New York Times 100 years ago today, September 30, 1912:
Manager of New Companies Explains He Is Seeking German Patents.
Special to The New York Times.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Sept. 29.— The Batson Air Navigation Company and the Batson Aerial Navigation Company of this city have taken out charters at Camden, N.J., with capital of $500,000 each. Applications have been made for patents in this country and Germany on a new type of air craft.
E. A. Hyde, General Manager of the new concerns, will leave for Germany on Tuesday to present the application for patents and attend to the establishment of a German office. Until the papers are filed in that country nothing will be given out regarding the new craft, although reports have been spread that the machine is of such proportions it can be used either for pleasure or freight transportation.
"I would like to tell all about this new flying machine," said Mr. Hyde to-day, "but as we are applying for patents in Germany I cannot, as any information printed prior to the filing of papers there invalidates our request. We are depending on Germany for the disposal of our machines."
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Loss In Mexico 3 Billions.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 30, 1912:
But Americans There Will Recoup Ultimately, Says N. Rhoades, Jr.
Some of the dangers and difficulties confronting Americans in Mexico in their attempts to carry on business were described yesterday by Nelson Rhoades. Jr., who for twenty-five years has been identified with large American interests there.
He is the head of the Almada Sugar Refineries Company at Navolato, which owns 70,000 acres of cane-growing lands on the west coast of Mexico, and is President of the Sinaloa Land Development Company and other companies controlling about 6,000,000 acres of land, including the great Palomas ranch, which runs for 169 miles along the frontiers of Mexico and the United States, and is said to be the largest in the world.
"I was on my way with funds to pay 2,000 men employed in our sugar mills at Navolato, when 5,000 rebels under half a dozen leaders attacked and pillaged the city," said Mr. Rhoades, who is at the Savoy Hotel. "I asked the leaders for protection, which they said they could not give me, because their men would not permit any such arrangement. I told them I was carrying the money, that I was unarmed, but that if they took the money they would be taking the bread out of the mouths of their fellow countrymen who were working for us. I was allowed to keep the money. My long residence there and the assistance I had given to the people of the district was well known, and the fact that I was allowed to carry on business and keep my money was due to that fact, while thousands of other Americans had to depart.
"The loss so far to American investments in Mexico is close to $3,000,000,000, but it will all be made good ultimately, in the future, conditions there will be better than they have ever been, but we must wait until the Mexican Government can solve its own problems, which I think would be better in the long run than intervention. The lines of the Southern Pacific Road for 200 miles have been destroyed. Railway conditions are so bad that we have had to put on a fleet of steamers to handle our products by water. The injury to the sugar-producing territory is about 50 per cent.
"There is no feeling against Americans. They are better liked than any other foreigners there. The whole situation is due to the internal conditions."
But Americans There Will Recoup Ultimately, Says N. Rhoades, Jr.
Some of the dangers and difficulties confronting Americans in Mexico in their attempts to carry on business were described yesterday by Nelson Rhoades. Jr., who for twenty-five years has been identified with large American interests there.
He is the head of the Almada Sugar Refineries Company at Navolato, which owns 70,000 acres of cane-growing lands on the west coast of Mexico, and is President of the Sinaloa Land Development Company and other companies controlling about 6,000,000 acres of land, including the great Palomas ranch, which runs for 169 miles along the frontiers of Mexico and the United States, and is said to be the largest in the world.
"I was on my way with funds to pay 2,000 men employed in our sugar mills at Navolato, when 5,000 rebels under half a dozen leaders attacked and pillaged the city," said Mr. Rhoades, who is at the Savoy Hotel. "I asked the leaders for protection, which they said they could not give me, because their men would not permit any such arrangement. I told them I was carrying the money, that I was unarmed, but that if they took the money they would be taking the bread out of the mouths of their fellow countrymen who were working for us. I was allowed to keep the money. My long residence there and the assistance I had given to the people of the district was well known, and the fact that I was allowed to carry on business and keep my money was due to that fact, while thousands of other Americans had to depart.
"The loss so far to American investments in Mexico is close to $3,000,000,000, but it will all be made good ultimately, in the future, conditions there will be better than they have ever been, but we must wait until the Mexican Government can solve its own problems, which I think would be better in the long run than intervention. The lines of the Southern Pacific Road for 200 miles have been destroyed. Railway conditions are so bad that we have had to put on a fleet of steamers to handle our products by water. The injury to the sugar-producing territory is about 50 per cent.
"There is no feeling against Americans. They are better liked than any other foreigners there. The whole situation is due to the internal conditions."
The Bogey Of Intervention.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 30, 1912:
The sub-committee of the Senate appointed to investigate our relations with Mexico have discovered a mare's nest. Large quantities of arms, they find, were shipped across the border into Mexico while the Madero revolution was in progress. This traffic was afterward stopped. The committee declare that if Orozco's forces could have been supplied with arms and ammunition as Madero's were, Orozco would have triumphed long ago. This is doubtful. The triumph of Madero was not primarily due to the equipment of his forces; he won few battles, and none of great consequence. His revolution was successful because it had the moral support of a majority of the Mexican people.
The unrestricted passage of the munitions of war across the border was, indeed, a great scandal during the Madero rebellion. There had been no revolution in Mexico for thirty years. Our border was practically unguarded. But President Taft somewhat tardily awoke to the danger of the situation. He ordered troops to Texas and Arizona to guard the border and enforce the neutrality laws. For this wise action he was roundly abused by some of the very persons, as we believe, who are now endeavoring to promote trouble between the United States and Mexico. He was accused of undue sympathy with the Diaz Government, and of endeavoring to support it against Madero's uprising. There was not a word of truth in this accusation, and there is not a word of truth in the present charge to the opposite effect, namely, that the United States favored the rebellion of Madero and has been hostile to Orozco. The Government at Washington has been neutral from the very beginning of the troubles in Mexico. That money may have been surreptitiously contributed to the Madero cause by individual American citizens anxious to gain the leader's good will for purposes best known to themselves is not unlikely. Neither the money nor the arms were of material benefit to Madero. As for sympathy, Americans with large interests in the industries of Mexico were strongly in favor of President Diaz, and hoped that he would suppress the rebellion. But they could do nothing to help him, and he neither asked nor expected help from them.
Madero's adherents insist now that Orozco has received pecuniary aid from the United States. Their assertion is as trustworthy as the charge that Americans helped Madero. There is no lack of meddlesome persons in the United States. Orozco's rebellion, however, has no chance of success. It has been reduced to petty guerrilla war-tare in Sonora and Chihuahua. As for the renewed assertions that the Government at Washington is considering intervention, they can be based only on a desire to injure President Taft's Administration.
A popular Government has been instituted in Mexico, and it is supported by a majority of the citizens of the republic of all classes. Because of the abandonment of the measures for the suppression of lawlessness employed by Diaz there is more or less anarchy in some of the States. That conditions are not nearly so bad as has been reported we know from the authentic statements of residents and intelligent visitors to Mexico. Prof. Leo S. Rowe of the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview reported in The Sunday times, presents a coherent statement of present conditions in the sister republic. He shows that President Madero and his Government have a clear idea of the difficulties to be surmounted, of the industrial and agricultural problems to be solved, and that they are working bravely to restore order. They must have time. Intelligent Mexicans understand that the transformation cannot be accomplished in a day or a year. There are unhappily too many Mexicans who are temperamentally unfit for self-government, and have not yet benefited in any way by the free educational institutions established within the last thirty years. In spite, however, of the often-repeated estímate of 85 per cent of illiterates in the population, recent history shows that people of this sort constitute a small minority, who will be more easily controlled when the machinery of the Madero Government is in working order.
Meanwhile the threat of intervention, constantly made in our Southwestern States, and echoed in some of the sensational papers, serves as a bogey to hamper enterprise and disturb the popular mind. The bogey should be laid. The policy of our Government in regard to Mexico should be firmly and clearly proclaimed.
The sub-committee of the Senate appointed to investigate our relations with Mexico have discovered a mare's nest. Large quantities of arms, they find, were shipped across the border into Mexico while the Madero revolution was in progress. This traffic was afterward stopped. The committee declare that if Orozco's forces could have been supplied with arms and ammunition as Madero's were, Orozco would have triumphed long ago. This is doubtful. The triumph of Madero was not primarily due to the equipment of his forces; he won few battles, and none of great consequence. His revolution was successful because it had the moral support of a majority of the Mexican people.
The unrestricted passage of the munitions of war across the border was, indeed, a great scandal during the Madero rebellion. There had been no revolution in Mexico for thirty years. Our border was practically unguarded. But President Taft somewhat tardily awoke to the danger of the situation. He ordered troops to Texas and Arizona to guard the border and enforce the neutrality laws. For this wise action he was roundly abused by some of the very persons, as we believe, who are now endeavoring to promote trouble between the United States and Mexico. He was accused of undue sympathy with the Diaz Government, and of endeavoring to support it against Madero's uprising. There was not a word of truth in this accusation, and there is not a word of truth in the present charge to the opposite effect, namely, that the United States favored the rebellion of Madero and has been hostile to Orozco. The Government at Washington has been neutral from the very beginning of the troubles in Mexico. That money may have been surreptitiously contributed to the Madero cause by individual American citizens anxious to gain the leader's good will for purposes best known to themselves is not unlikely. Neither the money nor the arms were of material benefit to Madero. As for sympathy, Americans with large interests in the industries of Mexico were strongly in favor of President Diaz, and hoped that he would suppress the rebellion. But they could do nothing to help him, and he neither asked nor expected help from them.
Madero's adherents insist now that Orozco has received pecuniary aid from the United States. Their assertion is as trustworthy as the charge that Americans helped Madero. There is no lack of meddlesome persons in the United States. Orozco's rebellion, however, has no chance of success. It has been reduced to petty guerrilla war-tare in Sonora and Chihuahua. As for the renewed assertions that the Government at Washington is considering intervention, they can be based only on a desire to injure President Taft's Administration.
A popular Government has been instituted in Mexico, and it is supported by a majority of the citizens of the republic of all classes. Because of the abandonment of the measures for the suppression of lawlessness employed by Diaz there is more or less anarchy in some of the States. That conditions are not nearly so bad as has been reported we know from the authentic statements of residents and intelligent visitors to Mexico. Prof. Leo S. Rowe of the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview reported in The Sunday times, presents a coherent statement of present conditions in the sister republic. He shows that President Madero and his Government have a clear idea of the difficulties to be surmounted, of the industrial and agricultural problems to be solved, and that they are working bravely to restore order. They must have time. Intelligent Mexicans understand that the transformation cannot be accomplished in a day or a year. There are unhappily too many Mexicans who are temperamentally unfit for self-government, and have not yet benefited in any way by the free educational institutions established within the last thirty years. In spite, however, of the often-repeated estímate of 85 per cent of illiterates in the population, recent history shows that people of this sort constitute a small minority, who will be more easily controlled when the machinery of the Madero Government is in working order.
Meanwhile the threat of intervention, constantly made in our Southwestern States, and echoed in some of the sensational papers, serves as a bogey to hamper enterprise and disturb the popular mind. The bogey should be laid. The policy of our Government in regard to Mexico should be firmly and clearly proclaimed.
American Loan For China?
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 30, 1912:
Berlin Hears an Offer of $25,000,000 Has Already Been Made.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Sept. 29.— Berlin newspapers state that a Hamburg export house, the Messrs. George Westendorf, has been asked to become the authorized representatives of China to float a German loan of $10,000,000. One version says the project is simply part of the Crisp loan.
Cablegrams from German sources in Shanghai further allege that China requires immediately another $50,000,000 in addition to the Crisp loan, and that the American group has already offered half that amount. It is added that China is thinking of resuming negotiations with the Belgian group.
Berlin Hears an Offer of $25,000,000 Has Already Been Made.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Sept. 29.— Berlin newspapers state that a Hamburg export house, the Messrs. George Westendorf, has been asked to become the authorized representatives of China to float a German loan of $10,000,000. One version says the project is simply part of the Crisp loan.
Cablegrams from German sources in Shanghai further allege that China requires immediately another $50,000,000 in addition to the Crisp loan, and that the American group has already offered half that amount. It is added that China is thinking of resuming negotiations with the Belgian group.
Russia Mobilizes Army Of 245,000.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 30, 1912:
While Widespread Military Activity in the Balkans Spreads Alarm Among Powers.
WARNING TO TURKEY'S FOES
Intervention Is the Threat, but Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and Greece Are Preparing for War.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Sept. 30.— Although there is ground for believing that peace will be preserved, alarming reports are reaching London regarding the tension in the Balkans, where the war spirit is growing, and is accompanied by widespread military activity. Russia has suddenly mobilized seven army corps, each about 35,000 strong, at Warsaw and the military centres of the Polish provinces. Although this is officially described as a "test" mobilization, this action has caused some alarm, inasmuch as no test mobilization has been carried out in Warsaw for a number of years.
Bulgaria has suspended the dismissal of her reservists until Oct. 14, and is alleged to be threatening Turkey with a general mobilization, if the Porte does not halt its military preparations.
Belgrade dispatches announce that Servia is quietly summoning the reserves and sending them to the frontier, while her Prime Minister has called upon Turkey to grant "home rule" to the Serb subjects of the Porte as the only means of avoiding a war.
Montenegro has been warned by the powers against showing a provocative attitude, but there is news of an attack by Montenegrin troops upon a Turkish force, in which the Turks lost thirty dead and thirty prisoners.
Greece has demanded satisfaction of Turkey in somewhat peremptory terms for the action of the Turkish troops in Samos in firing on a Greek steamer. The Turkish Government has promised an inquiry and expressed its regrets.
A Copenhagen telegram says that, in consequence of several urgent telegrams from the Greek Government concerning the difficulties of the Balkan situation, King George of Greece left Copenhagen to-night. To a personal friend before his departure the King said in conversation that the situation looked serious, but he expressed the hope that peace would be maintained.
A Constantinople newspaper publishes a telegram stating that a French cruiser on Saturday landed troops in Samos, where a revolution in miniature has been in progress, and disarmed the Turkish garrison.
Turkey, it is announced, is willing to abandon the concentration of troops in Adrianople, to which Bulgaria has taken exception, and will hold the divisional manoeuvres in various parts of Macedonia instead, but if Bulgaria mobilizes her troops the Turkish Army will immediately be placed on a war footing.
Reports from Berlin state that five Turkish divisions, of 16,000 men each, in Asia Minor are being called up.
Meanwhile from Sofia comes news that, amid the enthusiastic cheers of its population, regiments of cavalry are entraining for Jamboli, on the southern frontier, where a great part of the Bulgarian cavalry is being concentrated.
Hopes that peace will be preserved are based upon the reported action of the great powers. Although Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and Greece have apparently arrived at a common understanding against Turkey, it is announced that they have been warned that any attack by them on Turkey would sooner or later lead to intervention on the part of the powers, who would not allow them to profit by such an attack.
The Daily News correspondent at Constantinople telegraphs:
"The Russian Embassy is seriously alarmed and is using the utmost exertions to prevent the outbreak of war. The Russian Ambassador and the Councilor of the British Embassy had a long interview on Saturday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Ambassador endeavoring to persuade the Turks to change their programme and reassure the Bulgarians. "King Ferdinand and his Ministers undoubtedly desire the maintenance of peace, but the Bulgarians are so excited that it would require but little to provoke a declaration of war."
While Widespread Military Activity in the Balkans Spreads Alarm Among Powers.
WARNING TO TURKEY'S FOES
Intervention Is the Threat, but Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and Greece Are Preparing for War.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Sept. 30.— Although there is ground for believing that peace will be preserved, alarming reports are reaching London regarding the tension in the Balkans, where the war spirit is growing, and is accompanied by widespread military activity. Russia has suddenly mobilized seven army corps, each about 35,000 strong, at Warsaw and the military centres of the Polish provinces. Although this is officially described as a "test" mobilization, this action has caused some alarm, inasmuch as no test mobilization has been carried out in Warsaw for a number of years.
Bulgaria has suspended the dismissal of her reservists until Oct. 14, and is alleged to be threatening Turkey with a general mobilization, if the Porte does not halt its military preparations.
Belgrade dispatches announce that Servia is quietly summoning the reserves and sending them to the frontier, while her Prime Minister has called upon Turkey to grant "home rule" to the Serb subjects of the Porte as the only means of avoiding a war.
Montenegro has been warned by the powers against showing a provocative attitude, but there is news of an attack by Montenegrin troops upon a Turkish force, in which the Turks lost thirty dead and thirty prisoners.
Greece has demanded satisfaction of Turkey in somewhat peremptory terms for the action of the Turkish troops in Samos in firing on a Greek steamer. The Turkish Government has promised an inquiry and expressed its regrets.
A Copenhagen telegram says that, in consequence of several urgent telegrams from the Greek Government concerning the difficulties of the Balkan situation, King George of Greece left Copenhagen to-night. To a personal friend before his departure the King said in conversation that the situation looked serious, but he expressed the hope that peace would be maintained.
A Constantinople newspaper publishes a telegram stating that a French cruiser on Saturday landed troops in Samos, where a revolution in miniature has been in progress, and disarmed the Turkish garrison.
Turkey, it is announced, is willing to abandon the concentration of troops in Adrianople, to which Bulgaria has taken exception, and will hold the divisional manoeuvres in various parts of Macedonia instead, but if Bulgaria mobilizes her troops the Turkish Army will immediately be placed on a war footing.
Reports from Berlin state that five Turkish divisions, of 16,000 men each, in Asia Minor are being called up.
Meanwhile from Sofia comes news that, amid the enthusiastic cheers of its population, regiments of cavalry are entraining for Jamboli, on the southern frontier, where a great part of the Bulgarian cavalry is being concentrated.
