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.

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[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.

Simultaneously with the growth of the armed forces on land and sea, the drafting of civilians into the new armies and their training and equipment, there was a considerable amount of criticism in Congress and the press. Secretary Baker's war administration was the particular object of attack, and demands for reorganization were insistent in many quarters. A full review of the attack in Congress and Secretary Baker's defense will be found on Pages 457-73 of this issue.

While the management of the War Department has been productive of controversy, the industrial mobilization of the nation has encountered the first serious emergency since the United States entered the war. The crisis, which reached its height in January, 1918, arose from a shortage of coal in the great cities and manufacturing centres of the East. But the shortage was really due to the absence of sufficient transportation facilities to move coal and other freight and also adequate terminal accommodation to cope with the congestion of merchandise, in its turn due to the lack of enough shipping. This phase is treated on Page 473 of this issue.

It became more obvious than ever before that the basis of America's aid to the Allies was the providing of ships for the transport of troops, for the continuous stream of supplies to keep the armies in the field properly equipped, and for the supply of food and other necessities for the Allies. Pershing summed up the vital need of the situation in the exhortation to make "a bridge of ships" to France. Under Chairman Hurley the Shipping Board and its Emergency Fleet Corporation increased their efforts to hasten the production of ships from the many new yards which came into existence during 1917. Everything in the way of material necessary for the carrying out of the great building program was available, but at the critical moment, early in February, 1918, when a call was sent out for skilled labor and a recruiting campaign initiated to obtain 250,000 additional shipyard workers, discontent on the part of the workingmen threatened to tie up every yard on the Atlantic

Coast. Several thousand men went on strike, and by the middle of February the stoppage seemed about to extend unless a considerable advance in wages were granted.

William L. Hutcheson, General President of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, in a statement on Feb. 15 issued demands for a" closed shop" in shipyards and a wage scale similar to that in force on the Pacific Coast, ignoring at the same time the suggestion that differences should be settled by the Government Labor Adjustment Board. This was the first serious labor trouble, apart from the I. W. W. agitation in the West, with which the Government had been confronted since the nation went to war, and was more serious because the shipyard workers belong to well-organized unions affiliated to the American Federation of Labor, presided over by Samuel Gompers, whereas the I. W. W. is very loosely organized, sporadic in its action, and strongly discountenanced by the American Federation of Labor.

The trouble was ended by the intervention of President Wilson, who, on Feb. 17, addressed a telegram to Mr. Hutcheson in which he said:

I feel it to be my duty to call your attention to the fact that the strike of carpenters in the shipyards is in marked and painful contrast to the action of labor in other trades and places.

All the other unions engaged in this indispensable work have agreed to abide by the decisions of the Shipbuilding Wage Adjustment Board.

If you do not act upon this principle, you are undoubtedly giving aid and comfort to the enemy, whatever may be your own conscious purpose.

It is the duty of the Government to see that the best possible conditions of labor are maintained, as it is also its duty to see to it that there is no lawless and conscienceless profiteering, and that duty the Government has accepted and will perform. Will you co-operate or will you obstruct?

Mr. Hutcheson promptly replied that he was doing his utmost to induce the striking carpenters and joiners to return to work. With his staff of brotherhood officials he took energetic steps, issuing instructions to all local officials to get the strikers back to work on the following day, Monday, Feb. 18.

In the sphere of finance and trade, the most interesting developments were the Government's proposal to create a corporation to control issues of bonds and stocks, and the placing of the whole of the country's foreign trade under a licensing system. The object of the new finance corporation is to stabilize monetary conditions in connection with the issue of Government loans; while the

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control of foreign trade is dictated by the necessities of the shipping situation; no imports or exports of any character can be handled except by special license, and it is believed that the foreign commerce of the country will be reduced considerably and enable fully one million additional tons of shipping to be diverted for the transport of troops and supplies to the oversea forces.

HE announcement was authorized by the War Department on Jan. 31, 1918, that American soldiers in France were occupying front-line trenches and bearing the full brunt of the defense of certain sectors of the line. This was the first time that the War Department authorized mention of the fact that the American expeditionary forces were occupying trenches for other than training purposes.

A dispatch, dated Feb. 5, from The Associated Press correspondent with the American Army in France stated that the sector occupied by the American troops was northwest of Toul, which indicated that they were on the south side of the St. Mihiel salient. Writing in the Paris Temps, Commandant de Civrieux described the American sector in the following terms:

According to indications given, the region in which our allies are established for their début is that of the Woevre, in a district which, at this season, is most impracticable for the movements of troops. It is a low plain, shut in on one side by the Highlands (Hauts) of the Meuse, and on another by the hills of the Moselle-all of it covered with pools and swamps.

To the west may be seen the skyline of the forests of Apremont, where the prolonged combats of Ailly and the Bois Brulé took place.

To the east is the Bois de Mort-Mare, often mentioned in the dispatches, extending in a succession of clumps of trees as far as the grove of Le Prêtre, within which so much heroism has been displayed.

The plain sinks toward the centre like a bowl, where the ground is quite impassable except in the dry weeks of Summer. The pools, variously cut up, terminate in

a series of gullies, along which run stonelaid trails, which, at least until May, constitute the only available roads.

In the rear, and sustaining the first lines, obviously parallel with the route St. Mihiel-Pont à Mousson, which, to a large extent they inclose, extends the forest of the Reine, with its many patches of stagnant water.

Finally, the horizon to the south is obstructed by the cliffs of the Meuse, running from Lérouville toward Toul, and whence the long-range batteries on the emplacements at Forts Lérouville and Gironville command the entire sector.

Hence this sector is exceptionally favorable for the trying out of soldiers, because no serious attack against it seems possible in existing conditions.

Here our allies will be able to learn their lessons of experience through their limited daily actions, which are the elements of which the greater are made; they will be able, in this rude school, to put through their successive contingents, and thus, under the very best conditions, prepare their vast collaboration for the common work.

Ever since the American forces in France went into the trenches for training there were indications that part if not all of the Lorraine section of the line would be taken over by our men. The sentimental and moral value of placing the American forces along the Lorraine front is great in the minds of the French people on account of the national aspiration of the French for the recovery of the lost provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. There were also good military reasons why the American forces should be stationed along the Lorraine front, which, until they were placed in their stations there, was described as "a quiet sector of the front." This section of the