Fort Mill times. (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, October 11, 1917, Image 4
HPS
p*
?
COL HOUSE HAS
EXALTED MISSION
Hj ' _______ I
Directed by President to Collect
Material to Be Used at
Peace Conference.
WAR'S END NOT IN SIGHT
United 8tates to Be Equipped With
Full Information on All Matters
That Are Vital to
Its Interests.
New York.?President Wilson, being
fully advised of the fact that the European
governments have for nearly
three years been gutherlng und collecting
data, which would he ludlspenslble
at the now unknowuhle but yet inevitable
date, when the warring nutions
meet to settle peuce terms, has
asked Col. E. M. House, his Intlmnte
friend and unofficial counselor, to assume
thlR complex and gigantic task.
Colonel House has nccepted the undertaking.
Iliwt Willi
promptitude and thoroughness has already
made groundwork plans for assembling
nil pertinent Information, historical,
geographical, and ethnological.
His Initial move was the selection as
his chief lieutenant of Dr. John II. Finley,
New York state commissioner of
education, who hns Just returned from
Europe, where he made an exhaustive
study of conditions.
The selection of Doctor Flnley Is Indicative
of the sort of exoerta with
whom Colonel House will confer. No
man or woman with a preconceived
opinion which might tempt one to color
?lrcumstance8 so vs to prove the correctness
of n personal point of view
will be permitted to participate In a
work where open-mlndedness la a prerequisite
to the arrival at conclusions
that will enable the government to determine
upon a correct policy.
Prejudice to Be Barred.
Emphasis Is put upon the unalterable
determination that neither professional
pacifists nor confirmed militarists
can he In thn doi?"w> i
useful Id preparing statistics for governmental
guidance, which must be
without taint of bias.
In an interview Colonel House made
It plain that his appointment does not
Indicate any thought of immediate
peace is now helng entertained by the
United States government. He agrees
with Lord Northcllffe In his message
delivered before the American Hankers'
association In Atlnntlc City that
peace seems far off and America
hould beware the trickery and trenchery
of such propaganda. The truth Is
that this effort on the part of the
United States to nnalyze war conditions
and evolve n plan of proeeedure
when hostilities end Is a belnted one,
Just as our military preparations
lagged for u period. But now It Is
"full steam ahead and dam the torpedoes"
with our army and navy with
not a thought of let-up In mind, so
from now on there will be urgent
prosecution of search for material, historical
and Informative, concerning the
world war. This quest of data will
keep pace with an energetic prosecutton
of the contest, but will not halt It
In any way. To pause now In any
phase of belligerent endeavor might
make the prospect of peace even more
remote than it seems at present.
No Sign of Early Peace.
The government sees nothing whatever
to Indicate the early approach of
peace, nor will Colonel House have
anything to do with ascertaining the
point of view of either the Kntcnte
oeuigereius or ine central powers, or
possible terms upon the basis of which
they might he willing to enter Into negotiations.
lie will remain In the United
States. It is possible that the state
department will be nble to afford him
ild In the work he has undertaken,
but he will not work with the department
nor In a diplomatic enpnelty, formal
or Informal. lie will have no title
and will receive no salary.
The appointment of Colonel House
affords another illustration of the expanding
position of the United States
In world nlTnlrs. Heretofore the stHte
department has been equipped with
virtually all the Information that was
necessary to the solution of international
problems in which the United
States has taken a direct Interest. The
war has brought new problems and
projected this country Into a field of
1ntern..Uonal activity which it has seldom
entered before.
Information Must Be Ready.
The questions which will come before
the pence conference nt the end
of the war will be multitudinous. The
freedom of the sens, the neutralization
of seaways, the political homeogenelty
of peoples who claim the right of selfgovernment
and the disposition of territorial
possessldhs Involving economic,
historical and political questions, will
be some of the many subjects to
be considered, and the Information
upon which conclusions may be bnsed
and policies decided must he nt hand.
It will he Colonel House's function to
gather a corps M experts to get this
materia! In form for use. Others, however.
will prepare the brief.
With exclusive European problems.