Hopes that peace will be preserved are based upon the reported action of the great powers. Although Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, and Greece have apparently arrived at a common understanding against Turkey, it is announced that they have been warned that any attack by them on Turkey would sooner or later lead to intervention on the part of the powers, who would not allow them to profit by such an attack.
The Daily News correspondent at Constantinople telegraphs:
"The Russian Embassy is seriously alarmed and is using the utmost exertions to prevent the outbreak of war. The Russian Ambassador and the Councilor of the British Embassy had a long interview on Saturday with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Russian Ambassador endeavoring to persuade the Turks to change their programme and reassure the Bulgarians. "King Ferdinand and his Ministers undoubtedly desire the maintenance of peace, but the Bulgarians are so excited that it would require but little to provoke a declaration of war."
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Fraser Insists Navy Must Defend Canal.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Journalist, Sailing for England, Repeats His Opinions on Inadequacy of Forts.
THINKS CULEBRA DANGEROUS
And That if Foreign Nations Are Discriminated Against They Will Not Use Panama Route.
John Foster Fraser the well-known English author and traveler, who has been staying at the Hotel Belmont for the past week, sailed yesterday for Southampton on the White Star liner Olympic, after completing his commission from Lord Northcliffe to visit the Panama Canal and write a series of articles for The London Times.
In one of his articles on the fortification of the canal, which was cabled from London and published in The New York Times of Sept. 16, he pointed out that the fortification as planned on the Pacific would not be strong enough to keep an enemy's ship from doing harm as they could come up outside the islands of Taboga. and Taboguilla within a seven-mile range and shell the entrance to the canal. To obviate the possibility of danger, therefore, Mr. Fraser asserted in his article that the forts would have to be extended and the navy made strong enough to insure against the possibility of the United States losing command of the sea.
Major Gen. Leonard Wood in answering the statement made by Mr. Fraser on the day following the appearance of the article, said that the fortifications would be such as to relieve the navy of responsibility for the Canal's safety and leave the warships free to pursue the enemy on the high seas. He did not think that the islands were a menace to the Pacific entrance to the Canal. He pointed out that by the treaty with the Republic of Panama, the islands were subject to American occupation if necessary for defense.
In an interview with a Times reporter yesterday before sailing, Mr. Fraser reiterated what he had said in his paper, and amplified it by stating that the entrance to the Panama Canal on the Atlantic side was liable to be attacked by the enemy's fleet in time of war, as there was plenty of deep water there, and Gatun dam and locks could be destroyed from the sea quite easily if there was no fleet to prevent it.
"In my opinion, after a careful study of the canal entrance on both sides," said Mr. Fraser, "there is no doubt that the new waterway will be the weak link for the United States in war with another power, as the enemy would certainly attack it. The opening of the canal will make it absolutely necessary for America to have two fleets, one on the Atlantic, and the other on the Pacific, to protect her property. If the canal was partly destroyed, which might happen, all communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific would be cut off unless there were two fleets acting in concert with each other.
"The isolation of the canal zone is a good idea, because with a number of foreigners living along its banks, there would always be the danger or some one being hired to blow up the locks or the dam with dynamite.
"There is also a great danger," Mr. Foster continued, "that Culebra Cut will cave along the excavations. There is the glacial movement there, and already houses built within half a mile have been carried over and destroyed. The land slides are still moving, and carrying thousands of tons of earth with them. Col. Goethals and his able staff of Army Engineers did not say to me that they were afraid of Culebra Cut falling in, but I know that they were. The Y.M.C.A. Building is nearing the brink, and other buildings are following it toward the cut. If I had to build them I would choose a site five miles away from the canal, so that I should not have to move for some little time."
"What do you think of the canal as an undertaking?" he was asked.
"From an engineering point of view," replied Mr. Fraser, "it is a remarkable piece of work, which only a great power with unlimited wealth and energy at its command could have carried out successfully. The work on the canal is so great that America can afford to be modest about it. I have spoken to all the engineer officers on the Isthmus and never heard one of them exclaim: 'The Gatun Dam is the biggest in the world.'
"What impressed me most was the wonderful organization on the entire length of the canal works. The feeding of 60,000 to 75,000 laborers each day with stores brought in cold storage from New York and taken dally to the different sections on the canal by a special train and the keeping of these same laborers in good health. I got sick down there myself, and had to go into a hospital when I arrived in Canada on my return, but I think perhaps that was due to my not being an American, and accustomed to the climate."
"What do you think of the prospects of the Panama Canal from a commercial point of view?" Mr. Fraser was asked.
"I do not think it will ever be a success commercially," he said, "or that the new waterway will even pay the working expenses, which will be very heavy. The army and navy will have to share a part of the burden, as the canal was constructed by the United States Government with the view of its use in time of war. The officials on the Isthmus from the Chief down all seemed to be of the opinion that every ship using the canal should pay a portion of its upkeep.
"If American coastwise ships are to be free of all tolls then the burden will fall on the foreign owned ships, and they will stay away, that's all. It is a commercial question for the United States and not a political one. If the people of this country are content to be taxed in order that private corporations shall reap the benefit by sending their ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific free of tolls and vice versa, very well then."
Mr. Fraser added that he had enjoyed his stay on the Isthmus, and had received every courtesy from Col. Goethals and his staff of engineers and officers, who explained every interesting feature to him the whole course of the canal from Colon to Panama.
One of Mr. Fraser's early feats was to ride round the world on a bicycle, during which he passed through seventeen countries and rode 19,237 miles in 774 days. Some of his best known books are: "The Real Siberia," "America at Work," and "Australia: The Making of a Nation." He is a member of the Royal Geographical and Royal Zoological Societies of England.
Journalist, Sailing for England, Repeats His Opinions on Inadequacy of Forts.
THINKS CULEBRA DANGEROUS
And That if Foreign Nations Are Discriminated Against They Will Not Use Panama Route.
John Foster Fraser the well-known English author and traveler, who has been staying at the Hotel Belmont for the past week, sailed yesterday for Southampton on the White Star liner Olympic, after completing his commission from Lord Northcliffe to visit the Panama Canal and write a series of articles for The London Times.
In one of his articles on the fortification of the canal, which was cabled from London and published in The New York Times of Sept. 16, he pointed out that the fortification as planned on the Pacific would not be strong enough to keep an enemy's ship from doing harm as they could come up outside the islands of Taboga. and Taboguilla within a seven-mile range and shell the entrance to the canal. To obviate the possibility of danger, therefore, Mr. Fraser asserted in his article that the forts would have to be extended and the navy made strong enough to insure against the possibility of the United States losing command of the sea.
Major Gen. Leonard Wood in answering the statement made by Mr. Fraser on the day following the appearance of the article, said that the fortifications would be such as to relieve the navy of responsibility for the Canal's safety and leave the warships free to pursue the enemy on the high seas. He did not think that the islands were a menace to the Pacific entrance to the Canal. He pointed out that by the treaty with the Republic of Panama, the islands were subject to American occupation if necessary for defense.
In an interview with a Times reporter yesterday before sailing, Mr. Fraser reiterated what he had said in his paper, and amplified it by stating that the entrance to the Panama Canal on the Atlantic side was liable to be attacked by the enemy's fleet in time of war, as there was plenty of deep water there, and Gatun dam and locks could be destroyed from the sea quite easily if there was no fleet to prevent it.
"In my opinion, after a careful study of the canal entrance on both sides," said Mr. Fraser, "there is no doubt that the new waterway will be the weak link for the United States in war with another power, as the enemy would certainly attack it. The opening of the canal will make it absolutely necessary for America to have two fleets, one on the Atlantic, and the other on the Pacific, to protect her property. If the canal was partly destroyed, which might happen, all communication between the Atlantic and the Pacific would be cut off unless there were two fleets acting in concert with each other.
"The isolation of the canal zone is a good idea, because with a number of foreigners living along its banks, there would always be the danger or some one being hired to blow up the locks or the dam with dynamite.
"There is also a great danger," Mr. Foster continued, "that Culebra Cut will cave along the excavations. There is the glacial movement there, and already houses built within half a mile have been carried over and destroyed. The land slides are still moving, and carrying thousands of tons of earth with them. Col. Goethals and his able staff of Army Engineers did not say to me that they were afraid of Culebra Cut falling in, but I know that they were. The Y.M.C.A. Building is nearing the brink, and other buildings are following it toward the cut. If I had to build them I would choose a site five miles away from the canal, so that I should not have to move for some little time."
"What do you think of the canal as an undertaking?" he was asked.
"From an engineering point of view," replied Mr. Fraser, "it is a remarkable piece of work, which only a great power with unlimited wealth and energy at its command could have carried out successfully. The work on the canal is so great that America can afford to be modest about it. I have spoken to all the engineer officers on the Isthmus and never heard one of them exclaim: 'The Gatun Dam is the biggest in the world.'
"What impressed me most was the wonderful organization on the entire length of the canal works. The feeding of 60,000 to 75,000 laborers each day with stores brought in cold storage from New York and taken dally to the different sections on the canal by a special train and the keeping of these same laborers in good health. I got sick down there myself, and had to go into a hospital when I arrived in Canada on my return, but I think perhaps that was due to my not being an American, and accustomed to the climate."
"What do you think of the prospects of the Panama Canal from a commercial point of view?" Mr. Fraser was asked.
"I do not think it will ever be a success commercially," he said, "or that the new waterway will even pay the working expenses, which will be very heavy. The army and navy will have to share a part of the burden, as the canal was constructed by the United States Government with the view of its use in time of war. The officials on the Isthmus from the Chief down all seemed to be of the opinion that every ship using the canal should pay a portion of its upkeep.
"If American coastwise ships are to be free of all tolls then the burden will fall on the foreign owned ships, and they will stay away, that's all. It is a commercial question for the United States and not a political one. If the people of this country are content to be taxed in order that private corporations shall reap the benefit by sending their ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific free of tolls and vice versa, very well then."
Mr. Fraser added that he had enjoyed his stay on the Isthmus, and had received every courtesy from Col. Goethals and his staff of engineers and officers, who explained every interesting feature to him the whole course of the canal from Colon to Panama.
One of Mr. Fraser's early feats was to ride round the world on a bicycle, during which he passed through seventeen countries and rode 19,237 miles in 774 days. Some of his best known books are: "The Real Siberia," "America at Work," and "Australia: The Making of a Nation." He is a member of the Royal Geographical and Royal Zoological Societies of England.
Storm In Peace Congress.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Loud Protests Greet Condemnation of Italian Aviators.
GENEVA Sept. 28.— Another stormy scene marked the concluding session today of the International Peace Congress. The uproar was caused by a speech by Dr. Gobat in which the President of the International Bureau of Peace characterised the Italian airmen who have been operating in Tripoli during the war as "brigands of the air."
Loud cries of protest were raised in the audience and the speaker was compelled to stop for several minutes.
The granting of complete autonomy to Alsace-Lorraine as one of the federated German States would in the opinion of the French and German delegates to the Peace Conference, be a decided step toward better relations between France and Germany. They presented a resolution to this effect and it was adopted by acclamation by the Congress.
Loud Protests Greet Condemnation of Italian Aviators.
GENEVA Sept. 28.— Another stormy scene marked the concluding session today of the International Peace Congress. The uproar was caused by a speech by Dr. Gobat in which the President of the International Bureau of Peace characterised the Italian airmen who have been operating in Tripoli during the war as "brigands of the air."
Loud cries of protest were raised in the audience and the speaker was compelled to stop for several minutes.
The granting of complete autonomy to Alsace-Lorraine as one of the federated German States would in the opinion of the French and German delegates to the Peace Conference, be a decided step toward better relations between France and Germany. They presented a resolution to this effect and it was adopted by acclamation by the Congress.
New French Dreadnought.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Great Demonstration at the Launching of the Paris.
TOULON, Sept. 8.— The new French dreadnought Paris was launched here this afternoon. The event was made the occasion for a popular demonstration of approval of the policy of reinvigoration of the French Navy, introduced by Theophile Delcassé.
The Minister of Marine presided at the ceremony, which was attended by the Municipal Councillors of Paris, who on behalf of the capital presented a magnificent service of silver plate to the vessel.
The Paris is the most formidable ship in the French Navy, her armament consisting of twelve 12-inch guns and twenty-six smaller pieces.
Great Demonstration at the Launching of the Paris.
TOULON, Sept. 8.— The new French dreadnought Paris was launched here this afternoon. The event was made the occasion for a popular demonstration of approval of the policy of reinvigoration of the French Navy, introduced by Theophile Delcassé.
The Minister of Marine presided at the ceremony, which was attended by the Municipal Councillors of Paris, who on behalf of the capital presented a magnificent service of silver plate to the vessel.
The Paris is the most formidable ship in the French Navy, her armament consisting of twelve 12-inch guns and twenty-six smaller pieces.
Haggle Over Peace Although Agreed.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Italy and Turkey Are Practicing with Zeal the Fine Art of Postponing.
PORTE WANTS EASY WAY OUT
Reconciled to the Inevitable and Seeks for a Formula to Help Soothe the National Pride.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
ROME, Sept. 28.— The negotiations between Italy and Turkey, rather than arriving at a speedy conclusion of peace, seem destined to show which are the more clever in the art of postponement — the worshippers of Mohammed or the disciples of Machiavelli.
An American diplomat remarked the other day that it was a pity that, for some reason, Spain also was not in the competition, as a Spanish delegate, with his constant "mañana," would take in the whole thing perfectly.
To the Anglo-Saxon mind what is happening in the negotiations is simply absurd. Italy has in the most solemn manner possible for a country to do it — that is to say, by the word of her King and with a decision taken by Parliament — unanimously declared complete and absolute sovereignty over the whole of Lybia.
Notwithstanding this, Turkey asked to treat in regard to the matter, and, in the negotiations begun and carried on under the former Cabinet of Saïd Pacha and the present Cabinet, the Turkish delegates, with the declared intention of facilitating the proceedings, proposed to put aside the question of sovereignty and discuss other points.
The discussion has now been going on for several months, and the delegates have agreed on every other point, but when the main issue, Italian sovereignty over Lybia, has come up they have hesitated. It would be quite reasonable if Turkey were absolutely determíned not to admit the sovereignty of Italy, in which case, as Italy is absolutely determined not to renounce it — at least, as some one said the other day, until a Turco-Arab force reaches the walls of Rome — there would be no ground for negotiations.
On the contrary, Turkey is ready to submit to the inevitable, but wishes to find a formula with which to gild the bitter pill.
This is the situation, and no one can understand how Constantinople can hope to gain any more by postponing a solution which alone can strengthen the tottering empire and enable her to cope with all the other pressing problems which she has on her hands at present.
In other words, the two countries are in perfect accord on everything substantial, and if peace be not concluded and the war should continue, with more loss of lives , and expense, the fault rests entirely with the abnormal mentality which is trying to solve the insoluble by losing a province and wishing to appear still to have it.
Italy and Turkey Are Practicing with Zeal the Fine Art of Postponing.
PORTE WANTS EASY WAY OUT
Reconciled to the Inevitable and Seeks for a Formula to Help Soothe the National Pride.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
ROME, Sept. 28.— The negotiations between Italy and Turkey, rather than arriving at a speedy conclusion of peace, seem destined to show which are the more clever in the art of postponement — the worshippers of Mohammed or the disciples of Machiavelli.
An American diplomat remarked the other day that it was a pity that, for some reason, Spain also was not in the competition, as a Spanish delegate, with his constant "mañana," would take in the whole thing perfectly.
To the Anglo-Saxon mind what is happening in the negotiations is simply absurd. Italy has in the most solemn manner possible for a country to do it — that is to say, by the word of her King and with a decision taken by Parliament — unanimously declared complete and absolute sovereignty over the whole of Lybia.
Notwithstanding this, Turkey asked to treat in regard to the matter, and, in the negotiations begun and carried on under the former Cabinet of Saïd Pacha and the present Cabinet, the Turkish delegates, with the declared intention of facilitating the proceedings, proposed to put aside the question of sovereignty and discuss other points.
The discussion has now been going on for several months, and the delegates have agreed on every other point, but when the main issue, Italian sovereignty over Lybia, has come up they have hesitated. It would be quite reasonable if Turkey were absolutely determíned not to admit the sovereignty of Italy, in which case, as Italy is absolutely determined not to renounce it — at least, as some one said the other day, until a Turco-Arab force reaches the walls of Rome — there would be no ground for negotiations.
On the contrary, Turkey is ready to submit to the inevitable, but wishes to find a formula with which to gild the bitter pill.
This is the situation, and no one can understand how Constantinople can hope to gain any more by postponing a solution which alone can strengthen the tottering empire and enable her to cope with all the other pressing problems which she has on her hands at present.
In other words, the two countries are in perfect accord on everything substantial, and if peace be not concluded and the war should continue, with more loss of lives , and expense, the fault rests entirely with the abnormal mentality which is trying to solve the insoluble by losing a province and wishing to appear still to have it.
Armenian Grievances.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Patriarch Resigns as Protest Against Turkey's Policy.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Sept. 17.— The resignation of the Armenian Patriarch here marks the culmination of the protests which have been made against the "laissez faire" policy of the Turkish authorities in Kurdistan by Armenian churchmen, deputies, and journalists during the last three years.
The Dashnakzutiun Committee, which is still the strongest Armenian political organization, though it entered into an alliance with the Committee of Union and Progress in 1909, shortly after the Patriarch Mgr. Tourian had resigned in consequence of the failure or unwillingness of the Committee Government adequately to punish the ringleaders in the Adana massacres, only did so after receiving promises that the Commitee of Union and Progress would do its utmost to settle the land question in East Anatolia and Kurdistan in accordance with the wishes of the Armenians and to protect the latter against further Moslem attack.
