many had tried two British airmen by court-martial and sentenced them to ten years' imprisonment for dropping a hostile proclamation in Germany.

RUSSIA, RUMANIA, POLAND On Jan. 18 the Revolutionary Committee of the Ninth Russian Army sent a two-hour ultimatum to the Rumanian military authorities demanding free passage for Russian troops through Jassy. King Ferdinand was placed under the protection of the Allies. The Russians were defeated at Galatz on Jan. 26. The Bolshevist Government severed diplomatic relations with Rumania on Jan. 28, and Rumanian Legation and Consular officials were ordered out of Russia. Lieut. Gen. Tcherbatcheff was outlawed. Kishenev was occupied by the Rumanians on Feb. 1, and on the same day the Bolsheviki seized Rumanian ships in the Black Sea. The Rumanian Cabinet resigned Feb. 10 after receiving an ultimatum from Ger. many demanding that peace negotiations be begun in four days.

The Constituent Assembly, which met at Petrograd on Jan. 19, was dissolved on Jan. 20 by the Council of National Commissioners, although the All-Russian Railway Men's Congress passed a resolution supporting it and calling upon the People's Commissaries to aid the majority in forming a Government responsible to the assembly. On Jan. 26 the All-Russian Congress of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates passed a resolution of confidence in the Government of the National Commissaries and approved all measures enacted by it, and on Jan. 30 the Congress adopted the Constitution of the "Russian Socialistic Soviet Republic."

mur

A. I. Shingaroff and Professor F. F. Kokoshine, Cadets and former Ministers of the Provisional Government, were dered by the Bolsheviki in the Marine Hospital at Petrograd Jan. 23. Odessa and Orenburg were captured by the Bolsheviki on Feb. 1 and Niepin was taken by their troops in Minsk on Feb. 4. The American Ambassador, David R. Francis, notified the State Department on Jan. 30 that he had been threatened by Russian anarchists and warned that he would be held responsible for the life and liberty of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, who were imprisoned in the United States for conspiracy to obstruct the army draft law.

The Bolshevist Government announced on Feb. 2 that British and other foreign embassies would not be allowed to draw on funds deposited in the Russian banks until the Bolshevist Government should be allowed to have complete disposal of Russian funds in the Bank of England. The Petrograd Soviet issued a decree on Feb. 4, signed by Lenine and other members of the de facto Government, separating

the Church and the State. As a result of the seizure of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in Petrograd by the Bolsheviki on Feb. 1, the Metropolitan of Moscow issued an anathema threatening the participants, with excommunication.

A counter-revolutionary plot, headed by Ensigns Sinebrukoff and Wolk, was unWolk earthed in Petrograd on Feb. 1. was arrested and killed. General Verkhovski, who was War Minister in the Kerensky régime, was arrested on Feb. 4. A Congress of Cossack Socialists was inaugurated at the military station of Kamesky on Jan. 26 and passed a resolution declaring war on General Kaledine and assuming all authority.

The Tartars held a constituent assembly in the ancient Tartar capital of Bakhtchisarai on Feb. 1 and announced the establishment of an autonomous Crimean republic. Yalta, in the Government of Taurida, was occupied by the Tartars on Feb. 4, and they then advanced on Sebastopol.

A revolution began in the eastern province of Finland on Jan. 28. The loyal army, or White Guards, under General Mannerheim, occupied Uleaborg and Tammerfors on Feb. 6 after an encounter with the Red Guards, or revolutionists, who were aided by the Russians. Viborg was taken by the White Guards Feb. 8.

Ensign Krylenko, the Bolshevist Commander in Chief, issued a decree on Feb. 7, ordering that all supplies be cut off from the Polish legion in the Russian Army and declaring its commander, Dovbor Mousnitsky, an outlaw. He also appealed to all Bolsheviki to leave Polish commands. The decree was prompted by the refusal of the Polish commands to reduce their officers to the ranks and submit to Bolshevist democratization. Smolensk

was captured by the Poles Feb. 10. Kiev, the seat of the Ukrainian Rada, fell under control of the Bolsheviki on Jan. 30. Mussulmans in South Russia, including the Crimea, co-operated with the Ukrainians against the Bolsheviki. The Ukrainians claimed a great victory over the Bolsheviki at Sarny Feb. 8, and the same day the Bolsheviki failed in an attempt to occupy Kiev. M. Holubowicz was appointed Premier of the Ukraine. Russian delegates to the Brest-Litovsk conference decided on Jan. 24 to reject Germany's peace terms, which called for the cession of Courland and the Baltic provinces to Germany. Another conference opened on Jan. 30. The question of Poland presented a difficulty. Leon Trotzky, the Bolshevist Foreign Minister, while declaring his readiness to recognize the independence and right of self-government of the Polish State, contended that the fact of foreign occupation prevented him from recognizing the repre

sentatives of the State under existing

conditions.