It Is not expected that the representaHfm
r\t Mm l!iil?nit <!?? <" ? ?-? ?
% *vo *? v *vv4 miuw j <n me piruri*
council will be concerned. But In the
disposition o' general questions, relating
to economic intercourse and political
development which will affect
virtually all the nations of the world,
the United States will have a potent
^ A- ' - . -?.'\s
voice. In accordance with the policy !
that has been consistently followed
since the outbreak of the war of hold- i
ing aloof from European combinations
except In the prosecution of the war,
this government probably will not at
tempt to aid In the settlement of traditional
Euorpean quarrels, except possibly
as a matter of friendly Interest
If opportunity arises.
House Likely to Be Delegate.
It was said unofficially that when
the time comes to organize a peace
conference, Colonel House, by virtue
of his present assignment, would In
all probability be selected as one of
the delegates from the United States.
It will be a part of Colonel House's
task to gather intelligence relating to
commercial, economic and political situations
abroad. He will keep abreast
of developments lu all non-military affairs.
Colonel House will have associated
with hltn, as has been stated, several
experts, proDaoiy conege proressors,
economint8 nnd specialists in commerclnl
nnd financial nfTuirs. The work
he is to perform will not be connected
with similar undertakings in any of
the countries with which the United
States is associated in the war.
Stnte department ofllclnls, when reminded
of the statement that the
United States would be Interested
In purely Europenn territorial questions,
answered that the Amerlcnn
nrmy was in France, und that the
United States would, of course, have
delegates at the peace conference.
Colonel House will be expected to gather
specific Information by which
American pence delegates can follow
the conference Intelligently.
These dnta will be compiled primarily
to assist American representatives
at the peace conference after the
war, but may also be used In the meantime
to help guide the government In
formulating policies. It has no bearing
on peace negotiations or negotiations
of any kind with foreign governments,
which, of course, come within
the provluce of the president and the
state department.
The United States government Isn't
getting ready to enter Into peace negotiations
with Germany, Isn't going
to meddle in strictly European questions
relating to the war, and Isn't negotiating
Just yet on the problems of
peuce with the Entente, as has fre
quentiy necn surmised.
Must Have Data in Advance.
It Is important for the United States
government now and will be evet\
more important later on to have a socalled
"who's who and what's what"
in the war in order thut ail phases involved
may be properly understood by
reference to data compiled In advance.
In time of war the government thut
falls to prepare for peace will ultimately
be at a disadvantage, suys the
1'hiludelphla Public Ledger In an edltorlal.
The representatives of Greut
Britain, Austrlu, Russia and Prussia,
found this out ufter the fall of Napoleon
when they met Prince Tulleyrund
at Vienna. Talleyrand, sent by
Prance, hnd leurned enough of the situation
as It concerned all of the smaller
European p<Avers and us It concerned
much of the opinion of Europe
to turn the tables upon the four great
powers and to stnnd as the chumpldn
of the public rights of Europe.
Prince Talleyrand maneuvered, and
successfully, uccordlng to the rules
nf a unprnt HI ulnmo ,1 ?
? ? u*|/i%/iiiuvj? uc 1 can/
worked In behalf of selfish nnd nationalistic
Interests. The partitioning
of Europe by the congress of WTtnu
was the outcome of arbitrary compromise
; It was prolific of future wars.
The knowledge which the great diplomatic
expouent of France displayed
was more comprehensive than that of
his foes, that Is all. Excepting that
he recognizes the need of precise information,
President Wilson acts upon
a principle different from that
which guided Talleyrand. He will
urge this nation Into no alliance, even
with the nations with whom It Is associated
In the common war against
the Teutonic powers. He proposes
simply to equip himself with knowledge
pertinent to the rights of all nations
In common with America as they
may be concerned by the proceedings
of the peace conference.
Tn VA/ , - A I
w wiivw ?? ? nuno.
In this spirit the president has
asked Colonel House to survey tho
field of mllltury, naval and political
conditions In the countries of our enemies
and our friends; to get at the
economic, political nnd emotional state
of things In every country, and to tell
frankly to Great llritain, Russia,
France, Italy nnd the neutral powers
the things that we are doing and that
we Intend to do in the war. Moreover,
an attempt will be made to lift
the heavy curtain of censorship In
Germany nnd Austria-Hungary, In order
to spread uinong their peoples a
comprehension of American war alms
and potentialities.
