Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, December 21, 1918, Image 1

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    i
BRIEF
RIGHT
REE Z Y
BITS OF NEWS
GIVE klM A YEAR'S PAID' SUBSCRIPTION TO THE BEE HE'LL APPRECIATE IT.
The Omaha Daily Bee
DOLLAR'S WORTH OF MEAT
EXHIBIT AT WAGE HEARING.
Chicago, Dec. 20. One and one
half pounds of beef steak, declared
to be of mediocre quality, costing
45 cents, and two slices of raw ham
costing 58 cents, a total of $1.03, to
day were placed before Federal
Judge Alschuler, arbitrator, in the
hearing of packing house employes'
demands for increased wages.
"We just wanted to show your
honor how little meat can be bought
for one dollar," said Charles Jimer
son, business agent of the Meat Cut
ters and Butcher Workmen's union.
1 Presentation of the employes'
J case is expected to end Monday.
BRITISH FLEET MAY
VISIT UNITED STATES.
London, Dec. 20. It is reported
that the admiralty views favorably
the suggestion that a large part of
the British tleet, commanded by Ad
miral David Heatty, shoulir"visit the
United States. It is asserted that
no date for the visit has been fixed,
but it is understood that it will be
in.ide immediately after peace has
been signed. Subsequently the fleet
will make a tour of the British do
minions. MAY SEND MESSAGES
TO SOLDIERS ON SHIPS.
New York, Dec. 20 Relatives and
friends of soldiers returning on
transports from overseas may cotn
iilunicafd with them by wireless and
receive answers to their messages,
under a Navy department agreement
announced here tonight by the naval
district office of communication.
According to the "announcement,
messages may be filed at any tele
graph office and will be relayed to
New York, Boston or some other
naval radio bases where they will be
flashed t the incoming ships.
Answers will come over the same
route.
Charges for the service by way of
New York arc 1 cents a word.
15,000 SOLDIERS
CISCHARGED WEEKLY
Washington, Dec. 2C. Well over
3110,0(10 soldiers have !,een discharged
from the army and returned to
civilian status. Secretary Baker
said today the rate of demobilization
had nofv reached 15,000 a wfck and
that the War department was press
ing its efforts to make the average
daily discharges 1,000 per camp.
DOLAN'S "BEEiFaND"
CLOSES ITS DOORS.
New York, Dec. JO. -yDolan's
"Beef and" restaurant, a downtown
landmark for 48 years, closed its
doors tonight. The famous resort
in Bark Row and later in Nassau
street, where judges, lawyers, poli
ticians and newspaper men went for
luncheon, has been sold by its own
er Peter J. Mehan, and will be con
verted into a bakery and quick lunch
room.
One of the memories of Dolan's
is "Dolando," a race horse, owned
by "Johnny" Mehan, immediate suc
cessor of Tat Dolan. Patrons of
the establishment backed Dolando
with all their funds and ate well or
vent hungry for a week after each
race, according to the result.
1,400,000 FRENCHMEN
KILLED DURING THE WAR.
Paris, Dec. 20. French soldiers
to the number of 1,400,000 were
killed during the war, according to
a statement by the socialist deputy,
Lucien Voilin, in the chamber of
deputies this afternoon, during an
interpellation of the government on
demobilization.
Deputy Voilin asked that the sol
diers be returned to the soil and the
factories without delay and con
tinued: "I betray no secret when I say
that the problem of demobilization
presents itself thus: We have mo
bilized 6.900.000 men; we have had
aboflt 1,400,000 killed, while 800,000
,, recovered from wounds. We are go
ing to demobilize 1,200,000 reserves,
territorials and heads of families."
CITY ENJOINED
BY GAS GO. F
CHANGING RATE
Temporary Restraining Order
Granted by Federal Judge
and Hearing Set for
January 4.
The Omaha Gas company Friday
afternoon filed a bill of complaint
in equity, enjoining the city of Oma
ha against regulating gas rates.
A temporary restraining order was
granted by Federal Judge Wood
rough who set January 4 as the date
for the hearing why the injunction
should not be made permanent.
