One of the great 42-centimeter guns of the Germans is said to have used a charge of guncotton involving the use of a full bale of cotton to make the explosive—and a bale of cotton contains 500 pounds. The shrapnel of the heavy field artillery of the United States contains 717 balls or bullets about the size of a common marble, and the shell, so timed that it explodes just before it touches the ground, scatters the bullets or balls over an area estimated at one yard for every bullet, or more than 700 yards. With thousands of such shells being rained over the entrenchments is it any wonder that the list of wounded and killed was great?

Thousands were killed by poisoned gases, and where they were not killed a very large percentage of those affected suffered consequences which rendered them unfit for battle—turned them into invalids. The gas bombs produced hemorrhages of the lungs and bowels in thousands of cases and left those who inhaled the fumes in an anemic and permanently disabled condition. And what of the thousands who succumbed to fevers, and who because of the terrible shock became mental and physical wrecks and were made unfit for further duty on the actual firing lines?

A MATTER OF DOLLARS AND CENTS.

When it comes to the cost in dollars and cents it is possible to tell something of what they mean with reference to war construction and maintenance, although no one can estimate what it represents in destruction. No one has yet devised an accounting system to determine the percentage of "depreciation" through wear and tear on guns and devices that cost thousands of dollars each, but everybody knows that guns wear out and that some of the larger ones have a very decided limit on the number of times they can be fired without being rebored or rifled.

Railroads which have taken years to build and develop have been destroyed, telephone and telegraph lines put out of commission, great castles and temples razed, works of art burned, whole cities devastated, green fields turned into great craters torn up by bombs and shells, factories dismantled, herds of cattle fed into the maw of the armies, and the ruthless Germans even went so far as to wantonly cut down and destroy whole forests and magnificent shade trees which it took generations to grow.

How the indebtedness of the nations grew during the progress of the war is shown in the following statement issued by some of the financial institutions of the country in the Spring of 1917:

"Indebtedness of the seven principal nations engaged in the European war has crossed $75,000,000,000. In the middle of 1914 the indebtedness of these seven nations was $27,000,000,000."

Financing on an extensive scale followed this state of affairs. France issued a second formal war loan, Germany a fifth loan and Russia a sixth loan. Great Britain issued temporary securities in enormous sums.

The war cost $105,000,000 every twenty-four hours, according to the statistics, expenditures of the Entente Allies being fully double those of the Central Allies.

COMPARATIVE WAR EXPENSES.

Without for one moment taking into consideration the billions which were thrown into the war-pot by America the figures are staggering. An interesting comparison is found in the cost of the previous great world wars. The American Civil War, the greatest conflict in prior history cost $8,000,000,000, a sum equalled every three months in the conduct of the European war.

Approximate cost. Napoleonic Wars, 1793-1815 $6,250,000,000 American Civil War, 1861-1864 8,000,000,000 Franco-Prussian War, 1870-1871 3,000,000,000 South African War, 1900-1902 1,250,000,000 Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905 2,500,000,000 European War, 1914-1917 (3 years) 75,000,000,000

It was further estimated that after the year 1917, the payment of $3,800,000,000 a year would be required to pay the interest on the debt, and that the total Government expenditures in Europe for bond interest and support of the various branches of the Governments would require in the neighborhood of 20 per cent of the people's income.

POPULATION AND WEALTH OF COUNTRIES.

Another comparative table that is important to any one desiring to study the costs and their effects is that relating to population and wealth of the principal countries. The latest available figures are:

Population Wealth United States 101,577,000 $187,739,071,090 British Empire 394,930,000 130,000,000,000 Germany 67,810,000 80,000,000,000 France 39,700,000 50,000,000,000 Russia 187,379,000 40,000,000,000 Austria-Hungary 53,000,000 25,000,000,000 Spain 20,000,000 5,400,000,000 Belgium 7,500,000 9,000,000,000 Portugal 5,958,000 2,500,000,000 Italy 37,048,000 20,000,000,000

Taxes have been the main sources for raising money to carry on the war. In Germany taxes on all incomes from the Kaiser to the ordinary business man were kept at the highest rate, the Kaiser paying $500,000 on his fortune of $35,000,000 during the early part of the struggle. This was in addition to his income tax which amounted to $440,000, making a total annual tax of nearly $1,000,000. The Krupps are said to have been assessed at $3,000,000.

When the new military service laws were approved in Paris, which was about the middle of July, 1913, the French Cabinet was at its wit's end to provide the financial end of the tremendous military budget. Investment markets were sluggish, and there were thousands of notes whose values were rapidly depreciating. The French Government was unable to float a loan of $200,000,000 which was necessary for making preparations.

Then in her desperation Paris closed her doors to all foreign loans. The Viviani Ministry practically duplicated the plan of its predecessor in proposing an issue of $360,000,000 3-1/2 per cent bonds, which were redeemable in 25 years.

One year previously to this financial struggle the Belgian Government had started to raise $62,800,000 in order that the people of this country might prevent its being used as the battleground for the world war which they had seen away off in the future. This money was raised for the purpose of making Antwerp an impregnable fortress.

IMMENSE SUM FOR ARMY AND NAVY.

Russia had taken steps to raise $3,700,000,000 which the Russian Minister of Finance had informed the Budget Committee must be spent in the next five years on the army and navy. During the first year of the war there was $500,000,000 spent by this country in military and naval defence. This does not include the cost of those strategic railroads of which so many were constructed by the Russian Government, and which cost so many hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Previous to the time Great Britain declared war on Germany the House of Commons had voted $525,000,000 for Emergency purposes, and within a couple of days of this appropriation an additional $500,000,000 was granted by the British Parliament.

One of the things accomplished by war was to bring out the fact that the resources of individuals are far greater than is ordinarily suspected. In 1870 Bismarck imposed an indemnity of $1,000,000,000 on France, never believing that country could meet the great debt, but with the help of all the inhabitants the debt was lifted within a few months.

When countries are at war the cost of continuing fighting does not stop with those actually engaged. The trade of the world is affected, and this means loss in all quarters of the globe. Of the import trade of the United States more than $500,000,000 was directly with those nations engaged in the war at the opening of hostilities. This was out of a total of $1,850,000,000. A great part of this commerce is classed as among that which yields the greatest import tax, which means that internal taxes must be imposed on the people to make up for the money necessary to meet with the yearly loss occasioned during the continuance of the war.

ANNUAL NATIONAL INCOME.

In the United States there is an annual national income of $50,000,000,000, the total bank resources being $35,000,000,000, the individual deposits being $24,000,000,000, with cash held by the banks totaling $2,500,000,000, total gold stock in the country being $3,000,000,000, and available additional commercial credits on the basis of cash holdings totaling $6,000,000,000.

The borrowing power of the American Government does not total less than $40,000,000,000, from domestic sources, and this does not disturb the ordinary financial and economical affairs of the nation.

During the first five months in 1917 the Government of the United States reached a record for expenditures never before equalled in American history. The total amount expended was $1,600,000,000.

The chief item of the increase—$607,500,000—was the purchase of the obligations of foreign Governments in exchange for loans advanced to the Allies. The sum did not represent by approximately $140,000,000 the total amount authorized in loans. An increase of approximately $245,000,000 in the ordinary disbursements of the Government, chiefly due to military and naval needs, also was recorded and another item going to swell the grand total of expenditures was the payment of $25,000,000 for purchase of the Danish West Indies.

War loans of the six chief European belligerents, early in 1917, aggregated approximately $53,113,000,000.

Loans of the chief Entente nations, Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy, were placed at about $36,300,000,000; those of Germany and Austria-Hungary, not including the sixth German loan reported to have yielded about $3,000,000,000, at $18,800,000,000.

The amounts of the various loans were placed at:

Great Britain, to March 31, 1917, $18,805,000,000; France, to February 28, $10,500,000,000; Russia, to December 31, 1916, $7,896,000,000; Italy, to December 31, 1916, $2,520,000,000; Germany, to December 31, 1916, $11,226,000,000; Austria, to December 31, 1916, $5,880,000,000; Hungary, $1,730,000,000.

The total included the advances made by the United Kingdom and France to the smaller belligerent countries allied with them.

SOME IDEA OF NATIONAL FINANCING.

Some idea of what all this financing means to a country may be judged by the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who in October, 1916, replying to questions regarding the English loans in the House of Commons, declared that England was paying at that time about $10,000,000 a day in the United States, for every working day in the year.

When the English mission visited the United States in May, 1917, after the country had entered the war, there was handed to Arthur James Balfour, ex-Premier of England, a check for $200,000,000, said to have been one of the largest single checks ever paid in this country. It was a loan for war purposes. In the month of June it was stated that the total advance made to the Allies was $923,000,000, among the loans made then was one of $75,000,000 to Great Britain, and $3,000,000 to Servia. The Servian loan, the first made by the United States to that country, was mainly for the improvement of railway lines. A small portion was used for the relief of the distressed population, and Red Cross work.

