University of South Carolina Libraries
jm a Abbeville Press and Banner | JM a ~ Established 1844. $1.50 the Year. Abbeville, S. C., Tuesday, Dec. 4? 1917. Single Copies, Five Cents. 76th Year - ??? BRITISH LI AG Germans Pay Dearl; For Effort to Regain Trenches at Cambrai BRITISH LINES ARE AGAIN INTAC Attempt of Teutons at Encirclin Movement Results in Heavy Casualty List?Turks Continue Attacks on British Army Near Jerusalem But All Assaults Are Repulsed. With the British Army in Frana Dec. 2.?3 p. m.?Nine separal counter attacks launched again: Masnieres by strong German forc< yesterday, were all repulsed aft? most sanguinary fighting, althoug the British pulled their line bac somewhat to lessen the sharp sal ent there. An intense battle rage all day and it is stated that th British killed more Germans b< tween daylight and dark than i any similar period since the war b< gan. It was virtually a continuoi' fight from start of the first cour ter-attack. Mowed Down. The enemy infantry kept surgin forward in waves and as each cam it was caught by the fire from th British artillery, rifles and machin guns, ine attaching luitca mowed down like grain before th reaper, but with characteristic Pru.< sian discipline they continued t fill their ranks and advance unt after the ninth assault had failed. During the afternoon the Gei mans succeeded in capturing Le Rues Vertes, a suburb south c Mesnieres, but a British countei attack delivered at 5 o'clock pushe the enemy out again. British Withdraw Again. German guns on elevations sout and southeast of Masnieres late ye: terday were conducting a heav bombard .nent against the town. Th British line at that time bulge around Masnieres in a very shar salient, which made the position a unenviable one to hold at best. 1 semed quite apparent that if th British should decide to withdra1 slightly in the neighborhood c Masnieres and establish their lin on the southeastern outskirts o the place their front would be muc improved, as the British line wa entirely dominated by the hig ground in the possession of th Germans. WAR STAMP TAXES ARE EFFECTIVE ON SATURDA" Expected to Produce $100,000,00 Annually As Part of War Measure. Washington, Dec. 1.?The wa stamp taxes, counted upon by treas ury officials to produce $100,000 000 annually as part of the gre* revenue measure enacted by coi gress last October, became effectiv today. . From the beginning of today business hours every broker, e: change, clearing house and perso engaged in stock, produce or mei chandise transactions must kee strict account of the taxable dea ings. The internal revenue bureau ha issued comprehensive regulation to govern the collections. The ta: es do not apply to bonds, notes o other instruments issued by th United States, by any foreign go^ ernment, or by my state or simila governmental subdivision, or t stocks and bonds of co-operativ building and loan associations op erated exclusively for their menbers and loaning only to thei shareholders, o rto mutual ditch o irrigation companies. The taxes include: Indemnity an INES AIN INTACT y A GLANCE OVER I i TUP rniTNTBV M. A 1JU vvy V/ l 1 A A\ A News in a Condensed T Form to Be Read By the Busy Reader. ?j j The German Chancellor has ask' ; ed for another large war credit oi fifteen billion marks. President Wilson enjoyed a quiet ' day reading in his study on Thanks eJ giving Day. *! ? iti Surgeon General W. C. Gorges ;s visited Camp Sevier Thanksgiving :r Day and inspected the sanitary conh dition of the camp. k i- The death rate at Camp Wheelei d seems to be higher than any othei ie camp. The pneumonia situation >. continues to be serious. n ?. Lieut. Patrick O'Brien, of the 1S aviation department, has escaped j_ | from a German prison. His mother thought he was lost. g A force of American engineers e in France won praise by the British e authorities for efficient work in e handling railway service in the ,e great drive at Cambrai. I 0 ; i A woman branded with the letter *"| "R" burned distinctly on her back, ?: and a crudely drawn butterfly burned in the flesh on her breast, ' ! was found in a semi-conscious conP dition in a Chicago depot. :s Herr von Waldow, president of the German food regulation board, said on the floor of the Prussian 1 lower house that the food condi, ! tions in Germany were good. There hi - - - , J was plenty ot nour ana pienty ui "'potatoes which form the basis o/. y : the food supply. e J ; To avert confusion in distinguishing p second lieutenants and enlisted men n Secretary Baker has authorized a ^ | distinctive insignia of rank for the e lieutenants. They will wear a gold ^ bar on the shoulder of the uniform '^jcoat and a loop of brown braid on e; the overcoat sleeves similar to the *! black loop on the overcoats of first hj lieutenants. is! While a lady was attending a e j smart concret at a hotel in Chicago j her apartments were gone into and i her clothes were all stolen, among ! thp articles lost were four suits, y! seven dresses, two sets of furs, most j of her lingerie, fifteen pairs of 01 shoes, a cameo pin, two bracelets | and a strand of beads. : surety bonds, 50 cents, except i where premium is charged for exelI"|Cution of the bond tax will be 1 >_! per cent on each dollar of the prem1 ium; and reinsurance policies are lt i exempt. 