made in the war by those who had anything to sell. 1914. Food is rationed as follows, with A prices in centimes, each centime being approximately one-fifth of a cent: Persons engaged in especially hard manual labor receive an additional 50 grams of bread a day. There is a monthly ration of 150 grams of butter and 350 The following are grams of oil and fat. the prices for unrationed commodities, those marked (*) being temporarily unobtainable: 1914. 1918. 90 90 44 300 .120-130 16- 30 66 Cheese, 170 700 180-250 69 180-200 Potatoes, 31/2 275 3 10 Eggs, each, (average).... *Oil, olive, 1 litre, (1 7-10 pt.)150-180 850 12 30 2,900 520 A London Times correspondent reports the following: A somewhat belated attempt is being made to increase the agricultural output. There are said to be between 20,000 and 30,000 deserters from various armiesnone are English-in Switzerland at the present moment, and it is proposed to the land. Many make them work on country hotel keepers have been unable In the large towns, on to keep going. the other hand, the hotels have never been more prosperous. Accommodation in Berne, for instance, is practically unobtainable. As in the case of other neutral countries, there has been much money A MONTH'S AIR RAIDS IR raids on leading cities of Europe marked the early weeks of 1918. On the nights of Jan. 29 and 30 German aviators made two attacks on the southeast coast of England and on London. The casualties in the first were: Killed, 58; injured, 173; and in the second: Killed, 10; injured, 10. On Jan. 30, 1918, Paris was attacked by air raiders for the first time since July 27, 1917. The number of persons killed was 20; injured, 50. One of the German machines was brought down and its crew captured. The German official account of the raid on Paris read: On Christmas Eve and during January enemy aviators, in spite of our warning, again dropped bombs on open German towns outside the region of operations. Thanks to our measures of defense the losses and damage were slight. As a retons of bombs prisal fourteen dropped last night on the City of Paris in our first systematic attack from the air. were According to the British official communication of Jan. 14, a daylight air raid was made on Karlsruhe, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden. One and a quarter tons of bombs were dropped on factories and railway tracks. Bursts of flame were seen to follow the explosions. Observers reported that a very large fire was started in the factories alongside the railway, which was confirmed by photographs taken after the raid. This was not the first time Karlsruhe was visited by allied airmen, several raids having been made in 1917, and earlier in the war. More extensive aerial operations against German towns were carried out on Jan. 24 by British aviators, who, according to official report, made direct hits on factories, docks, and in the town of Mannheim. The barracks and railway station at Treves, the steel works at Thionville, and the railway stations at Saarbrücken and Oberbillig also were attacked. The pilots reported large explosions at all objectives, and a big fire at Treves. An attack was made on Venice on Feb. 3, when a number of bombs fell into the water at the eastern end of the Grand Canal. One fell near the Church of A SOLDIER'S LIFE IN FRANCE LIEUTENANT MILTON SEE, Jr., of the Coast Artillery, U. S. R., in a letter written Oct. 12, 1917, from France, refers to the cordiality of the greetings to Americans by the French soldiers in the following terms: We have become well acquainted with many of the French officers, who have treated us like kings. They have given us all the privileges of their officers' club, where we can drop in in our spare time and play bridge with them and gossip over tea and coffee and the ever-present wine of the country. 93 gave a dinner The French "Capitaine in our honor the other night, at which Generals Muteau and Mounier were present. The French and American officers alternated at the long tables, which, of course, were loaded down with wine and champagne. After the meal, which was thoroughly French, the " Capitaine " made a speech in English and repeated it in French. He touched on the close relations between France and America, Washington, Lafayette, Rochambeau, &c., and evoked very much enthusiasm on both sides. The band played the "Marseillaise " and "StarSpangled Banner," and there were toasts to Presidents Wilson, Poincaré, and the armies of France and America, now fighting side by side. We then treated them to some choice selections of American ragtime, and they came back with a lot of French songs. When we were getting our hats and coats on, one of our fellows started to play Tipperary," and the Frenchmen went wild. They threw their caps in the air and grabbed ours, and burst out of the place. Outside they started a "snake dance" and, singing Tipperary," wound down past the old cathedral and through the nearly deserted streets of the town in one grand rough house. After many a "Vive la France and "Vivent les Etats-Unis," and a few more cheers and songs, every one called it a night and went home to bed. The next night they gave a show in our "" THE * * * HINDENBURG THROUGH GERMAN EYES THE worship of General Hindenburg in