It was stated that the allied countries would spend in America, in the neighborhood of $200,000,000 a month for the year; which brings attention to the resources which America turned in against Germany when she joined the allied forces. To meet the demands made upon it the Government borrowed at once $3,000,000,000 by popular subscription—a matter of history of which the nation is proud.

From its funds the country loaned Russia $100,000,000, which was the first loan made by the United States to that Government. A credit of $45,000,000 to Belgium was also established by the Secretary of the Treasury. This also was Belgium's first participation in the loan of the Allies.

COUNTRY'S NATURAL RESOURCES.

Aside from the financial resources of the United States, the country is undoubtedly the richest in agricultural, mineral and other natural resources. It annually produces more than 3,500,000,000 bushels of corn, wheat touching the high point of 1,500,000,000 bushels; 1,600,000,000 bushels of oats; 250,000,000 bushels of barley; 40,000,000 bushels of rye; 22,000,000 bushels of buckwheat; 425,000,000 bushels of potatoes; 77,000,000 tons of hay; 30,000,000 bushels of flaxseed; 7,000,000,000 pounds of cotton; more than 1,000,000,000 pounds of tobacco; 2,000,000 long tons of sugar and 275,000,000 pounds of wool.

There are nearly 70,000,000 swine, and as many cattle, more than 25,000,000 head of horses and mules, and 62,000,000 sheep. Coal is mined at the rate of more than 500,000,000 tons yearly, and the copper mines yield 1,250,000,000 pounds of metal. Petroleum wells yield 225,500,000 barrels yearly. There are 270,000 manufacturing plants with a yearly output of more than $25,000,000,000. The products of the farm total more than $11,000,000,000 annually.

As to Germany's position, economists all over the world have considered her position as not only lacking soundness, but as crazy—crazy in that no attention whatever has apparently been paid to what are recognized as firmly fixed economic laws. The world has been at a loss to understand Germany's attitude, and it can only be explained by assuming that Germany was perfectly well aware of the entire unsoundness of her commercial and financial position, and was willing, or, in fact, had to risk everything with the hope of acquiring sufficient indemnity, resulting from the war, to bring her financial affairs to a sound basis. Germany's entire structure from the close of the Franco-Prussian war evidently was built upon rotten foundations.



CHAPTER XVIII.

THE WORLD RULERS AT WAR.

WOODROW WILSON, THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY—THE EGOTISTICAL KAISER—THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCE—BRITAIN'S MONARCH—CONSTANTINE WHO QUIT RATHER THAN FIGHT GERMANY—PRESIDENT POINCAIRE—AND OTHER NATIONAL HEADS.

No matter what the human frailties may be there are always men who rise in the stress of circumstances to unexpected heights. They thrive upon difficulties and in the emergencies become protectors and saviors of men. In the world's greatest melting-pot—the burned and blood-stained battlefields of Europe—there were tried and tested millions of men of all nationalities and characteristics, and though the experience was one of bitterness, there was found in it the satisfaction that in their own way millions of men proved themselves great.

Out of the hordes that rode over mountains, sailed the seas or picked their way through trenches and across the scarred surface of the earth there looms the figures of some whose names will go down in history for all time. Their names will be written indelibly upon the pages of life and they will be known for ages after the evidences of the great strife have been obliterated and the peace for which the world struggled has been made a permanent thing.

Among those whose names will be forever linked with the terrible war as a leader of men—whose figure stands out against the mass of humanity—is Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America. Though he neither faced bullets nor tramped the historic byways of Europe in the terrible struggle, he was to all intents and purposes the commander-in-chief of all the world forces seeking to break the autocratic domination of the Hohenzollerns of Germany and give democracy its place among the nations of the world which its character justifies.

President Wilson, when he was elevated to the highest position in America which the Nation could bestow, was recognized as one of the greatest essayists and students of history, political economy, constitutional law and government in the country. And those who made light of his "book-learning" and referred to him as "the school-master president," came to know that his training and the very character of his life's work fitted him better than probably any other man in America to deal with the great national and international problems which confronted, which culminated with or grew out of America's entrance into the great war.

WILSON'S MANY HONORS.

He was born in Staunton, Va., in 1856, the son of Rev. Joseph Woodrow Wilson, and received his early education at Davidson College, N.C. Subsequently he received a degree at Princeton University and graduated in law at the University of Virginia, later practicing law at Atlanta. After this he received degrees at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard and Yale Colleges, and was professor of history and political economy, first at Bryn Mawr College and later at Wesleyan University, and finally professor of jurisprudence and political economy, then jurisprudence and politics and afterward president at Princeton University, from which post he was elected Governor of the State of New Jersey in 1913. He resigned from the Governorship and was elected President of the United States for a term beginning March, 1913, and was re-elected in November, 1916, for a second term beginning March, 1917, both times on the Democratic ticket.

As against the figure of President Wilson there stands that of the Emperor William of Germany, whose policies indirectly precipitated the war and impelled the alignment of nations to defend themselves against his autocratic domination. For years the head of the House of Hohenzollern, descendant of the ancient margraves of Germany who have battled with the old Romans, made it manifest in speech and by action that his ambition was to create a world empire.

GERMANY MUST BE RECKONED WITH.

Once at the launching of one of the great German warships he said: "The ocean teaches us that on its waves and on its most distant shores no great decision can any longer be taken without Germany and without the German Emperor. I do not think that it was in order to allow themselves to be excluded from big foreign affairs that, thirty years ago, our people, led by their princes, conquered and shed their blood. Were the German people to let themselves be treated thus, it would be, and forever, the end of their world-power; and I do not mean that that shall ever cease. To employ, in order to prevent it, the suitable means, if need be extreme means, is my duty and my highest privilege."

In a famous interview in the London "Daily Mail" in 1908, discussing the attitude of Germany toward England, the Kaiser was quoted as follows:

"You English," he said, "are mad, mad, mad as March hares. What has come over you that you are so completely given over to suspicions quite unworthy of a great nation? What more can I do than I have done? I declared with all the emphasis at my command, in my speech at Guildhall, that my heart is set upon peace, and that it is one of my dearest wishes to live on the best of terms with England. Have I ever been false to my word? Falsehood and prevarication are alien to my nature. My actions ought to speak for themselves, but you listen not to them but to those who misinterpret and distort them. That is a personal insult which I feel and resent. To be forever misjudged, to have my repeated offers of friendship weighed and scrutinized with jealous, mistrustful eyes, taxes my patience severely. I have said time after time that I am a friend of England, and your Press—or at least a considerable section of it—bids the people of England refuse my proffered hand, and insinuates that the other holds a dagger. How can I convince a nation against its will?"

And then as if to impress upon the world the belief that he was chosen of God, the Kaiser repeatedly gave voice to such bombastic utterances as when to his son in Brandenburg, he declared: "I look upon the people and nation handed on to me as a responsibility conferred upon me by God, and that it is, as is written in the Bible, my duty to increase this heritage, for which one day I shall be called upon to give an account; those who try to interfere with my task I shall crush."

THE "GOD-APPOINTED" HOHENZOLLERNS.

Again he expressed the same sentiment when he said: "It is a tradition of our House, that we, the Hohenzollerns, regard ourselves as appointed by God to govern and to lead the people, whom it is given us to rule, for their well-being and the advancement of their material and intellectual interests."

And finally in his address to the people in August, 1914, he said at the beginning of war: "A fateful hour has fallen for Germany. Envious peoples everywhere are compelling us to our just defence. The sword has been forced into our hands. I hope that if my efforts at the last hour do not succeed in bringing our opponents to see eye to eye with us and in maintaining the peace, we shall, with God's help, so wield the sword that we shall restore it to its sheath again with honor.

"War would demand of us an enormous sacrifice in property and life, but we should show our enemies what it means to provoke Germany. And now I commend you to God. Go to church and kneel before God, and pray for His help for our gallant army."

This is the picture of "Kaiser Bill" whose egotism gave expression to itself in 1910 when in a speech he said: "Considering myself as the instrument of the Lord, without heeding the views and opinions of the day, I go my way."

EMPEROR WILLIAM'S CHILDREN.

William II, Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, was born January 27, 1859, succeeding his father, Emperor Frederick the III, in June, 1888. He married the Princess Augusta Victoria, of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and had the following issue: Frederick William, Crown Prince, born May 6, 1882; William Eitel-Frederick, born 1883; Adalbert, born 1884; August, born 1887; Oscar, born 1888; Joachim, born 1890, and Victoria Louise, born 1892.

Crown Prince Frederick William is one of the remarkable figures of the war. A profound admirer of Napoleon he has always made a close study of that great French soldier, and has long been one of the leaders of the war-seeking element in Germany. The Crown Prince, who was born in 1882, is tall, slim and impulsive. The late Queen Victoria, his great grandmother, was his godmother.