1-j Capital stock, issue, five cents or ejeach $100 of face value; sales or ! transfers, two cents per $100; pro3 j duce sales on exchange or agreec" | ment, "for future delivery," two n'cents per $100, or fraction over H $100. P; Drafts or checks "payable otherI wise than at sight or demand, promisj sory notes except bank notes issued is | for circulation and for each renews I al," two cents per $1,00; deeds and c-! conveyances, 50 cents per $100r! $500 and 50 cents for each addie I tional $500, with all debt papers j exempt. ir! Custom house entries, 25 cents Oiper $100 to $1 per $500; withejdrawals 50 cents; steamship tickets >-:$l to $5; election proxies, 10 cents i- ; power of attorney 25 cents, r Playing cards, 5 cents per pack r in addition to present two cents tax; parcels post packages, one cent d ifor each 25 cents charged. CONGRESS BEGINS j LONG GRIND TODAY Second War Session Promises to Last Till Fall Elections GAVEL FELL AT NOON ON MONDAY I I President Wilson to Deliver Address Before Joint Session in House. : Washington, Dec. 2.?Congress reassembles tomorrow at noon for its second war session. t Most of the Senate and House members tonight had arrived and all arrangements were complete for what promises to be another epoc'ichal and lengthy session. Increased 'I determination of the American peo" I pie for vigorous prosecution of the j war to victory was the message unij versally brought by the returning I members. Brief Sestion Today. j Brief and routine opening sesI sions are scheduled for tomorrow ! in both Senate and House. Immedi' ! ? I j Siciy aiter cuiivenmg ctuu ayyviuv,ing committees formally to notify President Wilson and each other that the second session of the Six( ty-fifth Congress is in readiness, ad-j Jjournment will be taken out of, respect to members who died dur-l ing the recess?Senator Husting, ' of. Wisconsin, who was accidentally I shbt, and Representative Martin, of ! Illinois. i | Anothe rfeature of the opening ; day will be receipt of appropriation .'estimates, aggregating many bilI lions of dollars, for war and gener; al governmental purposes for the next fiscal year. President's Address. ,1 The keynote of the legislative i # | program both in its effect on war j and domestic concerns, will be fjsounded on Tuesday by President' ' Wilson in his annual opening ad| dress, to be delivered in the House j j chamber at 12.30 p. m., at a joint session. It will be the President's! ; first appearance before Congress since the historic night meeting of; I April 2 at the opening of the spe-j j cial session called to permit him to, I ask foi< the declaration of war! 'against Germany. i j GREAT SOLDIERS ' ON FRENCH FRONT! I ? | United States Forces Set New j Record?First Class Troops. ! J 1 '! 1 ,j With the American Army in i I France, Nov. 29.?The development! * *1 -' . A rviori^Qn i j oi tne men ui me mat muvuv... i contingent in France in the science . of war was described today as truly! remarkable by the general com-j manding the division. ; "I have been in the army since I j was a boy," he said. "During that time I have observed many Ameri can and many foreign soldiers, but t never in my life have I seen anything equalling the men now here. i When my division landed we had j shockheaded boys by the hundreds. They were clerks, mechanics, day * l-?rvl.4 on/J | laborers, iarmer uyus, viu c*,.v. >j young from every walk of life. I Some spoke English and some did I not. There were Poles, Bohemians, I Russians, Jews and Gentilesi. But j in this short time they have become first class soldiers, energetic to the extreme and have fallen into the ways of army life as I never thought possible. Game to the Core. "They are game to the co:re and 1 their one idea is to beat ths Ger I mans and give a good heating. There isn't a streak of yellow in the ('whole lot, and their morale, even in I the trenches, is fine. j "Here is an example: One