Americans, and a cargo valued at $7,000,000. It is interesting to note the munitions of war that were aboard as indicative of the nature of our present exports to the Allies. The cargo contained the following:

One aeroplane, 2,422 cases of fuses, 881 pieces of shell bodies, 647 cases of rifles, 13 cases of gun carriages, 947 barrels of lubricating oil, 31 tons of pig iron, 341 cases of brass tubes, 1,545 ingots of aluminium, 824 bars of steel, 300 cases of copper tubes, 57 cases of automobile parts, 78 automobiles, 1,200 cases of cartridges, 10,743 pieces of forgings, 5 cases of shotguns, 6 cases of guns, 1,926 bales of cotton, 243 bundles of hoop steel, 149 pieces of steel billets, 1,014 slabs of copper, 439 cases of copper bands, 1,574 cases of brass rods, 20 cases of tractor parts, 6,664 plates of spelter, 8,192 pigs of lead.

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JAPAN'S NEW PREMIER

IEUT. GEN. COUNT SEIKE TERAUCHI, former Minister of War, also formerly Resident General in Korea, has become the new Premier of Japan in succession to Marquis Okuma, whose resignation marked the climax of the struggle between the bureaucratic forces and the advocates of a representative Government, resulting in a victory for the former. Terauchi represents the aggressive militant spirit of Japan. He has passed most of his life in military circles, having been Director of the Military Academy, Minister of War, Field Marshal, and Lieutenant General

of the army; he has never shown any liking for diplomacy or civil activities. His appointment is regarded throughout the world as foreshadowing a revival of the military spirit of Japan, and, though his present utterances are of a pacific character, it is felt that Japan under his leadership will soon become more aggressive. The appointment was regarded in this country, when first announced, as a menace to the open door in China, but the Premier, in an authorized interview, announced that the closing of the doors of China is "a non possumus." " So long as Japan's interests and dignity are not infringed," he said, "Japan will take no aggressive step toward any nation, especially America." He asserts that he does not intend to take up with the United States the questions of immigration and State discriminatory legislation, but a new agitation in California against the rights of Japanese to hold lands might be quickly regarded by the sensitive Japanese as an “infringement on Japan's dignity." He says further:

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fense: Daniel Willard, President of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad; Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor; Dr. Franklin H. Martin, a distinguished Chicago surgeon; Howard E. Coffin of Detroit, of the American Automobile Association; Bernard Baruch, a New York banker; Dr. Hollis Godfrey, President of Drexel Institute of Philadelphia, a mechanical engineer, and Julius Rosenwald of Chicago, President of Sears, Roebuck & Co. The commission is formed for the creation of relations which will render possible in time of need the immediate concentration and utilization of the resources of the nation. A chief part of its work will be to inform American manufacturers as to the part they can play in a national emergency. The practical object of the commission is to establish well qualified agencies capable of mobilizing to the utmost the productive resources of the country.

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Japan's ambition is to have China benefit, THE most comprehensive philanthropic

Ilke Japan, from the fruits of world civilization and world progress. The Japanese and Chinese people have sprung from the same stock. Our future destiny is a common destiny that is historically involved.

Already this patronizing solicitude regarding China is involved, so it is reported, by the concession to an American company to build for the Chinese Government a railroad through the centre of the country; it is asserted that Japan and Russia have presented representations of disapproval of this enterprise to the Chinese, but they have not yet been officially reported to the United States Government. At best the Terauchi appointment is causing Americans, who have heretofore been most pacifically inclined, to view with firmer complacency the appropriation by the last Congress of $630,000,000 for army and navy development.

A NEW DEFENSIVE FORCE

PRESIDENT WILSON has named as

the Advisory Commission to be associated with the Council of National De

undertaking ever organized in this country was formed in New York City, Oct. 14, 1916, by a group of prominent citizens to be known as The American Society for the Relief of French War Orphans. It was announced that the society would raise a fund of $130,000,000. The sum of $125,000 for operating expenses for two years was pledged outside the organization by a number of individuals, so that every dollar of the general fund will be devoted to the support of orphans. William D. Guthrie was elected President; James Stillman, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Ambrose Monell, Vice Presidents; Clyde A. Pratt, General Manager. The directors embrace a number of New York's most conspicuous men, most of whom are well known for their broad philanthropies. The work will be directed from this country, but there will be a Paris committee of seven members.

It is reported that there are already in France 200,000 children orphaned by the war. The membership of the society is divided into Founders, who will contribute $500 or more a year; Benefactors, $250 a year, and Sustaining Mem

bers, $100 a year. The duration of the corporation is for fifteen years, as the necessity for this charity will continue long after the close of the war. The motive of the promoters is to give expression in a practical way to "the gratitude that Americans have always felt for the aid given to this country by France during the Revolution."

* *

DEBATING IRISH CONSCRIPTION HERE is renewed agitation in Ireland

THERE

over the threat of conscription. The suggestion was bitterly denounced by John Redmond, head of the Nationalists, but is being strongly urged by the Unionist press. Recruiting in Ireland since the uprising last Spring has fallen to a low ebb, and the necessity for filling in the depleted ranks of British regiments in France caused Lloyd George in a Parliamentary utterance Oct. 13 to intimate that further conscription might be necessary. The Man Power Board has reached the conclusion that every young man in the British Kingdom must be placed in the national service, and this suggestion has started afresh the demand that conscription be applied to Ireland. It is believed by many that if this step is taken there will be a fresh revolutionary outbreak. In the Parliamentary debate on Oct. 18 the proposition of conscription for Ireland was again bitterly denounced by Redmond, and Lloyd George in his reply was rather conciliatory, indicating that the idea of conscription is temporarily at least laid aside and that a further effort will be made to reconcile the Irish Nationalists through a more lenient attitude by the Government.

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were in training camps. Australian aviators were winning honors in Asia and Africa, while in Europe the Australian Siege Brigade and Transport had done distinguished work. The task of locally equipping the troops had been gigantic for a country still in the developmental stage, with a population of only 5,000,000. Australia had kept itself and New Zealand supplied with rifles and ammunition up to the time the troops left Egypt. The British Admiralty added that Australia had raised a $150,000,000 war loan and was then engaged in floating a new loan of $250,000,000.

THE SUFFERINGS OF POLAND HE effects of the war in Poland seem

THE

to surpass in extent and horror all those inflicted upon any other territory. According to a statement made by the Honorary Executive Secretary of Polish War Victims, "the latest authentic reports from Poland are that all children under 7 years of age have ceased to exist, having died from hunger and disease." When the war broke out there was in Poland a population of 34,000,000. At the end of the second year, according to the authority just named, 14,000,000 human beings had perished from various causes in Poland. The property damage in that country due directly to the war is estimated at about $11,000,000,000. More than 200 towns and 20,000 villages have been razed to the ground; 1,600 churches have been destroyed. As an instance of the vastness of the destruction of human life occurring in Poland, the following is given: "In Galicia, Austrian Poland, in the district of Gorlice, where a battle raged for several months, 1,500,000 civilians, caught between the lines of the contending armies, have perished right there from starvation while in hiding." All these facts help to emphasize the pitiful significance of the recent official announcement that the belligerents have been unable to agree on any plan for admitting American aid to Poland.

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THE City of Paris, through Kuhn, Loeb & Co., has offered a loan of $50,000,000 in five-year 6 per cent. bonds to the American public to provide funds

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