Chapter XV: Part II (3)

April 12--The Government is making reprisals for the treatment of captured German submarine crews in England, having imprisoned thirty-nine British officers in the military detention barracks.

April 13--Germany is detaining freight cars belonging to Italian lines; semi-official statement says the passengers and crew of the steamer Falaba were given twenty-three minutes to leave the ship and were shown as much consideration as was compatible with safety to the submarine; according to a dispatch from Switzerland, there is an alarming increase of madness in the German Army.

April 14--It is reported from Switzerland that Emperor William last month paid a visit to Emperor Francis Joseph.

April 15--Several thousand parcel post packages mailed from Germany for the United States have been returned to the senders by Swiss postal authorities, because the French and British Governments have given notice that parcels addressed to German citizens in the United States will be seized whenever found on shipboard; the Reichsbank's statement up to April 15 shows an increase in gold of $2,000,000.

April 17--Ten British officers have been placed in solitary confinement in Magdeburg as a measure of reprisal for the treatment accorded captured German submarine crews by Great Britain; a letter from Dr. Bernhard Dernburg, former Colonial Secretary of Germany, who has for some time been in the United States, is read at a pro-German mass meeting in Portland, Me.; it suggests the neutralization of the high seas in time of war and makes various other proposals, which are regarded in some quarters as a possible indication that Germany is willing to discuss terms of peace; because of a shortage of rubber, the Government is arranging a special campaign to collect rubber in all shapes throughout the empire.

April 19--The second officer and some of the crew of the German converted cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, now interned at Newport News, reach Copenhagen on their way to Germany; it is stated in the Copenhagen report that they are provided with false passports describing them as Swedish subjects.

April 20--A conference of German and Austrian Socialists in Vienna has agreed that after the war international treaties for limitation of armaments must be agreed upon, with a view to disarmament.

April 21--All German subjects in Switzerland are recalled by their Government; reports from The Hague declare that German Socialists are trying to get a basis on which the war can be stopped; the soldiers at the front are asking for flower seeds to plant on the graves of the slain.

April 22--During the last few days Emperor William has been visiting the German front in Alsace; he promoted Colonel Reuter of Zabern fame to the rank of Major General; the Government has sent 2,203 more maimed French officers and men to Constance, where they will be exchanged for German wounded; university courses are being conducted by Belgian professors in the prison camp at Soldau.

April 23--The Federal Council has extended until July 31 the operation of the order which provides that claims held by foreign persons or corporations which accrue before July 31, 1914, cannot be sued upon in the German courts; many newspapers comment bitterly upon the American note replying to the Bernstorff memorandum on the sale of arms to the Allies by the United States; there is rejoicing in Berlin over German gains near Ypres.

April 24--Dr. Dernburg, in address at Brooklyn, says that evacuation of Belgium depends on England's agreeing to the neutralization of the sea, free cable communications, revision of international law, and consent to German colonial expansion; interview printed in Paris quotes M. Zographos, Foreign Minister of Greece, as declaring that Greece is ready to unite with the Allies in the operations at the Dardanelles if invited to do so.

April 27--Copenhagen reports that systematic efforts are being made, under instructions from Imperial Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg, to buy sufficient foodstuffs in neutral countries to last Germany for four years.

April 28--The Supreme Military Court has confirmed the sentence of death imposed on Dec. 29 on William Lonsdale of Leeds, England, a private in the British Army, for striking a German non-commissioned officer at a military prison camp at Doeberitz.

April 30--The subscriptions for three-quarters of the latest war loan have already been paid; the payments reach the total of $1,687,750,000, more than twice the amount required at this time under the stipulated conditions of the issue; German Embassy at Washington states that the Emperor of Russia has ordered prisoners of war of Czech or other Slav origin treated kindly, but prisoners of German or Magyar race treated severely.

GREAT BRITAIN.

April 1--Lord Kitchener follows the lead of King George in announcing his intention to abstain from liquor during the war; the nation is stirred by the drink question, and prominent observers believe that anti-alcohol legislation will not be necessary; 25,000 women volunteer to aid in making munitions of war.