Officials are anxious that no Impression
should be created, as n result of
Colonel House's appointment, of any
Intention to start peace negotiations
In the near future. So far as the attitude
of the United States Is concerned,
the president's reply to the
pope still remains the unaltered view
of the government here.
The appointment of Colonel House
is recognition bv the mvprnmont r?#
tlie fact tluit the adjustment of peace
terms will be a very complicated proceeding.
Many points of dispute must
be settled. Questions of nil sorts,
economic, political, and hlstcrlcnl, will
come up for discussion, und the American
delegates must be forearmed with
a mass of Information and statistical
data to meet every situation.
No data concerning present conditions
In Germany or Austria will com*
within the scope of Oolonel House's
work, as this would corns outer "military
Information."
THE rOBT MILL TQg
CAMOUFLAGE COW CCE!
This "cow," though it is only a fat
cloth, is doing its hit to help win the ?
work well and what appears to he an
grazing is really a painted lure to con
Is standing on the roof.
HARVARD MENIN
HAIL OF BOMBS
Show Rare Pluck When Hospital
Is Attacked by German
Airmen.
4 KILLED AND 32 WOUNDED
Major Murphy, Red Cross Commissioner,
Cables Full Details of Disaster
to H. P. Davison?Show
8peed in Emergency.
Washington.?The manner In which
the Harvard unit's base hospital in
France was attacked by a German airplane,
with the result that several
Americans were killed and wounded,
was described in detaii in a long cable
message received here by Henry I*.
Davison, chuirman of the American
Red Cross war council, from MaJ.
Grayson M. Murphy, Red Cross commissioner
in Europe. The message folInu'u
"An American Red Cross Inspector
who lins Just returned to headquarters
In Paris has brought from the United
States army base hospital unit of Harvard
^university, one of the many similar
Institutions on the surgical supply
list of the American Red Cross, a detailed
narrative of the bombing of that
hospital oh the night of September 4
last, and of the characteristic pluck
and promptness with which the emergency
was met. Five bombs were
thrown, the explosions Instantly killing
IJeut. William F. Fltzslmons of
the Medical Officers' Reserve corps.
United States army, nnd three army
privates, and wounded Lieuts. Clarence
A. McGulre, Thaddeus D. Smith
and Rea W. Whldden, O. R. C., U. S.
A.; six privates, a woman nurse and
22 patients from the Rritisii lines who
were under treatment there for
wounds.
Attack Occurred at Night.
"The airplane attack occurred at 11
o'clock at night. Just at that time
fortunately no convoy of wounded was
being received or the list of casualties
would have been far greater, as one
of the bombs fell Into the center of
the large reception tent to which the
wounded are first borne for examination.
Ten seconds suffered for the
dropping of the bomb from the first
flying plane, nnd within less than a j
minute nfterwnrd the surgeons of the i
hospital were at the task of collecting
and attending those who had been
struck down. And for 24 hours they
were at work In tho operating room, j
one surgeon relieving another when
the latter, from simple exhaustion,
could work no longer. The very next
lay. Just as if nothing hnd happened,
these same surgeons were railed upon
to receive nnd care for 200 wounded
sent In from the trenches of the Brit- !
Ish expeditionary force.
"The hospital, which Is on the I
French coast, has 1,800 beds, nnd Is
under canvas In a quadrangle 800 feet
square. It is In a district In which
there are many similar Institutions,
nnd Is unmistakable as a hospital. At
the time the German aviator flew over
It most of the surgical staff was engaged
In making rounds of the wards.