Germany is almost universal, and the entire newspaper press is fulsome in its flattery. A newspaper editor named Auernheimer, in a recent publication, gives his impression of the General in the following terms: Hindenburg's appearance is immense, but it is one of greater tenderness and goodness than his picture would lead one to gather. To me also his head is lighter, his features clearer, the expression less forbidding than in the best-known pictures. This was my first impression as I looked through the half-open doors of his reception room and saw the mighty figure of the Field Marshal in profile as he greeted his guests singly with German thoroughness and punctilio. Hindenburg has not a face to which justice can be done by the photographer or portrait painter. You only see him as he is when he is in motion. In repose he is the buttoned-up soldier, with stern and forbidding demeanor. But in any case it is a face you can never forget. [Then follow details of forehead, cheeks, eyes, and mustache, neck, upper lip, and of a remarkable "serpent line," whatever that may be.] When we approach him we feel like Gulliver in the land of the Brobdingnags. Like Odysseus, Hindenburg appears As greater when sitting than standing. we all sat at a round table with him, we felt that he overtopped us as an Alpine summit overtops its foothills. A * * * DISPATCH from Paris on Feb. 10 stated that General Cadorna, former Commander in Chief of the Italian Army, had been replaced as Italian delegate to the Supreme War Council by General Gaetano Giardino, Assistant Chief of Staff to General Diaz, the present Italian Commander in Chief. BOLO * * * OLO PACHA, the Frenchman with a Levantine title, was convicted of high treason by a court-martial at Paris on Feb. 14 and sentenced to death. The case was appealed. Bolo was charged with having received large sums of money-through American banks and other institutions-from German sources, and with having undertaken to purchase or corrupt French newspapers with a view to producing internal unrest and thus discourage the prosecution of the war. The testimony was conclusive. His activities were said to be part of the general movement which former Premier Caillaux was charged with engineering, and for which he is in prison awaiting trial on charges of treason. * * * BESSARABIA AND THE DOBRUDJA BESSARABIA, a triangular territory on the Black Sea and the Rumanian border, is preponderantly Rumanian in race and tongue. As a part of the Turkish Empire, it was ceded to Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century, its western half being again lost by Russia But after the disastrous Crimean war. Russia demanded this piece of territory again in 1878, when she was at the gates of Constantinople, disregarding the fact that it had since become a part of restored Rumania and strongly Rumanian in sentiment. Russia demanded, as compensation for Rumania, the Dobrudja, the square block of land between the lower Danube and the Black Sea, which Rumania accepted, though cherishing bitter resentment against Russia. The Dobrudja is peopled chiefly by Turks and Bulgarians, and has always been claimed by Bulgaria. In 1913, when the threat of Rumanian intervention against Bulgaria, on the side of Greece, Serbia, and Turkey, compelled Bulgaria to surrender, Rumania exacted an added slice of the Dobrudja as her compensation. This incensed Bulgaria, and was a contributing cause of the alliance between Bulgaria and the Central Powers. According to the principle of nationalities, it would seem that the arrangement of 1878 should be reversed, Bessarabia going back to Rumania, while the Dobrudja would' revert to Bulgaria, which at present holds it by armed force. THE PEACE OFFENSIVE Official Peace Declarations of President Wilson, Premier Lloyd George, Count Hertling, and Count Czernin What amounts to a long-distance exchange of peace negotiations between the Allies and the Central Powers took place in the period beginning with President Wilson's war-aims address to Congress on Jan. 8, 1918. This was preceded, on Jan. 5, by an address by Premier Lloyd George to the labor unions of England, in which the war aims of Great Britain were restated. Both these addresses were printed in full in the February CURRENT HISTORY MAGAZINE. Count Hertling, the German Imperial Chancellor, replied to these addresses before the Main Committee of the Reichstag on Jan. 24, and Foreign Minister Czernin replied the same day before the Austrian Parliament, President Wilson replied to both of these declarations in an address to Congress on Feb. 11, and Premier Lloyd George replied in Parliament on Feb. 12. The last four addresses are given herewith in the order in which they were delivered before their respective bodies. The German Chancellor's Reply to America and Great Britain [Delivered before the Reichstag Main Committee, Jan. 24, 1918] After referring to the negotiations with the Russians at Brest-Litovsk and saying that he held fast to the hope that a good conclusion would be arrived at, both with the Bolsheviki and with the Ukrainians, the Chancellor continued: THE HE Russians last month proposed to issue an invitation to all the belligerents to participate in the negotiations. Russia submitted certain