The Gas company asks that the
city be enjoined against requiring
the company to comply with ordi
nance No. 7511 which gives tfie city
the right to determine gas rates and
to adjust prices if they are unreason
able. The ordinance was passed in
June, 1911.
Expiration of the gas company's
franchise yesterday, December 20 Is
the Reason for the application for
the injunction by the company. City
Commissioner Butler has prepared
an ordinance which he will intro
duce to city council next Tuesday,
calling on the company to reduce
the price of gas and to refund to
each consumer 15 per cent of his
monthly gas bill for every 10 points
that the gas is lacking in heating
power below 600 British thermal
units.
VOL. 48. NO. 160.
Entcrtd Mond-eliM mtttar May . 1906. t
Omhi P. 0. und.r act f March 3. 1879
OMAHA, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1918.
By Mall (I yaar). Dally. $4.50: Sunday. 12.50:
Dally and Sua., 55.50: outtlda Nab. poitits aitra
TWO CENTS.
THE WEATHER:
Rain or snow and some
what colder Saturday; Sun
day unsettled and colder.
Hourly Temperature.
6
7
ft
10
11
13
m.
m.
m.
.4111
.40 J
.40 S
.40 4
.41 5
At a
.44 7
.428
m.
m.
m.
in.
ui.
m.
in.
4
41
43
44
44
44
45
..43
Mm
6)
!
PRESIDENT
CERTAIN OF
JUSTICE
AT PARIS
Gen. John C. Cowin Dead;
Leader at Bar Many Years
Expresses Confidence Council
of Statesmen Will Reach
Just Solution of Prob
lems Presented.
Pari-.. Dec. JO." I am confident
that the big council of statesmen of
the world will be able to reach a
just and reasonable solution of the'
problems that will be presented to
them and thus earn the gratitude of
the world for the most critical and
necessary service which has ever
been rendered it," said President
Wilson today in an interview given
to the correspondent of the London
Times.
The congress of Vienna, the cor-'!
respondent says President Wilson
told him, was a congress of 'bosses.'
The delegates were concerned more
with their own interests and the
classes they represented than the
wishes of their peoples.
Must Work for Ideals.
"Versailles, as President Wilson
said," the interviewer continues,
"must be a meeting place of the
servants of the people represented
by delegates, and he added, there is
no master mind who can settle the
problems of today. If there is any
body who thinks he knows what is
in the mind of all peoples, that man
is a fool. We have all got to put
our heads together and pool every
thing we hve got for the benefit of
the ideals which are common to all."
"Asked whether he would visit the
graiuf fleet, President Wilson re
plied that he was afraid he would
not have time, adding that he fully
realized that behind the great armies
there was the strong, silent and
watchful support of the British
navy in securing the communica
tions of the allies.
"He referred also to the very
happy comradeship and co-operation
between the British and American
navies."
Believesjn Anglo-Saxon Race.
The correspondent then adds:
"President Wilson in discussing
the role of the British fleet in the
maintenance of what, at any rate
during the war, had been the free
dom of the seas for the free people
of the world, spoke with a sincerity
which no amount of writing can
convey. His accents convinced me
that he is a believer ii. the decency
and honesty of the Anglo-Saxon
race 1 1 r s:iid
"Ttis esspntial for flip future the Minola flying field,
nea.ee of the world that tliprp shmidl -Major tMShei said that the mo
I the frankest co-operation and i'on sense" which is located in the
most generous understanding be-; ceHs of the ears, enables a flyer to
tween the two English-speaking ; maintain equilibrium without the aid
democracies. We comprehend and I of vision. Tests of daf mutes who
appreciate. I believe, the grave prob-1 had applied for the aviation ser.ice
, , i. ., . . . 1 t . rv i . ij.j j: i
Won Union Pacific Foreclos
ure Cases for Government
- and Defended Governor
Boyd Against Thayer.
General John C. Cowin, a resident
of Omaha nearly half a century
and during that time one of the
leading members of the legal pro
tession in .Nebraska, died at his
tit me, iil South t hirty-seventh
street, at 6 o'clock last night, of
pneumonia after a brief illness. He
was 11 years old.
