OURTH YEAR OF WAR A BITTER ONE FOR ALUES BUT ENDS WITH PROMISE tussia and Rumania Were Crushed, Great Britain, France and Italy Each Suffered the Worst Defeats of Entire Period of World Struggle, But Growing Tide of American Troopers Turned the Scales In Nick of Time and Next 12 Months Should Be a Story of Victor ies Over the Teuton. By Frank H. Simonds. j Copyright, 1918, Now York Tribune) The fourth year of the world war Jr the western nations, the gloomiest 1 the whole struggle. Is ending under ♦nditions which are more favorable (id give more real cause for optimism lan any that have existed In the past I months. We are entering th* fth year of the contest not with any hispect of peace now or even within te period of another year, but under frcurastances strikingly recalling the Ituatlon after the first battle of the tarne. The second, and we may be •ve the final, blow of Germany Uae ten parried, if not broken. If we have t brought the new Napoleonic edifice i 1 the ruin of a Waterloo, there are | gns that the recent defeat may prove . I some degree suggestive of Leipsic. | The story of the fourth year of the Jruggle Is measured by two major vents: the collapse of Russia and the tuning of the United States. When year opened we were, all of us, still (oping against hope that the Russian beratlons In Galicia might prove the erst, sign of a renaissance of Russian illltary power, and that Russia might ypeat the achievement of the first •bench republic and, In defending the fcerty of the Slav world, contribute lightily to the salvation of western Ivilizatton. But before the campaign had come p an end Russia had ceased to be a Military factor; treason and madness tad aorve their work and hence the ttalntegration within was to be rapid; Hi lie German troops, released from th* fest, were to carry peril to the very ?lge of Paris and threaten Sir Douglas alg’s mighty force with the fate which jad been prescribed for the “contemp Ible little army” of Field Marshal Sir iohn French In the opening days of the The world, particularly the allied vorld, was slow In perceiving what Vere to be the consequences of the iussian collapse. When the full Ger han storm broke In March of the pres Int year It took the allies by surprise, tnd brought an unready coalition with jj measurable distance of one of the jreat disasters of human history. But yhen the March blow had fallen and (he extent of the danger was perceived, hen the wai became a race between Imerica and Germany, a race between lur young troops, hurried across a mbmarlne Infested ocean, and the last Sower of German veterans thrown up >n the allied lines in offensive after Iffensive, seeking a decision before America came. Lost Without America. As early as June of 1917, when Ni telle's Aisne offensive failed, it be tame clear that unless America came io the rescue the war would be lost to our allies and Germany would win on the continent something recalling Napoleon’s success against Austria in lS()o, Prussia in 1806 and against Rus lia in 1807. But what was not per ceived at that time was that it was roing to be a narrow question whether France, Britain and Italy could hold ygainst our coming, and, blind to the real facts, our coming continued to ask real facts, our allies continued to a3k Of us material and money rather than men, until the bitter awakening of March transformed the whole situa tion. The Russian revolution and the re oulting anarchy, which led to the de moralization of the Russian army, in fact produced a situation In which France and Britain could win the war; It produced a condition In which the possibility of a German success was patent, at least to Germans and neu trals. It brought back the old prob lem of 1914, and in the next 12 months there was to he repeated the German effort of tht Marne campaign. From August, 1917, onward Ihe German prob lem and the German hope was to or finize a new blow which should crush ranee and Britain before America could arrive, as Germany sought to crush them In 1914 before Russian op erations in the east should demand attention. In a word, we went back suddenly to the conditions of the opening days of the war. By the end of last year Ger many was free to strike for Paris again; before the campaign of 1918 was Well opened the peace of Brest-Lito vsk and of Bucharest had eliminated Russia and Rumania, abolished the eastern front, given to the Germans the mastery of the Baltic and Black seas, placed the kaiser’s generals in control of the colossal Russian carcass and removed from the eastern flank of a completed Mitteleuropa the imme diate menace of Slavdom. The Teuton seemed to have won his age long bat tle with the Slavs, his way to the Pa cific-lay open, while he still command ed Ihe Constantinople bridge to the nearer east. When the campaign of 1917 was