The results of the alliance proved most disappointing to the Armenians. The land question remained unsettled and the crimes committed at the expense of the Armenians did not abate. Moreover, the American schemes for the construction of a railway from Yumurtalik, on the Gulf of Alexandretta, to Sivas, and thence eastward to Argana Maden, which would have opened districts largely peopled by Armenians to trade and stimulated the mining industry, were shelved after long discussion in the chamber.
Early in the present year the committee, presumably with the object of regaining the affections of its Dashnakist allies, decided "in principle " to dispatch a "Reform Commission," similar to that which journeyed through Albania, to the Vilayets of Inner Asia Minor, but this project never materialized and the fall of the committee regime and the dissolution of the chamber were regarded with indifference by the Armenian community, save for a few of the extreme Dashnakists.
Patriarch Resigns as Protest Against Turkey's Policy.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Sept. 17.— The resignation of the Armenian Patriarch here marks the culmination of the protests which have been made against the "laissez faire" policy of the Turkish authorities in Kurdistan by Armenian churchmen, deputies, and journalists during the last three years.
The Dashnakzutiun Committee, which is still the strongest Armenian political organization, though it entered into an alliance with the Committee of Union and Progress in 1909, shortly after the Patriarch Mgr. Tourian had resigned in consequence of the failure or unwillingness of the Committee Government adequately to punish the ringleaders in the Adana massacres, only did so after receiving promises that the Commitee of Union and Progress would do its utmost to settle the land question in East Anatolia and Kurdistan in accordance with the wishes of the Armenians and to protect the latter against further Moslem attack.
The results of the alliance proved most disappointing to the Armenians. The land question remained unsettled and the crimes committed at the expense of the Armenians did not abate. Moreover, the American schemes for the construction of a railway from Yumurtalik, on the Gulf of Alexandretta, to Sivas, and thence eastward to Argana Maden, which would have opened districts largely peopled by Armenians to trade and stimulated the mining industry, were shelved after long discussion in the chamber.
Early in the present year the committee, presumably with the object of regaining the affections of its Dashnakist allies, decided "in principle " to dispatch a "Reform Commission," similar to that which journeyed through Albania, to the Vilayets of Inner Asia Minor, but this project never materialized and the fall of the committee regime and the dissolution of the chamber were regarded with indifference by the Armenian community, save for a few of the extreme Dashnakists.
Italy On The Sea.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
German Paper on Concentration of French Fleet in Mediterranean.
BERLIN, Sept. 19,— In the course of an article dealing with the concentration of the French fleet in the Mediterranean, the Frankfurter Zeitung says:
"The French newspapers which are convinced of the high political significance of this measure have, with their wonted frankness, betrayed against whom it is directed. It strengthens the Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance.
"We know that the latter falls to be renewed next year. From various reports it may be inferred that Italy, as a condition of the renewal of the alliance, has asked that her interests in the Mediterranean should be guaranteed. She must consider the balance of power there threatened when she is concerned for its defense.
The growing cordiality between Great Britain and France, and now the concentration of the French fleet in the Mediterranean, have evidently perturbed the Italian Government, which appears to fear that, the Mediterranean may be transformed into an Anglo-French sea.
''Its proposal that the Triple Alliance should be extended to the Mediterranean is said to have been favorably received in Berlin, and according to one newspaper Germany herself made the proposal. " Germany is not a Mediterranean power, but her position as a world power has necessarily drawn her into the policy of Mediterranean interests. The aim of Italian policy, namely, the freedom of the Mediterranean and the maintenance of the balance of power, can and must be approved by Germany. Austrian policy has evidently the same object. Whether Germany, however, should go so far as to guarantee this object, i.e., to carry on, if need be, a great war on its behalf, must be carefully considered by German statesmen.
"In our opinion, the apprehension of the Italian statesmen, if not unfounded, is yet exaggerated — for the present, at least. The concentration of the French fleet in the Mediterranean seems to us merely designed to prevent Italy from renewing the Triple Alliance, and transferring to it the defense of its interests in the Mediterranean.
"Italy is to remain by the side of Great Britain and France; this is the warning intended to be conveyed by the action of France. That a threat and then its execution should follow the warning is incredible, for too many important interests are at stake for Great Britain and France. It will not be easy for Italian statesmen to find the richt answer to the step taken by M. Delcassé."
German Paper on Concentration of French Fleet in Mediterranean.
BERLIN, Sept. 19,— In the course of an article dealing with the concentration of the French fleet in the Mediterranean, the Frankfurter Zeitung says:
"The French newspapers which are convinced of the high political significance of this measure have, with their wonted frankness, betrayed against whom it is directed. It strengthens the Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance.
"We know that the latter falls to be renewed next year. From various reports it may be inferred that Italy, as a condition of the renewal of the alliance, has asked that her interests in the Mediterranean should be guaranteed. She must consider the balance of power there threatened when she is concerned for its defense.
The growing cordiality between Great Britain and France, and now the concentration of the French fleet in the Mediterranean, have evidently perturbed the Italian Government, which appears to fear that, the Mediterranean may be transformed into an Anglo-French sea.
''Its proposal that the Triple Alliance should be extended to the Mediterranean is said to have been favorably received in Berlin, and according to one newspaper Germany herself made the proposal. " Germany is not a Mediterranean power, but her position as a world power has necessarily drawn her into the policy of Mediterranean interests. The aim of Italian policy, namely, the freedom of the Mediterranean and the maintenance of the balance of power, can and must be approved by Germany. Austrian policy has evidently the same object. Whether Germany, however, should go so far as to guarantee this object, i.e., to carry on, if need be, a great war on its behalf, must be carefully considered by German statesmen.
"In our opinion, the apprehension of the Italian statesmen, if not unfounded, is yet exaggerated — for the present, at least. The concentration of the French fleet in the Mediterranean seems to us merely designed to prevent Italy from renewing the Triple Alliance, and transferring to it the defense of its interests in the Mediterranean.
"Italy is to remain by the side of Great Britain and France; this is the warning intended to be conveyed by the action of France. That a threat and then its execution should follow the warning is incredible, for too many important interests are at stake for Great Britain and France. It will not be easy for Italian statesmen to find the richt answer to the step taken by M. Delcassé."
Hope To See Our Ships.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Italians Would Like a Visit from American War Vessels.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
ROME, Sept. 28.— The hope is entertained here that the American squadron, which was to visit the Mediterranean and the Italian coast in the Autumn of 1911, when special festivities were prepared, including a visit to the exhibitions at Rome and Turin, will come next year.
At the time, it was said that the visit of the squadron had to be postponed on account of the cholera epidemic which then afflicted Italy, and this year the squadron did not come owing to the war with Turkey.
Italians Would Like a Visit from American War Vessels.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
ROME, Sept. 28.— The hope is entertained here that the American squadron, which was to visit the Mediterranean and the Italian coast in the Autumn of 1911, when special festivities were prepared, including a visit to the exhibitions at Rome and Turin, will come next year.
At the time, it was said that the visit of the squadron had to be postponed on account of the cholera epidemic which then afflicted Italy, and this year the squadron did not come owing to the war with Turkey.
Expect Peace In The East.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Arrival of Rechid Pasha In Switzerland Promises Results.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
GENEVA, Sept. 28.— After many weeks of unofficial pourparlers between the Italians and Turkish delegates at Caux, Evian-les-Bairs, and Lausanne, peace now seems to be in sight. At any rate, with the arrival of Rechid Pasha at Ouchy the negotiations have assumed a more official character, and definite results are expected in the near future. It is doubtful, however, whether the Turkish Government will definitely agree to or accept the Italian terms of peace before the 15th of October, or until after the Turkish elections.
During the entire conversations the Turkish delegates have been asking for time to refer matters to headquarters, whereas the Italians want to hasten the negotiations.
As Signor Bertolini himself informed The New York Times correspondent, there is only one great obstacle, the sovereignty of Libya, to which both the Italian and Turkish Governments hold tenaciously. The former, after its public declaration to Europe soon after the beginning of the war, cannot back out without losing prestige.
During the last twenty-four hours telegrams from Rome, Vienna, where the Turkish Crown Prince has been staying, and from Constantinople have been pouring into Ouchy.
Arrival of Rechid Pasha In Switzerland Promises Results.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
GENEVA, Sept. 28.— After many weeks of unofficial pourparlers between the Italians and Turkish delegates at Caux, Evian-les-Bairs, and Lausanne, peace now seems to be in sight. At any rate, with the arrival of Rechid Pasha at Ouchy the negotiations have assumed a more official character, and definite results are expected in the near future. It is doubtful, however, whether the Turkish Government will definitely agree to or accept the Italian terms of peace before the 15th of October, or until after the Turkish elections.
During the entire conversations the Turkish delegates have been asking for time to refer matters to headquarters, whereas the Italians want to hasten the negotiations.
As Signor Bertolini himself informed The New York Times correspondent, there is only one great obstacle, the sovereignty of Libya, to which both the Italian and Turkish Governments hold tenaciously. The former, after its public declaration to Europe soon after the beginning of the war, cannot back out without losing prestige.
During the last twenty-four hours telegrams from Rome, Vienna, where the Turkish Crown Prince has been staying, and from Constantinople have been pouring into Ouchy.
War With Germany Near, Says M. Mun
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Veteran of the Conflict of 1870 Protests Against Talk of Entente with Foe.
ALSACE IS NOT FORGOTTEN
Behind the Rhine, It Is Declared, the Cloud of Iron Thickens, and France Must Beware.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept 28.— A powerful impression has been caused here by the appearance in the Figaro of a two-column article entitled "It Will Be To-morrow," by Comte Albert de Mun of the Académie Française.
The article is a commentary on a recent tour made through Germany by a Figaro representative in order to ascertain the present state of German feeling toward France, M. Mun insists that the statements of good will and admiration, and of eager desire for a better understanding, made by those whom the Figaro man interviewed, are not to be believed, and that the idea of a Franco-German entente is a mere dream.
War between the two countries is, he says, more than a probability, and he holds, as the title indicates, that France stands on the brink of the event.
In referring to the photograph recently published in the European press of the Kaiser at the Swiss manoeuvres shaking the left hand of Gen. Pau, who has lost his right arm, M. Mun says:
"It is a symbolic picture. We are like that. All the handshakes that the Germans give us with a smile go to our left hand. The right has been cut off for the last forty-two years."
The author, who won his cross at Metz, is especially bitter against the German suggestions that Frenchmen make a sincere effort to resign themselves to and forget the loss of Alsace-Lorraine.
"Alas!" he says, "for thirty years those who have governed France have by criminal aberration done their best to this end. But without success. The blood of the race has rejected the prison. A new generation has sprung up, whose souls have suddenly appeared full of the memories which we thought abolished. Who dare now speak to them of resignation?"
"The wound of France," he continues, " is as open after forty years as on the first day, and is ceaselessly touched to the raw by the hands which made it.
"French unity has been broken by Teuton iron, and the French ideal should, by national necessity, be to reconstruct it."
M. Mun quotes with the highest approval the statement of a well-known German critic, that in the soul of every German exist two feelings — attraction toward France and the desire for war — and the result of these emotions is estimated in Germany to be the annihilation of France and a war indemnity — $1,000,000,000.
"We waste our money," he concludes, "in political expenses while our strategic railways remain unfinished.
We are allowing cosmopolitan financiers to push us, without saying so, toward an entente with Germany, which will leave us friendless, and, while behind the Rhine and the Meuse the cloud of iron thickens, we waste our strength and lose our time in internal quarrels and religious discord."
Veteran of the Conflict of 1870 Protests Against Talk of Entente with Foe.
ALSACE IS NOT FORGOTTEN
Behind the Rhine, It Is Declared, the Cloud of Iron Thickens, and France Must Beware.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept 28.— A powerful impression has been caused here by the appearance in the Figaro of a two-column article entitled "It Will Be To-morrow," by Comte Albert de Mun of the Académie Française.
The article is a commentary on a recent tour made through Germany by a Figaro representative in order to ascertain the present state of German feeling toward France, M. Mun insists that the statements of good will and admiration, and of eager desire for a better understanding, made by those whom the Figaro man interviewed, are not to be believed, and that the idea of a Franco-German entente is a mere dream.
War between the two countries is, he says, more than a probability, and he holds, as the title indicates, that France stands on the brink of the event.
In referring to the photograph recently published in the European press of the Kaiser at the Swiss manoeuvres shaking the left hand of Gen. Pau, who has lost his right arm, M. Mun says:
"It is a symbolic picture. We are like that. All the handshakes that the Germans give us with a smile go to our left hand. The right has been cut off for the last forty-two years."
The author, who won his cross at Metz, is especially bitter against the German suggestions that Frenchmen make a sincere effort to resign themselves to and forget the loss of Alsace-Lorraine.
"Alas!" he says, "for thirty years those who have governed France have by criminal aberration done their best to this end. But without success. The blood of the race has rejected the prison. A new generation has sprung up, whose souls have suddenly appeared full of the memories which we thought abolished. Who dare now speak to them of resignation?"
"The wound of France," he continues, " is as open after forty years as on the first day, and is ceaselessly touched to the raw by the hands which made it.
"French unity has been broken by Teuton iron, and the French ideal should, by national necessity, be to reconstruct it."
M. Mun quotes with the highest approval the statement of a well-known German critic, that in the soul of every German exist two feelings — attraction toward France and the desire for war — and the result of these emotions is estimated in Germany to be the annihilation of France and a war indemnity — $1,000,000,000.
"We waste our money," he concludes, "in political expenses while our strategic railways remain unfinished.
We are allowing cosmopolitan financiers to push us, without saying so, toward an entente with Germany, which will leave us friendless, and, while behind the Rhine and the Meuse the cloud of iron thickens, we waste our strength and lose our time in internal quarrels and religious discord."
The French Airship Fleet.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 29, 1912:
Reader Draws a Grim Picture of Its Future Significance.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
Six years ago France trembled at the menaces of Germany, and two brothers, scorned, ridiculed, and alone, worked in a little shop in Dayton, Ohio. Yesterday the French Minister of War reviewed seventy-two aeroplanes; they filed away before him and a frenzied crowd, embodying the new strength of France and her grim answer to the German Empire.
We wonder why France has done so much with aeroplanes and we so little; it is because she sees in them the chance to realize her dream — revenge. To her the control of the air means control of the land and sea, control of her enemy's ports and fortifications, of his railway lines and bridges, of his supply trains and magazines. Aeroplanes are not, to Frenchmen, luxuries of the rich and reckless, but the symbol of a new national consciousness and the means to achieve an old national end. They are, to modern France, the consciousness of power. The frenzy of the crowd that heard Millerand declare France must control the air was no weak and transient excitement, but the terrific sense that the machines before them meant the possibility of revenge, and that fate had given France the future, as she has given Germany for forty years, the past.
One of the brothers is dead; does the other realize that by his patience and daring he has shifted, the European balance of power, that in his workshop in Ohio hung the destinies of two nations? Nothing in modern history, perhaps, since Napoleon crossed the Alps, equals in dramatic force and suddenness this growth in the strength of France.
F. PEARSON.
New York, Sept. 27, 1912.
Reader Draws a Grim Picture of Its Future Significance.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
Six years ago France trembled at the menaces of Germany, and two brothers, scorned, ridiculed, and alone, worked in a little shop in Dayton, Ohio. Yesterday the French Minister of War reviewed seventy-two aeroplanes; they filed away before him and a frenzied crowd, embodying the new strength of France and her grim answer to the German Empire.
We wonder why France has done so much with aeroplanes and we so little; it is because she sees in them the chance to realize her dream — revenge. To her the control of the air means control of the land and sea, control of her enemy's ports and fortifications, of his railway lines and bridges, of his supply trains and magazines. Aeroplanes are not, to Frenchmen, luxuries of the rich and reckless, but the symbol of a new national consciousness and the means to achieve an old national end. They are, to modern France, the consciousness of power. The frenzy of the crowd that heard Millerand declare France must control the air was no weak and transient excitement, but the terrific sense that the machines before them meant the possibility of revenge, and that fate had given France the future, as she has given Germany for forty years, the past.
One of the brothers is dead; does the other realize that by his patience and daring he has shifted, the European balance of power, that in his workshop in Ohio hung the destinies of two nations? Nothing in modern history, perhaps, since Napoleon crossed the Alps, equals in dramatic force and suddenness this growth in the strength of France.
F. PEARSON.
New York, Sept. 27, 1912.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Germany And The Canal.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 28, 1912:
Advised Not to Take England's Side in the Rate Controversy.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Sept. 27.— Gen. von Bernhardi, author of the book "Concerning the War of To-day," contributes to The Post an article on "Germany and the Panama Canal Bill."
If Germany should enter into negotiations with the United States on the subject of tariffs, he says, her sole aim would be to insure that exemption from the payment of dues would be restricted exclusively and explicitly to American coast shipping, and should not be extended to any oversea traffic whatsoever. This is the only point, he declares, where German interest is affected, and he contends that "we do not need, therefore, to join the English protest and stake our good relations with America on it."
The General explains how different is the situation for England, as for her it is primarily a question of prestige. The United States Government, he remarks, has simply torn up the treaty concluded with England, and as no court of arbitration in the world could approve such procedure, it may be assumed that the United States will refuse to submit the matter to arbitration. Should the United States really do this, and also make no other concessions, England will have suffered a grave political and moral defeat, and her prestige in the world must necessarily thereby be lowered.
Such being the situation, it is most desirable, in Gen. von Bernhardi's opinion, that Germany shall neither support nor help England in her action against America, for in the first place England would, when the crisis was over, forget any services rendered by Germany and revert to her policy of hostility, and in the second place it is to Germany's interest to maintain friendly relations with the United States. It would be a serious mistake, he says, to sacrifice these relations for the very uncertain prospect of an agreement with England.
