large Jewish element in the population of the country.

The Roman Catholic delegates joined in a cablegram to the Pope expressive of appreciation for his "hearty support of "the right of nations to self-determina“tion,” and for his “paternal interest in "Lithuania."

THE KAISER'S PAEANS OF VICTORY

THE capitulation of the Bolshevist Gov

ernment of Russia was the occasion of a series of telegrams by the Kaiser in response to congratulations. These characteristic utterances indicate a fresh increase in the Kaiser's faith in the sword. On March 6 the following telegrams were sent:

To Field Marshal von Hindenburg.

Now the costly prize of victory in the long struggle is in our hands. Our Baltic brethren and countrymen are liberated from Russia's yoke, and may again feel themselves Germans. God was with us, and will continue to aid us.

To King Frederick August of Saxony:

I feel the greatest gratitude toward God and the army, which has extorted this peace. The east front now having become free, we have made an enormous step forward. Firmly trusting in the sword, I face a future which will, after all heavy sacrifices, bring us victory and a strong peace.

To Prince Leopold of Bavaria (Praising his troops):

In irresistible marches over bad roads in ice and snow they did their utmost. The victorious march in the last fortnight will remain a glorious page in the history of the German Army.

On March 8:

To Philip Heineken, Director North German Lloyd Steamship Company: The German sword is our best protection. With God's help it will also bring us peace in the west and, indeed, the peace which, after much distress and many troubles, the German people need for a happy future.

To the Vice President of the Reichstag:

The complete victory fills me with gratitude. It permits us to live again one of those great moments in which we can reverently admire God's hand in history. The turn that events have taken is by the disposition of God.

The heroic deeds of our troops, the successes of our great Generals, and the wonderful achievements of those at home have their roots in moral forces and in the categorical imperative which has

been inculcated in our people in a hard school. They will also carry us through in a decisive and final battle to victory.

In the great tasks upon which the conclusion of peace, reconstruction, and the healing of the wounds of war will set us I desire my people to rely on the old historical experience that unity means strength. May our people face the new time and its tasks with a strong sense of the realities, with unbending faith in themselves and their mission, and with strong, patriotic, and proud joy in the Fatherland, bound to me and my house by old and proved bonds of mutual trust. I do not doubt that a rich, strong, and happy people will arise out of the storms and sacrifices of this time. On March 9 the following: To the Bremen Senate:

In long years of struggle the German people in arms, led by ideal Generals, have broken the Russian power and won the safety of the empire in the east. Moreover, we are finally able to respond to the call for help by the hard-pressed Germans and border peoples of Russia, who were striving for free development, and to secure for them a guarantee of new and better times.

When we look back over the events of these years and grasp the significance of the peace gained in the east, which means the bursting of the ring the enemy laid around us, we must look up to Almighty God with heartfelt thanks, who has so gloriously directed everything. We will draw from this fact strong confidence that the end of the world war will open a happy future to our beloved German Fatherland.

On March 10:

To the Prussian Upper House:

Even if the road to a general peace is a long one, a good beginning has been made, and I confidently trust that our victorious sword and steadfast unity in this serious work soon will bring us within sight of the goal, which will give us the great peace. God grant it.

To the East Prussian Diet:

The Province of East Prussia is especially dear to my heart. In this war it has made great sacrifices and, therefore, it will more gladly acknowledge the hand of God as now shown in the east. We owe our victory largely to the moral and spiritual treasures which the great philosopher of Königsberg bestowed upon our people. [The reference is to Immanuel Kant, who was born there in 1724.]

THE CHECKERED HISTORY OF ODESSA

THE seizure of Odessa by a German

force, several days after the signing of a peace with Ukrainia, in whose territory Odessa is at present, recalls the many vicissitudes of the great Black Sea port, which has, at different periods, been in the hands of half a dozen nationalities. During the days following the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts to seek the golden fleece in what is now Georgia, (a small country which still depicts the golden fleece in its national coat of arms,) there was extensive Greek colonization of the northern shore of the Euxine or Black Sea, and a grand trade route ran from Odessos, a Greek settlement half way between the Dnieper and the Bug, as far north as the Baltic, from which amber was brought to Greece.

For several centuries, this region drops out of history, to reappear, in the fourteenth century, as a port of Lithuania; it was subsequently held by the Poles, who absorbed Lithuania; by the Tartars, and by the Turks, who, after much hard fighting, finally ceded it to Russia in 1791, in the days of Catherine the Great, who owes her title largely to this victorious war against Turkey. A French Captain, de Ribas, a French architect, Voland, and a French nobleman, Armand, Duc de Richelieu, greatly enlarged and beautified the city under Catherine's orders, and Richelieu's statue still dominates the city, standing in the central square at the head of the immense staircase of 200 granite steps which leads down from the high ground on which the city is built to the quays of the port. This high ground, from 100 to 150 feet above sea level, runs back into the "black soil" of the rich wheat lands. It rests on sandstone, which has been

quarried out, forming catacombs beneath the town. Odessa, (which had, just before the war, a population of 630,000, being the third city in Russia,) though it is in the south of Russia, lies, in fact, about on the latitude of Montreal, and has a correspondingly severe climate, with a Winter average of 23 degrees Fahrenheit, so that the harbors are frozen for two or three weeks each year. Moscow is more than a thousand miles north of Odessa.