Announcement was made on Feb. 7 that steamship service between the Asiatic ports of Russia and Constantinople had been resumed in the Black Sea since Jan. 11, and the Russians were reported to be supplying the Turks with food. A peace treaty between the Central Powers and the Ukraine was signed Feb. 9. Germany announced on Feb. 11 that the Bolsheviki had declared the state of war with the Teutonic powers at an end and had demobilized the Russian armies. The Belgian Government's reply to Pope Benedict's peace note was made public Jan. 23.

On Jan. 24 Chancellor von Hertling, in an address before the Main Committee of the German Reichstag, replied to President Wilson's statements on war aims, and on the same day Count Czernin addressed Austrian delegations of the Reichsrat on the attitude of Austria-Hungary on peace. Philip Scheidemann replied to von Hertling in the Reichstag, accepting eleven points of President Wilson's program, and attacking the German military leaders. On Jan. 25 and 26 the German Foreign Minister, von Kühlmann, made speeches in the Main Committee of the Reichstag justifying the policy pursued by the German representatives at Brest-Litovsk and denouncing the Bolsheviki as ruling by force. The Turkish Foreign Minister, Nessimy Bey, expressed complete accord with the Czernin and Hertling speeches in

an address before the Chamber of Deputies, Feb. 8.

Replies to Hertling and Czernin were delivered by President Wilson in an address to Congress Feb. 11, and by Lloyd George in a speech to Parliament Feb. 12. The British House of Commons on Feb. 13 rejected a resolution expressing regret that in accordance with the decisions of the Supreme War Council at Versailles prosecution of the military effort was the immediate task of the war.

Peace strikes occurred in Austria-Hungary and in Germany, but were suppressed by the military forces.

Count Rudolph von Valentini was displaced by Herr von Berg as Chief of the German Emperor's Civil Cabinet Jan. 20. Sir Edward Carson resigned from the British War Cabinet Jan. 21. His resignation was followed by that of Lieut. Col. James Craig, Lord Treasurer of the Household. The House of Commons passed the third reading of the Man-Power bill on Jan. 24, The Supreme War Council of the Allies convened at Versailles Jan. 29. It was decided to continue the vigorous prosecution of the war.

A War Trade Board was established in Canada to co-operate with the United States War Trade Board.

Bolo Pacha was convicted of treason in France and sentenced to death Feb. 14. His co-defendant, Darius Porchère, was sentenced to three years' imprisonment, and Filippo Cavallinie, another co-defendant, under arrest in Italy, was sentenced to death.

T

HE first serious military loss of the United States in the war against Germany occurred on Feb.

5, 1918, when a submarine torpedoed and sank the British steamship Tuscania of the Anchor Line. The vessel was under charter to the Cunard Line and serving as a transport for American troops, mostly National Guardsmen from Michigan and Wisconsin. On Oct. 1, 1917, the United States Army transport Antilles had been sunk by a German submarine while returning from France under convoy, with a loss of sixty-seven men, the majority of them wounded soldiers. That was the first disaster of the kind. The sinking of the

Tuscania was the second, and the death roll was much larger.

There were 2,179 American soldiers on board the Tuscania at the time the vessel was torpedoed off the north coast of Ireland. The total number of victims is still in doubt at this writing, (Feb. 18,) but it is known to include 164 whose bodies were washed ashore on the Scottish coast and buried there with appropriate services. Thirty or more of these had not been identified. Many of the passengers were still unaccounted for. The members of the crew who lost their lives were nearly all killed in the explosion in the engine room.

The survivors were for the most part

quartered in hotels, private residences, and hospitals along the north coast of Ireland. Two groups were sent off to Belfast by rail and thence by boat to England. Everywhere the inhabitants gave the Americans a warm welcome and spared no pains to make them comfortable.