Advised Not to Take England's Side in the Rate Controversy.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Sept. 27.— Gen. von Bernhardi, author of the book "Concerning the War of To-day," contributes to The Post an article on "Germany and the Panama Canal Bill."
If Germany should enter into negotiations with the United States on the subject of tariffs, he says, her sole aim would be to insure that exemption from the payment of dues would be restricted exclusively and explicitly to American coast shipping, and should not be extended to any oversea traffic whatsoever. This is the only point, he declares, where German interest is affected, and he contends that "we do not need, therefore, to join the English protest and stake our good relations with America on it."
The General explains how different is the situation for England, as for her it is primarily a question of prestige. The United States Government, he remarks, has simply torn up the treaty concluded with England, and as no court of arbitration in the world could approve such procedure, it may be assumed that the United States will refuse to submit the matter to arbitration. Should the United States really do this, and also make no other concessions, England will have suffered a grave political and moral defeat, and her prestige in the world must necessarily thereby be lowered.
Such being the situation, it is most desirable, in Gen. von Bernhardi's opinion, that Germany shall neither support nor help England in her action against America, for in the first place England would, when the crisis was over, forget any services rendered by Germany and revert to her policy of hostility, and in the second place it is to Germany's interest to maintain friendly relations with the United States. It would be a serious mistake, he says, to sacrifice these relations for the very uncertain prospect of an agreement with England.
To Enlarge British Fleet.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 28, 1912:
Admiralty Says It Will Increase the Mediterranean Force.
LONDON, Sept, 27.— In a statement, issued to-night, the Admiralty announces that the British naval force in the Mediterranean will be greatly increased next year.
Recent reports have said that the British naval force in the Mediterranean was to be decreased, and that French warships were to be massed there to take the place of the vessels which England withdrew. This intimation caused both alarm and anger in Berlin, where it was asserted that this move of the allies was aimed at the Triple Alliance, the design being to have France overpower the Italian and Austrian fleets in case of war, while the huge British Armada would be left free to smash the Kaiser's navy.
Admiralty Says It Will Increase the Mediterranean Force.
LONDON, Sept, 27.— In a statement, issued to-night, the Admiralty announces that the British naval force in the Mediterranean will be greatly increased next year.
Recent reports have said that the British naval force in the Mediterranean was to be decreased, and that French warships were to be massed there to take the place of the vessels which England withdrew. This intimation caused both alarm and anger in Berlin, where it was asserted that this move of the allies was aimed at the Triple Alliance, the design being to have France overpower the Italian and Austrian fleets in case of war, while the huge British Armada would be left free to smash the Kaiser's navy.
72 Aeroplanes In Review.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 28, 1912:
Imposing Array of French Aircraft Inspected by War Minister.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept. 27.— A great review of the seventy-two aeroplanes attached to the French Army was held before the Minister of War, M. Millerand, at Villaconblay aerodrome, just outside of Paris, at 6 o'clock this morning.
It was the first review of an aeroplane fleet ever held, and the spectators were profoundly impressed by the sight of the seventy-two machines drawn up in line, with the commanders, pilots, and observers of the different squadrlllas standing at attention in front.
Every machine was ready to take the air, and after a brief and businesslike review, aeroplane after aeroplane rose and flew away, twenty of them leaving together for their posts on the German frontier.
Imposing Array of French Aircraft Inspected by War Minister.
By Marconi Transatlantic Wireless to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept. 27.— A great review of the seventy-two aeroplanes attached to the French Army was held before the Minister of War, M. Millerand, at Villaconblay aerodrome, just outside of Paris, at 6 o'clock this morning.
It was the first review of an aeroplane fleet ever held, and the spectators were profoundly impressed by the sight of the seventy-two machines drawn up in line, with the commanders, pilots, and observers of the different squadrlllas standing at attention in front.
Every machine was ready to take the air, and after a brief and businesslike review, aeroplane after aeroplane rose and flew away, twenty of them leaving together for their posts on the German frontier.
Aid To Wireless Telephony.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 28, 1912:
Sparkless Invention May Make Long Distance Talking Easy.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept. 27.— Edouard Branly, a pioneer in wireless telegraphy, was interviewed to-day concerning Julien Bethenod's invention of a sparkless wireless. He said that the wireless sparks undoubtedly slackened the speed of transmission by the interruption of the current. With a continuous current the speed would be greatly enhanced.
If Bethenod could obtain, as he asserted, 20,000 oscillations a second, said Branly, it would make wireless telephony a realizable proposition for long-distance conversation.
Branly says that he knows Bethenod as a serious scientist, who is Chief Engineer of the Société Radiotelegraphique, but he is not acquainted with his scientific achievements. He doubts whether the new invention would permit the operation of wireless stations in close proximity without any confusion in the messages transmitted.
Sparkless Invention May Make Long Distance Talking Easy.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept. 27.— Edouard Branly, a pioneer in wireless telegraphy, was interviewed to-day concerning Julien Bethenod's invention of a sparkless wireless. He said that the wireless sparks undoubtedly slackened the speed of transmission by the interruption of the current. With a continuous current the speed would be greatly enhanced.
If Bethenod could obtain, as he asserted, 20,000 oscillations a second, said Branly, it would make wireless telephony a realizable proposition for long-distance conversation.
Branly says that he knows Bethenod as a serious scientist, who is Chief Engineer of the Société Radiotelegraphique, but he is not acquainted with his scientific achievements. He doubts whether the new invention would permit the operation of wireless stations in close proximity without any confusion in the messages transmitted.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
The Division Of Persia.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 27, 1912:
Reader Likens England's Attitude to Our Canal Policy.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
The Times editorially and good-humoredly condones England's apparent acquiescence in Russia's plan to divide Persia by saying that interference would be "disastrous to interests far greater than any involved in Persia." This is a tacit admission that in the division of Persia other interests may be considered than the most altruistic ones, and you rightly look upon such a situation as a commonplace of international politics.
Why, then, does the American press throw up its hands in holy horror at the thought of the United States acting primarily with a view to its own interests in the Canal Zone? In one case we have Great Britain and Russia jointly depriving an entire civilized people of its right to liberty and self-government, and the comment of the press is mildly commendatory. On the other hand we have a nation earnestly striving to protect its own interests, without seriously interfering with those of any other, and there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth,
Let us give up our sanctimonious attitude with respect to international politics. The morals of nations have not yet advanced to the point which has been reached in the ethics of the individual. In this year of grace 1912 a nation's rights still extend to whatever it can get. Let us take advantage of conditions as they actually exist. Let us at least be consistent, and cease to wear sackcloth and ashes for an American misdemeanor, while charitably overlooking a dozen English felonies.
CARL SCHLOSS.
New York, Sept. 23, 1912.
Reader Likens England's Attitude to Our Canal Policy.
To the Editor of The New York Times:
The Times editorially and good-humoredly condones England's apparent acquiescence in Russia's plan to divide Persia by saying that interference would be "disastrous to interests far greater than any involved in Persia." This is a tacit admission that in the division of Persia other interests may be considered than the most altruistic ones, and you rightly look upon such a situation as a commonplace of international politics.
Why, then, does the American press throw up its hands in holy horror at the thought of the United States acting primarily with a view to its own interests in the Canal Zone? In one case we have Great Britain and Russia jointly depriving an entire civilized people of its right to liberty and self-government, and the comment of the press is mildly commendatory. On the other hand we have a nation earnestly striving to protect its own interests, without seriously interfering with those of any other, and there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth,
Let us give up our sanctimonious attitude with respect to international politics. The morals of nations have not yet advanced to the point which has been reached in the ethics of the individual. In this year of grace 1912 a nation's rights still extend to whatever it can get. Let us take advantage of conditions as they actually exist. Let us at least be consistent, and cease to wear sackcloth and ashes for an American misdemeanor, while charitably overlooking a dozen English felonies.
CARL SCHLOSS.
New York, Sept. 23, 1912.
Mena's Surrender.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 27, 1912:
That Gen. Mena, the leader of the petty but troublesome revolution in Nicaragua, has surrendered is a cause for congratulation; that he has surrendered, not to the commandant of the Nicaraguan Army, but to a United States naval officer, is, perhaps, not so gratifying. It suggests his belief that he has been defeated not by President Diaz, but by President Taft. If this belief is justifiable, the more is the pity. Nicaragua is a weak country, in which 700 armed men with a determined leader can cause a great deal of havoc. American marines were needed to protect property, keep roads open and the wheels of commerce in motion. In doing this they stopped the rebellion.
Having accepted Mena as our prisoner, and ordered his removal to Panama under guard, it will be straining no further point to prevent his entering into other plots against the legally constituted Government of Nicaragua. It is not likely that he will be kept in durance long. The idea ought to be impressed on his mind that distinguished exiles find living cheap and comfortable in Paris, Vienna, and Munich. If Mena settles in New Orleans or Galveston, he will be the head centre of a junta within a few months, and will speedily get in touch with some company of American adventurers to whom he may safely promise handsome concessions in Nicaragua in return for aid in overthrowing the Government. The United States authorities can prevent this in Mena's case and all similar cases.
That Gen. Mena, the leader of the petty but troublesome revolution in Nicaragua, has surrendered is a cause for congratulation; that he has surrendered, not to the commandant of the Nicaraguan Army, but to a United States naval officer, is, perhaps, not so gratifying. It suggests his belief that he has been defeated not by President Diaz, but by President Taft. If this belief is justifiable, the more is the pity. Nicaragua is a weak country, in which 700 armed men with a determined leader can cause a great deal of havoc. American marines were needed to protect property, keep roads open and the wheels of commerce in motion. In doing this they stopped the rebellion.
Having accepted Mena as our prisoner, and ordered his removal to Panama under guard, it will be straining no further point to prevent his entering into other plots against the legally constituted Government of Nicaragua. It is not likely that he will be kept in durance long. The idea ought to be impressed on his mind that distinguished exiles find living cheap and comfortable in Paris, Vienna, and Munich. If Mena settles in New Orleans or Galveston, he will be the head centre of a junta within a few months, and will speedily get in touch with some company of American adventurers to whom he may safely promise handsome concessions in Nicaragua in return for aid in overthrowing the Government. The United States authorities can prevent this in Mena's case and all similar cases.
British Criticisms Unfair, Says Taft.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 27, 1912:
Wrong to Charge Dishonor in His Canal Policy, He Tells London Times Man.
NEWSPAPER MAKES RETORT
Likewise Wrong, It Declares, to Impeach British Honor Just Before His Policy Is Questioned.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Friday, Sept. 27.— The Times publishes the following message, cabled from Beverly, Mass., by an occasional correspondent, who asked President Taft to make a statement regarding his Panama Canal policy for communication to the Times:
"All that I can properly say for The Times is that it seems to me a very unfair argument to charge a man with being in favor of dishonoring the treaty obligations of his Government, when he asserts that his Government had never entered into such treaty obligations. It is not competent to charge dishonor before it has been established that we have violated the treaty. "I gave notice that I held to this construction of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in my message to Congress one year ago, and no suggestion that my construction of the treaty was at fault was made until the canal bill had almost reached its final passage."
The Times, commenting editorially on this statement, says the obvious effect of such language as this is to suggest that The Times brought charges of dishonorable conduct against President Taft. It maintains that although The Times had written a good deal about Mr. Taft's Panama policy, it never lowered the plane of argument by introducing any question of personal character or motive.
The article proceeds to reiterate in brief what it said in supporting the British case and "ventures to say" that no allusion to honor or dishonor will be found in any Times comments on the Taft Panama policy.
"It is a somewhat disconcerting thing," adds The Times, "that a statesman of great experience alike in public affairs and the law courts of his country should hold that such statements to the British case involve such aspersions upon his honor as suffice to put those, who make them, out of court.
"Mr. Taft justifies his policy by his interpretation of the treaty but it is precisely that interpretation, which we call in question. If in maintaining that he is wrong, we impeach President Taft's honor, then in maintaining that we are wrong, he impeaches our honor and that of the British Government, which has protested against his interpretation.
"Such arguments or imputations seem to us merely to create prejudice on both sides and that is surely out of place in any persons who respect each other and themselves."
The article concludes:
"If differences of interpretation cannot be settled by diplomacy, reference must be to that international arbitration, of which the President himself has been so eloquent an advocate. The honor of both parties can only gain from such a course."
Wrong to Charge Dishonor in His Canal Policy, He Tells London Times Man.
NEWSPAPER MAKES RETORT
Likewise Wrong, It Declares, to Impeach British Honor Just Before His Policy Is Questioned.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Friday, Sept. 27.— The Times publishes the following message, cabled from Beverly, Mass., by an occasional correspondent, who asked President Taft to make a statement regarding his Panama Canal policy for communication to the Times:
"All that I can properly say for The Times is that it seems to me a very unfair argument to charge a man with being in favor of dishonoring the treaty obligations of his Government, when he asserts that his Government had never entered into such treaty obligations. It is not competent to charge dishonor before it has been established that we have violated the treaty. "I gave notice that I held to this construction of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty in my message to Congress one year ago, and no suggestion that my construction of the treaty was at fault was made until the canal bill had almost reached its final passage."
The Times, commenting editorially on this statement, says the obvious effect of such language as this is to suggest that The Times brought charges of dishonorable conduct against President Taft. It maintains that although The Times had written a good deal about Mr. Taft's Panama policy, it never lowered the plane of argument by introducing any question of personal character or motive.
The article proceeds to reiterate in brief what it said in supporting the British case and "ventures to say" that no allusion to honor or dishonor will be found in any Times comments on the Taft Panama policy.
"It is a somewhat disconcerting thing," adds The Times, "that a statesman of great experience alike in public affairs and the law courts of his country should hold that such statements to the British case involve such aspersions upon his honor as suffice to put those, who make them, out of court.
"Mr. Taft justifies his policy by his interpretation of the treaty but it is precisely that interpretation, which we call in question. If in maintaining that he is wrong, we impeach President Taft's honor, then in maintaining that we are wrong, he impeaches our honor and that of the British Government, which has protested against his interpretation.
"Such arguments or imputations seem to us merely to create prejudice on both sides and that is surely out of place in any persons who respect each other and themselves."
The article concludes:
"If differences of interpretation cannot be settled by diplomacy, reference must be to that international arbitration, of which the President himself has been so eloquent an advocate. The honor of both parties can only gain from such a course."
Invents Sparkless Wireless System.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 27, 1912:
French Engineer's Device Said to Send Messages Ten Times Quicker Than the Cable.
NO CONFLICT IN THE AIR
Messages Sent from Adjoining Stations Without Confusion — Apparatus Not Costly.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Friday, Sept 27.— The Matin announces that a system of wireless telegraphy without sparks has been invented by a young French engineer, Julien Bethenod, one of the favorite pupils of the late Henri Poincare, and a personal friend of the wireless pioneer, Branly. By Bethenod's invention it is said to be possible to establish wireless stations in close proximity to one another without the messages being confused, and that it is also possible to exchange communications ten times faster than by submarine cables and ten times less expensively.
M. Bethenod's wireless sparkless system necessitates as a plant only an alternator and antennae of a special character.
The primary advantage of the system is that sound waves sent direct from the machine in the antennae will not be interfered with by other posts on the same zone. Moreover, thanks to automatic system of perforated bands, two stations will be able to exchange their messages at a maximum speed of 200 words a minute.
Other advantages of Bethenod's system are greater simplicity of installation and cheapness, each wireless station being capable of doing the work of ten cables, yet costing hardly more than $200,000. Bethenod's discovery also makes wireless telephony still more possible. With a spark, only 2,000 oscillations per second can be produced, while the human voice can go to 20,-000 vibrations. By sparkless wireless telephony, 20,000 oscillations per second can be produced.
French Engineer's Device Said to Send Messages Ten Times Quicker Than the Cable.
NO CONFLICT IN THE AIR
Messages Sent from Adjoining Stations Without Confusion — Apparatus Not Costly.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Friday, Sept 27.— The Matin announces that a system of wireless telegraphy without sparks has been invented by a young French engineer, Julien Bethenod, one of the favorite pupils of the late Henri Poincare, and a personal friend of the wireless pioneer, Branly. By Bethenod's invention it is said to be possible to establish wireless stations in close proximity to one another without the messages being confused, and that it is also possible to exchange communications ten times faster than by submarine cables and ten times less expensively.
M. Bethenod's wireless sparkless system necessitates as a plant only an alternator and antennae of a special character.
The primary advantage of the system is that sound waves sent direct from the machine in the antennae will not be interfered with by other posts on the same zone. Moreover, thanks to automatic system of perforated bands, two stations will be able to exchange their messages at a maximum speed of 200 words a minute.
Other advantages of Bethenod's system are greater simplicity of installation and cheapness, each wireless station being capable of doing the work of ten cables, yet costing hardly more than $200,000. Bethenod's discovery also makes wireless telephony still more possible. With a spark, only 2,000 oscillations per second can be produced, while the human voice can go to 20,-000 vibrations. By sparkless wireless telephony, 20,000 oscillations per second can be produced.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Austria And The Near East.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
The Austrian Government speaks in two voices as to the prospects in the Near East. The Foreign Minister, Count von Berchtold, speaks soothingly and with an air of confidence as to the agreement of the Powers in the proposals recently submitted by him to them; but he gives no clear idea of what the proposals were or by what means they were to be carried out. He pats the present Government of Turkey on the back and credits it with honorable intentions, but he does not say what Turkey has been asked to do, or whether it will or can do it. And he follows these ambiguous remarks with the following grave statement:
Diplomacy is keeping guard to prevent the threatened conflict and stifle a possible Balkan conflagration. Our geographical position places us near the area of disturbance, and the great interests of the monarchy are at stake. Only when we are armed by land and sea can we look to the future with easy minds.