After he had completed a military course he attended Bonn University, and on the completion of his college course he set out on extensive travels. After his return he was placed in the offices of the Potsdam provincial government so that he might study local administration. After completing this study he was given a course in the intricate routine through which two-thirds of the German people are governed, by being placed in the Prussian Ministry of the Interior. Naval administration has also been a part of the studies of the Crown Prince, in fact he was deeply engrossed in that study when the war was declared.

The Crown Prince married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1905.

King George V, of Great Britain, the only surviving son of the late King Edward, was born in 1865. He was the second son of the king, his brother Prince Albert, the heir to the throne, dying suddenly in 1892 and bringing the second son, who had been destined for the navy, into direct succession. In 1893 Princess Mary of Teck, who was to have married Prince Albert, was married to Prince George, and there is one daughter, Princess Mary, and five sons—Edward, Prince of Wales, and Princes Albert, Henry, George and John.

THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT.

Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, who is now Governor General of Canada, is an uncle of the King. He was married to Princess Louise-Margaret of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Frederick-Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie-Anne of Anhalt. He has three children; Margaret, the oldest, is the Crown Princess of Sweden; Prince Arthur is married to his cousin, Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, and Princess Victoria-Patricia, who is unmarried.

King Edward had three brothers and five sisters, two brothers falling heir in turn to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

King George V is uncle by blood to Olaf, Crown Prince of Norway, and by marriage with Queen Mary, to three Princes and three Princesses of Teck. He is brother-in-law to King Haakon VII of Norway and Prince of Denmark, Duke Adolph of Teck, and Prince Alexander of Teck. He is a first cousin on his father's side to Emperor William II of Germany, and his brothers and sisters, among whom, principally, is the Queen of Greece; to Ernst-Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, and his four sisters, one of whom is the wife of Prince Henry of Prussia, and another is Alice, former Czarina of Russia. The first and second cousins of the King run well up into the hundreds.

The Royal Family of Belgium was founded when, in 1831, the people elected King Leopold I to rule the destinies of that country. The king was married to Princess Louise of Orleans, after which practically all the marriages of the family were with the southern group of royal houses.

There were three children born to the couple, the oldest son succeeding to the throne as King Leopold II. The latter married Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria. One son, and three daughters were born, the son dying when he was 23 years old. The oldest of the daughters became the wife of Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the second wedding Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary, who died in youth, and the third becoming the wife of Prince Napoleon Bonaparte. The daughter of Leopold I is the widow of the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, who was executed there in 1867.

SECOND SON OF LEOPOLD I.

The second son of Leopold I was Philip, the Count of Flanders, who was married to Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, sister of the Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern and King Charles of Roumania. The son to this marriage is King Albert of Belgium, who succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, in 1909. The Queen of Belgium is Princess Elizabeth of the Ducal House of Bavaria. Through her King Albert is allied to the Crown Prince of Bavaria, the Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, the Duke of Parma, the late Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and the present heir-apparent, Archduke Charles Francis Joseph. The King and Queen have two sons, Leopold, born in 1902, and Charles Theodore, who is two years younger. There is also a daughter, the Princess Marie-Josephine, born in 1906.

King Nicholas I, ruler of the picturesque little country of Montenegro, which was the scene of much bitter fighting, was born October 7, 1841, and proclaimed Prince of Montenegro, as successor to his uncle Danilo I, in 1860. He became king in 1910. Nicholas I married Milena Petrovna Vucotic. The children are Princess Militza, who married the Russian Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievitch; Princess Stana, who married George, Duke of Leuchtenberg, but which marriage was dissolved, the Princess subsequently marrying the Russian Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievitch. The other children are Prince Danilo Alexander, heir-apparent; Princess Helena, who married Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy; Princess Anna, who married Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg; Prince Mirko, who married Natalie Constantinovitch; Princess Zenia, Princess Vera and finally Prince Peter, who was born in 1889.

KING OF SERVIA.

Peter I, King of Servia, one of the figures of the war, is the son of Alexander Kara-Georgevitch. He was born in Belgrade in 1844, and was proclaimed King after the murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga. He ascended the throne on June 2, 1903. He was married in 1883 to Princess Zorka, of Montenegro, who died in 1890. He has two sons and a daughter; George, who was born in 1887, and who renounced his right to the throne in 1909; Alexander, born in 1889, and Helen, who was born in 1884. Because of his ill health King Peter, for a long time, delegated authority to his son Alexander for the purpose of government.

Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia, who abdicated in June, 1917, was born May 18, 1868, and succeeded his father, Emperor Alexander III, on November 1, 1894. He married Princess Alexandra Alice, daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, and has four daughters and one son: Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexis.

The family is descended in the female line from Michael Romanof, first elected Czar in 1613, and, in the male line, from Duke Karl Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. As the result of intermarriages and connections with the royal houses of Germany, they are practically Germans by blood.

It was in fact the German influence, which is said to have been the immediate cause of the revolt in the great country.

The revolution may be said to have had its inception when a small group of men opposed to the German influence at court assassinated the monk Gregory Rasputin, who had a great influence over the Czar.

A REACTIONARY CABINET INSTALLED.

Czar Nicholas in anger dismissed Premier Trepoff and installed a thoroughly reactionary Cabinet. Trepoff had been in office only a short time, having followed M. Sturmer, who had bitterly fought the Duma. It had been commonly reported that the real power in the Russian Government after Sturmer went out was in the hands of the Minister of the Interior, M. Protopopoff. Sturmer had been called to the premiership to succeed M. Goremykin, who was in office when the war began.

The fact that Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma and one of the leading advocates of liberalization of the Government, was named as the chief figure in the provisional government, showed that the movement is in the hands of the same forces which had demanded the overthrow of the bureaucracy and a more energetic prosecution of the war.

There were many changes in the Russian Government during the war, although the censorship was enforced so rigidly that the significance of the rapid shifts was apparent. Vague reports reached the outside world of high councilors of State who were obstructing instead of assisting the work of carrying on the war, and the strength of German influence at Petrograd. The most conspicuous case of this sort was that of General Soukhomlinoff, former Minister of War, who was dismissed from office and imprisoned as a result of charges of criminal negligence and high treason.

M. Sazonoff, Russia's Foreign Minister at the beginning of the war and an ardent believer in the prosecution of the war, was deposed early in the reactionary regime and sent as envoy to London. It was suggested that the motive for this was not to honor an anti-German, but to get him out of Russia.

MEMBERS OF THE RUSSIAN CABINET.

The members of the Russian Cabinet, as announced for the Provisional Government, were:

Prince Georges E. Lvov, well known as president of the Zemstvos' Union, Prime Minister.

Alexander J. Guchkoff, Minister of the Interior.

Paul Milukoff, well known as a Constitutional Democrat leader, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

M. Pokrovski, Minister of Finance.

General Manikovski, chief of the Artillery Department, War Minister.

M. Savitch, Minister of Marine.

M. Maklakoff, Minister of Justice.

M. Kovalevski, Minister of Education.

M. Nekrasoff, Minister of Railways.

M. Konovaloff, Moscow merchant, Minister of Commerce and Industry.

M. Rodischneff, Secretary for Finland.

M. Kerenski, Minister without portfolio.

The executive committee of the Imperial Duma, as the provisional Government styles itself, is composed of twelve members, under M. Rodzianko, including two Socialists, two Conservatives, three Moderates, five Constitutional Democrats and Progressives.

Constantine I, King of Greece, who abdicated in favor of his son, Prince Alexander, on June 11, 1917, under pressure from the Allied countries, was born in 1868. His father, King George, was assassinated at Salonica on March 18, 1913. The abdication of King Constantine in June, 1917, was due to his opposition to the forces in the government which desired to join the Allies in the war against Germany. The influence in favor of the Germans in the royal family of Greece was Queen Sophia, a sister of the Kaiser.

For a time Constantine was a veritable idol in Greece. In 1896 when his country was drifting into war with Turkey, he sounded a warning that the Greek army was unprepared for a campaign. The infantry was armed with condemned French rifles; the cartridges were 15 years old; there was no cavalry; the artillery was obsolete, and the officers few. When the country went to war despite his warning, the result was a disastrous defeat. A similar situation developed when King George tried to oppose the popular clamor for the annexation of Crete. The King knew that Turkey was waiting for another opportunity to crush Greece, and there was a second uprising.

CONSTANTINE BECOMES AN IDOL.

Constantine had been in command of the military forces, and King George was obliged to dismiss him as Generalissimo. In the Balkan war of 1912, however, when he led an army of 10,000 Greeks to the capture of Salonica, causing 30,000 Turks to lay down arms, he became an idol. On ascending the throne, it was said that he aimed to restore the grandeur of the ancient Hellenic Empire, and that he was a firm believer in the old national prophecy that, under the reign of a "Constantine and a Sophia," the Eastern Empire would be rejuvenated and the cross restored on Saint Sophia in Constantinople, supplanting the Crescent of the Turk. In fact, after the Balkan war, when Greece added a section of Turkish territory to her domain, and the islands of Crete were annexed, King Constantine hoisted the ancient Hellenic flag over the fort.