General Cowin is survived by his
widow, who is in Omaha; a . son,
Col. William B. Cowin, at present
with the Eighty-fifth division of
American troops in France, and a
daughter, Mrs. Jolin Y. Cudahy of
Hollywood, Cal.
The funeral probably will be held
Sunday at 2 p. m., at All Saints
church. Burial will be in Prospect
Hill cemetery.
The death of General Cowin
marks the passing of a pioneer Ne
br.skan, prominent Omahan and
one of the most conspicious figures
in the history ot the .Douglas
county bar.
Oil War Veteran.
John Clay Cow m, was horn ni
arrcnville, Cuyahoga county, O.,
! January 11, 1846. As a boy and
youuglnian he received an elemen
tary edu .tion in the public schools
of his home town, and in the Hiram
J.clectic institute, trom which he
was graduated.
In 1861 he enlisted as a private
in the Twenty-third Ohio infantry,
going at once to the front with his
troop, which was destined to partici
pate in some of the civil war's
greatest battles.
During the civil war the tuture
omahan fought in the battles of the
Second Bull Run, South Mountain.
Antietam, and many others. He
had risen to the rank of captain
when he was mustered out in 1865.
Comes Early to Omaha.
Returning to Ohio after the war
General Cowin entered the Cleve
land law school, graduating in 1867,
He was admitted to practice in the
supreme court of Ohio, but he fol
lowed I'orace Greeley's advice, ar
riving in Omaha when the town was
at its wildest and wooliest.
General Cowin became a well
(Continued on Pace Two, Column Two.)
Scientists Say They
Find Seventh Sense in
Successful Aviators
New York, Dec. 20. A seventh
sense the "motion sense" discov
ered by tests to which American
army aviators were subjected was
described before the New York
academy of medicine last night by
Lewis fisher,
C1
NEW MARK
GEN. JOHN C. COWIN
U. S. PRESIDENT
RETURNS VISIT
OF KING VICTOR
Italian Ruler Cheered by
Large Crowds on Way to
Reception Given Him
by Paris Council.
Paris, Dec. 20. President Wilson
this evening visited King Victor
Emmanuel of Italy, returning the
call made on him by the king yes
terday. The king was received this af
ternoon at the Hotel de Ville (city
hall) by the Faris council. On his
way through the city from the for
eign office he was cheered by large
crowds, though there was a drizzling
rain.
Accompanied by General Cittadini
ihe king visited the Italian military
hospital in Paris this mor. ing. The
king went through the building and
chatted with the wounded. He con
gratulated the organizers on the
perfection of the hospital arrange
ment. Stephen Pichon, the foreign min
ister and Mine. Pinchon gave a lunch
eon today at the foreign ministry
in honor of King Victor Emmanuel,
President Poincare and the prince
of PipHmont. The anpetc inrlnrtpf!
aj. Lewis r isner. a examiner at ; tll ltalian urenlie, vittorio Orlan-
leins which the war has brought to
the British people and fully under
stand the special international ques
tions which arise from the fact of
your peculiar position as an island
empire.' "
Major Fisher added, disclosed that
deaf persons do not have the "mo
tion sense."
The "motion sense" in flyers, he
said, is second in importance only to
vision.
Bank Robbed by Yeggmen.
Joplin, Mo., Dec. 20. Bandits
early today blew open the vault in
the bank at Grandy, Mo., 20 miles
southeast of here, and escaped with
$15,000 worth of unregistered Lib
erty bonds. The robbers were
frightened away before they suc
ceeded in reaching the money con
tainer ' m
Omaha Wartime Photographs Repro-
Women Do Men's ducecj as Real Work
Tasks of Art
Our own staff Photog- No other method of
rapher has caught with newspaper illustration is
his camera a number of in the same class with the
typical women wage Rotogravure process,
earners en- which pre-
gaged in I Z I serves a 1 1
jobs usually OUtlday the details
filled by . and gives
mas-culine 1 J1C JjCC S every gnt
workers. TT . and shadow.
Unique :
0ur Rotogravure
v , Picture D .