Lieutenant Fltzslmons, however, was
standing at the door of his tent. There
hnd been a brief warning of the presence
of n bombing airplane In the
neighborhood, because a quarter of a :
minute before the sound of exploding !
bombs was heard from a point perhaps j
200 yards from the hospital. Tills j
\> uriiiiiK kuiiiitu iu i nusi" nil llgniH in |
the tents to be extinguished immediately,
and those who had been under
Are before threw themselves face down
upon the ground,
i* "Then came five explosions ir rapid
succession in the hospital Itself. The
first two were directly In front of Ueu,
tenant FlUslmons' tent. He probably
.. ^ 3mm .. tik
IS, FOBT MILL. 8. 0.
> KIR BIT IN THE WAR
Heated creature ??f wood and painted
nr. A cnnioutlnge artist liaa done Ids
i innocent scene of n cow peacefully
real n roofeil-ovor battery. /Die cow
never knew what happened to him. as
his body was torn to shreds. The next
two fell a hundred feet beyond, In a
ward in which there were many patients.
and I he last struck the reception
tent. Overhead there was no
sound. The Coramu aviator flew too
high to be heard, but he left his Identity
behind him, not only In the bombs
he dropped, but in the derisive handful
of pfennings he scattered upon the hospital
as he whirled away. A number
of these were found when light came.
Hit by Bomb Fragments.
"Lieutenant McGuire, who was In a
tent adjoining that of Lieutenant
Fitzslmons, was struck by three bomb
fragments, but was not seriously
wounded. Ills escape was narrow, as
there were more thnn a hundred holes
cut In his tent. Lieutenant Smith was
Struck 111 Mm T ?? ? -*
... nnvv I1I1V1 XilL'U t *"I III II 1
Whldden in the chest while In their
tents In the otllce section of the quadrangle.
The private soldiers Injured
were on duty as orderlies In the reception
tent, and the bomb fell almost
upon then). So severely was Private
Aubrey S. MeLeod injured that It was
necessary to amputate both his legs.
"Although the explosion of the
TRADE CHANGES
Resources of United States
Searched as Never Before to
Meet New Demands.
RIVER TRAFFIC IS INCR:ASEQ
Upper Reaches of the Mi&sistippi Help
Relieve the Congestion on tho
D.H - ^ -
n i rod as?strontium Ore
in Demand.
New* York.-?One of the most interesting
and important developments In
the United States ut the present time
Is the manner In which commerce and
Industry nre gradually adjusting and
tensing themselves under the full load
of the war strain; curtailing activities
here, speeding up there, anil reaching
out at some points, under the pressure
of new needs, to create entire new Industries.
In Industry the resources of
the United States are being searched
as never before to meet the new demands,
und mineral wealth which has
always been there against the time of
need, but never before called upon, Is
being developed, while in commerce
new processes, new economies and
new efficiency, involving no new discoveries,
but Intent possibilities in time
of peace, are being permanently added
to the wealth of the nation under
the pressure of unprecedented demand.
The whole process Is too vast and
varied to be aeon clearly at one time,
but there are several means by which
occasional glimpses can be gained.
One of these is by the reports of (he
department of the interior on tlie mineral
resources of the United States,
which continually describe the development
of new mining activities in
metals and chemicals, whose deposits
have been known for years, but whose
possibilities bad not been fully recognized.
Another Is in the pages of the
various technical Journals, In which,
every week, there Is at least one story
of a new commercial or Industrial idea
which has been added to the national
machinery.
On the Mississippi.
In new trartlc channels It Is Iron Age
which reports that for the ttr?o ??.??
i ?only n short while ago, moreover?
the upper Mississippi bus been opened
; to ore und coal trnlllc on u big scale.
The Mississippi has been big enough,
for years, to carry far more heavy,
slow traffic than Its upper reaches, as
fur as St. Paul, the head of navigation,
than ever, apparently, anyone
bombs -caused horror In the hospital? 1
there was not the smallest sign of '
panic. ?n?l the work of discovering the
wounded and collecting them was Immediately
begun. This was made
i doubly difficult by the darkness, but
i everyone sprang to It with a will.
Many of the Injured had been blow?
; from their cots, some even outside |
their tents, where they were found
tangled up In the tent poles. The
American nurse, although struck In the
face by a fragment of steel from the
bomb, refused to he relieved, and remained
tit her task courageously to
the end. A hospital orderly who |
worked untiringly was found later to
have been struck in tii? .1 ?? ..