The climax in Grecian affairs was precipitated when Turkey entered the great World War on the side of Germany. The question of intervention on the part of Greece arose, and King Constantine insisted on strict neutrality being observed. The cabinet, headed by Premier Venizelos, which was for war on the side of the Allies, tendered its resignation. When the operations began against the Dardanelles the Government believed that the time had come for Greece to enter the war. The King refused to countenance the plan, arguing that the sending of forces to the Dardanelles would dangerously weaken the Greek defences on the Bulgarian frontier. Queen Sophia was regarded as bitterly opposed to the country joining the Allies, and was reported to have threatened several times to leave the country.

The criticism directed against Constantine was severe because, under the terms of the treaty made in the Balkan war, Greece was committed to ally herself with Servia if that country were attacked by another power. Austria did invade Servia, but Constantine asserted that the treaty applied only to an attack by another Balkan nation.

ACCUSED OF EVASION.

The occupation by troops of the Entente Powers of a part of Macedonia, and the seizure of Salonica as their base, involved the King of Greece in a long series of clashes with the Entente commanders, and he was accused of evasion and attempting to gain time in the interests of Germany. A temporary understanding was obtained, but meantime the provisional government, headed by Venizelos, had been growing in strength, and obtained the recognition of the Entente Powers.

The Allies laid an embargo on the supplies of Greece, and Constantine was denounced by the people of Crete and other territory, who demanded his dethronement. This was the situation, in a general way, which led to his abdication and his retirement to Berlin, with the Queen, in the summer of 1917.

Alexander, who succeeded his father, was a second son, born August 1, 1893. He was a captain in the First Regiment, artillery, in the Greek army.

Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, who threw the weight of his country with the Allies, repudiating the treaty with Germany and Austria-Hungary which established what was known as the Triple Entente, was born in 1869, the only son of King Humbert, second King of United Italy, who was murdered at Monza, in July, 1900. Victor Emmanuel married Princess Elena, daughter of Nicholas, King of Montenegro, and has four children: Princess Yolanda, Princess Mafalda; Prince Humbert, heir-apparent, and Princess Giovanna. The mother of King Emmanuel—Dowager Queen Margherita—is a daughter of the later Prince Ferdinand of Savoy.

TRAGEDY THE PATHWAY TO THRONE.

Charles I, the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, was born in 1887 and succeeded his grand uncle, Francis Joseph I, in November, 1916. His way to the throne lay through tragedy, for he came into the crown immediately through the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir-apparent, and his morganatic wife Countess Sophie Chotek, in Bosnia, and which crime was the signal for the war. Nor would Charles have been entitled to succeed to the throne but for the fact that the Archduke Rudolf, heir-apparent to the throne, committed suicide in 1889.

The right of succession went with his death to the second brother of the then Emperor Francis Joseph, or Archduke Charles Louis, father of the assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand. It passed then after the tragedies to Archduke Otto, brother of Francis Ferdinand, Charles I being the son of the Archduke Otto. The young Emperor married Princess Zita of Bourbon Parma in 1911. She is the daughter of Duke Robert of Parma, and sister of the first wife of Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria. The Emperor has four children: Francis Joseph Otto, Adelaide Marie, Robert Charles Ludwig and Felix Frederic August.

Ferdinand of Bulgaria, Czar, is son of the late Prince Augustus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and late Princess Clementine of Bourbon-Orleans, daughter of King Louis Philippe. He was born in 1861 and succeeded Prince Alexander, who abdicated. He married Marie Louise, daughter of Robert of Parma, and after her death married Princess Eleanore of Reuss-Kostritz. There are four children by the first marriage: Prince Boris, heir-apparent; Prince Cyril, Princess Eudoxia, Princess Nadejda.

Alfonso XIII, King of Spain, was born May 17, 1886, his father, King Alfonso XII, having died nearly six months previous to his birth. Maria Christina, mother of the heir to the Spanish throne, was an Austrian princess. In 1906 King Alfonso XIII married the English Princess Victoria Eugenie, daughter of the late Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice, a daughter of the late Queen Victoria.

KING ALFONSO'S SONS.

King Alfonso XIII has four sons: Alfonso, Prince of the Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne; Prince Jaime, who is deaf and dumb; Prince Juan, and Prince Gonzalo. There are two daughters, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Maria Christina.

The King's sisters were Maria de las Mercedes, who married Prince Carlos of Bourbon, in February, 1901, and died in 1904, and Infanta Maria Teresa, who died suddenly from the effects of childbirth. She was the wife of Prince Ferdinand, who afterward remarried Dona Maria Luisa Pie de Concha, who was created Duchess of Talavera de la Reina, and given the courtesy title of Highness by Alfonso. Don Carlos, who was born in 1848, and was the pretender to the Spanish throne, was a second cousin to the King. He died in 1909, leaving a son, Prince Jamie, born in 1870, and who is the present pretender, and four daughters.

The Spanish reigning family are the Bourbons, descendants of King Louis XIV of France.

Ferdinand, King of Roumania, was born in 1865, and is a nephew of the late King Carol, who died in 1914. In 1893 he married Princess Marie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and two sons and four daughters were born to the royal couple as follows: Charles, who was born in 1893, and who is heir-apparent; Nicholas, Elizabeth, Marie, Ileana and Mircia, the latter dying when four years old.

POINCAIRE'S VERSATILITY.

President Poincaire, of France, is a bearded, pale-faced, short, and rather stout man, who leaves upon those who come in contact with him, an impression of his mental ability. He was born in 1860, and is regarded as one of the few strong characters who have held the office of President since the war which brought about the third Republic. He is an author of widely read books, and has won a place in the French Academy. As a lawyer he was a leader at the bar, and before being chosen President, in 1913, he served as Minister of Finance, and as Minister of Public Instruction. While serving as Minister of Finance he is credited with having put on the statutes admirable laws regulating and equalizing the taxations of millions. President Poincaire is a patron of art, and has been counsel of the Beaux Art, of the National Museum and President of the Society of Friends of the University of Paris.

The Sultan of Turkey, the outstanding nation in the conflict, not Christian, was chosen ruler and took the Osman sword on May 10, 1909, and was designated Mohammed V. His name is Mohammed Reshad Effendi, and he succeeded Abd-ul-Hamid, who was deposed. The latter became Sultan in 1876, succeeding Abd-ul-Aziz, who was preceded by Abd-ul-Mejid.

The history of the Ottoman Empire is filled with mystery, romance and stories of intrigue, cruelty and barbarities, involving internal wars, uprisings, almost continuous struggles with practically all of the European countries and massacres that aroused the whole world. Legend assigns Oghuz, son of Kara Khan, father of the Ottoman Turks, whose first appearance in history dates back to 1227 A.D.

The reign of Abd-ul-Aziz in the latter part of the last century was marked by many massacres and the extravagant conduct of affairs by the Sultan, who visited England in 1876 and was honored by Queen Victoria, who bestowed upon him the Order of the Garter. He was deposed and Abd-ul-Hamid succeeded. He made feeble attempts to reorganize the Government, but his efforts were fruitless and following wars and uprisings and further internal troubles and the loss of territory he was deposed and the present Sultan was chosen.



CHAPTER XIX.

THE WAR'S WHO'S WHO.

STRIKING FIGURES IN THE CONFLICT—JOFFRE, THE HERO OF MARNE—NIVELLE, THE FRENCH COMMANDER—SIR DOUGLAS HAIG—THE KAISER'S CHANCELLOR—VENIZELOS—"BLACK JACK" PERSHING.

One of the most striking figures among those whose names are irrevocably linked with the history of the world fight for democracy, is that of Joseph Joffre, Marshal of France, former Commander of the French forces and victor of the famous battle of the Marne, who led the French Mission to the United States, after America entered the war.

The Commander-in-Chief of all the French armies, a man of humble birth, saw the light of day at Perpignan, near the Pyrenees, in 1852.

The future General early showed a deep interest in mathematics and obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science at the College of Perpignan at the early age of 16. He was a student at the Polytechnic Institute when the Franco-German War of 1870 broke out. Joffre was placed in charge of a large part of the defense of Paris and drew the plans of the fortifications in the direction of Enghein. At the age of 19 he was promoted to Captaincy in the presence of Marshal MacMahon and his whole staff.

Marshal Joffre traveled much and spent a great many years fighting France's colonial wars. He served in the Formosa campaign of 1885; constructed a chain of forts at Tonkin, Cochin-China; was decorated for distinguished bravery in leading his troops in action there in the eighties; was Chief Engineer of the Engineering Corps at Hanoi, and undertook the building of a railroad from Senegal to the Niger River in 1892.