Yankee . Rums
section
OOyS Be sure to Get Toun. HI the
I i
"Over Tr.ack
There" in France of the Hun Retreat
New pictures lately re- How St. Leger looked
ceived from Overseas when it was captured
showing life of the Amer- by the Allies after having
ican soldiers just before been in possession of the
the fighting stopped. Germans. It was pounded
Photos after the news of to pieces by heavy artil-
peace was given out. lery fire.
do, and the foreign minister. Baron
Sonniuo, Marshal Foch, Marshal
Petain, the presidents of the -senate
and chamber of deputies, former
President Loubet and the ambassa
dors accredited to France. In all,
there were 100 guests.
Exchange of Toasts.
The victory of Italy has created
a new Italy in Europe, declared
President Poincare last night m
toasting King Victor Emmanuel at
a banquet in the Palace of the Ely
see. The greatness of Italy, the presi
dent saul, was due to the interven
tion of the king, which had resulted
m the destruction of tormer dip
lomatic combinations and the tight
ening of the bonds of sentiment and
interest between trance and Italy.
Italy and France were allies in the
war and would remain united m
veace.
King Victor Emmanuel expressed
thanks for the cordial welcome given
him in Paris. France and Italy, he
continued, were at the threshold of
aii era of pacific collaboration and
had a great common mission to ac
complish. The Matin says that the toast ex
changed by the president and the
king "marked the beginning of an
intimate and fruitful alliance."
FOR CITY
RED GROSS
WORKERS
70,000 Members Enrolled
During Week; Bad Roads
Delay Complete Returns
from Entire County.
Approximately 70,000 members,
were this week enrolled in th Red
A Cross Christmas roll call, accord
ing to figures given out last night
by Samuel S. Caldwell, vice chair
man of the local drive.
With final returns which will pour
in Saturday and Monday, the iocal
committee hopes to exceed last
year's record, which was slightly
over the 70,000 mark.
"Omaha has exceeded last year's
reccfrd, if we consider the 14,000
men in the service taken away from
this chapter and the fact that no
theaters have been canvassed. We
obtained 10,000 members through
the theaters last year," said Mr.
Caldwell.
South Side Responds.
Heavy South Side returns made
Friday evening include Swift Pack
ing company, 1,2.31; Cudahy, 2,200;
Artnour, 1,000; Morris, 845; Ex
change, 1,2.34; business houses, 2,
138 and juniors, 4.U0S. These re
turns are incomplete. County re
turns will be delayed on account of
bad roads.
Flying squadrons of the women's
committee will continue their can
vass of the business district Sat
urday. Hundred Per Cent Firms.
Additional names of 100 per cent
firms are: Yetter Wall Paper com
pany, Brinn & Jenseii company, L.
Wolfe Electric company, Toby
Jacobs, Jos, M. Burns and T. J. j
Durkin, Midwest and General Elec-1
trie company, Yousem Brothers,
Omaha Electric company, W. W.
Sherwood, E. B. Williams, West
ern Electric company, Mickel Bros.,
Monroe Sheet Metal Works. Olsen
Coffee company, Omaha Carriage
Top company, Hikell Manufactur
ing company, Nebraska Tent &
Awning company, James Cooke
Paint company, Haas Sheet Metal
company, Western Stamp & Stencil
company, Baker Bros., Beacon
Press, Corey & McKenzie, Corn
stock & Riha, Festner Printing
company, Gate City Stationery
company, Hopson Printing com
pany, Kramer & Chandler, N. C.
Leary company, I. A. Medlar Print
ing company, Mangum . Printing
company, McCoy & Finnyson, ;
National Printing company, Omana
Printing company, Rees Printing
company, M. F. Shafer company,
Springer Printing company, Swartz
Printing company, Waters-Barnhart
Printing company, Western Paper
company, Western Newspaper
Union, Field- Hamilton & Smith,
Lincoln, Hanscom park, Hawthorne,
South Side, Windsor, Beals, Kel
lom, Bancroft, St. Patrick and
Mount St. Mary's schools; Fon
tenelle and Henshaw employes,
office employes ct Supreme
Woodman circle, Kilpatrick's, Asso
ciated Retailers, Omaha Gas com
pany, Brandeis theater, Calumet,
Townsend Gun, Megeath, Berg,
Pope drug, Haas Bros., Sample
Hart, Omaha Towel Supply, Grand
Union Tea and Coffee. Pantorium,
Milton Darling, McQuillan, Western
aulu ouj-ipiy, ijiuuian vu, jtnti
Tea, H. G. Haney, and Pierce street
car barn.