April 2--Text is made public of a protest by Germany, transmitted through the American Ambassador in London, against treatment of captured German submarine crews; Germany threatens reprisals in the form of harsh treatment of captured British officers; Sir Edward Grey in reply says the submarine crews have violated the laws of humanity and they are segregated in naval barracks.

April 3--Government takes control of all motor manufacturing plants to accelerate the supplying of war material.

April 4--The Archbishop of Canterbury in his Easter sermon dwells upon the national necessity for prohibition during the war; a band of the Irish Guards, arriving in Dublin on a recruiting tour, is enthusiastically cheered; John E. Redmond reviews at Dublin 25,000 of the Irish National Volunteers; Limerick welcomes recruiting officers; every man in the British Navy has received a pencil case, the gift of Queen Mary, formed of a cartridge which had been used "somewhere in France," with silver mountings.

April 6--Official announcement states that "by the King's command no wines or spirits will be consumed in any of his Majesty's houses after today"; George M. Booth heads committee appointed by Kitchener to provide such additional labor as is needed for making sufficient war supplies.

April 8--Official report of the bombardment of Hartlepool, Scarborough, and Whitby by a German naval squadron on Dec. 16 states that 86 civilians were killed and 424 wounded, of whom 26 have died; 7 soldiers were killed and 14 wounded; nearly all industries are working at top speed; unemployment has largely disappeared; King Albert's birthday is celebrated in London by Belgian refugees, many thousands of English joining in the observance.

April 9--A "White Paper" is published giving correspondence which passed between the British and German Foreign Offices through the United States Ambassador regarding treatment of British prisoners of war in Germany; testimony which is included is to the effect that Germans treat British prisoners brutally; John B. Jackson of the American Embassy at Berlin, who, on behalf of the German Government, recently inspected German prison camps in England, reports that prisoners are well cared for; Captain and crew of the steamer Vosges, sunk in March by a German submarine, are rewarded for persistent attempt to escape the submarine; in party circles it is accepted as a fact that there will be no general election this year, and that the terms of the present Members of Parliament will be extended.

April 11--A great campaign to obtain recruits for Kitchener's new army is begun in London, it being planned to hold 1,500 meetings.

April 12--Government is now transferring men from the working forces of municipalities to factories, making munitions of war.

April 13--Official announcement states that 33,000 women had registered themselves up to the end of March for war service, as being ready to undertake various forms of labor in England usually done by men; the Foreign Office cables the United States State Department, asking that an investigation be started at once of Berlin reports that thirty-nine British officers have been put in a military prison as a measure of reprisal for England's declining to accord full privileges to German submarine prisoners; a serious explosion occurs at Lerwick, Shetland, in which many persons are killed; Lerwick is one of the chief stations in Scotland for the Royal Naval Reserve.

April 14--Report from Field Marshal French on the Neuve Chapelle fight is made public; the British losses were 12,811 in killed, wounded, and missing; German losses are declared to have been several thousand more; French says his orders were badly executed in some instances, resulting in disorganization of infantry after victory was won; it is intimated that British artillery fired on British troops; Government decides against placing cotton on the contraband list; Government is making huge purchases of wheat.

April 15--The total British casualties from the beginning of the war up to April 11 were 139,347, according to an announcement in the House of Commons by the Under Secretary for War; part of Kitchener's new army, after six months of training, is going into camp at Salisbury Plain, where it is stated that 100,000 men will soon be encamped.

April 16--The Foreign Office is advised by Ambassador Page that press reports are correct which state that the Germans have put thirty-nine British officers in military detention barracks as a measure of reprisal for British action in refusing honors of war to crews of German submarines; the London Times states that $9,500,000 in life insurance claims has been paid to heirs of British officers thus far killed in action.

April 17--Wages are rising and unemployment is decreasing.

April 18--Ten thousand Protestant churches observe "King's Pledge Sunday," thousands of persons signing a pledge to abstain from intoxicants for the rest of the war.

April 19--English Football Association announces that with closing of present season on May 5 no more professional football games will be played during the war.