Joffre fought through the Dahomey Campaign in 1893; saved the day for the French in a brilliant rear-guard action and entered Timbuctoo as a conqueror. Later he proceeded to Madagascar, where he constructed fortifications and organized a naval station.

Recalled to France, General Joffre became a Professor in the War College and obtained his stars in 1901. He later entered the Engineering Department of the War Ministry; then became Military Governor of Lille. Later he was promoted to be a Division Commander in Paris and then commander of the Second Army Corps at Amiens. He gained the honor in 1911 of a unanimous vote of the Superior Council of War making him Commander of all the military forces of France.

A FAMOUS WAR RECORD.

His record in the World War is well known. Every one has read of his masterly conduct of the retreat from the Belgian border; of his work in regrouping the shattered and retiring French forces; of his ringing appeal to the men to strike back at the moment he had determined upon. At the Marne he saved France and perhaps the world.

Joffre is unsympathetic and grim when at work. He has no patience for anything but the highest efficiency. At a single stroke he cashiered a score of Generals who did not measure up to his standards. He is a master builder, organizer and strategist. Though rather taciturn he is loved both by the officers and poilus. Among the latter he became known as "Papa" Joffre.

He showed by his appointments and acts that a new inspiration—an inspiration of patriotism—controlled the Republic. Joffre's accession to supreme command symbolized that France had experienced a new birth, that the army was well organized and that the man who for three years had been silently performing the regeneration of the land forces had rightly been placed over the forces he had reformed.

Almost unknown to the masses, Joffre was placed at the head of the French troops in the summer of 1914. Among his associates he was known as an authority on aeroplanes, automobiles, telegraphs and the other details of modern warfare. Above everything else he stood for efficiency and preparedness, and lacked the qualities of the French soldier of literature. To be prepared for instant war had been his effort for three years, and when that time came France found herself nearly as well prepared for the conflict as was Germany, which had prepared for twenty-five years.

ADJURATION TO SCHOOL CHUMS.

One of his few published speeches, made to his old school chums, is on this theme. "To be prepared in our days," he said, "has a meaning which those who prepared for and fought the wars of other days would have great difficulty in understanding. It would be a sad mistake to depend upon a sudden burst of popular enthusiasm, even though it should surpass in intensity that of the volunteers of the Revolution, if we do not fortify it by complete preparation.

"To be prepared we must assemble all the resources of the country, all the intelligence of her children, all their moral energy and direct them toward a single aim—victory. We must have organized everything, foreseen everything. Once hostilities have begun no improvisation will be worth while. Whatever lacks then will be lacking for good and all. And the slightest lack of preparation will spell disaster."

What Joffre said to his chums he had done for the French army, and President Poincare, after the Battle of the Marne, summed up his qualities which made it a French victory in this message to Joffre: "In the conduct of our armies you have shown a spirit of organization, order and of method whose beneficent effects have influenced every phase, from strategy to tactics; a wisdom cold and cautious, which has always prepared for the unexpected, a powerful soul which nothing has shaken, a serenity whose salutary example has everywhere inspired confidence and hope."

These words of the President of the French Republic are an epitome of the character and the military record of Joffre. He is representative of the real France, not the France of Paris and scandals. He is of the peasantry, and he and his kind, men of character, brought about the glorious France of the war.

Among those who accompanied Joffre on his visit to the United States was Rene Viviani, ex-Premier of France and Minister of Justice. He was born in Algeria in 1862, his family being Corsican, and originally of Italian blood.

VIVIANI A SOCIALIST LEADER.

M. Viviani became a lawyer in Paris and built up a large practice. In 1893 he entered the Chamber of Deputies as a Socialist. Together with Briand, Jaures and Millerand he was long a leader of the parliamentary delegation of Socialists. On June 1, 1914, one month before the outbreak of the war, M. Viviani became Prime Minister. He showed himself a brilliant leader and tireless worker. His speeches embodying the spirit of fighting France were read and admired the world over. Many persons consider Rene Viviani France's greatest orator. Volumes of his speeches have had a wide sale.

M. Viviani was succeeded in the Premiership by M. Briand, and recently he became Minister of Justice in the Ribot Cabinet. He is a man of great culture. Though an excellent Latin and Greek scholar, he speaks no English. Rene Viviani has had some experience as a newspaper man, as a special writer and as managing editor of the Petite Republique. His younger son, aged 22, was killed in the war. His older son has been wounded but is back at the front.

Another member of the French mission was M. de Hovelacque, the French Inspector General of Public Instruction. He is well known in the United States because of his marriage to Miss Josephine Higgins, of New York State.

The Right Honorable Arthur Balfour, ex-Premier of England, who came to America to join in the conferences at which the policies for carrying the war were outlined after America became an Ally, is described as one of the most intellectual statesmen in England, and one who, although he won all the honors his country could give him, never realized his own possibilities. At sixty-nine, at the height of his mental development, he occupies a place in the English cabinet, a place which was given him because of his great hold upon the autocracy of England.

BALFOUR'S INTELLECTUAL ABILITY.

As the Premier of England, as Secretary of Ireland and as the leader of the House of Commons Mr. Balfour displayed great intellectual agility, but at no time was credited with having displayed the industry which spurred on such men as Lloyd George to success. He is of the aristocracy and his position in English politics came to him as the nephew of Lord Salisbury.

He was born in 1848 and educated at Eton and Cambridge and entered the House of Commons at the age of 26. Mr. Balfour was known in his early years as a philosophically and religiously inclined young man, and it occasioned some surprise when he followed the traditions of his family by entering politics.

Some years after taking his seat he joined what was known as the Fourth Party, a conservative rebel faction, consisting of three members, Lord Randolph Churchill, Sir Henry Drummond Wolff and Sir John Gorst. This group constituted a sort of mugwump element that voted independently on every party question and that tried to rouse the Conservatives from their party prejudices and narrow leanings.

To Mr. Balfour belonged the distinguished honor of attending the Berlin Conference of 1878 as private secretary to Lord Salisbury. In 1885 he became President of the Local Government Board. The Conservatives were thrown out of power for a short time at this juncture, but when they were restored in 1886 Balfour became Secretary for Scotland. Shortly after he was promoted to be Chief Secretary for Ireland.

Despite his gentle manners and quiet ways, the new Chief Secretary ruled the then disturbed Ireland with an iron hand. He was known as "Bloody Balfour" by the Irish agitators until he began to show his milder ways upon the restoration of peace. He remained in Ireland until 1891. He had endured abuse and faced threats and had come away triumphant. From Ireland Mr. Balfour went to England as First Lord of the Treasury.

Arthur James Balfour showed his friendship for the United States when, in 1897, as Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he refused to give England's consent to a continental proposal that Spain be permitted to govern Cuba as she chose.

LIBERALS COME INTO POWER.

When Lord Salisbury died in 1902 Mr. Balfour succeeded him as Prime Minister. He remained in that office until 1905, when the Liberals came into power. In the coalition Ministry formed since the outbreak of the European War, he was nominated First Lord of the Admiralty. He showed remarkable ability in this office. Upon the resignation of Mr. Asquith's Cabinet, Mr. Balfour became Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is an enthusiastic sportsman and has written a book on golf.

The other English envoys who accompanied Mr. Balfour to Washington were Rear Admiral Sir Dudley Rawson Stratford de Chair, and Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England.

Rear Admiral de Chair was born August 30, 1864. He entered the Royal Navy at the age of 14, and received his early training aboard His Majesty's Ship Britannia. He served in the Egyptian war and was naval attache at Washington in 1902.

Admiral de Chair commanded the Bacchante, Cochrane and Colossus successively in the years between 1905 and 1912. From 1912 to 1914 he acted as Assistant Controller of the Navy and subsequently he was the Naval Secretary to the First Lord of the Admiralty. At the outbreak of the war he became Admiral of the training services and of the Tenth Cruiser Squadron. Admiral de Chair is a member of the Royal Victorian Order and a Companion of the Bath.

LORD WALTER CUNLIFFE.

Lord Walter Cunliffe, Governor of the Bank of England, is 52 years old. He received his education at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge, from which he graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. He is a Lieutenant of the City of London.

Lord Cunliffe has been active in the banking field for many years and is a member of the firm of Cunliffe Brothers. He is a Director of the North Eastern Railway Company and has been a Director of the Bank of England since 1895. He became Deputy Governor of the bank in 1911 and has been Governor since 1913. Lord Cunliffe is the first Governor of the Bank of England to receive the honor of re-election after serving his term of two years. In 1914 he was created the First Baron of Headley.

Among the dominating characters of the war and upon whose judgment and ability the destinies of France and the Allies depended for a long period is General Robert Nivelle, Commander of the French armies, and who succeeded General Joffre. General Nivelle is a man of silence; he speaks little. General Nivelle is four years younger than Joffre.