The women's committee has $11,
167.50 to its credit in the house-to-house
campaign.
American Forces Tighten
Their Grip Upon Coblenz
By Imposing Censorship
Measures Taken by Major General Dickman to Check
Tendency to Criticize Conditions or Influence Ger
man People in Region Occupied by U. S. Troops.
Labor Union Condemns
Removal of Kleffner
A communication from the Omaha
I RnilHino- TraHpQ (""nitnril was rpart at
the Central Labor Union meeting
Friday night condeming the action
taken by the executive committee of
the Nebraska State Federation of
Labor in 'the removal- of George
Kleffner as director of the United
States employment service for Ne
braska. The communication was
unanimously endorsed by the Cen
tral Labor Union.
Twenty-One U. S. Balloons
Lost in Last Allied Drive
Washington. Dec. 20. During the
last allied offensive, between Sep
tember 26 and November 11, 21
American balloons were lost. A re
port on the balloon companies of
the First army in France made pub
lic today by the VVar department
shows 15 balloons were destroyed by
German airplanes and six by shells,
and the enemy ost at least 5(1
Coblenz, Dec. 20. German propa
ganda and the tendency to criticise
conditions in the district occupied by
the American forces have been ab
ruptly checked by the establishment
of a censorship by Major General
Dickman upon the newspapers and
the theaters. His act was the first
indication that the Americans pur
posed tightening their grip on local
affairs.
The regulations governing the
press were formally made public, but
those which apply to theaters were
communicated verbally by Col. R.
H. Williams, chief of the intelligence
department, who also explained per
sonally to the newspaper owners
what was expected of them. The
managers of the theaters, ranging
from opera to moving picture pro
ductions, were informed that there
was no objection to their giving per
formances except in cases where at
tempts were made to inject propa
ganda or criticism, either directly
r by innuendo into their produc
tions. Not even apparently friendly
comment, if it were otherwise un
desirable, would be tolerated, it was
explained.
Punitive Action Threatened.
To the newspaper owners it was
pointed out that the question wheth
er they offended or hot lay with
tbrin that the Americans would
not be bother with censoring the
publications before they were issued,
but that the first copies from the
press should be delivered to Amer
ican headquarters. Meanwhile the
running off of the edition could be
continued. It it were then discov
ered that the Yegulations had been
x
fi
vjolated, prompt punitive action
would be taken.
A memorandum delivered to the
newspaper owners specifies that the
following matter shall not be pub
lished: "All articles, editorials, dispatches
and news items which, from their
nature, are calculated to or might
inflame the people or incite them
(Contlnufd on Fng Two, Column FIt.)
SLAYER OF KING
ACQUITTED OF
MURDERCHARGE
Johnson Claimed He Shot
Army Officer in Self-Defense;
Men Fast Friends
at One Time.
Will Start New York-Chicago
Airplane Mail Again Today
New Vork, Dec. 20. Ihe fourth
attempt in four days will be made
tomorrow to transoort mail from
Xew York to Chicaeo bv airplane
according to an announcement to
night by tne postomce autnorities
here. Motor trouble alone, it was
said, was responsible for failure thus
far successfully to inaugurate the
aerial service between the two cities.
Mothers Starving
and Babies Dying by
Hundreds in Vienna
London, Dec. 20. Serious con
ditions in Vienna because of lack
of food and textiles there are re
ported to the British mission to
prisoners of war in Austria, now in
the Austrian capital, according to
a Vienna dispatch.