It is to be noted that the Emperor, Francis Joseph, usually ready to say all that he can for peace, omits in his address to the delegations all reference to the prospect of peace. Meanwhile the Balkan States are in an extraordinary ferment. Servia is importing arms and ammunition. Bulgaria is the scene of great excitement, and the Government is having the utmost difficulty in restraining the war feeling. Fighting is going on along the border of Turkey and Montenegro. The political societies in Crete and in Greece are agitating against Turkey. Turkey, on the other hand, seeming to be about to conclude terms with Italy, has ordered the mobilization of 50,000 troops for Autumn manoeuvres on the plains of Adrianople, and within striking distance of the southern frontier of Bulgaria. If the Powers hope to prevent some sort of a conflict, which it would be very hard to delimit, or to localize, they must act promptly and in concert. We have nothing to show that they will act in full concert except the vague intimations of the Austrian Minister. We do have, however, the formal assurance of Count von Berchtold and of Herr von Bethmann-hollweg, the German Minister, that at their recent meeting they had reached an agreement as to a policy which remains unknown to the public, and perhaps unknown to the other Powers. In these circumstances there is more meaning in Count Berchtold's patriotic assertion that Austria can look with an easy mind to the future only when armed by land and sea than there is in his amiable and indeterminate expressions as to general harmony. If we assume that neither Turkey nor the Powers other than Germany find in the Austrian suggestion a ground on which they can unite, it is not an unreasonable inference that Austria, backed by Germany, may feel herself safe and justified in stepping in and trying to carry out any plan that she and Germany may find desirable. It is this possibility that most disturbs the European Chancelleries at the present moment. It is with regard to this that developments will be most eagerly and anxiously watched.
The Austrian Government speaks in two voices as to the prospects in the Near East. The Foreign Minister, Count von Berchtold, speaks soothingly and with an air of confidence as to the agreement of the Powers in the proposals recently submitted by him to them; but he gives no clear idea of what the proposals were or by what means they were to be carried out. He pats the present Government of Turkey on the back and credits it with honorable intentions, but he does not say what Turkey has been asked to do, or whether it will or can do it. And he follows these ambiguous remarks with the following grave statement:
Diplomacy is keeping guard to prevent the threatened conflict and stifle a possible Balkan conflagration. Our geographical position places us near the area of disturbance, and the great interests of the monarchy are at stake. Only when we are armed by land and sea can we look to the future with easy minds.
It is to be noted that the Emperor, Francis Joseph, usually ready to say all that he can for peace, omits in his address to the delegations all reference to the prospect of peace. Meanwhile the Balkan States are in an extraordinary ferment. Servia is importing arms and ammunition. Bulgaria is the scene of great excitement, and the Government is having the utmost difficulty in restraining the war feeling. Fighting is going on along the border of Turkey and Montenegro. The political societies in Crete and in Greece are agitating against Turkey. Turkey, on the other hand, seeming to be about to conclude terms with Italy, has ordered the mobilization of 50,000 troops for Autumn manoeuvres on the plains of Adrianople, and within striking distance of the southern frontier of Bulgaria. If the Powers hope to prevent some sort of a conflict, which it would be very hard to delimit, or to localize, they must act promptly and in concert. We have nothing to show that they will act in full concert except the vague intimations of the Austrian Minister. We do have, however, the formal assurance of Count von Berchtold and of Herr von Bethmann-hollweg, the German Minister, that at their recent meeting they had reached an agreement as to a policy which remains unknown to the public, and perhaps unknown to the other Powers. In these circumstances there is more meaning in Count Berchtold's patriotic assertion that Austria can look with an easy mind to the future only when armed by land and sea than there is in his amiable and indeterminate expressions as to general harmony. If we assume that neither Turkey nor the Powers other than Germany find in the Austrian suggestion a ground on which they can unite, it is not an unreasonable inference that Austria, backed by Germany, may feel herself safe and justified in stepping in and trying to carry out any plan that she and Germany may find desirable. It is this possibility that most disturbs the European Chancelleries at the present moment. It is with regard to this that developments will be most eagerly and anxiously watched.
No Tripoli Agreement Yet.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
Main Issue Between Italy and Turkey Still Undecided.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Thursday, Sept. 26.— The Times's special correspondent at Ouchy, Switzerland, where the unofficial Turkish-Italian peace negotiations are going on, telegraphed under yesterday's date:
"This afternoon the Turkish and Italian delegates received me at the Beaurivage Hotel here, where peace negotiations have been proceeding since July 12.
"I am requested to state that the various reports that have appeared in foreign newspapers with regard to the negotiations are wholly unauthorized. No statement has been given to the press. The negotiations are being conducted in the strictest secrecy. The long reports in the Paris Temps and other newspapers purporting to give the basis of an agreement are pure inventions.
"The semi-official pourparlers have been proceeding quietly and uninterruptedly, and there has never been any deadlock, but the principal question, namely, Italy's sovereignty over the Tripolitan provinces, has not yet been settled. This once settled, peace is likely soon to be concluded, as the other questions are of quite secondary importance.
"Consequently, the negotiations might speedily be terminated or might continue indefinitely. As one of the Turkish delegates, Fakhreddin Bey, Turkish Minister at Cettinje, said: 'We are not pessimistic about the result.'
"I am asked to state that the Khedive's visit to the Beaurivage Hotel on Saturday and Sunday last was purely private and had no connection with the negotiations."
Main Issue Between Italy and Turkey Still Undecided.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Thursday, Sept. 26.— The Times's special correspondent at Ouchy, Switzerland, where the unofficial Turkish-Italian peace negotiations are going on, telegraphed under yesterday's date:
"This afternoon the Turkish and Italian delegates received me at the Beaurivage Hotel here, where peace negotiations have been proceeding since July 12.
"I am requested to state that the various reports that have appeared in foreign newspapers with regard to the negotiations are wholly unauthorized. No statement has been given to the press. The negotiations are being conducted in the strictest secrecy. The long reports in the Paris Temps and other newspapers purporting to give the basis of an agreement are pure inventions.
"The semi-official pourparlers have been proceeding quietly and uninterruptedly, and there has never been any deadlock, but the principal question, namely, Italy's sovereignty over the Tripolitan provinces, has not yet been settled. This once settled, peace is likely soon to be concluded, as the other questions are of quite secondary importance.
"Consequently, the negotiations might speedily be terminated or might continue indefinitely. As one of the Turkish delegates, Fakhreddin Bey, Turkish Minister at Cettinje, said: 'We are not pessimistic about the result.'
"I am asked to state that the Khedive's visit to the Beaurivage Hotel on Saturday and Sunday last was purely private and had no connection with the negotiations."
Europe Frightened By Balkan Menace.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
More Incidents Increase Gravity of Situation — Another Turkish-Bulgarian Fight.
WARLIKE MOVE BY TURKEY
50,000 Troops to Engage in Manoeuvres In Adrianople Vilayet — Porte May Desire War with Neighbor. LONDON, Thursday, Sept. 26.— The crisis in the Balkans is causing great disquietude among diplomats here.
Incidents such as the arrest yesterday of Austrian soldiers on the Servian frontier and the firing by Turks on a Greek steamer at Samoa are embittering the peoples of the States directly interested, and it will, it is thought, take all the ingenuity of the Foreign Offices and their representatives in Turkey to avert the Balkan outbreak so often predicted.
Turkey's decision to hold military manoeuvres in the Vilayet of Adrianople, which the Bulgarians are considered as likely to look upon as a threat, leads to the belief that Turkey is not averse to a diversion which would allow peace to be signed with Italy under cover of the necessity for the protection of the Turkish frontiers.
The danger of the situation places it in the forefront of the conversations at Balmoral between King George and Sergius Sazonoff, the Russian Foreign Minister. It is understood that Russia will propose the adoption of an Anglo-Russian scheme of reform for submission to the powers.
More Incidents Increase Gravity of Situation — Another Turkish-Bulgarian Fight.
WARLIKE MOVE BY TURKEY
50,000 Troops to Engage in Manoeuvres In Adrianople Vilayet — Porte May Desire War with Neighbor. LONDON, Thursday, Sept. 26.— The crisis in the Balkans is causing great disquietude among diplomats here.
Incidents such as the arrest yesterday of Austrian soldiers on the Servian frontier and the firing by Turks on a Greek steamer at Samoa are embittering the peoples of the States directly interested, and it will, it is thought, take all the ingenuity of the Foreign Offices and their representatives in Turkey to avert the Balkan outbreak so often predicted.
Turkey's decision to hold military manoeuvres in the Vilayet of Adrianople, which the Bulgarians are considered as likely to look upon as a threat, leads to the belief that Turkey is not averse to a diversion which would allow peace to be signed with Italy under cover of the necessity for the protection of the Turkish frontiers.
The danger of the situation places it in the forefront of the conversations at Balmoral between King George and Sergius Sazonoff, the Russian Foreign Minister. It is understood that Russia will propose the adoption of an Anglo-Russian scheme of reform for submission to the powers.
Troops At Wu-Chang Mutiny.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
China Needs Money to Pay Off Swarms of Menacing Soldiers.
PEKING, Sept. 25.— The troops encamped outside the gates of Wu-Chang, capital of the province of Hu-Pe, mutinied last night and attacked the city. The troops numbered several hundred and were composed for the most part of cavalry. A strong force of Gen. Li Yuen-Heng's regiment immediately engaged the rebels, and after several hours of fierce fighting dispersed them. The casualty list is not known, but two officers were executed for failing to divulge their knowledge of the movement.
The object of the $50,000,000 loan is ostensibly for the purpose of paying off and discharging this menacing army, which is very large, according to the lists submitted by the Generals. The National Assembly recently made an investigation and discovered that the Generals, like the soldiers, were not free from the methods prevalent under the Manchus, but the Government argues that it is cheaper to pay the military leaders' demands than to fight.
China Needs Money to Pay Off Swarms of Menacing Soldiers.
PEKING, Sept. 25.— The troops encamped outside the gates of Wu-Chang, capital of the province of Hu-Pe, mutinied last night and attacked the city. The troops numbered several hundred and were composed for the most part of cavalry. A strong force of Gen. Li Yuen-Heng's regiment immediately engaged the rebels, and after several hours of fierce fighting dispersed them. The casualty list is not known, but two officers were executed for failing to divulge their knowledge of the movement.
The object of the $50,000,000 loan is ostensibly for the purpose of paying off and discharging this menacing army, which is very large, according to the lists submitted by the Generals. The National Assembly recently made an investigation and discovered that the Generals, like the soldiers, were not free from the methods prevalent under the Manchus, but the Government argues that it is cheaper to pay the military leaders' demands than to fight.
Expects Russo-Chinese War.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
And Spiridovitch Says We Are Aiding China to Engage in It.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept. 25.— In an interview in the Patrie to-day on the general position of international politics, the Russian General, Spiridovitch, gave it as his opinion that one forthcoming development would be a declaration of war by China against Russia. In the course of his remarks the General gave the following curious reasons for this remarkable statement;
"China is obliged to follow the same method of expansion as Japan, which has been forced to pour her overflow population into Korea and Manchuria. China has now 500,000,000 inhabitants, and there are twenty million births yearly. Siberia is necessary to her.
"The United States knows this, and now that it has the Panama Canal with which to become master of the Pacific, its policy will consist in arming and organizing China in order to make that vast empire an importing country, to be assured of an exchange of trade, and to force China to drive back the Russians to the Urals.
"Russia, also is certain to enter into a conflict with the United States, whose imperialist policy is aggressive and egotistic. Already the relations between the two States are far from cordial, and the tension will become more and more acute.
"It is thus criminal to give China the $300,000,000 which the group of Anglo-American banks promised to her, and the coin of which France would be called on to furnish.
"It is the enemies of the Franco-Russian alliance who, to lessen Russia's power, are procuring for China the financial means to make war on Russia in the near future."
And Spiridovitch Says We Are Aiding China to Engage in It.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS, Sept. 25.— In an interview in the Patrie to-day on the general position of international politics, the Russian General, Spiridovitch, gave it as his opinion that one forthcoming development would be a declaration of war by China against Russia. In the course of his remarks the General gave the following curious reasons for this remarkable statement;
"China is obliged to follow the same method of expansion as Japan, which has been forced to pour her overflow population into Korea and Manchuria. China has now 500,000,000 inhabitants, and there are twenty million births yearly. Siberia is necessary to her.
"The United States knows this, and now that it has the Panama Canal with which to become master of the Pacific, its policy will consist in arming and organizing China in order to make that vast empire an importing country, to be assured of an exchange of trade, and to force China to drive back the Russians to the Urals.
"Russia, also is certain to enter into a conflict with the United States, whose imperialist policy is aggressive and egotistic. Already the relations between the two States are far from cordial, and the tension will become more and more acute.
"It is thus criminal to give China the $300,000,000 which the group of Anglo-American banks promised to her, and the coin of which France would be called on to furnish.
"It is the enemies of the Franco-Russian alliance who, to lessen Russia's power, are procuring for China the financial means to make war on Russia in the near future."
Powers Still Hope To Persuade China.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
Success of Independent Syndicate Has Not Stopped Efforts in Regard to a Large Loan.
REALLY FOR CHINA'S GOOD
Powers in Position of Philanthropists Trying to Save Empire from Peril of Intervention.
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.— The action of the New York banking houses interested in the Six-Power loan to China in withdrawing from the negotiations does not, in the view of the State department, affect in any degree the attitude of the various Governments or the prospects of the ultimate success of the nationals of those Governments. The withdrawal of banks that have been included in the efforts to arrange the loan is taken to mean that the conditions imposed have been such as would be prompted by ordinary financial caution and good judgment.
The bankers and the diplomats have not allowed themselves to be deceived by the situation in China, which is anomalous. The Peking Government, it is said here, is not a Government of China, but corresponds to the provisional Government of France following the Franco-Prussian War, when from Versailles a council of defense, under the lead of Gambetta, administered the Government until a republic was established. Naturally, the bankers have been desirous to safeguard their loans with conditions that would hold good in the future, whatever the outcome of the present trend toward a stable republican form of government may be. When the eighteen provinces of China have accepted the Constitution of the centralized Government and have yielded up the delegated powers upon which a strong and progressive authority may be established, less difficulty will be encountered, it is contended, in negotiating such a loan as has been under consideration.
More than has been apparent on the surface, the powers have been aiming to assist China to form a stable Government and to protect the empire from unwise and extravagant expenditure of the funds to be provided by the proposed loans. Proper audit and control of these expenditures are regarded as of the first importance as conditions to the arrangement.
The fact that the Wendell Jackson syndicate is willing to make a loan without the safeguards that have been agreed on as indispensable by the bankers of the six-power group is not taken by the State Department to be in the least degree conclusive as to the prospects of the final success of the proposed six-power loan. On the contrary, there is reason to expect a very different phase of the situation within a few days, which will show that only by a loan under the concert of the powers will the progress of the new Government of China be assured. It is known that none of the four powers originally assenting to the concert of action in regard to loans in China has in any manner changed its attitude toward the proposed loan. Even Great Britain, where the Jackson syndicate is operating, is unfriendly to the loan undertaken by that syndicate.
With this fact staring it in the face, France possessing the power to close its money markets to the bonds, and Germany likely to accomplish the same result in its own way, it is predicted that no loan of any proportions, certainly not one of $350,000,000, can be supplied by the independent syndicate. The Belgian loan, which was several times larger than the Jackson loan, failed for want of moral support among the powers, and it is hardly reasonable to expect, so officials here say, any better fate for this later attempt to evade the concert of the powers. In discussing the matter to-day Huntington Wilson, Acting Secretary of State, said:
"I see in the statement of the bankers nothing which could be interpreted as an abandonment of the work of the six-power group, which has already been a very valuable factor in the policy of concerted action that has from the beginning been of such immeasurable benefit in dealing with the Chinese situation. The broad principle of international co-operation and concerted action, applied in favor of international loans to China upon thoroughly sound and helpful bases as best alike for China and the powers, remains precisely as hitherto the policy of the Department of State, and is in complete harmony with that of the other Governments concerned.
"It is not reasonable expect that a plan which has been under consideration by the powers for the better part of a year, and which involves great international interests, will be given up in a day because of some sudden fortuitous occurrence not in line with the original movement."
It is said at the State Department that the six powers have really at heart the best interests of China, and that they are trying to keep her from falling to pieces. By insisting on safeguards in the use of the proceeds of the proposed large loan, these powers, it is explained, are not only acting in a manner dictated by caution as to the security of the loan, but in the line of international philanthropy.
The Chinese fear foreign domination and are averse to accepting some of the conditions. Yet the possibility of foreign domination after intervention in consequence of unwise use of the money loaned is just what is in the minds of those who are arranging the proposed loan. It is better for China, officials here say, to make a moderate loan and to use it carefully and well, and by this caution furnish no reason for foreign intervention, than it is to be borrowing right and left upon random and ill-considered terms.
One of the difficulties in the situation is the aversion in the provinces to the National loan. The feeling there is that the central Government is selling out to the powers, and that if the loan is made a republican form of government will be impossible.
At the same time, provincial pride more than anything else is believed to stand in the way of a constitutional form of government for all China. This makes it all the more necessary for the powers to insist on the conditions they have framed, and at the same time makes the irregular financing undertaken by the Jackson Syndicate really harmful to China. The long and short of the situation is that the United States Government, as a matter of policy, will stand by the Knox note concerning the concerted action of the six-power group. If some banks withdraw, others will in the course of time take their places, and eventually the loan, it is declared, will be consummated.
Success of Independent Syndicate Has Not Stopped Efforts in Regard to a Large Loan.