over the Xierman could calculate and did calculate that he had, with hands free and resources concentrated upon the western front, another chance to win the war in the largest possible sense, to dispose of France and Britain before American was ready, and then to ne gotiate a favorable peace with the Aaierican foe. Sfory of Misfortune. The story of the campaign af 1917, after August 1, is briefly told. For our allies it is a history replete wltl^ mis fortune. In August and September the brilliant but foredoomed Brusiloff of fensive' in Galicia • faded into the shameful and indescribable flight of Russian troops from the field of vic tory into the darkness of demoraliza tion and disintegration. There was a moment when It seemed as If Lemberg w«8 again in danger, we read the old names of towns and rivers, the scenes of victories by the Russians in 1914, but in' a few brief hours the Russian offensive In Galicia succumbed to the internal diseases of the Russian nation. After August, in point, of fact, Russia ■was gone. Meantime, in the west the British offensive in Flanders pursued Its un lucky road to complete failure. It had been the conception of Haig and Rob ertson, striking north from Ypres and out of the famous old salient, to break the German line, cut off the troops on the Belgian seacoast or compel their retreat, free_ Ostend and Sieebrugge, abolish the'submarine bases on this coast and, preysjlpg eastward throw the Germans behind the Scheldt and com pel their later retirement out of France from the Lys to the Meuse. in this effort Plumer had made a brilliant beginning in June ut Meseines. Rut in July and August Gough, later to disappear as a result of the Picardy defect of the present year, had so handled affairs that a second operation lmd ended in costly failure arul when I’lumer resumed the direction of opera tion the weather was already changing *u.-* he golceg moment bad passed. 4a d01.?.* w°f fact> tlve campaign of the British was already sure to fait, for German troops were hastening west* ward from Russia. Yet. doggedly and grimly, the British generals held their! to#the'r task and the toll of cas the British in Flanders riv alled If It did not pass that of the Somme the previous year, while great nopes, excited by a brief but brilliant success before Cambrai, gave way to new developments when one more op5": P°ttunlty was sacrificed. On the map there was proof of Ger man retreat. The Ypres salient disap- ] P«ared, the British troops seised the! yS B th* Passehendaele ridge and critics talked of the advancs from this vantage ground In the next year to Ghent and to Lille, little dreaming that a few days of battle would then suf- ] t0 compel the surrender of these hills, won by so muoh sacrifice and ef fort, and that Ypres Itself was again to be In peril. In peril as deadly as that of October. 1914. In this autumn the French-army was passing through a period of reorganiza tion and renaissance. Its defeat in May had shaken it to the very foundation. For a few weeks its morale was lower than at any time since the war began. To P^taln, who succeeded Nivelle, was assigned the grim task of restoring confidence and discipline, while behind the army the nation, under Clemen ceau, cleaned its high places of those who had oonsplred against victory and held secret confsrence with the foe. A few minor successes above the Alsnc and about Verdun served to prove that the task was being accomplished, but: for the balance of the campaign of 1917 j the French army was limited to the de fensive, or to operations which were i but local offensives. In Italy, Too. The first months of tha fourth year of war saw Italy winning considerable successes along the Isonzo, where for two years Italian soldiers had been struggling to break through the gigan tic Tnermopylre between the Julian Alps and the Adriatic, by which ran the road to Trieste and the Austrian capital far beyond, the road Napoleon had taken more than a century before in his brilliant campaign of 1787. By October the gate seemed forced; Aus trian recoil was general north' and south, and allied capitals, ' looking southward, saw in Italian succeas at least consolation for their own failures. But in November. Italy suffered her first great reverse of the war. Her population and her army, like those of the French nation, had been corrupted by enemy propaganda and by defeatist and pacifist efforts. The taint of bol shevism was already beginning to do its work in Italy as it had in Russia. Suddenly, along the Upper Isonzo front, out of the mountains about Caporetto, a German army appeared and struck an Italian array holding the flank of Cadorna'H mala forces to the south ward, and holding it carelessly and with little thought of danger. In a few short hours this Italian army was destroyed in exactly the