... fiv ilVIIXI I'J ?*
fragment and painfully Injured. 11 I
line] Just tied up his head and pone on.
"In the operating room Capt. Horace
Hlnnoy and Llllott with their assistants
worked all night. Several delicate
operations were performed and
their task was made all the harder by
the fact that In innutnerab'e cases the
patients were In serious danger of Infection
from the pieces of wood and 1
nails and dirt which had been blown
Into their bodies.
"Lieut. Col. K. I'. I'attlson, IT. S. A.. 1
commanding ollieer of the unit, and '
MaJ. llarvey Cashing, head of the sur- (
gleal force, the latter being at the {
front at the time of the disaster, have
expressed the highest admiration for !
the maimer in ??-i?i..i.
- - i in* emergency
was mat. Latest reports are that the *
i condition of the wounded Is progress
j ing satisfactorily." 1
(
j INDIANS REFUSE CODDLING '
Those Upon the Klamath Reservation
Insist They Have Passed 1
Tribal Stage.
Klamath Falls, Ore..?Indians on <
the Klamath Reservation have deeld- , f
ed they have passed beyond the tribal '
stage and say they want to be allowed 1
to conduct their business and be gov- *
erned as Individuals and not eollec- 1
lively. <
At n recent meeting of the Klamath 1
Indian Progressive club, the members t
passed resolutions asking that the <
government treat them the same n? ?
white residents, "(live us u chance," I
the resolutions rend. <
The Indians hope to have the tribal 2
timber sold ami the proceeds divided
among the inMnbers. The Klamath 1
Reservation In southern Oregon occu- I
pies a territory of about f>0 by 00 miles t
and contains timber and water re- 1
sources. i
Silver Plate Periscopes.
New York.?Silver plating the perlscopes
of their U-boats is the latest Invisibility
promoting device of the Germans,
it was stated by oflicers of an
American liner Just arrived at an Atlantic
port. Covering the periscopes
j wmi n coining <>i silver renders iheni
' practically invisible.
thought <>f putting upon it. Ore trains
ami coal trains have moved along Its
hanks for years, moving the freight at
a cost per ton mile far beyond the
| demands of the river, but it took the
| war to make people realize the full
, value of 111*' stream.
Kut now that war lias come, and the
, railroads of the entire country are under
suell a strain as they never before
had to hear, people In St. I'aul and all
the river towns as far down as St.
Ijouis have suddenly perceived that the
old Mississippi must do her share. And
quite recently six new steel barges. |
carrying H.OOO tons of coal?the largest
cargo ever hauled to the head of
i navigation on the river?arrived at
St. Paul, the vanguard of u new fleet.
The development of an entirely new
mining industry within the United
States, under pressure of the war, is
told In a recent bulletin of the fJeologfptll
siii'vwv tin "Slli'iiiitlnni l? lOin**
For many years large deposits of
strontium ore, In the form of celestite
crystals (strontium sulphate) and
strontiaiilte (strontium cnrhonute)
have been known to exist, often heside
beds of limestone which were being
actively quarried. In Michigan and
Ohio along the shores of I*ake Erie,
Schoharie county. New York, In West
Virginia and Texas, and In California
and Arizona. Strontium salts were
used in beet-sugar refining, but far
more in the manufacture of fireworks,
because of the brilliant crimson flame
they gave.
Market for Strontium.
Before the war, however, the market
for strontium was so limited, and
being routined, moreover, to the Atlantic
seaboard, Imports of strontium
ore from Kurope were cheaper than
the freight rates from California and
Arizona, the only deposits which had
ever been worked commercially.
The war, however, changed all this
in two waiys. In the first place, it
created a new and tremendous demand
lor strontium, magnesium, ami bariiiiii,
for vast quantities of signal rockets,
llnrcH. etc., both at the front and
on the sea. Moreover, hero at home
1 the Increase In freight truffle on our
j railroads, due to war deinands, neces
sltated a ronsiderable Increase In the
1 use of signal flares here also.