April 20--Premier Asquith, in an appeal made at Newcastle to the workmen of the northeast coast to hasten the output of munitions of war, refrains from all mention of the drink question and declares that there has been no slackness on the part of either employes or employers, this statement being at variance with recent statements made by other Cabinet members, who have blamed tippling on the part of workmen for slow output; the Government has made an arrangement by which skilled workmen now at the front can be recalled to England to work in munition factories as needed; David Lloyd George, Chancellor of the Exchequer, says in the House of Commons that the Government does not believe that the war would be more successfully prosecuted by conscription, adding that Kitchener is gratified with the response to his appeal for volunteers; since the war began, 1,961 officers have been killed, 3,528 wounded, and 738 are missing.

April 21--Chancellor Lloyd George states in the House of Commons that the expeditionary force in France now consists of more than thirty-six divisions, or about 750,000 men; the Chancellor also states that as much ammunition was expended at Neuve Chapelle as was used during the entire Boer war, which lasted for two years and nine months.

April 22--F.T. Jane, a well-known British naval expert, in an address at Liverpool declares that the Germans tried to land an expeditionary force in England, but the vigilance of the British Navy caused the expedition to turn back.

April 24--An official list received in London of the thirty-nine British officers placed in detention barracks by the Germans in retaliation for English treatment of German submarine crews shows the names of seven Captains and thirty-two Lieutenants, included being the names of Lieutenant Goschen, son of a former Ambassador to Berlin; Robin Grey, a nephew of Sir Edward Grey, and many sons of peers.

April 25--Jamaica begins raising money to send a contingent to join Kitchener's army.

April 26--The "war babies" question is to be investigated by a committee headed by the Archbishop of York, and a report is to be made.

April 27--Lord Kitchener, speaking in the House of Commons, scores the Germans for what he declares to be their barbarous methods of conducting war; the importation of raw cotton from the United Kingdom is specifically prohibited; Lord Derby, in an address at Manchester, intimates that conscription is to come soon; British War Office states that medical examination shows that Canadian soldiers died in the Ypres fight from poisoning by gases employed by the Germans.

April 28--Clergy oppose prohibition, the lower house of the Convocation at York going on record as believing it would be unwise and would lead in the end to an excess of intemperance; opposition newspapers and politicians are criticising the conduct of affairs by Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty.

April 30--Large numbers of protests from all parts of the country are being made against the proposal of Chancellor Lloyd George to increase the duty on alcoholic drinks.

GREECE.

April 4--After being repulsed in their raid on Serbia, a detachment of Bulgarian irregulars makes a raid on Dorian, Greece; the Greeks repulse them with machine guns.

HOLLAND.

April 1--More reservists are called; traffic between Holland and Germany has practically ceased.

April 10--Government has handed to Germany a note of protest on the sinking in March of the Dutch steamship Medea by a German submarine.

April 16--Intense indignation and resentment are expressed by the newspapers over the sinking of the Dutch steamer Katwyk by a German submarine; some of them talk of war.

April 21--It is reported from Amsterdam that Emperor William has sent a long personal message to Queen Wilhelmina about the sinking of the Katwyk, declaring that full compensation would be made if it is proved that the Katwyk was sunk by a German ship; arrangements have been made between the Dutch and British Governments whereby not only conditional contraband, but also goods on the contraband list of the British Government, may be given safe passage to Holland through the blockade lines.

April 27--The forty-two delegates from the United States to the International Women's Peace Congress arrive at The Hague; the congress is formally opened for a four days' session with delegates present from many neutral nations and from most of the warring nations, including England and Germany.

April 28--Miss Jane Addams presides over the Women's Peace Congress, the first business session being held.

INDIA.

April 12--Lieutenant Seybold of the Philippine Constabulary, on arriving in New York, says that the Fifth Native Light Infantry, composed of Hindus, revolted in Singapore on Feb. 15, while en route to Hongkong, and nearly 1,000 of them were killed before the mutiny was quelled; the rebellion is stated to have been fomented by agents of the German Government in Singapore; seven Germans are stated to have been executed for connection with the uprising.