As a boy of fourteen he could not take part as did Joffre and Gallieni and Pau and Kitchener also, in the tragical war of 1870. Joffre studied at the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris; Gallieni, at Saint Cyr, without the walls; Nivelle studied at both; he may claim to belong to all arms, artillery, infantry—even cavalry. And, in his youth, he was not only a magnificent all-round athlete, as indeed he still is, but also a headlong rider of steeplechases, in which, had he been fated to break his neck, his neck would infallibly have been broken. This is a trait he shares with General Brussiloff, and, like the great Russian General, he was famous for the skill with which he tamed and trained cavalry mounts.

SERVES AS JUNIOR OFFICER.

As a junior officer Nivelle saw service in the French General Staff; his part in the expedition to China we have recorded; he also served in Northern Africa. So that, like Joffre, Gallieni, Lyantey, Roques and so many leaders of French armies, Nivelle gained an invaluable element of his training in the out-of-the-way corners of France's vast colonial empire, which has outposts in every continent and measures nearly five million square miles.

At the outbreak of the World War Nivelle, with the rank of Colonel, commanded the Fifth Regiment of Artillery, which is the artillery element of the Seventh Army Corps, the corps of Besancon and the old Franche-Comte, under the Jura Mountains, at the corner of Switzerland and Alsace.

It was, in fact, in the section of Alsace invaded and retaken by the French army of General Pau—who lost an arm in Alsace in the war of 1870—that Nivelle struck the first of many hard blows which made him Field Commander of the splendid army of France. He directed the guns of his Fifth Regiment with such deadly accuracy against a group of German guns that he first scattered their gunners in flight and put them out of action, and then led them off in triumph, twenty-four guns in all, the first great trophy won by the arms of France.

In the battle of the Ourcq, fought with superb tenacity and dash by Manoury and his men, the first decisive blow of the great battle, the first definite victory, was gained; General von Kluck's right wing was smashed in and out-flanked, with the result that the whole German line was dislocated and sent hurtling backward.

In that battle and victory Colonel Nivelle, as he then was, had his part; but it was on the Aisne, a few days later, that a strikingly brilliant act brought him into especial prominence. The Seventh Corps was attacked by exceedingly strong enemy forces and forced backward over the Aisne. Colonel Nivelle, commanding its artillery, saw his opportunity, and, himself leading on horseback, brought his batteries out into the open, right between the retreating Seventh Corps and the strong German forces that were pursuing them, already sure of victory.

VICTORY TURNED TO SLAUGHTER.

With that calm serenity which is his dominant characteristic in action, he let the Germans come close up to his guns in serried masses. Then he opened fire, at short range, with deadly precision, so that the expected victory was turned into a slaughter. The broken German regiments, fleeing to the woods beside the Aisne for safety, ran upon the bayonets of the rallied Seventh Corps, inspired to splendid valor by the magnificent action of their artillery. Of 6000 Germans who made that charge few indeed returned to their trenches.

This was on September 16, 1914. Before the New Year the Artillery Colonel had been made a General of Brigade, and in January, 1915, the new General distinguished himself by stopping the tremendous and unforeseen German drive against Soissons. He was forthwith recommended for further promotion, and on February 18 was gazetted General of Division. Shortly after this be gained new laurels by capturing from the Germans the Quenevieres salient.

This great commander was the son of Colonel Nivelle—and an English mother, a former Miss Sparrow, whose family lived at Deal, on the English Channel. In his married life General Nivelle has been exceedingly happy.

The dominating figure in the English army when America entered the fray was Sir Douglas Haig. He succeeded Sir John French.

Sir Douglas Haig was born under so favorable a star that he has long been known as "Lucky" Haig. Not that he has depended upon his luck to push him ahead in the army, for his record as a student and a worker wholly disproves this. But nevertheless fortune has showered many favors upon him. Among these favors the first and by no means the least is his very aristocratic lineage and the consequent high standing he has had in royal and influential circles.

HAIG'S FAMILY TREE.

Haig's family tree dates back at least six centuries and he comes of the very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde" were extolled by the poets of the thirteenth century. And to discuss this feature of his career without giving due credit to the position and influence of his wife would be ungallant as well as unfair. She was the Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, and maid-of-honor to Queen Alexandra, and the pair were married in Buckingham Palace.

He did not enter the army until after his graduation from Oxford and then he took service in the cavalry, the usual choice of the English "gentleman." When twenty-four years old, he received his commission as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars, one of the ultra-fashionable regiments. Six years later he was made a Captain and then decided to take a regular military course at the Staff College.

In 1898 he took part in Kitchener's campaign up the Nile and in the Soudan as a cavalry officer. He was then thirty-seven years old. He distinguished himself in several engagements, was "mentioned in the dispatches," was awarded the British medal and the Khedive's medal and was promoted to Major.

His career in the Boer war, which followed that in Egypt, was characterized by distinguished services and numerous rapid promotions. It was during this latter war that Haig became attached to the staff of Sir John French, whom he succeeded in France and Flanders. He came out of the war in South Africa a full-fledged Colonel, and with a fresh supply of medals and "mentions." Then he was sent to India as Inspector General of Cavalry.

DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING.

He remained in the Indian service three years, and then was given a post at the war office in London, with the title of "Director of Military Training." He remained in London three years, when he was sent to India as Chief of the Staff of the Indian Army. Three years later he returned to England and was given what was known as the "Aldershot Command," which, in fact, was the command of the real active British army. He had this post when the war broke. His assignment as Commander of the First Army Corps under Sir John French soon followed.

The man, who next to the Kaiser had more to do with Germany's plans for world domination, is Dr. Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial Chancellor of Germany.

The elevation of Hollweg to the Chancellorship came when Prince Bulow stood in the way of complete domination of Germany's policies by the militarists, headed by the Kaiser. Prince Bulow was dismissed and Bethmann-Hollweg became Chancellor in 1909. From that time on he dedicated his life to the achievement of a single aim—the completion of Germany's plans of aggression.

Bethmann-Hollweg comes from an old Prussian family ennobled in 1840. He was born about 1855 and was a student with the Kaiser at the University of Bonn. He studied law at Gottingen, Strassburg and Berlin, and for several years followed the law and was appointed a judge at Potsdam.

APPOINTED PRUSSIAN HOME SECRETARY.

In 1905 he was appointed Prussian Home Secretary, and it was then that his name first became familiar to the man in the street in Berlin. Shortly afterward he was appointed Assistant Chancellor of Prince Bulow, who was then Chancellor.

It was during his service as Home Secretary that Bethmann-Hollweg became largely converted to all that the most advanced Prussian militarism stood for. Ultimately he became a far more ardent Pan-German even than Prince Bulow. In a speech at Munich in 1908 he declared that though Germany was then happily free of all immediate anxiety so far as her foreign relations were concerned, her present and future position as a great Power must ultimately rest on her strong arm and though the strength of her arm was greater than it ever had been it must grow yet stronger.

It was a speech after the Kaiser's own heart—provocative and boasting to a degree. It had, as a matter of fact, it is said, been prepared by the Emperor, and was delivered by the Kaiser's order for the special benefit of Prince Bulow, who had at that time fallen out of favor with the Emperor.

Grand Admiral Von Tirpitz is said to be the man who made the German navy. Having won the recognition of the Kaiser in 1894 he was promoted to Chief of Staff in the German navy, and was placed in command of Kiel. He was made Secretary of State in 1898 and immediately began the building up of the navy. New and modern methods of engineering were developed and finally he made such an impression with the Kaiser that he was ennobled. Von Tirpitz was the principal advocate of Germany's plans during a decade for having the navy powerful enough to equal the combined powers of any three great naval powers.

Sir John Jellicoe, Vice Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the British Naval Home Fleet had served more than forty years in the navy when the war broke out. He was a Lieutenant at the bombardment of Alexandria and was a member of the Naval Brigade which participated in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, for activity in which he was presented with the Khedive's Bronze Star for gallant service. He was in command of the naval brigade which went to China in 1898 to help subdue the Boxers and was shot at Teitsang, where he was decorated by the German Emperor, who conferred upon him the Order of the Red Eagle. He was Rear-Admiral of the Atlantic Fleet in 1907-08, and Commander of the Second Home Squadron in 1911-12. To Admiral Jellicoe is given credit for having developed a high degree of efficiency among the gunners in the English navy.

ADMIRAL HUGO POHL.

Admiral Hugo Pohl, of the German navy, was born at Breslau in 1855. He became a Lieutenant in the Imperial German navy when but 21 years of age. He gained rapid promotion, and within a few years was Commodore in charge of the scouting ships. He had charge of setting up the now famous German naval stations from Kiel to Sonderberg in Schleswig in 1908 and was afterwards made Vice Admiral. He wears the medal of the Order of the Crown, bestowed upon him by the Kaiser for admirable service.