REALLY FOR CHINA'S GOOD
Powers in Position of Philanthropists Trying to Save Empire from Peril of Intervention.
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25.— The action of the New York banking houses interested in the Six-Power loan to China in withdrawing from the negotiations does not, in the view of the State department, affect in any degree the attitude of the various Governments or the prospects of the ultimate success of the nationals of those Governments. The withdrawal of banks that have been included in the efforts to arrange the loan is taken to mean that the conditions imposed have been such as would be prompted by ordinary financial caution and good judgment.
The bankers and the diplomats have not allowed themselves to be deceived by the situation in China, which is anomalous. The Peking Government, it is said here, is not a Government of China, but corresponds to the provisional Government of France following the Franco-Prussian War, when from Versailles a council of defense, under the lead of Gambetta, administered the Government until a republic was established. Naturally, the bankers have been desirous to safeguard their loans with conditions that would hold good in the future, whatever the outcome of the present trend toward a stable republican form of government may be. When the eighteen provinces of China have accepted the Constitution of the centralized Government and have yielded up the delegated powers upon which a strong and progressive authority may be established, less difficulty will be encountered, it is contended, in negotiating such a loan as has been under consideration.
More than has been apparent on the surface, the powers have been aiming to assist China to form a stable Government and to protect the empire from unwise and extravagant expenditure of the funds to be provided by the proposed loans. Proper audit and control of these expenditures are regarded as of the first importance as conditions to the arrangement.
The fact that the Wendell Jackson syndicate is willing to make a loan without the safeguards that have been agreed on as indispensable by the bankers of the six-power group is not taken by the State Department to be in the least degree conclusive as to the prospects of the final success of the proposed six-power loan. On the contrary, there is reason to expect a very different phase of the situation within a few days, which will show that only by a loan under the concert of the powers will the progress of the new Government of China be assured. It is known that none of the four powers originally assenting to the concert of action in regard to loans in China has in any manner changed its attitude toward the proposed loan. Even Great Britain, where the Jackson syndicate is operating, is unfriendly to the loan undertaken by that syndicate.
With this fact staring it in the face, France possessing the power to close its money markets to the bonds, and Germany likely to accomplish the same result in its own way, it is predicted that no loan of any proportions, certainly not one of $350,000,000, can be supplied by the independent syndicate. The Belgian loan, which was several times larger than the Jackson loan, failed for want of moral support among the powers, and it is hardly reasonable to expect, so officials here say, any better fate for this later attempt to evade the concert of the powers. In discussing the matter to-day Huntington Wilson, Acting Secretary of State, said:
"I see in the statement of the bankers nothing which could be interpreted as an abandonment of the work of the six-power group, which has already been a very valuable factor in the policy of concerted action that has from the beginning been of such immeasurable benefit in dealing with the Chinese situation. The broad principle of international co-operation and concerted action, applied in favor of international loans to China upon thoroughly sound and helpful bases as best alike for China and the powers, remains precisely as hitherto the policy of the Department of State, and is in complete harmony with that of the other Governments concerned.
"It is not reasonable expect that a plan which has been under consideration by the powers for the better part of a year, and which involves great international interests, will be given up in a day because of some sudden fortuitous occurrence not in line with the original movement."
It is said at the State Department that the six powers have really at heart the best interests of China, and that they are trying to keep her from falling to pieces. By insisting on safeguards in the use of the proceeds of the proposed large loan, these powers, it is explained, are not only acting in a manner dictated by caution as to the security of the loan, but in the line of international philanthropy.
The Chinese fear foreign domination and are averse to accepting some of the conditions. Yet the possibility of foreign domination after intervention in consequence of unwise use of the money loaned is just what is in the minds of those who are arranging the proposed loan. It is better for China, officials here say, to make a moderate loan and to use it carefully and well, and by this caution furnish no reason for foreign intervention, than it is to be borrowing right and left upon random and ill-considered terms.
One of the difficulties in the situation is the aversion in the provinces to the National loan. The feeling there is that the central Government is selling out to the powers, and that if the loan is made a republican form of government will be impossible.
At the same time, provincial pride more than anything else is believed to stand in the way of a constitutional form of government for all China. This makes it all the more necessary for the powers to insist on the conditions they have framed, and at the same time makes the irregular financing undertaken by the Jackson Syndicate really harmful to China. The long and short of the situation is that the United States Government, as a matter of policy, will stand by the Knox note concerning the concerted action of the six-power group. If some banks withdraw, others will in the course of time take their places, and eventually the loan, it is declared, will be consummated.
Shells Riddle Aeroplane.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 26, 1912:
New French Gun Tested at Toulon Proves a Success.
TOULON, Sept. 25.— A new seventy-five millimetre gun designed for the destruction of aeroplanes was tested to-day and proved most satisfactory.
An aeroplane, towed by a destroyer, was riddled with shells when at a height of more than 5,000 feet.
New French Gun Tested at Toulon Proves a Success.
TOULON, Sept. 25.— A new seventy-five millimetre gun designed for the destruction of aeroplanes was tested to-day and proved most satisfactory.
An aeroplane, towed by a destroyer, was riddled with shells when at a height of more than 5,000 feet.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Powers Combine For Balkan Peace.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
Co-operating to Prevent Threatened Conflagration, but Situation Is Very Grave.
REBELS MOVE ON SKUTARI
Wipe Out Turkish Escort of Ammunition Column — Servia Makes War Preparations.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Wednesday, Sept. 25.— The Daily Mail's Vienna correspondent says:
"The Emperor's speech from the Throne to-day (Tuesday) has made an unfavorable impression in political circles here on account of its great reserve and the omission of all references to European peace in the future.
"This impression was further increased by the speech of Count von Berchtold, as it is unusual for an Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister to express himself in such plain, unvarnished terms on the situation in the Balkans. A passage to the effect that Austria must be prepared for all eventualities on land and sea caused much comment.
"The Emperor, after his speech, was heard to say to members of the delegations: 'We are faced with a very serious situation.'
"These words, from a monarch who is accustomed to weigh every word with the greatest care, are accepted as confirmation of the gravity of the Balkan situation."
VIENNA, Sept 24.—The Balkan situation has aroused the deepest interest in Austria, Emperor Francis Joseph has suggested an exchange of views between the powers on the important questions now at issue with respect to these States, and Count Leopold von Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, in a statement to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Delegation today, made reference to the proposals he had submitted to the powers for an exchange of views. He said that the result was the unanimous co-operation of the powers and a pledge for the prevention of a violent solution of the Balkan crisis. The Minister added:
"It would, however, be a serious mistake if, because of this, we regarded the danger of the present situation as being averted."
Count von Berchtold declared that the unsatisfactory conditions in European Turkey had seriously affected the neighboring countries, imposing upon their statesmen a heavy task. He hoped that their sense of responsibility would restrain them from following the impulses of the irresponsible elements.
"But we also trust," he continued, "that Turkey will not fail to recognize the gravity of the situation and find a way to avoid complications. Our information justifies the assumption that the Turkish Government is diligently endeavoring to provide necessary guarantees for the reasonable requirements of the various nationalities. Our interests lie in the maintenance of the territorial integrity of Turkey and her internal consolidation. We regard it as the duty of Turkish statesmen to reconcile the legitimate claims of the different peoples of Macedonia with the exigencies of the Ottoman State. Honest endeavors to bring about the solution of this problem always will find our moral support."
The Foreign Minister concluded: "Diplomacy is keeping guard to prevent the threatened conflict and stifle a possible Balkan conflagration. Our geographical position places us near the area of disturbance, and the great interests of the monarchy are at stake. Only when we are armed by land and sea can we look to the future with easy minds."
Count von Berchtold also referred to the satisfactory progress of the Turkish-Italian peace negotiations as promising to facilitate the ending of Turkey's domestic crisis; to the community of interests of Austria and Germany in the Near East, and to Russia's sincere desire to preserve peace in the Balkans. He said that his visit to the King of Roumania had convinced him of Roumania's peaceful intentions.
Emperor Francis Joseph, in addressing the members of the Austrian and Hungarian delegations who called at the palace this morning, said:
"With sincere sympathy we are following the efforts of the Italian and Turkish statesmen, by means of a direct but non-committal exchange of views, to find a basis for peace which shall honorable to both."
Co-operating to Prevent Threatened Conflagration, but Situation Is Very Grave.
REBELS MOVE ON SKUTARI
Wipe Out Turkish Escort of Ammunition Column — Servia Makes War Preparations.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Wednesday, Sept. 25.— The Daily Mail's Vienna correspondent says:
"The Emperor's speech from the Throne to-day (Tuesday) has made an unfavorable impression in political circles here on account of its great reserve and the omission of all references to European peace in the future.
"This impression was further increased by the speech of Count von Berchtold, as it is unusual for an Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister to express himself in such plain, unvarnished terms on the situation in the Balkans. A passage to the effect that Austria must be prepared for all eventualities on land and sea caused much comment.
"The Emperor, after his speech, was heard to say to members of the delegations: 'We are faced with a very serious situation.'
"These words, from a monarch who is accustomed to weigh every word with the greatest care, are accepted as confirmation of the gravity of the Balkan situation."
VIENNA, Sept 24.—The Balkan situation has aroused the deepest interest in Austria, Emperor Francis Joseph has suggested an exchange of views between the powers on the important questions now at issue with respect to these States, and Count Leopold von Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, in a statement to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Hungarian Delegation today, made reference to the proposals he had submitted to the powers for an exchange of views. He said that the result was the unanimous co-operation of the powers and a pledge for the prevention of a violent solution of the Balkan crisis. The Minister added:
"It would, however, be a serious mistake if, because of this, we regarded the danger of the present situation as being averted."
Count von Berchtold declared that the unsatisfactory conditions in European Turkey had seriously affected the neighboring countries, imposing upon their statesmen a heavy task. He hoped that their sense of responsibility would restrain them from following the impulses of the irresponsible elements.
"But we also trust," he continued, "that Turkey will not fail to recognize the gravity of the situation and find a way to avoid complications. Our information justifies the assumption that the Turkish Government is diligently endeavoring to provide necessary guarantees for the reasonable requirements of the various nationalities. Our interests lie in the maintenance of the territorial integrity of Turkey and her internal consolidation. We regard it as the duty of Turkish statesmen to reconcile the legitimate claims of the different peoples of Macedonia with the exigencies of the Ottoman State. Honest endeavors to bring about the solution of this problem always will find our moral support."
The Foreign Minister concluded: "Diplomacy is keeping guard to prevent the threatened conflict and stifle a possible Balkan conflagration. Our geographical position places us near the area of disturbance, and the great interests of the monarchy are at stake. Only when we are armed by land and sea can we look to the future with easy minds."
Count von Berchtold also referred to the satisfactory progress of the Turkish-Italian peace negotiations as promising to facilitate the ending of Turkey's domestic crisis; to the community of interests of Austria and Germany in the Near East, and to Russia's sincere desire to preserve peace in the Balkans. He said that his visit to the King of Roumania had convinced him of Roumania's peaceful intentions.
Emperor Francis Joseph, in addressing the members of the Austrian and Hungarian delegations who called at the palace this morning, said:
"With sincere sympathy we are following the efforts of the Italian and Turkish statesmen, by means of a direct but non-committal exchange of views, to find a basis for peace which shall honorable to both."
Marines Are Sent To Curb Dominicans.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
Rebels Are Interfering with the Customs Collection and President Taft Takes Swift Action.
INQUIRY COMMISSION ALSO
Our Position as Arbiter of the Boundary Dispute Also a Good Reason for This Course, It Is Said.
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24.— President Taft has decided to take a hand in the situation in Santo Domingo, and to that end has directed that a special commission and a battalion of marines be sent to the Dominican-Haytian border where lawless conditions have interfered with the collection of customs under the direction of the American Government. The Commissioners, who are Brig. Gen. Frank McIntyre, Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Department, and William Tecumseh Sherman Doyle, Chief of Division of Latin-American Affairs in the State Department, will sail Friday from Philadelphia on the transport Prairie, together with the marines.
In taking this action, which follows fast on the warning given to Nicaragua, the President assumes sole authority from the fact that the United States Government is acting as mediator in a boundary dispute between Santo Domingo and Hayti. More direct authority is found in the treaty arrangement between the United States and Santo Domingo for the collection and disbursement of customs.
The President's decision to send a commission and marines to Santo Domingo was made while he was traveling through Pennsylvania, to-day. Under telegraphed orders from him Huntington Wilson, Acting Secretary of State, sent this dispatch to the Ministers at Port au Prince and Santo Domingo City:
In view of its treaty relations to the Dominican Republic and to the collection of customs on the Dominican frontier, and in view of its position as mediator between the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Hayti regarding their boundary dispute, the Government of the United States has determined to regard as the provisional de facto boundary line between the two republics, without prejudice to the rights or obligations of either country and until a final settlement of the boundary controversy may be concluded, the line shown on the "map of Hayti and Santo Domingo prepared by the second military information division, General Staff, Washington, 1907 and 1908, on Monte Christi, Sheet 6, and Barahona, Sheet 7."
In order that customs receipts may be properly safeguarded the War Department will issue instructions to the Receiver General of Dominican customs to re-establish and operate the border patrol, whose duty it shall be to see that the provisional line thus fixed is meantime respected.
The chief trouble is at the Custom Houses at Dajabon and Commendado, which are in the hands of the Dominican rebels. The Custom Houses at Bonica, Terra Nueva, and Pedra Nalles have been abandoned, owing to the threatening revolutionary movements.
During the two years, beginning April 1, 1905, that United States officials collected the customs, a boundary patrol was maintained with excellent results, but as this practice seemed to be a needless show of force, it was abandoned.
The commission will consult with Minister Russell and Receiver General, Mr. Pulliam, on reaching Santo Domingo, and decide whether to use the marines to regain possession of the Custom Houses and establish a patrol on the border.
The system of customs collection by the United States has worked excellently in Santo Domingo. Collections began two years before the Senate ratified the treaty. Up to July 31, 1912, there had been collected $19,984,559, most of which has gone to defray the running expenses of the Dominican Government, which has had a far larger revenue under the American administration of customs than it ever had before.
The leaders of the present attempt at a revolution are Horacio Vasquez and Gen. Arias, and their movement has been incubating in Porto Rico and St. Thomas for more than a year.
Rebels Are Interfering with the Customs Collection and President Taft Takes Swift Action.
INQUIRY COMMISSION ALSO
Our Position as Arbiter of the Boundary Dispute Also a Good Reason for This Course, It Is Said.
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 24.— President Taft has decided to take a hand in the situation in Santo Domingo, and to that end has directed that a special commission and a battalion of marines be sent to the Dominican-Haytian border where lawless conditions have interfered with the collection of customs under the direction of the American Government. The Commissioners, who are Brig. Gen. Frank McIntyre, Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs in the War Department, and William Tecumseh Sherman Doyle, Chief of Division of Latin-American Affairs in the State Department, will sail Friday from Philadelphia on the transport Prairie, together with the marines.
In taking this action, which follows fast on the warning given to Nicaragua, the President assumes sole authority from the fact that the United States Government is acting as mediator in a boundary dispute between Santo Domingo and Hayti. More direct authority is found in the treaty arrangement between the United States and Santo Domingo for the collection and disbursement of customs.
The President's decision to send a commission and marines to Santo Domingo was made while he was traveling through Pennsylvania, to-day. Under telegraphed orders from him Huntington Wilson, Acting Secretary of State, sent this dispatch to the Ministers at Port au Prince and Santo Domingo City:
In view of its treaty relations to the Dominican Republic and to the collection of customs on the Dominican frontier, and in view of its position as mediator between the Dominican Republic and the Republic of Hayti regarding their boundary dispute, the Government of the United States has determined to regard as the provisional de facto boundary line between the two republics, without prejudice to the rights or obligations of either country and until a final settlement of the boundary controversy may be concluded, the line shown on the "map of Hayti and Santo Domingo prepared by the second military information division, General Staff, Washington, 1907 and 1908, on Monte Christi, Sheet 6, and Barahona, Sheet 7."
In order that customs receipts may be properly safeguarded the War Department will issue instructions to the Receiver General of Dominican customs to re-establish and operate the border patrol, whose duty it shall be to see that the provisional line thus fixed is meantime respected.
The chief trouble is at the Custom Houses at Dajabon and Commendado, which are in the hands of the Dominican rebels. The Custom Houses at Bonica, Terra Nueva, and Pedra Nalles have been abandoned, owing to the threatening revolutionary movements.
During the two years, beginning April 1, 1905, that United States officials collected the customs, a boundary patrol was maintained with excellent results, but as this practice seemed to be a needless show of force, it was abandoned.
The commission will consult with Minister Russell and Receiver General, Mr. Pulliam, on reaching Santo Domingo, and decide whether to use the marines to regain possession of the Custom Houses and establish a patrol on the border.
The system of customs collection by the United States has worked excellently in Santo Domingo. Collections began two years before the Senate ratified the treaty. Up to July 31, 1912, there had been collected $19,984,559, most of which has gone to defray the running expenses of the Dominican Government, which has had a far larger revenue under the American administration of customs than it ever had before.
The leaders of the present attempt at a revolution are Horacio Vasquez and Gen. Arias, and their movement has been incubating in Porto Rico and St. Thomas for more than a year.
Think Orozco Plans Capture On Our Soil.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
Mexicans at El Paso Believe That He Has Made an Agreement with the Government.
AFRAID OF HIS FOLLOWERS
They Might Harm Him If He Surrendered — Campa Declared That the Rebels Were Corrupt.
Special to The New York Times.