April 27--Reports from the Straits Settlements state that serious disorders are taking place in various parts of India, the effect beginning to be felt of the Turko-German alliance and of the German propaganda; riots have occurred at Cawnpore and in the Central Provinces; a mutiny by native troops has taken place at Rangoon; it is reported from India that the Ameer of Afghanistan has been assassinated.

ITALY.

April 1--There is economic distress in Italy due to eight months of war; budget of the Government, which for years has show a surplus, shows a deficit of $13,800,000 since Aug. 1.

April 5--Many Italian troops are being assembled on the Austrian frontier; great excitement prevails in Genoa in consequence of a report that a German submarine has sunk the Italian steamer Luigi Parodi, and strong measures are taken by the authorities to protect the German colony.

April 6--Owner of the Luigi Parodi declares the steamer has not been lost.

April 7--The fleet concentrates at Augusta, Sicily, and at Taranto, within a few hours of the Adriatic.

April 11--Demonstrations at Rome in favor of Italian intervention in the war cause riots and collisions with the police.

April 12--An order is printed in the Military Journal directing all army officers to dull the metal on their uniforms and sword scabbards; it is reported that the Pope is ready to espouse the Italian cause if the nation enters the war.

April 14--Indignation is expressed at the Papal Court over an alleged interview with Pope Benedict recently printed in the United States, Germany, and other countries, some of the statements attributed to the Pope being characterized as false; particular exception is taken to a statement, credited to the Pope, urging President Wilson to stop exportation of munitions of war to the Allies; many telegraphic protests on the interview have reached the Vatican from Roman Catholic clergy and laity in the United States, Britain, and France.

April 16--Italy now has 1,200,000 first-line soldiers under arms.

April 20--Reports from Rome state that Austria is rapidly gathering troops on the Italian border; Austrians have fortified the whole line of the Isonzo River with intrenchments; it is stated that the German and Austrian Ambassadors are secretly preparing for departure; Papal Guards are enlisting in the regular army.

April 21--Sailings of liners from Italy to the United States have been canceled; Council of Ministers is held, a report on the international situation being made by the Foreign Minister.

April 24--It is stated in high official circles that it is becoming increasingly improbable that Italy will participate in the war, at least for some time to come; the Austrian Ambassador and the Italian Foreign Minister have a long conference; it is reported from Rome that Austria has made further concessions in an attempt to preserve Italian neutrality; nevertheless further military preparations are being made by Italy; the exodus of German families from Italy continues; French military experts estimate the full military strength of Italy at 2,000,000 men, of whom 800,000 form the active field army.

April 25--It is reported from Rome that Austria has offered to give autonomy to Trieste; Italian opinion, as expressed in the newspapers, is that Austria must yield all the territory occupied by Italians and must yield not only the Province of Trent, but Pola, Fiume, and the greater part of Dalmatia.

April 27--The Italian Ambassadors at Paris, London, Vienna, and Berlin have been summoned to Rome to confer with the Foreign Minister.

April 29--It is reported from Rome that Italy and the Allies have reached a definite agreement concerning terms on which Italy will enter the war, if she ultimately decides to do so, and that she will become a member of a quadruple entente after the war; Prince von Buelow, German Ambassador to Italy, is stated to have failed in attempts to get Italy and Austria to come to an understanding.

April 30--Belgian and French Cardinals, Archbishops, and Bishops have united in an appeal to Pope Benedict for the Vatican to abandon the attitude of neutrality it has maintained since the beginning of the war.

LUXEMBURG.

April 23--Grand Duchess Marie has sent an official protest to Berlin against the methods of distributing food supplies, which is said to have brought nearly half her subjects to the verge of starvation; she says that gifts of food, money, and clothes have been sent to Luxemburg from all parts of the world, but that only a small part of these reach the civilian population.

PERSIA.

April 24--Confirmation has been received at Dilman, Persia, of the flight of from 20,000 to 30,000 Armenian and Nestorian Christians from Azerbaijan Province; of the massacre of over 1,500 who were unable to escape; of the death of 2,000 in the compounds of the American Mission at Urumiah.

POLAND.

April 22--It is stated in London that 7,000,000 Poles are in dire need of food.