One of the men whose names will be forever linked with the war, particularly with relation to the adoption of new methods of warfare, is that of Count Zeppelin, who died on March 8, 1917, and who was the father of the Zeppelin or dirigible balloon. The idea for the big airship did not originate with Count Zeppelin, but with David Schwartz, a young Austrian, who built his first dirigible in 1893. He tried to arouse interest in his aircraft in Russia, but failed and finally went to Berlin, where he interested the then Baron Zeppelin. A balloon was made, but Schwartz fell ill and died. Zeppelin was later accused of attempting to steal the young Austrian's patents, and the courts made an award to Schwartz's widow of $18,000.

Count Zeppelin's first airship came out about 1898. It was 300 feet long and had an aluminum frame. Short cruises were made in 1899 and 1900, and the craft maintained a speed of about sixteen miles an hour. A second airship was completed in 1905, and later a third aircraft was finished. This dirigible made a cruise of 200 miles at an average speed of twenty miles. The success led Count Zeppelin to make his most ambitious attempt and he tried to cross the Alps carrying sixteen passengers.

IN THE AIR THIRTY-SEVEN HOURS.

He succeeded and passing through hailstorms, crossing eddies and encountering cross-currents he traveled 270 miles at an average speed of twenty-two miles an hour. Subsequently he made a flight to England, remaining in the air thirty-seven hours. Fate played him false, however, in many of his ventures and he returned home after making remarkable voyages, only to have his craft destroyed at its very landing place.

The German Government and the Kaiser joined in giving him a grant of money to carry on his work, and a plant was built at Frederichshafen. But while Count Zeppelin's name will be forever identified with aeronautics the successes which he attained were not enduring, for the Zeppelins proved not entirely satisfactory in military warfare in competition with the aeroplane.

In the counsels of Greece the outstanding figure from the beginning of the war was Eleutherois Venizelos. He is credited with being responsible for the national revival in Greece when the country seemed doomed after the Turkish war of 1897. He was the leader of the country in the movement to join the Allies in the fight against German domination and he swayed the nation and held them as few men have. He was born in the Island of Crete in 1864, and according to tradition, his family descended from the medieval Dukes of Athens. He was educated in Greece and Switzerland and became active in Cretan politics, and won recognition as the strong man of the "Great Greek Island."

TRANSFORMS A NATION.

In less than three years after the distress in which the country found itself in 1909 he transformed the nation into one of solidarity. There had been meaningless squabbles of corrupt politicians and a sordid struggle for preferment. The army was degenerating and the popular fury became so great that there was an uprising of the army, which under the title of the "Military League," ousted the Government and took control of the country. The heads of the League brought forward Venizelos. The League dissolved and reforms were instituted which started the country on a new path, and when the Balkan war broke in 1912 Greece made a record and emerged in many respects the leader of the Balkan states.

Sir John French is one of the English commanders who have rendered yeoman service in the war. He is one of the most striking military figures in England. He has seen service in India, Africa and Canada, and was one of the uniformly successful commanders in the Boer war. At the Siege of Kimberly he was shut up in Ladysmith with the Boer lines drawing closer. He managed to secrete himself under the seat of a train on which women were being carried to safety. Outside the lines he made his way to the Cape, where he was put in charge of cavalry and in a terrific drive he swept through the Free State and reached Ladysmith in time to save the day.

He originally entered the navy, but remained for a short time. He commanded the 19th Hussars from 1889 to 1903 and then rose steadily in rank until he was made General Inspector of the Forces and finally Field Marshal in 1903.

There should be no discrimination in naming those who have represented America in the country's activities at war, but because they came into the world's line of vision by being sent abroad for service there are some American commanders whose names will ever be remembered.

Vice-Admiral William S. Sims is one of these. He is a Pennsylvanian who was born in Canada. His father was A.W. Sims, of Philadelphia, who married a Canadian and lived at Port Hope, where Admiral Sims first saw the light of day. He went to Annapolis when he was 17 years of age and was graduated in 1880. After this he secured a year's leave of absence and went to France, where he studied French. Subsequently he was assigned to the Tennessee, the flagship of the North Atlantic Squadron and passed through all grades of ships. He received promotion to a Lieutenancy when he was about 30 years of age. For a time he was in charge of the Schoolship Saratoga, and later was located at Charleston Navy Yard, and also with the receiving ship at the League Island Navy Yard, Philadelphia. After this he went to Paris as Naval Attache at the American Embassy. He was similarly Attache at the American Embassy at St. Petersburg.

Admiral Sims was relieved of his European assignment in 1900 and joined the Asiatic fleet, and while abroad studied the methods of British gunnery. When he returned to America later he inaugurated reforms which increased the efficiency of the gunnery in the service 100 per cent. His successful efforts led to his appointment as Naval Aide to President Roosevelt. He made a report on the engagement between the British and German naval fleets at Jutland which was startling, and declared that the British battle cruisers had protected Great Britain from the invasion of the enemy.

When he reached the European waters in command of the United States naval forces, with a destroyer flotilla, and the British officers who greeted him asked when the flotilla would be ready to assist in chasing the submarine and protecting shipping, Admiral Sims created a surprise by tersely replying: "We can start at once." And he did. Admiral Sims married Miss Anne Hitchcock, daughter of Former Secretary of the Interior. The couple have five children.

Major General John J. Pershing, of the United States Army, Commander of the forces in France and Belgium, is one of the most picturesque figures in American military circles. "Black Jack" Pershing is what the officers call him, because he was for a long time commander of the famous Tenth Cavalry of Negroes, which he whipped into shape as Drillmaster, and which saved the Rough Riders from a great deal of difficulty at San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. He was also at the battle of El Caney where he was given credit for being one of the most composed men in action that ever graced a battlefield. He served with signal results in the campaign against the little "brown" men in the Philippines; was in charge of the expedition which chased Villa into Mexico.

General Pershing was born in 1864 in Laclede, Missouri, and is tall, wiry and strong. Every inch of his six feet is of fighting material. He is a man of action and has a penchant for utilizing the services of young men rather than staid old officers of experience. Pershing is a real military man, and has been notably absent from such things as banquets and other functions where by talking he might get into the lime light. It is true that he was jumped over the heads of a number of officers by President Roosevelt, but he has carved his way by his own efforts, and no man could have more fittingly been sent to take charge of the American forces abroad than "Jack" Pershing.



CHAPTER XX.

CHEMISTRY IN THE WAR.

SUBSTITUTES FOR COTTON—NITRATES PRODUCED FROM AIR—YEAST A REAL SUBSTITUTE FOR BEEF—SEAWEED MADE TO GIVE UP POTASH—A GANGRENE PREVENTATIVE—SODA MADE OUT OF SALT WATER—AMERICA CHEMICALLY INDEPENDENT.

It is when men are put to the test that they develop initiative and are inspired to great things. In the stress of circumstances there were created through and in the great war many unusual devices and much that will endure for the benefit of mankind in the future. It is probable that the advancements made in many lines would not have been attained in years but for the necessity which demanded the exertion of men's ingenuity, and in no field was this advancement greater than in that of chemistry.

Any struggle between men is, in the last analysis, a battle of wits, but it remained for those planning and scheming to defeat their fellow men or protect themselves in the world conflict to make for the first time in history the fullest use of the chemist's knowledge. Largely the successes of the war have been due to the studies and activities of the chemists, working in their laboratories far from the actual field of strife.

Not only has their knowledge been turned to the creation of tremendously destructive explosives, the like of which have never before been known in warfare, but the same brains which have been utilized to assist man in his death-dealing crusades have been called upon to thwart the efforts of the warring humans and save the lives of those compelled to face the withering fire of cannon, the flaming grenade and the asphyxiating gas bomb.

In the food crisis which confronted the nations, chemists drew from the very air and the waters of the river and sea, gases and salts to take the place of those which became limited in their supply because of the demands of the belligerents.

The chemist is one of those who fights the battles at home. The resisting steel, the penetrating shell, the poisonous gas, the power-producing oil, the powerful explosive—all these are his contributions to the war's equipment, but he also is the magician who waves the wand and out of the apparently useless weeds and vegetable matter produces edibles. He turns waste products into valuable chemicals or extracts needed chemicals from by-products.

GERMANY'S GREAT PRIVATION.

Germany, deprived of many imports by the sea power of England, first transformed herself into a self-supporting nation through the agency of the chemist. Substitutes had to be provided for food products which the Germans could not get, and it is said that the ability of the Kaiser and his henchmen to withstand the attacks of the Allied forces was due as much to the service rendered by the chemists as by the army and navy.

Not only were artificial foodstuffs manufactured, but natural food products previously neglected were prepared for use. What had been regarded as useless weeds were found to possess food value. A dozen wild-growing plants were found that might be used as a substitute for spinach, while half a dozen others were shown to be good substitutes for salads. Starches were obtained from roots, and cheap grades of oils and fatty wastes of all sorts were turned into edibles.