EL PASO, Texas, Sept 24.— It is freely predicted here to-day that the end of the Orozco movement in Northern Mexico is in sight, and it would not surprise the members of the various "juntas," who have made this city their abiding place during the revolt, to hear shortly that Gen. Orozco had been "captured" on the American side of the international boundary, most likely in the vicinity of Eagle Pass.
The reason for this prediction is found partly in the interview credited to Emelio Campa, who is now under arrest in Tucson, Arizona, in which he declared that he "had abandoned the cause because it had become corrupt." The "capture" of Campa on the American side, without arms, and willing to be arrested, notwithstanding the chance that Mexico would demand his extradition on the charge of murder, is directly declared to have some connection with the arrest of Col. Orozco, uncle of the rebel leader, a few days ago, and also with the recent visit to Gen. Orozco himself a short time ago of Rafael Hernandez, one of President Madero's Cabinet Ministers.
At the time Hernandez came north it was admitted in Mexico City that he was possessed of power to negotiate terms of amnesty for the northern rebels, and it was thought that his errand would not be in vain. It therefore came as a surprise when it was officially announced that he had returned to Mexico City without having accomplished anything, and that no further negotiations would be entered into with the rebels in the north.
It is now declared here that the mission of Hernandez was not in vain, that he reached a definite understanding with Orozco, and that the retreat of Col. Orozco from Ojinaga and his flight to the United States and the subsequent similar performance on the part of Campa, another one of Orozco's trusted leaders, was part of the agreement.
An American lawyer who has appeared as defending attorney for various Mexicans, who have been arrested in Texas during the last three years for violation of the neutrality laws, says he is convinced of the correctness of this theory, and expects that Gen. Orozco will soon be picked up by American soldiers.
"There are several reasons," he said, "for accepting this report and none for doubting it. It has been admitted freely by even the warmest sympathizers with the Orozco movement that it has been doomed to failure for the last two months, and it has also been freely rumored that Orozco would be only too willing to accept amnesty from Madero if he could get terms that would assure him any measure of safety to himself. One of his main troubles has been that he was afraid of his own people in case he quit, just a little more than he was of the Government he had fought against this scheme of being chased across the border and being captured would save the indignity of surrender, and would be a measure of protection against those of his followers who will be left outlaws by the end of the revolt."
It is known here that there have been many differences lately between the leaders in the Orozco revolt, and it has been charged that the rank and file of the insurgent army have been uneasy for fear they were to be left in the lurch in any amnesty proceedings that might follow negotiations for peace.
José Cordova, a Colonel of the rebel army and chief adviser of Gen. Orozco, was arrested here last night, as he stepped from a train. He had been freed at Marfa, Texas, where he first was held on a neutrality violation charge after being captured with Col. Pascual Orozco. Sr., by United States troops. The local charges preferred by Mexican Consul Llorente, with intent to extradite, are murder and a statutory offense.
Mexicans at El Paso Believe That He Has Made an Agreement with the Government.
AFRAID OF HIS FOLLOWERS
They Might Harm Him If He Surrendered — Campa Declared That the Rebels Were Corrupt.
Special to The New York Times.
EL PASO, Texas, Sept 24.— It is freely predicted here to-day that the end of the Orozco movement in Northern Mexico is in sight, and it would not surprise the members of the various "juntas," who have made this city their abiding place during the revolt, to hear shortly that Gen. Orozco had been "captured" on the American side of the international boundary, most likely in the vicinity of Eagle Pass.
The reason for this prediction is found partly in the interview credited to Emelio Campa, who is now under arrest in Tucson, Arizona, in which he declared that he "had abandoned the cause because it had become corrupt." The "capture" of Campa on the American side, without arms, and willing to be arrested, notwithstanding the chance that Mexico would demand his extradition on the charge of murder, is directly declared to have some connection with the arrest of Col. Orozco, uncle of the rebel leader, a few days ago, and also with the recent visit to Gen. Orozco himself a short time ago of Rafael Hernandez, one of President Madero's Cabinet Ministers.
At the time Hernandez came north it was admitted in Mexico City that he was possessed of power to negotiate terms of amnesty for the northern rebels, and it was thought that his errand would not be in vain. It therefore came as a surprise when it was officially announced that he had returned to Mexico City without having accomplished anything, and that no further negotiations would be entered into with the rebels in the north.
It is now declared here that the mission of Hernandez was not in vain, that he reached a definite understanding with Orozco, and that the retreat of Col. Orozco from Ojinaga and his flight to the United States and the subsequent similar performance on the part of Campa, another one of Orozco's trusted leaders, was part of the agreement.
An American lawyer who has appeared as defending attorney for various Mexicans, who have been arrested in Texas during the last three years for violation of the neutrality laws, says he is convinced of the correctness of this theory, and expects that Gen. Orozco will soon be picked up by American soldiers.
"There are several reasons," he said, "for accepting this report and none for doubting it. It has been admitted freely by even the warmest sympathizers with the Orozco movement that it has been doomed to failure for the last two months, and it has also been freely rumored that Orozco would be only too willing to accept amnesty from Madero if he could get terms that would assure him any measure of safety to himself. One of his main troubles has been that he was afraid of his own people in case he quit, just a little more than he was of the Government he had fought against this scheme of being chased across the border and being captured would save the indignity of surrender, and would be a measure of protection against those of his followers who will be left outlaws by the end of the revolt."
It is known here that there have been many differences lately between the leaders in the Orozco revolt, and it has been charged that the rank and file of the insurgent army have been uneasy for fear they were to be left in the lurch in any amnesty proceedings that might follow negotiations for peace.
José Cordova, a Colonel of the rebel army and chief adviser of Gen. Orozco, was arrested here last night, as he stepped from a train. He had been freed at Marfa, Texas, where he first was held on a neutrality violation charge after being captured with Col. Pascual Orozco. Sr., by United States troops. The local charges preferred by Mexican Consul Llorente, with intent to extradite, are murder and a statutory offense.
Battles In The Air Within Five Years.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
Aerial Voyages to Europe, Too, Says Prof. Schuette, Who Builds Dirigibles.
HE'S GOING TO WASHINGTON
His Present Ship Has Rapid-Fire Guns and His New Ship Will Carry Aeroplane Destroyers.
Prof. Johann Schuette, inventor of the Schuette-Lanz airship, the latest type of dirigible to be turned out and successfully tried in Germany, thinks that in the present stage of aeronautics an attempt to make a voyage over the Atlantic would be foolhardy. In five years — perhaps in three — says the inventor, the airship will have developed to such an extent that such a voyage will be feasible. In the same time he believes that the military airship will have become so formidable an engine of war that battles will be fought in the air and the fate of a nation, perhaps, depend, not upon the strength of its army and navy, but upon its airmen.
Prof. Schuette, who is in charge of the department of naval construction in the Royal Technical High School of Dantzic, was a naval constructor in the service of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company for several years before going to Dantzic to teach, in 1904. The War Department at Washington has had details about his airship from Berlin, and Prof. Schuette has a letter from Capt. Schartle, the Military Attaché of the American Embassy over there, to Brig. Gen. Allen, Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army, which he will present in Washington.
"The latter part of the name of my airship is derived from the fact that we use a Lanz engine," said Prof. Schuette at the Waldorf yesterday. "One great difference between my airship and the Zeppelin type is that the latter has its cars suspended rigidly, and in mine they are hung by ropes. This has enabled me to save the ship three times in cases where a rigid lower framework might have been smashed. The cars in mine cannot be moved forward or backward or down, but if one hits the ground or an obstacle the whole ship does not necessarily received a shock. Then the framework of the gas bag is of pressed poplar wood — three thin strips fastened together, with the grain not running the same way. This gives strength and a certain amount of resiliency. A framework of this kind is stronger than aluminium or steel, for the reason that the wood will not easily snap.
A Real Air Fighter.
"I began working on the airship in 1909, and the works we have at Mannheim, the workshops, the garage, the machinery, and the cost of the airship, represent a total outlay of about 2,000,-000 marks, ($500,000.) The envelope of the gas bag is torpedo shaped, and it is divided into eleven compartments, with a total capacity of 600,000 cubic feet. Its length is about 400 feet, and the greatest diameter of the envelope is 55 feet. I was two years building the airship, and made my trial trip in October, 1911. The airship can lift about five tons, and its engines, two eight cylinders, have developed 540 effective horse power. I have attained a speed of seventy-two kilometers an hour, which works out to about forty-five miles. For greater strength, the framework of the envelope has not only circular girders, but rhomboidal ones. It is fitted with wireless telegraphy. There are two cars, and the crew required consists of two men in each car for the engines and three or four for steering.
"The steering apparatus is simple. For turning to the left or the right there is only one rudder, and one for elevating or depressing the ship. In line with the rudders are keel-like planes, which make it easier to handle the craft. The power is transmitted direct from the engine to the propeller shaft, and there is a reversing gear on the shaft.
"The longest voyage I have made was from Mannheim to Berlin, but in July and August the vessel traveled 3,500 miles. When she was stationed at Berlin we took up altogether about 500 persons. The number of persons that can be taken up at one time depends upon the quantity of benzine carried and the water ballast carried along. I have lately mounted two quick-firing guns on the ship, with which are carried 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
Intends to Build a Dreadnought.
"I am now building a much larger airship, which will be a real air warship, or war airship. I expect to finish her by next Summer. I believe that most people who have studied aeronautics from a military standpoint agree that big, rigid battle airships may prove of the highest service against the aeroplane. An objection has been that an aeroplane can get over an airship and drop explosives upon it, the airship being powerless to reach the lighter craft with its guns. For that reason, I shall mount guns on the top of my airship, as well as on the cars.
"This vessel is to have a capacity in its envelope of 1,000,000 cubic feet, and its engines of 1,000 horse power will give it an average speed of about fifty-two miles an hour. It will be able to lift fourteen tons. It will carry enough fuel to enable it to remain in the air forty hours at a time, working at full speed. There will be six rapid-fire guns and a searchlight, and two lifeboats will be carried and three tons of explosives. Four of the guns will be on the top of the airship, to protect the vessel from aeroplanes or other airships fighting from a higher altitude.
"We have gone ahead in the building of lighter-than-air machines in Germany because the whole nation is so keenly alive to their possibilities, I should say. In France the Government has done a great deal in this line, while in Germany much has had to be done by private initiative. For the year 1912 the French Government has given 32,000,000 francs for airship construction. In Germany, up to date, private individuals have put about 33,000,000 marks into the building of airships and for trials. I believe our Government will before long subsidize the manufacture of airships, for I think it will find itself compelled to do such a thing.
No Crossing Atlantic Yet.
"The airship is by no means perfect as yet. In this new vessel which I am building I hope to attain the real air battleship, and you can see that with an ability to remain in the air for fifty hours, going at a speed of eighty-five or ninety kilometers an hour, it will be able to cover a long distance. It might be even possible, by taking the fullest advantage of the trade winds from the Azores, to make a voyage to the South American Continent, and then to come north, but there is no airship to-day that can do this. No air craft to-day is capable of making such a journey, and you have recently had unfortunate reminders that it is foolhardy yet to make an attempt to cross the Atlantic by airship as airships are now constructed. We need from three to five years of experimental work. In five years — perhaps in three — we shall know a lot more about sailing in the air with safety than we do now. Then it will be time to cross the ocean in the air."
"What do you think the feeling is among other European nations over the increasing 'steaming radius' of German airships?" was asked. "Is there not uneasiness in—"
"Sh! Don't have me trying to cause a war scare," admonished Prof. Schuette. Then hi leaned back in his chair and smiled a very generous smile.
Aerial Voyages to Europe, Too, Says Prof. Schuette, Who Builds Dirigibles.
HE'S GOING TO WASHINGTON
His Present Ship Has Rapid-Fire Guns and His New Ship Will Carry Aeroplane Destroyers.
Prof. Johann Schuette, inventor of the Schuette-Lanz airship, the latest type of dirigible to be turned out and successfully tried in Germany, thinks that in the present stage of aeronautics an attempt to make a voyage over the Atlantic would be foolhardy. In five years — perhaps in three — says the inventor, the airship will have developed to such an extent that such a voyage will be feasible. In the same time he believes that the military airship will have become so formidable an engine of war that battles will be fought in the air and the fate of a nation, perhaps, depend, not upon the strength of its army and navy, but upon its airmen.
Prof. Schuette, who is in charge of the department of naval construction in the Royal Technical High School of Dantzic, was a naval constructor in the service of the North German Lloyd Steamship Company for several years before going to Dantzic to teach, in 1904. The War Department at Washington has had details about his airship from Berlin, and Prof. Schuette has a letter from Capt. Schartle, the Military Attaché of the American Embassy over there, to Brig. Gen. Allen, Chief Signal Officer of the United States Army, which he will present in Washington.
"The latter part of the name of my airship is derived from the fact that we use a Lanz engine," said Prof. Schuette at the Waldorf yesterday. "One great difference between my airship and the Zeppelin type is that the latter has its cars suspended rigidly, and in mine they are hung by ropes. This has enabled me to save the ship three times in cases where a rigid lower framework might have been smashed. The cars in mine cannot be moved forward or backward or down, but if one hits the ground or an obstacle the whole ship does not necessarily received a shock. Then the framework of the gas bag is of pressed poplar wood — three thin strips fastened together, with the grain not running the same way. This gives strength and a certain amount of resiliency. A framework of this kind is stronger than aluminium or steel, for the reason that the wood will not easily snap.
A Real Air Fighter.
"I began working on the airship in 1909, and the works we have at Mannheim, the workshops, the garage, the machinery, and the cost of the airship, represent a total outlay of about 2,000,-000 marks, ($500,000.) The envelope of the gas bag is torpedo shaped, and it is divided into eleven compartments, with a total capacity of 600,000 cubic feet. Its length is about 400 feet, and the greatest diameter of the envelope is 55 feet. I was two years building the airship, and made my trial trip in October, 1911. The airship can lift about five tons, and its engines, two eight cylinders, have developed 540 effective horse power. I have attained a speed of seventy-two kilometers an hour, which works out to about forty-five miles. For greater strength, the framework of the envelope has not only circular girders, but rhomboidal ones. It is fitted with wireless telegraphy. There are two cars, and the crew required consists of two men in each car for the engines and three or four for steering.
"The steering apparatus is simple. For turning to the left or the right there is only one rudder, and one for elevating or depressing the ship. In line with the rudders are keel-like planes, which make it easier to handle the craft. The power is transmitted direct from the engine to the propeller shaft, and there is a reversing gear on the shaft.
"The longest voyage I have made was from Mannheim to Berlin, but in July and August the vessel traveled 3,500 miles. When she was stationed at Berlin we took up altogether about 500 persons. The number of persons that can be taken up at one time depends upon the quantity of benzine carried and the water ballast carried along. I have lately mounted two quick-firing guns on the ship, with which are carried 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
Intends to Build a Dreadnought.
"I am now building a much larger airship, which will be a real air warship, or war airship. I expect to finish her by next Summer. I believe that most people who have studied aeronautics from a military standpoint agree that big, rigid battle airships may prove of the highest service against the aeroplane. An objection has been that an aeroplane can get over an airship and drop explosives upon it, the airship being powerless to reach the lighter craft with its guns. For that reason, I shall mount guns on the top of my airship, as well as on the cars.
"This vessel is to have a capacity in its envelope of 1,000,000 cubic feet, and its engines of 1,000 horse power will give it an average speed of about fifty-two miles an hour. It will be able to lift fourteen tons. It will carry enough fuel to enable it to remain in the air forty hours at a time, working at full speed. There will be six rapid-fire guns and a searchlight, and two lifeboats will be carried and three tons of explosives. Four of the guns will be on the top of the airship, to protect the vessel from aeroplanes or other airships fighting from a higher altitude.
"We have gone ahead in the building of lighter-than-air machines in Germany because the whole nation is so keenly alive to their possibilities, I should say. In France the Government has done a great deal in this line, while in Germany much has had to be done by private initiative. For the year 1912 the French Government has given 32,000,000 francs for airship construction. In Germany, up to date, private individuals have put about 33,000,000 marks into the building of airships and for trials. I believe our Government will before long subsidize the manufacture of airships, for I think it will find itself compelled to do such a thing.
No Crossing Atlantic Yet.
"The airship is by no means perfect as yet. In this new vessel which I am building I hope to attain the real air battleship, and you can see that with an ability to remain in the air for fifty hours, going at a speed of eighty-five or ninety kilometers an hour, it will be able to cover a long distance. It might be even possible, by taking the fullest advantage of the trade winds from the Azores, to make a voyage to the South American Continent, and then to come north, but there is no airship to-day that can do this. No air craft to-day is capable of making such a journey, and you have recently had unfortunate reminders that it is foolhardy yet to make an attempt to cross the Atlantic by airship as airships are now constructed. We need from three to five years of experimental work. In five years — perhaps in three — we shall know a lot more about sailing in the air with safety than we do now. Then it will be time to cross the ocean in the air."
"What do you think the feeling is among other European nations over the increasing 'steaming radius' of German airships?" was asked. "Is there not uneasiness in—"
"Sh! Don't have me trying to cause a war scare," admonished Prof. Schuette. Then hi leaned back in his chair and smiled a very generous smile.
Duke Franz Josef Dead.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
Young Bavarian Nobleman Scorned Formality on His Visit Here.
Duke Franz Josef of Bavaria, brother of the reigning Duke and son of the late Duke Karl Theodor, is dead in Munich from malignant inflammation of the throat at the age of 24 years.
The young Duke was a New York visitor only two years ago, and although every opportunity of lavish entertainment was given to him, this most-talked-about nobleman to visit America since the visit of Prince Henry, turned his head away from formality, left his suite of servants in the Hotel Plaza, and strolled around the city like any other sightseer. He attended boxing matches, took a look behind the scenes in the leading Broadway comic operas, and expressed himself as highly pleased with the American type of chorus girl. The press of the country hailed him as the most democratic nobleman that had ever landed in New York, and the gay young Duke appeared to be amused even by this, saying that he never regarded himself nor allowed himself to be regarded by others as anything but "a most democratic chap."