RUMANIA.

April 9--Artillery and supplies of ammunition are reaching Turkey through Rumania.

April 14--The army, reported as splendidly equipped, is ready for instant action.

RUSSIA.

April 1--Persistent rumors are current in Petrograd that Austria has opened negotiations for a separate peace; General Ruzsky, who won praise for his conduct of the Galician campaign, taking Lemberg, and also for his success at Przasnysz, retires because of ill-health.

April 3--General Alexiev is appointed Commander in Chief of the army on the northern front in place of General Ruzsky; it is officially announced that Colonel Miassoydoff, attached as interpreter to the staff of the Tenth Army, which was badly defeated in the Mazurian Lake region, has been shot as a German spy.

April 4--Petrograd reports that the Russians have taken 260,000 prisoners on the Carpathian front since Jan. 21.

April 7--All towns in Russian Poland are given local municipal self-government; Petrograd reports that during the celebration of Easter, the greatest of Russian festivals, there has been an entire absence of drunkenness.

April 14--Imperial order calls up for training throughout the empire all men from twenty to thirty-five not summoned before; it is stated that the call will ultimately almost double the Russian strength; the men summoned are all untrained.

April 17--The General Anzeiger of Duisburg, Rhenish Prussia, says it learns "from an absolutely unimpeachable source" that the reported sickness of Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander in Chief of the Russian forces, was due to a shot in the abdomen fired by the late General Baron Sievers of the defeated Tenth Army, who is stated to have then committed suicide.

April 20--Orders have been issued that Austrian officers who are prisoners of war shall no longer be allowed to retain their swords, as a penalty for the cutting out of the tongue of a captured Russian scout who refused to betray the Russian position.

April 21--As a substitute for vodka shops there have been erected in open places in communities throughout Russia "people's palaces," where the public may gather for entertainment and instruction; in the Government of Poltava alone 300 of these recreative centres have been opened or are projected.

April 22--Details of an $83,000,000 order for shrapnel and howitzer shell, placed early in April by the Russian Government with the Canadian Car and Foundry Company, show that contracts for $21,724,400 of that amount have been sublet by the Canadian company to American manufacturers; it is also learned that the Russian Government recently placed a $15,000,000 contract with American mills for miscellaneous artillery; a letter from an American Red Cross nurse states that she and other American Red Cross nurses were recently received by the Czar at Kief, where he shook hands and chatted with each.

April 23--The Czar arrives at Lemberg and holds a council of war with the Grand Duke Nicholas.

April 24--Copenhagen reports that the Czar has decided to re-establish the Finnish army with the same constitution as previous to 1898; Grand Duke Nicholas has been much impressed with the brilliant strategic work done by Finnish officers serving with the Russian Army.

April 25--Army orders contain the promotion of a young woman, Alexandra Lagerev, to a Lieutenancy; she has been fighting alongside male relatives since the beginning of the war.

SERBIA.

April 2--American sanitary experts, who will work under the direction of Dr. Richard P. Strong of Harvard, now in Europe, sail from New York on their way to Serbia, where they will fight typhus and other diseases devastating the nation.

April 3--Several thousand Bulgarian irregulars cross the Serbian frontier near Vallandovo, surprising and killing the Serbian guards; Serbian reinforcements, after an all-day fight, repulse and scatter the invaders; Bulgarians lose heavily.

April 4--Serbia protests to Bulgaria because of the raid, which is said to be the fifth of the kind since the beginning of the war; the Bulgarian Minister to Rome says that the raid is the work of Macedonian revolutionists in Serbia.

April 6--Bulgarian Government disclaims responsibility for the raid on Serbia; it is stated that the invasion was initiated by Turks among the inhabitants of that part of Macedonia included in Serbia; Serbians are not satisfied and say that more attacks are being planned on Bulgarian soil, with the object of cutting off supplies from the Serbian Army.

April 10--Disease conditions are growing worse and the percentage of deaths from typhus is very high; 107 Serbian doctors out of 452 have died of typhus; the municipality of Uskub decides to name its finest street after Lady Ralph Paget, who has been working in Serbia with the Red Cross and is now convalescing from a resultant illness.