The new Industry was jetting on
feet In 1!?10. In 1014 about 2,iX)0 short i
tons of strontium ore had been con*
Hiuned by American fireworks raanu* ,
: fncturers, the commonest form of the
' refined product being strontium nitrate
! at around 10 cents a pound or less.
Of this 2,000 pounds, the proportion ;
of domestic ore was so small as not
to be worth reporting. In 1910 the j
consumption of strontium ores had i
risen nearly a 100 per cent; the prlco j
had caused the huge strontium deposits
in California and Arizona to be
opened and worked for the first time
in earnest, and upward of 250 tons of
strontium ore had already been
shipped.
WAS IN HUNDRED
SERIOUS MISHAPS
Yew York Daredevil Is Now Retired
Member of the
Police Force.
RECORD DEATH DODGER
during Last Sixteen Months of Service
He Was in Five Hospitals?
Won Fame as Bicycle
Rider.
Now York.?Charles M. Murphy, reIred
member of the New York poire
force, figured in five accidents durng
the last Id months he was on duty,
my one of which would have been
iutlk'lent to kill an ordinary man. He
oundcd out Ids active career as a
mtrolman while on his way to the
)fllce to turn in his badge by falling
ind fracturing his knee can. Now
te Is a bit curious to know Just why
ill those misfortunes have befallen
llm and why ho Is alive to recount his
xperlenees.
Murphy is little known ns n pollcenon.
In the days of his youth, 20
>r more years ago, he was the speediest
bicycle rider In the world.
First Mishap at Three Years.
When Murphy was three years of
tge a tire broke out In the Murphy
ionic in Brooklyn. In a panicky rttsli
o call for assistance, his mother
lropped Charles In the llnmes. He was
scorched, no more. At ten he was renlered
unconscious while coasting.
tVhen Murphy was eleven the family
lorse was killed In a runaway and the
'nmlly scattered about the street.
Charles suffered only scratches. At
fourteen he crashed Into an Iron post
vhlle running from the "cops" and was
endered unconscious. When he was
dghteen Murphy was driving a spirted
horse that ran away at the sound
it a fire alarm. Tie was dragged BO
rnrds and was shaken up.
During that same year an engineer
itur stunned by a stone thrown by a
joy. Murphy raced the engine, mountm!
the cabin utul shut off the throttle.
When twenty he came near drowning
while leaving his ship In the Iiratllinn
harbor of Itnhln. Ills twenty
The Family Horse Ran Away.
fifth year opened with n mishap on
January 1 when he and n motorman
were pleked from a street car wreck
and Murphy wns believed crippled for
life.
Racer and New York Policeman.
When twenty-seven. Murphy wns
rendered unconscious while racing at
Manhattan Bench. Next morning the
doctor found him working out on the
track. In 180ft, when he was twentynine
years of nge, he won the cognomen
"MIle-n-Mlnute" Murphy. In lltfil
he was appointed a member of the New
York police force. The next yearMur
phy and l>ls brother built a tandem
bicycle driven by n steam engine nnd
hoped to speed three miles a minute.
The engine broke loose, fell on Charles,
am) ''nine near killing him. in 1003
lie started a tight with 11) gangsters
and would liave been killed but for the
arrival of reserves. In 1 fMwhile
chasing a thief, lie jumped down a 2'>foet
embankment, suffering a sprained
ankle.
Tn 1000 he formed the bottom link
In a 20-foot human chain which rescued
a man who had fallen in a well
and was neck deep In quicksand. In
lftl3 he arrested 12 foreigners at a
clip and stopped a runaway by choking
a brldleless horse Into submission.
Things were dull for Murphy until
September 10, 1015, when lie was appointed
motorcycle policeman, lie
was run over by an automobile that
year. Later a towing line became entangled
with his wheel and he was
dnnrced 50 feet. The follow im: snrinc
<1 fork on his wheel hroko and ho suffered
Internal Injuries. In September,
1016. he was thrown .10 feet on Manhattan
bridge, and Anally on January
27, 1917. when he was slated for retirement.
he fell and fractured his knee
cup. Murphy, however, still retains
the characteristics of his youth, and
avers he Is pood for many more stunt