fashion Radko Wimitrieft’s Russian army had Radko DimitriefTs Russian army had with consequences to other armies equally grievous. One day advancing and seemingly on the eve of decisive victory, Cadorna’s armies on the Lower Isonzo and about Goriza found them selves on the next with their rear and llank Imperiled, condemned to a swift and costly rush backward, behind the Tagllamento and then behind the Piave. The Invasion of Austria was over and the Hapsburgs once more oc cupied at least a wide sweep of their old province of Venetia, while It was the fate of Venice, not of Trieste, which was now In doubt. Thanks to an Italian rally and to the rush of British and French troops to their stricken ally Venice was saved, and the retreat ended at the Piave and not at the Adige, but Italy had suffered one of the great defeats of history and was henceforth condemned for long months to the defensive. She had. In fact, been on the edge of ruin; her es cape had been by a slight margin, and at the moment the question of her future capacity to fight, brilliantly an swered at the Piave the other day, was to give her allies grave concern. Thus the calendar year and the cam paign of 1917 ended amid the most gloomy of all possible circumstances. British succeeaes in the early months had been dimmed by the failure, the bloody failure, In Flanders. The French army had not merely seen its hopes come to nothing at the Alone, but hod. for the first time, been shaken in Its confidence and was only beginning to give signs of renewed constancy and efficiency. The Italian army had suf fered one of ths great disasters of the war. The minor efforts In the Balkans had been without even the smallest material benefit. To swell the balance on the wrong side Rdlsla was sinking to a hapless derelict and Rumania was obviously soon to quit the war. All hope of an offensive in 1918 had now to be sur rendered. The allied high command did not preceive that, the defensive which was Its role would be one baset with difficulties so great that disaster might impend, but It did recognize that there was no longer any chance of victory in 1918 nor at any other time until America shouldifie able to replace Russia tn the battle line. As for tire German, he could look forward to a return to the west now with his armies victorious in (ho east; he could look forward to superiority In guns as a result of Russian and Italian successes and to .advantage in numbers as a result of the suppression of the Russian and Ramanlnn fronts. For him the new year dawned bril liantly. For Ills enemies It was the beginning of a time which they already foresaw nan to be one of grave trial, hut how grave it was to be they could not suspect, and. not suspecting, failed to provide against. The German Strike*. On March 21 the German struck be tween the Scarpe and the Oise, 40 di visions against 15. awiftly destroyed the Fifth British army, swept over its ruins to the outskirts of Amiens, opened the road down th» Oise valley to Paris as far as Noyon and took Montdldier. and cut the main railroad from Paris to Amiens by artillery lire. Only the •swiftest possible work on the part of the French rushing to tlie aid of their llritislt allles prevented the separation of the two armies. The blow was checked at the moment v.hen further German progress would have meant separation and separation approximate ruin. Karely has any defeat taken the van quished more completely by surprlsa. Suddenly tlie French and British alike were aroused to the fact that their position w;as critical, their numbers in sufficient :uid bound to lie insufficient. They had expected to maintain a suc ■“•w'ful defensive until Amerioa deilb erately accomplished her military pro gram. They saw themselves condemned to a desperate defensive, while Amer ica feverishly rushed to France those divisions without which a LudendorfT victory seemed inevitable. By his first attack Ludendorff, for his had become the master mind in the Oerman high command, employing the method of a brilliant lieutenant, Hutler, had succeeded where all predecessors had failed. He bad pierced and broken an enemy front on an extent of 6# miles and to a depth of 86. After three years and a half of a war of positions, of stagnation, of siege and trenches, hs had carried an offensive into open coun try beyond all defense cones. Checked in Picardy, Ludendorff car ried his offensive to Flanders and again achieved swift and substantial vic tory. Breaking the allied line south of Ypres he pushed forward IS miles toward the channel ports, won back all the lost ground of the Passchendaele campaign of the previous year, took Kemmel, which looks down upon the rear of Ypres. and threatened to re duce this restored salient, which had for,the British empire the same sig nificance Verdun carried for the