He remained in the United States forty days, visiting Newport as well as the principal cities from ocean to ocean and shooting some big game in the Rockies.
Although Duke Franz Josef was introduced to many of society's debutantes while in America, he left for Bavaria, as he said, without tales of romance with which to apprise his brother. He explained, however, that conditions necessarily would have to be so unless he chose to lose his standing in the ducal family at home.
Young Bavarian Nobleman Scorned Formality on His Visit Here.
Duke Franz Josef of Bavaria, brother of the reigning Duke and son of the late Duke Karl Theodor, is dead in Munich from malignant inflammation of the throat at the age of 24 years.
The young Duke was a New York visitor only two years ago, and although every opportunity of lavish entertainment was given to him, this most-talked-about nobleman to visit America since the visit of Prince Henry, turned his head away from formality, left his suite of servants in the Hotel Plaza, and strolled around the city like any other sightseer. He attended boxing matches, took a look behind the scenes in the leading Broadway comic operas, and expressed himself as highly pleased with the American type of chorus girl. The press of the country hailed him as the most democratic nobleman that had ever landed in New York, and the gay young Duke appeared to be amused even by this, saying that he never regarded himself nor allowed himself to be regarded by others as anything but "a most democratic chap."
He remained in the United States forty days, visiting Newport as well as the principal cities from ocean to ocean and shooting some big game in the Rockies.
Although Duke Franz Josef was introduced to many of society's debutantes while in America, he left for Bavaria, as he said, without tales of romance with which to apprise his brother. He explained, however, that conditions necessarily would have to be so unless he chose to lose his standing in the ducal family at home.
Ohio's Many Imbeciles.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 25, 1912:
State Institutions Crowded — Sterilization Is Urged.
Special to The New York Times.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept 24.— Alarmed by the increase in the number of imbeciles in Ohio, Allen W. Thurman, President of the State Board of Administration, declared to-day that if a law for sterilization was not passed the State would be bankrupt within ten years by the expense of caring for the weak-minded.
The danger of present marriage laws was brought forcibly to Mr. Thurman's attention when a family of six idiots, 7 to 16 years, was transferred to the State Institution from the Brown County Children's Home.
"We must start at once to keep down the propagation of the human race by imbeciles," he said. "The State's only institution for them is taxed to its capacity, and we have over one hundred now who should be cared for there. The imbecile institution is the beginning and the penitentiary the ending. We must curb the growth of imbeciles to stop the increase in the number of criminals, and the only way to do this is through a law for sterilization."
State Institutions Crowded — Sterilization Is Urged.
Special to The New York Times.
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept 24.— Alarmed by the increase in the number of imbeciles in Ohio, Allen W. Thurman, President of the State Board of Administration, declared to-day that if a law for sterilization was not passed the State would be bankrupt within ten years by the expense of caring for the weak-minded.
The danger of present marriage laws was brought forcibly to Mr. Thurman's attention when a family of six idiots, 7 to 16 years, was transferred to the State Institution from the Brown County Children's Home.
"We must start at once to keep down the propagation of the human race by imbeciles," he said. "The State's only institution for them is taxed to its capacity, and we have over one hundred now who should be cared for there. The imbecile institution is the beginning and the penitentiary the ending. We must curb the growth of imbeciles to stop the increase in the number of criminals, and the only way to do this is through a law for sterilization."
Monday, September 24, 2012
Peace Congress Opens.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 24, 1912:
Members Invited to Attend Congress of Parliaments Here.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
GENEVA, Sept 23.— The nineteenth International Peace Congress was opened to-day with the customary ringing of the little Liberty Bell.
It will be recalled that on the initiative of Dr. MacDowell of Newark, N.J., Vice President of the Universal Peace Union, different nations contributed small cannon swords, bayonets, and other war relics, which were melted and converted into a large bell of peace, as well as a small model of it. The latter was presented to the Peace Congress at Antwerp by an American woman, Miss Mary Frost Ornsby. Ever since the tinkling of this little bell has opened the peace congresses.
The American delegates, Mr. MacDowell, John Miller Horton, and Mrs. Elmer Black, extended an invitation to those at the Congress to attend the "Congresses of All the Parliaments of the World," to be held at New York in 1913 and San Francisco in 1915 in the interest of universal peace. The invitation bears the signatures of 302 members of the United States Congress, 404 United States executive authorities, and officials of universities, and patriotic, social, commercial, and other societies of America.
The invitation was warmly received by the congress.
Members Invited to Attend Congress of Parliaments Here.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
GENEVA, Sept 23.— The nineteenth International Peace Congress was opened to-day with the customary ringing of the little Liberty Bell.
It will be recalled that on the initiative of Dr. MacDowell of Newark, N.J., Vice President of the Universal Peace Union, different nations contributed small cannon swords, bayonets, and other war relics, which were melted and converted into a large bell of peace, as well as a small model of it. The latter was presented to the Peace Congress at Antwerp by an American woman, Miss Mary Frost Ornsby. Ever since the tinkling of this little bell has opened the peace congresses.
The American delegates, Mr. MacDowell, John Miller Horton, and Mrs. Elmer Black, extended an invitation to those at the Congress to attend the "Congresses of All the Parliaments of the World," to be held at New York in 1913 and San Francisco in 1915 in the interest of universal peace. The invitation bears the signatures of 302 members of the United States Congress, 404 United States executive authorities, and officials of universities, and patriotic, social, commercial, and other societies of America.
The invitation was warmly received by the congress.
Oil-Burning Battleship.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 24, 1912:
British Vessel Soon to be Begun — To Carry Supply of 2,700 Tons.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Sept. 23.— Immediately after the battleship Marlborough is launched at Devonport on Oct. 24 a sister ship will be laid down.
A distinctive feature of the second vessel will be the fact that she will burn oil, of which she will carry a supply of 2,700 tons.
British Vessel Soon to be Begun — To Carry Supply of 2,700 Tons.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Sept. 23.— Immediately after the battleship Marlborough is launched at Devonport on Oct. 24 a sister ship will be laid down.
A distinctive feature of the second vessel will be the fact that she will burn oil, of which she will carry a supply of 2,700 tons.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Great Britain And Persia.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 23, 1912:
Sir Edward Grey and the Government to which he belongs have certainly a thorny matter on their hands in Persia; but we hardly think the prick of the thorns will prove fatal if they be grasped with the prompt energy British diplomacy has often shown in such cases.
As the Liberal critics of the Liberal Foreign Secretary see it, he is committing Great Britain to a division of Persia with Russia. What he says he has done is simply to agree that Russia shall do her best to keep order in northern Persia, while Great Britain does the same in the south. In this process, on the one hand and the other, things will have to be done that could not be done in an independent, self-governing country. But Persia is not really independent, save nominally, and is neither self-governing nor capable of the self-government which maintains order and a decent degree of justice. That England wishes, in her part of the work, to respect the rights of the Persians, so far as possible, is not doubtful. That Russia has a like purpose is not likely. But what is England going to do about it?
It is all very well to say she should oppose the strong Russia in defense of the weak Persia, but a policy of unfriendly opposition to Russia at present would be disastrous to interests far greater than any involved in Persia. It would smash the Triple Entente, throw Russia on the side of Germany, practically isolate England, and leave the Persians more helpless than they are now. That would be a consummation not devoutly to be wished by the most ardent pro-Persian fanatic.
Sir Edward Grey and the Government to which he belongs have certainly a thorny matter on their hands in Persia; but we hardly think the prick of the thorns will prove fatal if they be grasped with the prompt energy British diplomacy has often shown in such cases.
As the Liberal critics of the Liberal Foreign Secretary see it, he is committing Great Britain to a division of Persia with Russia. What he says he has done is simply to agree that Russia shall do her best to keep order in northern Persia, while Great Britain does the same in the south. In this process, on the one hand and the other, things will have to be done that could not be done in an independent, self-governing country. But Persia is not really independent, save nominally, and is neither self-governing nor capable of the self-government which maintains order and a decent degree of justice. That England wishes, in her part of the work, to respect the rights of the Persians, so far as possible, is not doubtful. That Russia has a like purpose is not likely. But what is England going to do about it?
It is all very well to say she should oppose the strong Russia in defense of the weak Persia, but a policy of unfriendly opposition to Russia at present would be disastrous to interests far greater than any involved in Persia. It would smash the Triple Entente, throw Russia on the side of Germany, practically isolate England, and leave the Persians more helpless than they are now. That would be a consummation not devoutly to be wished by the most ardent pro-Persian fanatic.
Bulgaria Clamors For War On Turkey.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 23, 1912:
Army Is Taking Active Measures and Reserves Will Be Held for Emergency.
ORATORS ROUSE THE PEOPLE
Now is Bulgaria's Opportunity, They Say — Expect the Aid of Greece and Servia.
ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. 22.— An investigation of conditions in Bulgaria discloses a unanimity of sentiment that that country is on the eve of a long-cherished war against Turkey. Unless the conferences which M. Sazonoff, the Russian Foreign Minister, is having in London with British statesmen are fruitful for Macedonia the war party is likely to gain the upper hand.
The army is already taking active measures. The railroad tracks are guarded throughout their whole extent, detachments are stationed at the bridges, and requisition commissions are canvassing the frontier towns.
The bakers and flour dealers have been summoned before the authorities, the rice growers of Thrace have been ordered to use the utmost expedition in gathering their crops, and the export or cattle to Turkey has been stopped.
The manoeuvres at Shunila will be carried out by 60,000 troops, but it has been decided to dispatch no more troops to that district. It is doubtful if the reserves will be disbanded.
The serious situation is reflected in suspended credit.
The pacific policy of King Ferdinand is now challenged by a systematic campaign for war. The massacre of 152 Bulgarians by Turks in August at Kotschana stirred the nation deeply and meetings have been held in all parts of Bulgaria, at which Turkey has been fiercely denounced. Processions of mourning with flags draped in crepe, have been held in Sofia. Orators have appealed to the nation to force the Government to bare the sword for the sacred cause.
The insurrection of the Albanian tribes has opened the eyes of Greece and Servia, and for the first time Bulgaria faces the Turkish problem in accord with those two countries.
More important, there is an earnest conviction that the present international situation offers the Bulgarians the best chances of success. They missed an excellent chance during the counter revolution at Constantinople in 1909. But the present opportunity is regarded as better by the Bulgarían leaders, because it is thought that Austria will now decline to move, owing to the internal relations of the Triple Alliance.
Although Russia declares that she is not prepared for war. it is believed in the Balkan States that she, with Great Britain and France, is now in a position to defend the Balkan Slavs.
Failure of King Ferdinand and his Ministers to induce the powers to insist on the adoption of autonomy in Macedonia, or an appeal to arms, will probably result in terrorist excesses, as the Macedonian leaders declare that they are convinced that only desperate measures will prove effective.
Army Is Taking Active Measures and Reserves Will Be Held for Emergency.
ORATORS ROUSE THE PEOPLE
Now is Bulgaria's Opportunity, They Say — Expect the Aid of Greece and Servia.
ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. 22.— An investigation of conditions in Bulgaria discloses a unanimity of sentiment that that country is on the eve of a long-cherished war against Turkey. Unless the conferences which M. Sazonoff, the Russian Foreign Minister, is having in London with British statesmen are fruitful for Macedonia the war party is likely to gain the upper hand.
The army is already taking active measures. The railroad tracks are guarded throughout their whole extent, detachments are stationed at the bridges, and requisition commissions are canvassing the frontier towns.
The bakers and flour dealers have been summoned before the authorities, the rice growers of Thrace have been ordered to use the utmost expedition in gathering their crops, and the export or cattle to Turkey has been stopped.
The manoeuvres at Shunila will be carried out by 60,000 troops, but it has been decided to dispatch no more troops to that district. It is doubtful if the reserves will be disbanded.
The serious situation is reflected in suspended credit.
The pacific policy of King Ferdinand is now challenged by a systematic campaign for war. The massacre of 152 Bulgarians by Turks in August at Kotschana stirred the nation deeply and meetings have been held in all parts of Bulgaria, at which Turkey has been fiercely denounced. Processions of mourning with flags draped in crepe, have been held in Sofia. Orators have appealed to the nation to force the Government to bare the sword for the sacred cause.
The insurrection of the Albanian tribes has opened the eyes of Greece and Servia, and for the first time Bulgaria faces the Turkish problem in accord with those two countries.
More important, there is an earnest conviction that the present international situation offers the Bulgarians the best chances of success. They missed an excellent chance during the counter revolution at Constantinople in 1909. But the present opportunity is regarded as better by the Bulgarían leaders, because it is thought that Austria will now decline to move, owing to the internal relations of the Triple Alliance.
Although Russia declares that she is not prepared for war. it is believed in the Balkan States that she, with Great Britain and France, is now in a position to defend the Balkan Slavs.
Failure of King Ferdinand and his Ministers to induce the powers to insist on the adoption of autonomy in Macedonia, or an appeal to arms, will probably result in terrorist excesses, as the Macedonian leaders declare that they are convinced that only desperate measures will prove effective.
Chinese Troops Kill 1,000.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 23, 1912:
Family of Prince and Princess Un-Ai Are Among the Murdered.
ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. 22.— Atrocities, committed by Chinese expeditionary troops in Mongolia, are reported in Harbin dispatches. After plundering and burning several monasteries the troops massacred 1,000 Mongolians and mutilated the bodies of men and children.
Prince and Princess Un-Ai made their escape with great difficulty, but all the members of their family were murdered.
Family of Prince and Princess Un-Ai Are Among the Murdered.
ST. PETERSBURG, Sept. 22.— Atrocities, committed by Chinese expeditionary troops in Mongolia, are reported in Harbin dispatches. After plundering and burning several monasteries the troops massacred 1,000 Mongolians and mutilated the bodies of men and children.
Prince and Princess Un-Ai made their escape with great difficulty, but all the members of their family were murdered.
Italy's New Peace Terms.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 23, 1912:
Offers to Divide Administration of Tripoli with the Porte.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Sept 23.— The Constantinople correspondent of The London Times reports that he hears on good authority that the Porte's refusal to open official negotiations with Italy on a basis or pecuniary indemnity for the loss of sovereign rights over Tripoli and Cyraenaica has been followed by a fresh proposition from the Italian delegates, involving the maintenance of the sovereignty of the Sultan, who would be represented by a Turkish official, intrusted with the administration of the Moslem pious foundations and the Moslem religious courts, leaving the remainder of the administration in the hands of Italians or Arabs.
The Porte would at the same time confer the fullest possible measure of autonomy on Tripoli and Cyraenaica and withdraw his troops, leaving the field clear for the Italians and Arabs to continue fighting or compose their differences. The Porte is now discussing this proposal.
Offers to Divide Administration of Tripoli with the Porte.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Sept 23.— The Constantinople correspondent of The London Times reports that he hears on good authority that the Porte's refusal to open official negotiations with Italy on a basis or pecuniary indemnity for the loss of sovereign rights over Tripoli and Cyraenaica has been followed by a fresh proposition from the Italian delegates, involving the maintenance of the sovereignty of the Sultan, who would be represented by a Turkish official, intrusted with the administration of the Moslem pious foundations and the Moslem religious courts, leaving the remainder of the administration in the hands of Italians or Arabs.
The Porte would at the same time confer the fullest possible measure of autonomy on Tripoli and Cyraenaica and withdraw his troops, leaving the field clear for the Italians and Arabs to continue fighting or compose their differences. The Porte is now discussing this proposal.
Diamonds Found In Congo.
New York Times 100 years ago today, September 23, 1912:
Guggenheim and Ryan Part Owners of Company That Made Discoveries.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Sept. 23.— The Brussels correspondent of The Daily Mail telegraphs:
"The discovery of diamonds in the Belgian Congo has given rise to much discussion here. The following are the facts as based on most careful inquiries: The largest discoveries have taken place in the Kassai district, close to the Portuguese frontiers. Some 600 diamonds were discovered in tributaries of the Kassai River.
"The discoveries were made by the Forestière Minière Company, a Belgian-American concern, belonging to the Brussels Société Générale and Messrs. Guggenheim, Ryan, and others of New York.
"The diamonds discovered, if not as valuable as the Kimberley ones, are at least as valuable, if not more valuable, than the diamonds of German Southwest Africa.
"Other discoveries have been made by prospectors of the Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd., a British concern, in the Katanga district, near Northern Rhodesia. Some diamonds were also discovered in the Mutendele River, a tributary to the Congo River, but at present no attention is being paid to them."
Guggenheim and Ryan Part Owners of Company That Made Discoveries.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
LONDON, Monday, Sept. 23.— The Brussels correspondent of The Daily Mail telegraphs:
"The discovery of diamonds in the Belgian Congo has given rise to much discussion here. The following are the facts as based on most careful inquiries: The largest discoveries have taken place in the Kassai district, close to the Portuguese frontiers. Some 600 diamonds were discovered in tributaries of the Kassai River.
"The discoveries were made by the Forestière Minière Company, a Belgian-American concern, belonging to the Brussels Société Générale and Messrs. Guggenheim, Ryan, and others of New York.
"The diamonds discovered, if not as valuable as the Kimberley ones, are at least as valuable, if not more valuable, than the diamonds of German Southwest Africa.
"Other discoveries have been made by prospectors of the Tanganyika Concessions, Ltd., a British concern, in the Katanga district, near Northern Rhodesia. Some diamonds were also discovered in the Mutendele River, a tributary to the Congo River, but at present no attention is being paid to them."
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