night recently an officer called for volunteers to go patrolling in No Man's Land. He asked for 20 men. The j whole company volunteered on the THRIFT CAMPAIGN 10 START TODAY Sale of War Stamps and Certificates Have Opened CAMPAIGN WILL CONTINUE FOR YEAR ! Officials Anticipate Wide Popularity for Plan to Help Country to Victory. Washington, Dec. 2.?America's newest plan for raising war funds and encouraging habits of thrift will go into operation early tomor! row morning with the opening of sales on war savings stamps and certificates at post offices and banks. The campaign is to continue for a year in expectation of receiving the $2,000,000,000 maximum authorized. The smallest unit in the war sav ings plan is the thrift stamp, which costs 25 cents; the largest is the war savings certificate, which costs $82.40 an dis redeemable in five [ years at $100, at the rate of 4 per j cent, interest, compounded quar- j I terly. Officials expect many millions i of persons to invest regularly in the! I stamps as a means of helping thej j nation win the war and laying asidej money to be returned to them later, j Every post office in the country j has a big supply of the stamps. By! the end of the week arrangements; will be made to supply millions of agencies, such as retail stores, schools and savings societies. -Allotments for each State and the six districts into which the ccuntry has been divided for organization purposes have been made and will be anounced tomorrow. Every; State director then will assign a certain portion of expected sales to each county, city, town or other?+Viq Viacia nf shout SUUUIVISIIMI uu tnv $20 for each person. . D. A. R. MEETING. Andrew Hamilton Chapter Daugh ters of the American Revolution will meet Wednesday afternoon,! December 5th, at four o'clock in; the Chapter Room. All members i are urged to be present. ! spot. Twenty were picked and lamp black was provided for them! to put on their bayonets so that the | light would not shine on them. Dur-; ing the blacking one private who; had been in the army for fourj months stopped a minute, turned to j a comrade ana saia: uee, ix * ut?n| run this into one of those boches| I bet he'll get blood poisoning, and | I hope he does.' The boy knew the place he was to patrol was extremely dangerous and that he might be a casualty within 30 minI ues. I Do Not Forget. J "At another time I had just passI ed a line of soldiers walking along j a road in the rain when I came | across one who was hatless, mud ' covered and limping. I stopped my J automobile and asked him what wasj I the matter. The soldier stood on I one foot, the other being injured. He saluted and said his horso had started to run into a stone wall, so j he threw him down but fell under him. That's the spirit we are getting. The man was badly hurt but even that did not make him forget his training of a few weeks. "I was returning at that time from the hospital where I saw a few wounded men. Some of the men's proudest and most valuable | possessions on earth are bullets and ! pieces of shrapnel which thoughtful ! surgeons saved for them on extract! ing. Every man wanted to exhibit | the cause of his wound. Their 1 thoughts were all aoouc recovering, ; rejoining their regiments and get. ting a chance to pay back the enemy in his own coin." i HAD HUN'S IN SI AMERICANS PUT UP BRAVE FIGHT j Engineers Are Praised for Work at Cambrai By British. With the British Army in France Dec. 1.?Large number of Amerij can army engineers working on the British railways in the region of Gouzea-court caught in the German turning movement, escaped by lyr ing in shell holes and prone on the ground while the British fired over them. There they remained until the British were near enough to enable the Americans to join the ranks, when the yfought valiently and played an important part in replying to the enemy. The British commanders refer to their gallant behavior with the greatest enthusiasm. Americans elsewhere took a busy hand in the fighting and were un der hot German shell fire. Numbers} of them volunteered for patrol workj in the danger zone and all acquitted j themselves finely. A British general told the cor-J respondent that he could not praise them too highly. It is reported that several Americans were captured! but escaped after a few hours and' rejoined the British. The engineers were mainly from New York. MR. HUGH WILSON SICK. The many friends of Mr. Hugh1 Wilson, formerly editor of The Press and Banner and for nearly a' half century one of the leading' business men of this city, will hear! with regret that he has been seri- J ously