French nation. This greater success was not attained, and a sharp repulse on April 89 closed the Flanders battle, but this second episode had served to demon strate anew the efficacy, of German tactics and the advantage of Oerman numbers und interior position. It,re opened the question of the arrival'ft the Raiser at Calais and emphaslAd again the greatness of allied peril. The third Oerman blow was in the larger sense even more terrifying than the first. Although two months had passed and the allies had been allowed time to study the Oerman method and prepare an answer, Ludendorff was able in late May to duplicate his March successes, and, sweeping across the Aisne and the Vesle, the victorious Oerman troops reached the bank of the Marne once more, after nearly three years of absence. Ner was this all: the British positions in Picardy had lacked any dominating military strength, but the French positions at the Aisne were among the finest on the western front. And, as at the Somme, Ludendorff had in a week re gained ail the ground lost in the months of the British offensive of 191« and the Oerman retreat in the spring of 1917, he now in three days retook all the- ground gained by Nlvelle in his ill-starred offensive of 1917, and in addition drove south between Rheims and retook Solssons, French since September 12, 1914. The British defeat in Picardy was the greatest in British military history; the French reverse on the Aisne sur passed the disaster of the first days of the Verdun campaign. As a result of the two successes the German was once more within striking distance of Paris and had thrust wedges forward toward the French capital down the Oise and the Marne valleys. June was only Just come and .America’s ferces were still too weak to exercise any decisive Influence. There remained the relatively restricted tasks of eliminat ing the Compiegne and Rheims salient, the one a menace to the community of his operative front between the Oise and the Marne, the other a threat to the rear of this front, and then, he could undertake the final venture, a drive straight south upon Paris, which, even if it failed to take the city, might bring his heavy artillery within bom barding distance and enable him to destroy the city if it refused to sur render. and with this destruction he hoped French nerves and French spirit would at last break and the army, after the civil population, abandon a struggle which had cost France so much and still held out the threat of even worse suffering without any promise of ulti mate victory. The Tide Turn*. It may be that this German suet see, which took the kaiser to the Marne, will prove the last high water mark of the war. Before June was over the tide had changed. Seeking to sweep the French out of the Complegne re gion, open up the lower valley of the Alsne, Insure the continuity of the right wing of his operative front be tween Solssons and Montdldler by clearing the French out of strong ground and carrying their line into the open ground south of Senlis, Lu dendorff launched a fourth blow be tween Montdldler and Noyon, between the Avre and the Oise. This time there was no surprise, no collapse; the Ger man machine ground its way forward for a short distance, cleared the Las signv heights and some valuable ground along the Oise. But by the third day it was checked, and Mangln. the de liverer of Verdun, was striking a counter blow on the German flank, which paralysed the offensive. Coj| plegne was not taken; at u staggering cost the German had gained a little ground, but his fourth venture had been a failure. While Ludendorff prepared for the fifth stroke his Austrian colleague, Bor evic, struck on the Piave and sought by a supreme strope, with the largest and finest Austrian army which had yet appeared in Italy under his com mand, to crush the troops who had been beaten so terribly at the Isonzo six months before. But the Austrian of fensive failed dismally, a brief advance, a short desperate period of days when Italian counter attacks held up the ad vance, then floods and new Italian at tacks, and the Austrians were driven in disorder across the Piava, losing 250, 000 men. innumerable guns, and having suffered in a few brief clays r defeat as destructive to their plans for this year as Verdun had proven for the Germans in 1916. And now, last or all, checked on the Oise and at the Compiegns salient, we have seen Ludendorff in recent days launch his fifth offensive, v colossal at tack from the Marne to the Argonne, lathr restricted to a local operation to .break In the Rhelms sa.lieut and clear his flank and rear, against tlie day when he, should resume his drive for Paris. The results of this ventuie are being Written on the map at the j-resent hour. Its fallure”was immediate dnd, save in one sector, complete. Its failure