Starving mothers in the Austrian
capital are unable, to obtain milk
for their children and the babies
are dying by hundreds, the mes
sage states. The mothers also are
without swaddling clothes for
their infants and are obliged to
wrap them in rags or even news
papers. Vienna, Dec. 20. Secretary of
State Hanush made the announce
ment today that because of the
shortage of coal, 48,000 persons
were out of employment in Vienna.
Elkton. Md., Dec. 20. Charles
Halwart Johnson was acquitted by
a jury tonight of the charge of mur
dering Maj. William R. King of
Brooklyn, N. Y., supervising en
gineer of the Aberdeen proving
grounds.
The jury was out two hours and
fifteen minutes. Johnson shot
Major King in the Johnson home
on the night of July 17 last.
Counsel for the defense contend
ed that the shootitg followed a
struggle in which Johnson claimed
that the army ofli er hod him down
on his knees with his hands on
Johnson's throat. Johnson had
been cashier of the National bank at
Aberdeen.
Last year when the government's
proving ground was established near
Aberdeen, Johnson obtained a posi
tion 'in the accounting deparinent.
He became acquainted with Maior
King, who subsequently rented a
room at the Johnson home.
For some time the two men
seemed to fast friends, and it was
?iid that King used his infldeice to
advance Johnson in position, be
cause he recognized his ability.
Puiing the eany part of July last
trouble between the two men de
veloped, the catise for which was
not even clearly brought out at
the trial, and Johnson ordered King
to move out.
Tht major r?plied that he had
rented the room by the month and
would not move until the time was
up. On the night of the shooting
Johnson ordered the major to leave
and the altercation followed.
Mrs. King and her daughter and
Mrs. Johnson and Miss Esther Os
born, the ward of the Johnsons,
were in the court room during the
closing argument, but Mrs. Johnson
was the only one of the women who
remained to hear the verdict. Rolla
Ogden, president of the New York
Evening Post company, and Gen.
John V. Btibb, of Wilmington, Del.,
when called by the state to testify
to the character of Major King,
with whom they had been acquaint
ed for years, were only permitted to
testify as to the major's physical
condition.
Editor Escapes Prison
on "Confession of Error"
Sioux Falls, S. D.. Dec. 20. The
solicitor general at Washington has
filed a "confession of error" in the
case of Conrad Kornemann, editor
of a German paper published here,
who was convicted last year on a
'.harge of violating the espionage act
and sentenced to 10 years' imprison
ment at Leavenworth, Kan. United
States District ' Attorney Robert
Stewart said this action reverted the
case to where it was before Korne
mann was tried. Kornemann op
posed the Liberty loan, it was
cnarged.
HUSBAND GOMES
HOME TO FIND
HIS WIFE DEAD
Leland Holden's Christmas
Reunion Plans Changed to
Sorrow When Death
Suddenly Takes Mate.
When Leland Holden left his
little home at 2554 St. Marys avenue
yesterday morning to go to work at
Swift's, and his wife kissed him
good-bye, he thought himself most
fortunate of young husbands.
The couple had been married two
years and they were at last settled
at housekeeping. They had planned
a big Christmas celebration. Par
ents of both, form out in the state,
were coming for the house warming.
But more than this the young
wife for months had been busy with
deft fingers fashioning cunning little
garments and laying, by a store of
tiny baby clothes. It was to be
such a joyful Christmas for the re
united family.
So the young husband came home
last night supremely Wappy after
the day's work and sprang up the
steps into the house, with a laugh.
But no one greeted him at the
door. He thought little of it at first
in the belief his wife had gone a few
steps distant to the grocer's.
Then he grew anxious and began
to search.
In a little rest room at one side,
the young woman lay apparently
asleep on a sofa.
"I kissed her," Holden said, "but
she did not waken. I felt her hands
and they were cold. I knew then
she was dead."
Dr. Edstrom, police surgeon, who
was called, says death resulted from
heart disease after the young wife
lay down to rest following her usual
household duties.
Mother Mary Agnes Dead.
Philadalphia, Dec. 20. The Rev.
Mother Mary Agnes, superior gen
eral of the order of St. Francis of
the United States, died at the con
vent of the Our Lady of Angels in
Glen Riddle, today.