ill, being confined to his; apartments in the Peoples Bankj Building under the care of his phy-; sician. i Mr. Wilson has not been well; this year. During the summer he! went to a health resort in North! Carolina and returned home some-, what improved, and his friends had; thought that he was on the road to j recovery. He was about the streets j every day looking well for a man of his years. Only one week ago he took a trip to Due West and spent the day with his friend, Mr. R. S. Galloway. He was taken sick, however, on I Thursday night, and has been seriously ill since then. On Saturday his life was almost despaired of but his condition showed a slight imnrnvement on Sunday, and Mon day, Dr. L. T. Hill, the attending1 physician, held out hope for his recovery. A number of Mr. Wilson's relatives have been here for the past| several days to look after his wants i j and to be with him in his serious I illness. Constant inquiries have i been made by his friends about | his condition, and everybody hopes I for him a speedy recovery. i WENT TO HEAR BILLY. ' ! Miss Eliza Gary and her mother j ! Mrs. E. B. Gary, went over iu | Atlanta Friday to shop. While in j the city they intended to hear Billy i j Sunday but as luck would have iti i he had such a bad cold that he! 'didn't preach that afternoon. That1 was the first time in his career that; 1 he has missed filling an engage-, ment. | ! CONDUCTING A MEETING ; i Rev. H. Waddell Pratt left yes- j terday for Calhoun Falls, where he will hold a meeting in the mill hall j j for a week or ten days. I I REPLY HORT TIME j '< 3 n r> r Russian reace envoys Received With Much Ceremony By Huns. ? M HAD GERMANS REPLY IN SHORT TIME m I Bolsheviki Agents Tell What Hap-. pened When They Crossed Into Teuton Camp?Agreement to , Armistice Conference Signed > by Commander-in-Chief of German Army. _______ Petrograd, Nov. 30.?The report of the representatives sent through the German lines by Ensign Krylenko, the Bolsheviki commander-incief, to begin negotiations for aa armistice, was given out here yesterday. It shows that the agree ment to taice up negotiations was made on behalf of the Germans fay their commander-in-chief. It waa jm agreed, as reported yesterday, that the conference should be held Sm>day, December 2, at German headquarters in Brest-Litovsk. The text of the report follows: " Cross the Line. . " "We crossed the line, preceded by a trumpeter carrying a white flag. Three hundred yards frtaa the German entanglements we were met by German officers. At 6 o'clock our eyes blindfolded we were co|h. ducted to a battallion staff ot r fib German army, where we handed over our written authorization from the national commissioners. "The negotiations were conducted in the French language. Oor proposal to carry on negotiation* for an armistice on all tfte iroma of belligerent countries in order later to make peace, was immediately handed over to the staff of the division, whence it was sent to tke chief commander of the German armies. An Early Reply. "At 6.20 o'clock we were taken in a motor car to the minister*! house, where we were received by c< Divisional Gen. von Hoffmeister, who informed us that our proposal had been handed to the highest commander and that a reply probaWy would be received in twenty-four hours. But at 7.50 o'clock the answer from the chief of the general command had already been receiv ed, announcing agreement to uu proposals and leaving the details of the next meeting to Gen. von Hoffmeister and the parliamentarian*. After a nexchange of opinion and further communication by wiring chief of the general command at midnight we were given by Gen. von Hoffmeister a written answer to our proposal. In view of .tiM fact that ours was written in Rq?sian the answer was given in G?rman. Germans' Reply. "The reply was: "The chief of the German eastern front is prepared to enter into negotiations with the Russian chief command. The chief of the German eastern front is authorized by the German commander-in-chief te carry on negotiations for an armistice. The chief of the Russian armies is requested to appoint a commission with written authority to be sent to the headquarters of the commander of the German eastern front. On his side, the German commander likewise will name a commission with special authorisation. "The day and hour of the meeting are to be fixed by the Russian eommander-inchief. It is demanded that the German commander be warned in due time to prepare a special train for the purpose. Notice must be given at which part it is intended to cross thrf frontier. (Continued on Page 6.) -i - .-J