In all sectors was complete when Foch launched his ever memorable counter attack. In which for the first time American troops in large numbers played a leading part. America hus at last arrived, the de spairing cull of March had been an swered In July, when more than 200.000 American troops participated in the de cisive thrust, and American troops In ^France numbered above 1,200,000. It seems now, as I write these lines today. Just four months after l.uden dorff'a first blow In Picardy, that the worst is over, the consequences of the Russ-lan collapse have been liquidated If we may not yet wisely fix the time when victory will In the larger sense ha won, we have come to the hour when the danger of defeat Is passing, prob yibly has passed. The second battle of the Marne has already had conse quences recalling the first, us did the French strategy; after four months and at the close of tremendous exertions the Germans are retiring on a bread front from the Marne; the Parts front Is disappearing, and on their heels American as well as French soldiers are pr»ssing, while the flood of American troops continues to flow toward France. As in 1914. The German problem In 1919 was his problem in 1914. Four years ago British unreadiness and Russian slowness hi mobilization gqvo him six weeks In which to dispose of Franco, employing the full weight of Ms mfTrfary eetaV ! Ushmenf against France. He used the six weeks, he won many battle* and drew near to Paris, biU the dose of the period saw him In retreat, his time ex hausted, his blow purled; the Russian menace in the east, no longer to be neglected entirely, destine to make ever growing demands upon him until he was forced to go east and seek what h# found—victory and the destruction of Russia. In March, 1911, the kaiser’s new com mander could count not upon tix weeks but on something like six months In which to bring home the victory. Rus sia’s collapse gave him back the ad vantages of the flret weeks ef the war. But again he had to win In the time fixed, for by the end of six months America's aid would begin to become effective, and If he failed in the cam paign of 1918 to put one of his great foes out he would automatically lose the Initiative, the offensive, the chance for victory In the next campaign, when the American hosts had arrived. And now, In late July, we see Ger man armies, again retiring from the Marne after a severe defeat, the extent of which is still unrevealed. No dis aster may easne now, as none came In 1914. The German may presently gather up his strength and strike against the British, as hs struck in Ootober, 1914. Defeated at the Marne, he may, for a second time, seek com pensation in a new effort to open the road to Calais. But the road to Calais ends at the Channel, and It was not by taking Calais but by beating down French or British armies, one at least, both if possible, that the kaiser in his grandiose campaign of the present year was to achieve a victorious peaoe, MARRIAGE COST MILLIONS. New York—Three children of the late Dr. Matthew S. Borden have lost their legal fight to share In the millions left by their grandfather, Matthew C. D. Borden, a cotton financier. He was ir revocably opposed to his son’s secret marriage while a student at Yale uni versity to the daughter of a New Haven tailor, and to the subsequent renewal of his marriage vows. A codicil to his will disinherits the son who chose love rather than wealth. He directed that neither his son, daugh tsiinlaw nor their issue should derive any benefit from his estate. Both father and son are now dead. The daughters of the latter. Misses Gladys Minerva, Muriel Durfee and Harriet Dorothy Borden, all younger then 18, and who live with their mother, through their guardian, asked that the codicil denying them $2,619,000 which would have been their father’s share, be declared Invalid. Hearings were conducted before Jchn Couch, as referee, upon the accounting filed by the late John W. Sterling, Bert ram H. Borden and Howard S. Borden, executors of the estate. They charged themselves with receiving $8,165,910 and having a balance of $5,120,936. The lat ter two executors, sons of the testator, announced their intention to divide them Dr. Borden’s share, which would entitle them each to $1,009,500. Objec tions to this disposition were filed In behalf of Dr. Borden’s children. The girls are entitled to collect in terest on the sum for two years, repre senting the period between the death of their father and ths testator. This Is expected to aggregate more than $100,000. The stand taken by the elder Borden against the marriage was assailed by the special guardian for the children. The codicil, said Daniel J. Mooney, their counsel, had the effect of offering a premium for the dissolution of the marriage by its suspension of