The lfees
Free Shoe Fund
To Buy Shoes
For Shoeless Children
Still the money for The Bee's
shoe fund keeps coming in from
the generous people. The fund is
supposed to have closed, as the
goal of $1,000 has been reached
and passed.
Whatever comes in will, of
course, be added on and the poor
children will have that much more
chance of having good shoes this
winter.
Previously reported $1,031.57
Cash 3.00
Cash 1.00
L. F. Crofoot 5.00
Reader of The Bee
South Side 1.00
Delta Delta Delta (addi
tional) 5.00
A Friend 1.00
VAST suim
VOTED FOR
WAR STILL
IS N HAND
Eight Billion Each on Appro
priations and Contract
Authorizations May Be ;
Converted to Treasury.
Washington, Dec. 20. More than .
$16,000,000,000 of cash appropria-,,
tions and contract authorization
voted by congress for war purposes
will be unexpended, Representative
Sherley of Kentucky, chairman of
the house appropriations committee,
announced today.
Total appropriations and author
izations voted during the war -amount
to about $57,000,000,000, in
cluding $10,000,000,000 of authoriza
tions for wartime loans to foreign
governments. The loans actually
made now total about $8,000,000,000.
"More than $8,000,000,000 of cash
appropriations and approximately
$8,000,000,000 of contract authoriza-
tions will be converted back into the
treasury," said Representative Sher
ley. Most of the money will come v
from the War department, the larg
est saving, of course, heing from
ordnance, because the greatest
amount of money was appropriated
for that.
"The contract authorizations do
not represent money that will be re
turned as a result of cancellations' '
of contracts. These authorizations
were voted by congress for depart
ments to contract to expend and
most of $8,000,000,000 was unobli
gated." Hearings of the appropriations
committee on the subject of what .
money could be returned1 to y the
treasury are not near completion,
and Mr. Sherley said a bill would;
not be reported until after January
1. Examination of the War depart
ment is practically complete.
Kansas City Carmen
Ask War Labor Board
to Adjust Grievance
Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 20. Mo
tormen and conductors of the Kan
sis City Railways company, who
have been on strike here since De
cember 11, at a mass meeting today
adopted a resolution requesting-'
former President W. H. Taft of the
federal war labor board and Frank
P. Walsh, former member of the "
board, to come here and construe
the wage award recently suggested
by the board. The men, the resolu-'
tion stated, would abide by any de- ?
cision reached. Mr.. Walsh was v
asked to participate because he sat
on the board at the time the award
was made. ;
The putting into effect of the wage
award is the point at issue between T
the company and its employes, the
company contendipg that it cannot
meet the wage increases unless if-
forded more revenue.
Victory Christmas
Tree Arrives Here
from Maine Forest
A victory Christmas tree on the
court house plaza will be the center ;
of Omaha's Christmas celebration. .
Fifty feet of evergreen will sparkle
with electric lights every night from ?
Monday, December 23, until Janu- -ary
1, 1919. .
the big tree is just one phase of '
the celebration that the Victory ,
Christmas committee has for observ-". "
ing the entire yuletide week instead
of just one day.
The tree is now in Omaha afters
its long trip from Maine and will be
erected either Saturday or Monday.
It will be decorated and lighted'
free of charge by the Nebraska
company. , The tree was brought to
Omaha by Trimble Brothers, who
have supplied the municipal Christ-
mas tree in Omaha for several yars
past.
Metal Workers to Take
Weekly Half Holiday
Portland, Ore., Dec. 20. Twenty-
one of the 22 unions forming th -metal
trades council of the Columbia
river district, representing about 30.-
000 workers, will take a half holi- s
day tomorrow tollowing an an
nouncement that all Saturday after
noons will ue worhiess hereatter.
The workmen say the action is
taken to provide work for more men
and prevent unemployment during
the period of reconstruction.
German Austria Assembly '
Aims to Fix Blame for War
Vienna, Dec. 20. (Havas) The
national assembly of German Aus- 4
tria has adopted a bill ordering an
investigation into the question of
who was actually responsible for tht
war and prescribing the proceediagf
to be taken against its author ;