The possibility of being torpedoed had been discussed almost daily from the time the Tuscania left American shores. Several hundred lumberjacks from the Northwest and Pacific Coast States were eating their evening meal when the disaster occurred. Hundreds of other American troops were waiting for their meals when the general alarm sounded. False alarms had been sounded for boat drill every day on the trip, but all knew that this one was genuine. Officers shouted instructions to the men. Many of them were husky youths, and, despite their brief military training, they displayed wonderful coolness as they marched to their boat stations. There was no running about, nothing resembling a panic. In a few isolated cases there were signs of nervousness on the part of some of the youngsters as the ship took a heavy tilt to starboard, and they slid to the rail, to which they clung for dear life. But that was all. Veteran British officers in the crew, who had themselves been on torpedoed ships, marveled at neir coolness.

The rescue work was done by British destroyers, trawlers later coming on the scene and picking up survivors whom the destroyers had missed. One of the trawlers rescued the record number of 340, all Americans.

The Tuscania was attacked in the early evening of Feb. 5, while proceeding under convoy in sight of the Irish coast. With other troop and provision ships, which after a long passage across the Atlantic were entering what, until recently, were considered comparatively safe waters, the Tuscania was moving along in the dusk, the land just distinguishable in the distance, when a torpedo struck the liner amidships. No sign of a submarine had been seen before the blow was struck, according to most accounts. Apparently two torpedoes were launched at the liner. The first, according to some survivors,

passed just astern of the vessel, while the second struck in the vicinity of No. 1 boiler.

The steamship at once took a heavy list to starboard, but the damage done was seen to be not so serious as to cause immediate sinking. Instead of plowing forward as most vessels do under the circumstances, the Tuscania stopped dead. A shiver ran through her, and she heeled over at a dangerous angle. The list to starboard so elevated the lifeboats on the port side as to render them practically useless, and only a few boats on that side were launched. The first of these struck the water unevenly, capsizing and throwing the occupants into the sea. After that several boats were launched successfully, but the vessel's list became more perilous, and some of the men who were trying to get into the boats from the starboard side now climbed along the deck to the rail, to which they clung. Many by this time had donned lifebelts and jumped overboard. Hundreds of others were preparing to follow this example when a British destroyer drew up right alongside the Tuscania.

When the men saw this many of them leaped from the boat and saloon decks to that of the waiting destroyer. This destroyer took off several hundred men, all she could carry, and moved away. She had come up along the starboard side of the Tuscania. As she steamed away with her deck loaded down with Americans another British destroyer emerged out of the darkness on the Tuscania's port side, now high out of the water. When the men on the doomed ship recovered from their surprise at this skillful manoeuvring of the British commander there was another scramble to reach the elevated port rail, from which some of the men slid down the ship's side by the aid of ropes, and others on their hands and knees. All the time this rescue work was progressing, cool heads were getting the few other lifeboats afloat.

The troops on board the Tuscania included 750 of the First Forestry Engineers, recruited from different parts of the country; one battalion of Michigan Engineers and one battalion of Wisconsin

Engineers, parts of three regiments of former Wisconsin infantry, detachments of former National Guard troops from Michigan, and three Aero Squadrons, largely from New York.

Most of the deaths were caused by the

capsizing of lifeboats in the attempt to lower them from the port side of the ship. Many of those thus thrown into the icy waters perished of exposure even after they had reached rafts or other boats.

Two great tragedies of the sea were revealed by the British Admiralty announcement of the sinking of two transports, with a loss of 809 lives. The transport Aragon was torpedoed and sunk in the Eastern Mediterranean on Dec. 30, 1917. A British destroyer, while picking up survivors, was herself torpedoed and sunk. The mercantile fleet auxiliary Osmanieh struck a mine and sank on Dec. 31 in approximately the same locality as the Aragon. The lives lost were: Captains and officers of the two steamers, 7; crew, 36; military officers, 11; soldiers, 747; female nurses, 8; total, 809.

Another revelation of the ravages of the German submarines was made by Lord Rhondda, the British Food Controller, in a speech on Jan. 26, when he said that in one week in December cargoes including 3,000,000 pounds of bacon and 4,000,000 pounds of cheese were sunk.·

According to a reply given by Andrew Bonar Law, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the House of Commons on Feb. 5, German submarines had up to that date been responsible for the death of 14,120 noncombatant British men, women, and children.