income. The lawyer contented that the girls at least were entitled to one-half of the principal under article eight of the will, which provided for such a payment to each of the testator’s sons when they attained the age of $5. Dr. Borden was 41 when he met his death. Referee Couch admitted that several clauses of the codicil touching upon the marriage were Invalid as contrary to public policy. The Interest of the testator was paramount however, he held. _ _ Afghanistan, Guarded. Basanta Koomar Roy, In Asia. Afghanistan has no outlet to the sea and hence no navy. But the paramount factor In Its life is its state of military preparedness. Out of political and mili tary chaos a new Afghanistan has been created by the supreme genius of Abduy Rahman, the late father of the present Amir. He fought his way to the throne of Afghanistan, and Immediately after his recognition set himself to reorganis ing the scattered forces of the army. He introduced a system of compulsory military training by which one man in every seven between the ages of 18 and 20 had to take military (raining. Thus he planned in course of time to train every man in military science. He had the British manuals of military train ing translated Into Persian and Pushtoo R>r the use of his army. He hired Turkish officers to train his officers and to drill his men. He built forts all over his kingdom, especially along Its fron tiers. He established arsenals, two of which, those at Kabul and Herat, were undor German military experts for some time. Abdur Rahman used his subsidy money In buying guns, rifles and munitions of war from the British. He built store houses throughout his kingdom for stor ing foodstuffs, to be used only tn cases of emergency. He built strategic roads— though there Is not a single mile of rail road In Afghanistan—over some of th« almost Impassable parts of his mountain kingdom. His plan was to raise an army of 1,000,000 men, and to have all the means within the land to arm, clothe and tbed it REPRESENTS CHINA IN ALLIED MEETS *----_« Hoo Weitol. Hoo Weitel 1* the Chinese minister to Kranae. He is the man who repre sented the Chinese kingdom in the inter-ullled conference held daily at Versailles. He acted aa spokesman for Japan military powars In th» wotK „ war. MODERN SNIPING ' BECOMES FINE ART British Officers Have the Work Down to a Scientific Point. Behind British Lines in France (by (nail).—Sniping and countersniping has been reduced to a fins art in modern warfare, and the sharpshooter uses many other branohes of the service to assist him. An Incident which oc curred a few days ago In the British lr> Flanders shows how a little ar tillery work Is sometimes necessary In bringing about the undoing of the Ger man snipers. Lieutenant Jackson, battalion snip ing officer, was walking down ths trench when ho heard a sudden rattle of musketry—German bullets striking °h* ,of the British sniping plates. One of bis sniping posts was being battered by German armor piercing bullets. The officer hurried to the scene and with hie peeriscope located ths spot where the Germans were firing. It was & big post on some ground behind the enemy firing line, hidden with earth and look ing exactly like any one Sf the other tangled hummocks with which shells and mines had strewn the vicinity. But his trained eye quickly marked out four small apertures which he knew to be loopholes. The excellence sf hie peris cope even enabled him to see the puffs °f unburned powder which came from the four hostile rifles at every shot "They are behind concrete and eteel under that surface mud, sir,” said the sergeant. “It won't be eam dealing with them." “Xt'e a case for the heavy artillery, I'm afraid,” murmured Lieutenant Jackson regretfully—he disliked calling in any outside assistance for his snip ers. "I saw the major of that heavy bat tery which covers us going by a mo rn sit t ago," suggested the sergeant. Lieutenant Jackson hurried off down the trench and found the major, who was up on a survey of the enemy line for special targets. A hint of what had developed brought the major back, and a minute later he was In the nearest signal dtigout, telephoning Instructions to Ills baterr. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Jackson beckoned the sergeant away out of the major's hearing. "Put Hag garty and Brown into Poet 9, sergeant,” he ordered. “I don’t think the Ger mans have any day communication iato that post of theirs, and they will have to bolt for cover over tha ridge." Presently the first heavy project)!