proposals of a very general character. At that time we accepted the proposal to invite the belligerents to take part in the negotiations, on the condition, however, that the invitation should have a definite period for its acceptance. At 10 o'clock on the evening of Jan. 4 the period expired. No answer had come, and as a result we were no longer under obligations and had a free hand for separate peace negotiations with Russia. Neither were we longer bound, of course, by the general peace proposals submitted to us by the Russian delegation. Instead of the reply which was expected but which was not forthcoming, two declarations were made by enemy statesmen-Lloyd George's speech and President Wilson's speech. I willingly admit that Lloyd George altered his tone. He no longer indulges in abuse, and appears desirous of again demonstrating his ability as a negotiator, which I had formerly doubted. I cannot go so far, however, as many opinions which have been expressed in neutral countries, which would read in this speech of Lloyd George a serious desire for peace, and even a friendly disposition. It is true he declares he does not desire to destroy Germany, and never desired to destroy her. He has even words of respect for our political, economic, and cultural position. But other utterances also are not lacking, and the idea continually comes to the surface that he has to pronounce judgment on Germany, charging her with being guilty of all possible crimes. That is an attitude with which we can have nothing to do, and in which we can discover no trace of a serious purpose to attain peace. We are to be the guilty ones, over whom the Entente is now sitting in judgment. That compels me to give a short review of the situation and the events preceding the war, at the risk of repeating what long ago was said. The establishment of the German Empire in the year 1871 made an end of dismemberment. By the union of its tribes the German Empire in Europe acquired a position corresponding to its economic and cultural achievements and the claims founded thereon. Bismarck crowned his work by the alliance with Austria-Hungary. It was purely a defensive alliance, so conceived and willed by the exalted allies from the first. Not even the slightest thought of its misuse for aggressive aims ever occurred in the course of decades. The defensive alliance between Germany and the Danube monarchy, closely connected by old traditions and allied to us by common interest, was to serve especially for maintenance of peace. SAYS GERMANY WAS MENACED But Bismarck had even then, as he was often reproached for having, an obsession in regard to coalitions, and events of subsequent time have shown it was no vision of terror. The danger of hostile coalitions which menaced the allied Central Powers often made its appearance. By King Edward's isolation policy the dream of coalitions became a reality. The German Empire, progressing and growing in strength, stood in the way of British imperialism. In French lust of revenge and Russian aspirations of expansion this British imperialism found only too ready aid. Thus future plans, dangerous for us, were formed. The geographical situation of Germany in itself had always brought near to us the danger of war on two fronts, and now it became increasingly visible. Between Russia and France an alliance was concluded whose participants were twice as numerous as the population of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary. Republican France lent the Russia of the Czar billions to construct strategical railways in the Kingdom of Poland, in order to facilitate an advance against us. The French Republic drew on its last man for three years of service. Thus France, with Russia, built up armaments extending to the limit of the capabilities of both, thereby pursuing aims which our enemies now term imperialistic. It would have been a neglect of duty had Germany remained a calm spectator of this game and had we not also endeavored to create an armament which would protect us against future enemies. I may, perhaps, recall that I, as a member of the Reichstag, very frequently spoke on these matters, and, on the occasion of new expenditures on armament, pointed out that the German people, in consenting to these, solely desired to pursue a policy of peace, and that such armaments were only imposed upon us to ward off the danger threatening from a possible enemy. It does not appear that any regard was paid to these words abroad. CLAIMS ALSACE-LORRAINE And Alsace-Lorraine, of which Lloyd George speaks again? He speaks of the wrong Germany did in 1871 to France. Alsace-Lorraine-you need not be told, but abroad they appear still to be ignorant of things-Alsace-Lorraine comprises, as is known, for the most part purely German regions which by a century of violence and illegality were severed from the German Empire, until finally the French Revolution swallowed up the last remnant. Alsace and Lorraine then became French provinces. When, in the war of 1870, we demanded back the districts which had been criminally wrested from us, that was not a conquest of foreign territory, but, rightly and properly speaking, what today is called disannexation. This disannexation was then expressly recognized by the |