A complete survey of Norwegian vessels during 1917 shows that the number

lost was 434, aggregating 686,862 tons. The number of Norwegian sailors known to have been killed was 401, while 258 were missing or unaccounted for.

In the first twelve months of unrestricted warfare launched against American and allied shipping by Germany on Feb. 1, 1917, there were sunk by submarines, mines, and raiders 69 American vessels, representing 171,061 tons. On the other hand, former German and Austro-Hungarian ships seized by the United States numbered 107, having an aggregate tonnage of 686,494. The credit balance in America's favor was, therefore, 38 ships and 515,435 gross tons. The loss of life caused by the sinking of the 69 American vessels was more than 300 persons.

The first definite information as to the scope of the new danger zones decreed by the German Government was made public in Washington on Jan. 29, when the Secretary of State issued the text of the German order, which had been received through the Swiss Legation. The decree bore date of Jan. 5, 1918, and was described as a supplement to the decree of Jan. 31, 1917. It established two very large barred areas in the North Atlantic Ocean. One was around the Cape Verde Islands, off the Senegalese coast of Africa. The other extended from the Madeira and Azores Islands, and included both these groups. The metes and bounds of the new barred areas, charted on the naval hydrographic chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, showed that both zones covered routes between South American ports and Europe and North American and European ports and Africa.

HOSPITAL SHIP TORPEDOED

The British hospital ship Rewa, a vessel of over 7,000 tons, brilliantly lighted with all the distinctive Red Cross mark

ings, was torpedoed and sunk in the British Channel on the night of Jan. 4, 1918, while on the way home from the Mediterranean. Before the vessel sank all the wounded, nearly 300, were saved, and the only casualties were three Lascars, who were probably killed by the explosion. The sinking of the Rewa caused great indignation in Great Britain, because the vessel was not, and had not been, the British official statement said, "within the so-called barred zone as delimited in the statement issued by the German Government on Jan. 29, 1917." The Germans originally sought to justify their attacks on Red Cross ships by alleging that these vessels were misused and carried ammunition. With a view to preventing further outrages by the enemy, the British Government agreed that each hospital ship should carry a neutral Com

missioner, appointed by the Spanish Government, as a guarantee against any abuse of the privileges attaching to Red Cross vessels. On Sept. 9, 1917, it was announced that King Alfonso had obtained from the belligerent Governments an agreement which would permit the free passage of French and British hospital ships in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic as far north as the English Channel. Spanish officers were to board the hospital ships at Gibraltar and Toulon. In accordance with the agreement, a Spanish representative traveled in the Rewa from Saloniki, but left the vessel at Gibraltar. This was the ship's last port of call, so that there was no possibility of the sanctity of the Rewa as a hospital ship, of which the Spanish officer would have satisfied himself, having been violated afterward.

P

[PERIOD ENDED FEB. 18, 1918] ROGRESS in America's war preparations, both at home and abroad, was very considerable during January and February. The taking over of a part of the French line in Lorraine indicated that Pershing's army was emerging from the state of preparation. As will be seen from the article on Page 423, by the middle of February the training operations included work on the firing line which involved casualties and had already produced a death roll.

The navy has been growing at a rapid rate, as was shown in the report issued on Jan. 16, 1918, by William B. Oliver, Chairman of the special sub-committee of the House Naval Affairs Committee which inquired into the conduct of the naval side of the war. Mr. Oliver showed that 424 war vessels were under construction or contract by the Navy Department, in addition to submarine chasers; that this was the largest building program undertaken by any navy, and that the progress made in warship con

struction and in expanding naval shipbuilding facilities had been "phenomenal." One destroyer was recently finished by a navy yard in fifty-one weeks, one week less than a year, whereas before the war the shortest time on record for the building of an American destroyer was eighteen months, while very few of our destroyers were built in less than two years in the pre-war period. The investigating committee was impressed by the "efficient and expeditious methods" employed in the naval Bureaus of Ordnance, Construction, and Steam Engineering. These bureaus did not wait for the outbreak of war, but began making extensive preparations, began accumulating stores on a large scale, and took other important military steps before the actual outbreak of war. The statement disclosed that since the United States entered the war the navy has taken over and converted to war use between 700 and 800 passenger and freight vessels, yachts, tugs, fishing boats, and other craft.