# came rumbling up from the rear. It burst fifty yards wide in a great splash Of earth. The second shell burst in the German firing line, right in front of the sniping post, and tors a huge gap in the parapet. The third fell right on top of the post itself. But the concrete of the structure was strong, and the shell actually ricochet* ed clear and burst several yards away. "That has frightened them." exclaimed the major suddenly, as four figures ap peared from behind the sniping post and raced madly for the crest of th# ridge. Just then a shot rang out from the British trench, and the first Ger man pitched forward on hie face. The second fell a yard further on. The re maining two were dropped as they reached the crest. WEIGHS 649 POUNDS; TRAVELS IN A VAN New York—Martin T. Durkin, In charge of the passport bureau of the customs intelligence service, Informed the driver of a moving van that Web uter Rusk, Seattle, would have to coma Into the customs house If he wished to have his passport vised. “The law," said Durkin, “requires that all passports must be examined Inside the customs house." The driver went out, but returned shortly. He said that Mr. Rusk was out at the end of the van, but for lack of skids, hoists, hydraulic derricks, and the like, would have to remain there. “Ya nee,” said the driver, “this Rusk guy weighs 649 pounds stripped and ha don’t care to mova much without tha aid of a crane or a plank. I’m respon sible for him until 1 deliver him safely to the Brooklyn pier from where he la to sail for Porto Rico. “Sorry I couldn't roll into the office,’’ gurgled Rusk to the customs officer after he had vised his passport in tha van. “I wanted to come here to a taxi, but this van proved to be more suit able.” Rusk is 19. For some reason the boat for Porto Rico sailed without him. It was said there was no cabin door wlda enough to accommodate him. SINN FEINERS ARE IN NEED OF GUNS Dublin.—(by mail).—Raids for asms continue in Ireland, and some are re ported daily. As a rule the Sinn Fein ers meet with no resistance In com mandeering whatever weapons are dis covered in a raided house. But oc casionally the owners' fight and the raiders suffer. An attack was made recently by six. armed men with black ened facts on a woman's house at Ferbane. A retired army officer living in the house captured two of the raid ers an drove the other away. The prisoners were committed for trial t» the Assize. In a case near Tulsk, in Roscommon, a party of men with blackened faces raided a farmer’s house in search of arms. They demanded his gun, and when he refused, dragged him out and handled his roughly. He escaped into the house, and finding his gun, turned It against his assailants, who fled. The weapons seized by the Sinn Feiners are In many instances seized by the police in counter ralds.% The-other day several shot guns and ammunition were found in Tipperary. In onehouse during the seizure the police came upon a board of 150 pounds In sliver, which they took away. WAR BRINGS ABOUT UNION OF CHURCHES New Haven, Conn.—At least tempor ary union of churches In 18 Connecticut towns has been accomplished within a year owing to circumstances resulting from the war, reports a committee of the Connecticut federation of churches. Denominations joining in the movement were Baptist, Methodist, Congregation al, Free Baptist, Lutheran and Inde pendent Methodist. Thirty - seven church organizations now are combin ing services In 18 buildings. In one I town Baptists and Free Baptists united under a Methodist, minister. Each chureh organization has re tained its own officers and adheres to Its own denominational beliefs. In most cases the union is considered a temporary expedient for the period of the war. It is pointed ont that th* federation of churches ie not Irre vocable. Siam produces more than 40.'varie ties of rice, some of wltlch a re/Tipened hi 78 days from planting, Wh/'j other* , reuuirs six months, _ WORLD DOMINION IS STILL GERMAN IDEA Educated Prussian Prisoner Glories In Pact His Country Started the War. London f the German prisoners. Ope of them be describee as "an Intelligent untver *Ity man." The British officer quote* their conversation as follows: "1 do not wish to Insult you,” said the German, "but you English are well Intended fools. We who govern In Ger many are net like you. We govern the fools; the fools govern you.” "Tour principles are sweeping," re- “ plied the Briton. "To come down Uf praotice, what have you to' say dbeui the guilt of beginning the war?" "Guilt?" demanded tbe German; "It was a glory. I claim it for Germany? "That is hardly your offleial view? "The official view is for the fools." "But ybu believe In the Prussian pur pose behind an this," asked the British officer. "I do, as In nothing else," replied the German. "The Prussian purpose 1* God. There is no other. Prussia will rend the veil of the temple, but she wHl destroy to create. Against Prus sian might the world as It exists today will fall In ruins, but Prussia will build a better and more virile World In it* place. Strength only will survive. The life of men is naturally a fight. The strongest in force and cunning will live." "It will be going back to the flood,* said the Briton. " Prussia is the flood.