April 16--Rockefeller Foundation War Relief Commission's first installment of a report on Serbia states that disease is spreading all over the country; there are more than 25,000 cases of typhus, while other fevers are also epidemic; cholera is expected with the warm weather; the nation is declared unable to aid itself.

April 17--The Government submits to Parliament a new army credit of $40,000,000.

April 21--Two invasions into Serbian territory are made by Bulgarian irregulars.

April 28--Serbia holds 60,000 Austrian prisoners.

SWEDEN.

April 7--Sweden makes a strong protest to Germany against seizure of the Swedish steamer England.

SWITZERLAND.

April 13--German shells fall upon Swiss territory for the third time since the war began, according to a Delemont newspaper; the shots were intended for the French, but the aim was bad and they dropped near the town of Beurnevesain.

TURKEY.

April 1--Troops are being concentrated at Adrianople as a precaution in case war starts with Bulgaria.

April 2--Both the Turkish and Russian Ambassadors to Italy deny a report that Turkey is seeking a separate peace.

April 7--Field Marshal von der Goltz, in an interview in Vienna, says that Turkey is well prepared for war; she has 1,250,000 well-trained men and several hundred thousand reserves; the Sultan gives an interview at Constantinople to American newspaper men; he deplores "unjust" attack of Allies on the Dardanelles, adding that he does not believe the strait can be forced.

April 15--Pillage and murder are reported to be rife in villages and smaller towns of the littoral near Smyrna; lives of Christians are in danger.

April 18--Enver Pasha, War Minister and Generalissimo of the Turkish Army, in a newspaper interview lays the blame for Turkey's participation in the war on Russia and England; he says Turkey has a well-prepared army of 2,000,000.

April 24--Refugees who have reached the Russian line near Tiflis, Transcaucasia, report that widespread massacres of Armenians are being carried out by Mohammedans; they state that all the inhabitants of ten villages near Van, in Armenia, Asiatic Turkey, have been killed.

April 27--An appeal for relief of Armenian Christians in Turkey is made to the Turkish Government by the United States; a plot is discovered to blow up the council chamber in the Ministry of War at Constantinople during a session of the War Council.

April 29--The War Minister has called all available men to arms; Kurds are massacring Christians in Armenia.

UNITED STATES.

April 1--Secretary Bryan orders an inquiry into the circumstances of the arrest by the authorities in Paris of Raymond Rolfe Swoboda, stated to be an American citizen, held in connection with the recent fire on the French liner La Touraine in mid-ocean; the State Department is investigating the death of Leon Chester Thrasher of Hardwick, Mass., who was lost when the British steamer Falaba was sunk by a German submarine; information is being sought as to whether Thrasher was an American citizen at the time of his death.

April 2--The Government is informed by the British Government, through Ambassador Page, that no trade messages can be sent over British cables if they refer to transactions in which the enemies of Britain are interested.

April 5--Text is made public of the United States note to Germany, recently presented by Ambassador Gerard, demanding payment by the German Government of $228,059.54, with interest from Jan. 28, for the destruction of the American sailing ship William P. Frye by the German converted cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich; Secretary Bryan makes public the text of the identic notes recently sent by the United States to the British and French Governments protesting against invasion of neutral rights involved in the recent British Order in Council, establishing a long-range blockade of European waters; the note insists on the right of innocent shipments "to be freely transported to and from the United States through neutral countries to belligerent territory, without being subjected to the penalties of contraband traffic or breach of blockade, much less to detention, requisition, or confiscation"; it is reported from Washington that the reason for the order, issued a few days ago, for the recall of the five American Army officers who have been acting as military observers in Germany, is due to the growing feeling of hostility to Americans in Germany, and the belief that it is wise to withdraw the officers before they become involved in any incident that might cause embarrassment in American-German relations; Dudley Field Malone, Collector of the Port of New York, announces that he has evidence of a widespread conspiracy to violate President Wilson's neutrality proclamation through the establishment here of an agency to supply the British warships lying outside the three-mile zone with food and fuel; he asks the Government for additional warships to protect the harbor's neutrality.