*

ACHIEVEMENTS OF GREAT BRITAIN IN 1917

ANDREW BONAR LAW, British

Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking in the House of Commons Feb. 14, summarized the achievements of the Government in 1917 as follows:

MAN-POWER.-In 1917 we put into the army 820,645 additional men. We placed in civil employment at home 731,000 men and 804,000 women. FOOD PRODUCTION.-Last year 1,000,000 additional acres were brought under the plough. The additional amount of cereals produced was 850,000 tons, and of potatoes 3,000,000 tons. Already this year a further 800,000 acres had been brought under the plough in England, and 400,000 in Scotland and Wales. WHEAT STOCKS.-There were 2,000,000 more quarters of wheat in this country at the end of last year than at the end of December, 1916.

SHIPBUILDING.-In 1916 the total quantity built was 539,000 tons. In 1917 the tonnage built in this country was 1,163,474 tons, and we secured abroad 170,000 tons in addition. BETTER USE OF SHIPS.-Notwithstanding the loan of 1,500,000 gross tons to the Allies we imported precisely the same amount from September to November last year as from February to April, Whereas before the war every 100 tons net shipping brought to this country 106 tons of goods, the average was now 150 tons.

TIMBER.-We succeeded last year in reducing the imports of timber by 3,000,000 tons. That has been made good by an increase of 1,800,000 tons at home, and the balance has been made good by our work in France.

MUNITIONS.-The number of guns available in France increased last year by 30 per cent. The supply of airplanes in 1917 was two and a half times as great as in 1916.

A

LARGER number of American troops on four different sectors of the French front and a growing casualty list have been the chief indications during the last month of the increasing strength of the United States as a military factor in the war. At home the army has been growing mainly through enlistments in the regular branch of the service, by the calling up of the last increments of the first draft for the national army, and of additional men to replace those who have fallen out through death, illness, and other causes. The multifarious activities of equipping troops, providing munitions and supplies, and keying up the war machine are outlined in the article on Page 14. War Department and army officials have made many changes and improvements in the light of criticism and experience, and there has consequently been a marked decrease in the amount of faultfinding and dissatisfaction.

In the industrial sphere there has been corresponding progress. The railway congestion and coal shortage of January were relieved by the drastic measures already recorded in these pages, and the projected series of ten "heatless Mondays

was discontinued after the third week. The most serious delay in the war program has been in aircraft production; in consequence, German aviators have been able to fly over the American lines and obtain valuable information as to the positions held by our troops.

In shipbuilding, the initial stage of creating and equipping yards is well-nigh complete, and all the big establishments created in the last few months are now rapidly laying keels. From some of the new yards ships have already been launched, and will soon be ready for serv

ice. Much of the discontent of the workmen has disappeared, and by a process of eliminating the less competent and more unruly the labor forces are both more adequate and more adapted to fulfilling the nation's requirements.

With the passing of the Winter the fuel situation has eased; while food, though still at the abnormal prices caused by unusual conditions, causes no anxiety.

The chief measure passed by Congress has been the Railroad Control bill, which in its final form prescribes that the roads are to remain in the hands of the Government for twenty-one months after the war, and that the guaranteed income to the owners shall be about $945,000,000 a year. Legislation to establish a War Finance Corporation is still under discussion. A bill to increase the war powers of the President is meeting with considerable opposition. A bill to set forward the clocks of the country one hour during the seven months beginning the last Sunday in March has been passed. The daylight saving law, as it is called, will, it is expected, effect considerable economies in fuel for lighting purposes.

The further financing of the war is to be partly met by a third Liberty loan, the opening of which has been set for April 6.

The embargo laws, controlling exports and imports, have proved very effective in compelling the neutral countries of Northern Europe to enter into agreements which practically complete the blockade of Germany.

The summary of casualties to March 18 among American troops showed 152 killed in action, 142 killed by accident, 671 died of disease, 237 lost at sea, 6 fatally gassed, 584 wounded, 21 captured, and 14 missing.

FOR

OR an ever-increasing number of American soldiers life in the trenches, with its attendant risks and excitements of making or repelling raids, is becoming a matter of course. Slowly and steadily the men of Pershing's army have been taking over parts of the line hitherto held by the French, and are now in positions on at least four sectors of the front. The longest of these sectors is that northwest of Toul, and is about eight miles in length. [For maps see article on "Military Events of the Month."]