* "And when the old world Is drownedk virtue and all such weaknesses will go with it? " Tbs old virtue was womanish." sal# the prisoner. "The new virtue la strength.” "In that blessed future will war reign triumphant?” ‘Xlfe Is war—all of life that la healthy. Peace is only striving fqs mastery with other weapons. That la the law of nature." "So everyone will fight till everyone is dead?" "The weakest will go under. They are the diseased. The stronger win live; and after that the stronger and stronger, till there Is perfect health." "But it may be that Prueela will keep a few slaves?" “Certainly,” said the German. "Those who care not to fight that they may rule are In their nature slaves.” “I had had enough of It," the officer concluded. "It was nauseating. But the man was genuine In his beliefs, and so obsessed by his elsmentary motion of virility that It was a waste of time to argue with him. His conception* were quite definite and not a doubt as sailed him. The hideous world of hi* vision seemed to him a natural and % glorious world.” 1 PERSHING IN ♦ ENGLISH EYES % W. Beach Thomas, of the London Dally Mall, In Harper’s Magazine What of General Pershing, who win one day have as great an army as any t The question Is asked as often In Eu rope as In America. It la not, I think, known in America how deep a first tafe presslon his character as man and sol dier has made on tho British and, in deed. the French; but I can only speak within the sphere of my personal knowledge. The feeling of confidence in his fu ture (which is in no degree sentimen tal and exists principally among the higher authorities in the g.-my and in politics) was due to a masterly not* contributed by General Pershing to the question of unity of Command, a note afterward developed into a mem orandum described by Mr. Lloyd Georg* as among the most able ever penned. When he landed in England In June* 191$. one of the British newspapers whose correspondent had been for a long while In hiM presence compared him with Moltke, who wav “silent ilk 17 languages." What General Pershing; the master of several Philippine dia lects, said was little and good. When General Joffre shook his hand in Paris u few weeks later—a scene worthy of a great historical memorial—he said t» one of his staff: “General Pershing will think first and act afterwards." At all Junctures the general has been coo! and prompt and determined. His colonel In Cuba wrote of hint: "He is tho bravest and coolest man under fire I ever saw in my life." His own recorded max ims are few; but at the most worrying crisis In France—when news of the arrival of American troops was pub lished while some of those troops w?r» still In tho danger zone at sea—he salt!: “I do not worry, and when the day’s work is over I go to sleep." One of the most vivid Englluh writers said to me after we had watc hed souk* of the first American troops land at a base in Fiance: “I did not see among the lot a single muddled face." Tim compliment- was real. If negative In form; and the general of those troops deserves It in double measure. He Lv in that respect their epitome. Face, voice, figure, thought—all are clear cut, •andid, definite, manly. Necessary Building Approved. From Stone. "The government, has at last Made clear that tt does not desire, and has never desired, to put a stop to necesrary bmi<» Ing construction," said N. F. Ho ? rson. president of Hoggsoo Brothers, builders, to a-New York reporter recently. 'The Individual or corporation confront#-*! elk a building problem need only answer one question—Is the building essential?' “Secretary McAdoo has stated in im. equivocal terms In a letter to i-eva' ir Calder, which forms a part of the Senate records, that ‘there has never been any suggestion that buildings actually needed for the health and protection of the civ I population, or for the conduct of essential business of the country, should not tie constructed during the period of the war.' A great number of contemplated neees, sary building operations have been t**d poned because of an erroneous interpre tation of the government's wishes. These should now go ahead. Safest Way. Too. From the Boston Transcript "Why is It that you never mention your ancestors?" "Because 1 believe In letting bygones be bygones." -- In order to prevent the rush ot workers the British board of Imde tramways committee suggests that in dustrial concerns should “stagger'* their times of opening and oiosJag- By taking on and discharging work people, at intervals of 10 minutes or so tha ears could be worked more econom ically and there would be a continuous Stream of passsngsra instead of UMl present rush at certain bown.