April 6--An official message from Berlin is issued by the German Embassy at Washington giving an intimation that Germany would not regard with favor the idea of paying damages for the death of Leon Chester Thrasher; the statement says that neutrals were warned not to cross the war zone; the German Embassy gives out a statement on the stopping of the German merchant ship Odenwald, halted by a shot across her bows when she was attempting to leave San Juan, Porto Rico, without clearance papers, on March 22; statement refers to the episode as an "attack," and says "a sharp fire" was opened, but the American official report shows that only warning shots were fired.

April 7--British Government denies Collector Malone's charge that British warships have been receiving supplies from ports of the United States in violation of neutrality; acting upon a request of the German Ambassador, the Government is making a new investigation of the Odenwald case.

April 8--Secretary Bryan makes public the reply of the German Government to the American claim for compensation for the loss of the William P. Frye; Germany is willing to pay both for ship and cargo, basing this readiness wholly on treaties of 1799 and 1828 between the United States and Prussia, but under international law justifying the destruction of both ship and cargo; Collector Malone says investigation shows that charges that supplies have been sent to British warships from New York in violation of neutrality were part of a plot to involve this country in trouble with England.

April 11--Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, makes public a memorandum addressed to the United States Government and delivered several days ago, charging in effect that the United States is violating the true spirit of neutrality by permitting vast quantities of arms to be shipped to England, France, and Russia, and characterizing as a failure the diplomatic efforts of the United States to effect shipment of food supplies to Germany; the memorandum intimates that the United States maintained a true spirit of neutrality to Mexico in placing an embargo on arms exports to Huerta and Carranza, and quotes a statement attributed to President Wilson on the Mexican situation.

April 13--The Government War Risk Insurance Bureau settles its first claim for losses by paying $401,000 to the owners of the American steamer Evelyn, sunk off the coast of Holland, supposedly by a mine, on Feb. 21; London reports that negotiations are under way for a short-term loan of $100,000,000 to England by American interests.

April 14--Secretary Bryan announces that arrangements have been completed with the British Government by which two shiploads of dyestuffs may be shipped from Germany to the United States without interference from British warships.

April 15--The text is made public of a letter written by Theodore Roosevelt to Mrs. George Rublee of Washington, in opposition to the principles advanced by the Woman's Party for Constructive Peace, in which he says the platform is "both silly and base"; at a meeting in New York of the Central Federated Union a resolution is passed in favor of a general strike in those industries employed in producing munitions of war.

April 16--The American Locomotive Company has practically completed arrangements with the Russian Government for the manufacture of $65,000,000 worth of shrapnel shells.

April 17--The Hamburg-American steamship Georgia is transferred to American registry and renamed the Housatonic.

April 20--French military authorities decide to abandon the charge of setting fire to La Touraine preferred against Raymond Swoboda, because of lack of evidence.

April 21--The Government replies to the recent memorandum from Ambassador von Bernstorff on American neutrality; the American answer regrets use of language that seems to impugn our good faith, and it restates our position; it declares that we have at no time yielded any of our rights as a neutral, and that we cannot prohibit exportation of arms to belligerents, because to do so would be an unjustifiable breach of our neutrality; the State Department has cabled the American Consul at Warsaw to report fully on the present situation of Jews in Poland.

April 23--The Telefunken wireless plant at Sayville, L.I., through which the German Government and its embassy at Washington chiefly communicate, has been trebled in power for the purpose of overcoming climatic conditions likely in Summer to be unfavorable for the handling of messages; Secretary Bryan is refusing to issue passports to Americans who wish to visit belligerent countries in Europe for sightseeing purposes.

April 28--Secretary Bryan replies to the German note on the sinking of the American ship William P. Frye; the answer declares that the destruction of the vessel was "unquestionably" a violation of existing treaties between the United States and Prussia; the answer states that the American Government does not believe the matter should go before a prize court, as suggested by the German note.