While the primary object of occupying trenches on different parts of the line has so far been that of training officers and men in modern warfare, the beginnings of the nation's sacrifice are seen in the classified list of casualties which was published by the War Department on March 15. From the arrival of the first contingent in France up to that date the summary showed the following:

a feature of the Americans' training under actual war conditions as infantry work. The activity of the German airplanes was the most exasperating to them, because of lack of machines to fight them, especially when German aviators dared to fly low enough to empty machine guns into the American trenches and positions behind the lines.

The participation of American units in the defense of the famous Chemin des Dames (Aisne) sector was announced on Feb. 22. They had been there for some time, but their presence was kept a secret until it was certain that the enemy knew of their presence. This announcement showed that United States troops were now on the front in three different sectors, namely St. Mihiel, Champagne, and the Aisne. The first raid in which Americans took part in the Chemin des Dames sector was in conjunction with French troops on Feb. 23. A whole battalion volunteered, but only two officers and twenty-six men were selected to make up the party of 100 men who, protected by barrage fire, raided the German lines and captured a number of prisoners.

Americans were subjected to two formidable gas attacks on the morning of Feb. 26. Some of the men were caught by the gas before they were able to adjust their masks, with the result that several were fatally gassed; altogether about sixty men were more or less severely affected by the poisonous fumes. A couple of days later the Germans again used gas in a vigorous attack which was preceded by a heavy barrage fire directed against the American positions. The French and German official reports of March 1, describing a hand-to-hand encounter in which Americans were associated with French troops, indicated that one of the American positions was near Chavignon, north of the western end of the Chemin des Dames and a mile and a half northwest of Pargny-Filain.

Both on the Chemin des Dames and Toul sectors the Germans continued to make attacks which were obviously

directed against the American positions and to counter the raids by American troops. American heavy artillery was brought into action with good results, while the infantrymen acquitted themselves excellently. They were becoming accustomed to gas attacks and to meet the onset of German troops specially trained in trench raiding and shock tactics. A map found on the body of a German officer who was killed in one of these attacks proved how completely the Germans prepared their raids. showed in detail every machine-gun emplacement, every trench, and every depression in the ground within the American lines.

It

A dispatch dated March 6 contained the information that American troops were on still another part of the French front, a sector in Lorraine. This position was described as east of Lunéville, near the border between French and German Lorraine. From the point of view of artillery fighting, this sector became the liveliest of any occupied by the Americans. American artillerymen demolished the German trenches and American infantry captured enemy positions northwest and northeast of Badonviller, which is about fifty-five miles southeast of where the United States troops were located in the Toul sector. The raids

carried out by the Americans near Lunéville were the most important to date.

General Pershing returned to his headquarters on Feb. 22 after a tour of inspection of the American front. He found that the troops were making steady progress daily and that by the midsummer of 1918 they ought to be in a position to give material aid to the Allies. The improvement since his visit four weeks previously was most marked.

It became known on March 7 that the American expeditionary force, before undertaking its first campaign, was to be organized into army corps consisting of six divisions each on the basis of the three-line method of trench warfare evolved in France, and that three or more army corps would constitute a field army. In addition to the six infantry divisions, each corps commander would have under him about 30,000 men known as corps troops, comprising artillery units, engineers, and all types of service battalions for work on the communication lines.

Negotiations between the United States and Spanish Governments were concluded by the ratification on March 8 of an agreement under which General Pershing is to obtain army supplies from Spain.

NEW

EWTON D. BAKER, Secretary of War, with a staff of seven persons, arrived in France on March

10 on an American armored cruiser. The visit was undertaken at his own desire and with the approval of President Wilson. Mr. Baker was accompanied by Major Gen. William N. Black, Chief of Engineers of the Army; Lieut. Col. M. L. Brett, and Ralph Hayes, private secretary. During his absence the affairs of the War Department were handled by Benedict Crowell, the Assistant Secretary of War, with Major Gen. Peyton C. March as Acting Chief of Staff.

In Paris, where he arrived on March 11, Mr. Baker was received by General

Pershing, General Bliss, French officers representing Premier Clemenceau, and Ambassador Sharp. French opinion, as expressed by the press, was enthusiastic over the visit of the American War Secretary. In the statement he gave out for publication, Mr. Baker said:

Our purpose in visiting France is to confer with General Pershing, to visit the American expeditionary force, and inspect its lines of transportation and its storage and supply systems, in order that we in America can more effectively support our own army and the armies of our allies.

Of course, any visit to France at this time is a pilgrimage to the very shrine of heroism, and it will be an inspiration actually to see the great commanders and the armies which have so long held the frontiers of freedom against all attacks.