April 29--Samuel Pearson, who was a Boer General in the Boer war and is an American citizen, begins an action in Wisconsin aimed at preventing shipment of munitions of war from the United States to the enemies of Germany; a complaint is filed on Pearson's behalf under the so-called "Discovery" statute of Wisconsin, to obtain information whether the Allis-Chalmers Company and others have entered into a conspiracy with the Bethlehem Steel Company and others to manufacture and ship shrapnel shells to European belligerents contrary to Wisconsin law.

April 30--Directions are given by President Wilson for an investigation to be made of the Pearson bill of complaint; German Embassy at Washington publishes an advertisement in the newspapers declaring that "travelers sailing in the war zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk."

RELIEF.

April 1--American Red Cross sends 200,000 pounds of disinfectants to Serbia for use in the fight against typhus.

April 2--Mme. Lalla Vandervelde, wife of the Belgian Minister of State, sails from New York after collecting nearly $300,000 for relief in Belgium.

April 3--Henryk Sienkiewicz, the Polish writer, appeals to the United States for help for Poland; it is stated that an area seven times as great as Belgium has been laid waste, 5,000 villages have been destroyed, 1,000,000 horses and 2,000,000 cattle are dead or seized by the enemy, and damage to the extent of $600,000,000 has been done; Serbian Agricultural Relief Commission of America announces that Walter Camp will take charge of Serbian relief in the colleges and universities of the United States.

April 6--Australians have contributed $700,000 in four days for Belgian relief, and measures are being taken to insure $500,000 a month from the Australian States.

April 8--German Red Cross sends through Ambassador Gerard its thanks for gifts from the United States.

April 9--Commission for Relief in Belgium announces the organization of a New York State Belgian Committee which will work in co-operation with the commission, Dr. John H. Finley being Chairman.

April 10--Major Gen. Gorgas, U.S.A., has been invited to go to Serbia for the Rockefeller Commission to take charge of an attempt to stamp out typhus.

April 12--The State of Oklahoma makes Belgian relief an official matter, and the Governor has issued a proclamation calling upon the people to do all in their power to aid.

April 15--Three hospital trains, each consisting of an automobile with two trailers, have been presented to the Military Commander at Frankfort-on-Main as a gift "from friends of Germany in the United States"; Mme. Marcella Sembrich, President of the American Polish Relief Committee, issues an appeal to "all America" for aid for Poland; Paderewski arrives in New York to seek American help for Poland.

April 17--Donations to the American Red Cross total to date $1,415,000; during the last week eight steamers have sailed from the United States for Rotterdam carrying relief for Belgium; the cargoes totaled 55,000 tons, valued at $3,000,000.

April 21--Rockefeller Foundation gives out a report of its Relief Commission concerning Belgian refugees in Holland; up to Feb. 22 cases containing 1,386,572 articles of clothing, contributed by the neutral world, principally the United States, have been delivered in Rotterdam for the Belgians.

April 24--Report of the American Red Cross, covering the period from Sept. 12 to April 17, shows that supplies valued at over $1,000,000 have been sent to France, which got the largest individual share of the shipments, and to Great Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and the Belgians; the supplies have included 600,000 pounds of absorbent cotton; surgical gauze that if stretched in a single line would reach from the Battery, New York, to Niagara Falls; 32,600 pounds of chloroform and ether; 65,000 yards of bandages, and 1,123 cases of surgical instruments.

April 26--A new British committee, with many well-known Englishmen on it, has been organized for Belgian relief, King George heading the subscription list.

April 27--American Red Cross ships a large consignment of supplies to the Russian Red Cross at Petrograd.

The Drink Question

[From Truth, April 7, 1915.]

Sir Topas Port, in angry sort,
A scowl upon his forehead,
Relieved his chest, of wrath possessed,
In words distinctly torrid;
His brows were raised, his eyes they blazed,
His nose inclined to florid.

"Disgraceful state! That we must wait
For guns and ammunition,
Because--Great Scott!--men play the sot
And ruin their condition.
Low, drunken swine! If power were mine,
I'd teach 'em their position!

"I'd close the pubs and workmen's clubs--
What says that Welshman feller?
All drink tabooed? Alike preclude
Mile-Ender and Pall-Maller?
Good-bye! Can't stay. I must away
Post haste to stock my cellar."