Up until the advent of the present war cotton formed the base of most of the so-called propellant explosives used in advanced warfare. Such terrible explosives as trinitrotoluene occasionally mentioned in the published war reports, as well as many others, have as the principal agent of destructive force guncotton, which is ordinary raw cotton or cellulose treated with nitric or sulphuric acid, though there are, of course, other chemicals used in compounding the various forms of deadly explosives.

At the same time there are innumerable explosives which are of a distinct class. Lyddite, mentioned occasionally as one of the modern death-dealing explosives, has for a base picric acid. The Lyddite shells referred to occasionally in various articles about the war are shells in which Lyddite is used as the explosive. The largest percentage of explosives used in modern gunnery are those formed of nitrated cellulose—guncotton.

TWO GREAT FACTORS.

Therefore any shortage in the supply of cotton and cellulose is a serious matter in war time, for the country which has the most plentiful supply of ammunition is the one that has the greatest relative advantage. It was, for instance, stated from Washington several times after the war started and the United States commercial and industrial forces were being mobilized, that America could make enough almost unbelievably powerful explosives to blow Germany off the face of the European map, were it possible to transport the dangerous materials. Dozens of new explosive compounds were placed before the Government for consideration and in application for patents. One of the new ones, it was said, was so powerful that little more than a pinch of it exploded beneath such an immense structure as the Woolworth Building, New York, would destroy the entire edifice.

The curtailment of the supply of cotton to Germany when the war started, because of England's blockade, and later when America entered the conflict, threatened disaster to the "Fatherland." The German chemists began working immediately to supply substitutes for cotton, to be used both in the manufacture of explosives and fabrics. They developed the processes of producing cellulose from wood pulp to take the place of cotton for making guncotton, and certain forms of wood fiber and paper were used in the textile trades. Willow bark was one of the substances utilized to a limited degree in making fabrics.

Likewise synthetic—or artificial—camphor to take the place of that secured from nature's own laboratory—the camphor tree—was also produced of necessity, for camphor is an ingredient largely used in making smokeless powder. Before the war most of the camphor was obtained from Japan.

Compounds—alloyed steel, iron and aluminum—have also been used in the industrial world to supplant copper. In America we have been educated to regard copper as the ideal metal for conducting electrical power, but in Europe aluminum was used successfully in a large way, even before the war. After the conflict started in all of the countries where there was a scant supply of copper, substitutes were developed by the metallurgists and chemists.

POTENCY OF MODERN CHEMISTRY.

The acids and salts used in powder making and the creation of explosives were also secured from new places. Nitric acid, which is necessary to the manufacture of guncotton, for many years was made principally with saltpeter and sulphuric acid. Modern chemists, however, made it from nitrogen of the very air we breathe, and in Germany it was made during the war from ammonia and calcium cyanamide, both of which may be obtained from the air.

Many such methods of obtaining acids were known and tested before the war, but the processes had not been perfected to such an extent as to make them commercially profitable. However, the increased prices of chemicals, due to the excessive demands of war, and the absolute necessity for producing them inspired the chemists to get the required results, and Germany by the development of these sources of supply found the acids necessary for her own use in war, whether for explosive making or medical purposes.

Great quantities of sugar are used in making powder and explosives, too, and when the supply became limited the German chemists began producing in larger quantities the chemical substitute—saccharine. Later even this sweet was denied the population because the chemicals were needed for war uses. So in every line Germany found use for everything which its chemists and chemical laboratories could produce.

The terrible gas and liquid fire bombs which the Germans were first reported using contained chemical compounds invented for the purpose by the chemists. Some of the chemicals and the gases produced when the bombs exploded were so powerful that men and animals in the range of the fumes were killed instantly. The effect was to paralyze them in some cases and it was reported that many of the soldiers were found dead standing upright in the trenches or in the attitudes which they had assumed at the moment they were overcome.

BASIC PRINCIPLE OF BOMBS.

Nitrous-oxide, or chlorine, in some chemical form is supposed to have been the base of the bombs, and concerning the liquid fire it was reported in connection with the dropping of bombs on London from a Zeppelin, that some of the bombs contained what is chemically known as Thermit, which is a mixture of aluminum and iron oxide used in brazing and welding. When ignited the oxygen is freed from the iron and combines with the aluminum with great rapidity. During the chemical reaction an intense heat is produced—a heat so great that it almost equals that of an electric arc.

So in the world of agriculture and industry the German chemists, recognized leaders of the world, actually made or produced from the air and other unsuspected sources things without which they could not have withstood the siege against them for a single year. In the absence of concentrated foods for cattle and humans, the chemists produced absolute substitutes. They took the residue or waste from the breweries and extracting the bitter hops taste from the dried yeast produced a substitute for beef extract.

So also they secured ammonium sulphate by a direct combination of nitrogen and hydrogen in the air. At the same time they utilized other minerals than those usually available for the manufacture of sulphuric acid and placed the country on an independent footing.

But Germany was not alone in its advancement. The United States, which found itself without quantities of dye-stuffs and many other chemically produced things when the war came on, took the lesson unto itself and is today nearer self-supporting than it ever was in the history of the nation. The Department of Agriculture has experimented and produced from yeast, vegetable boullion cubes, which taste like beef extract and contain greater nutriment.

DOMESTIC DYE-STUFFS.

America, too, has extracted sulphate of ammonium from the air and the dye-stuffs which we could not get from abroad are being made at home. Two of the things which America found lacking when war developed were potash and acetone, both of which are factors in powder and explosive making. The former is used in the ordinary black gunpowder, but the latter is necessary in the making of the smokeless powder. England wanted Cordite, one form of this powder which the British think is the best propellant in the world. It is made of guncotton and nitroglycerine and acetone is one of the chemicals required in its manufacture. England turned to the United States for quantities of this explosive and also for the acetone, but America did not produce anywhere near enough, and England wanted this country to make something like 20,000,000 pounds of the explosive.

A number of mushroom chemical plants were developed by the powder company to produce the desired acetone—one very much like a vinegar plant near Baltimore, and another at San Diego, California, where the munitions maker's chemists refined acetone and potash extracted from kelp, or sea weed, and besides supplying the powder and the chemicals which the English needed America developed a permanent industry.

RELIEVED BY AMERICAN INGENUITY.

Carbolic acid, too, was one of the badly needed chemicals of the war, not only for medical purposes, but also for explosive making. Again the ingenuity of America asserted itself and Thomas A. Edison produced the plans for two benzol-absorbing plants which were erected at great steel works and within a few months these plants were turning out benzol and Mr. Edison's carbolic-acid plant was being supplied with the raw material.

And then it was believed that America could not make dyes to take the place of those which came from Germany. All the United States, it was said, would have to wear white stockings. The country just could not produce the dyes necessary, and the product of the American plants was inferior. But America could make the same dyes. She is making them. Right now she is making practically as great a variety as Germany ever sent over here.

A few miles outside of Philadelphia, at Marcus Hook, on the busy Delaware river where the ships of the world are being made, the Benzol Products Company turns out large quantities of aniline oil. The aniline oil, the essential basis of aniline dyes, is made into tints as fair and perfect as any the wizards of Germany ever conjured out of their test tubes.

The tale about America's inability was proved to be a fable. The Marcus Hook plant is one of three which sprang up when the war began. Others are the Schoellkopf Aniline and Chemical Works at Buffalo and a third is the Becker Aniline and Chemical Works at Brooklyn. The three are now merged into one great operating company and Germany will have some difficulty in getting back her dye trade when she is ready to again fight for the world markets.

Moreover, the world-famous duPont Company, which has made powder and chemicals for all the nations, turned in and purchased the Harrison Chemical Works in 1917, and besides making "pigments" has entered the coal tar dye industry. The company made an intensive study of the dyeing industries—cotton, calico printing, wool, silk, leather, paper, paints, printing inks, &c., and made plans to meet the requirements of each. The Harrison plant is but one of the immense group operated by the duPont Company and it has been famous for the manufacture of white lead and acids.

A CHEMICAL DISCOVERY.

There is in fact no line in which the chemists of America did not rise to the emergency and the "romances of the industrial" world are not more entrancing than are those of the medical and other fields. Chemistry, for instance, discovered an antitoxin for the deadly gangrene, or gas bacillus, poisoning of the battlefields. The discovery was made by research workers in Rockefeller Institute.

It is one of the most important discoveries in medical research as applied to war, having an even greater bearing on the treatment of war wounds than the Dakin-Carrel treatment of sluicing wounds previously referred to. The serum works on the same principle as the anti-tetanus serum used to prevent lockjaw. The gangrene antitoxin is injected to prevent the development of gangrene poisoning.

The serum was developed by Dr. Carrel Bull and Miss Ida W. Pritchett, of the Rockefeller Institute, by immunizing horses by the application of the bacillus germs, then obtaining the resultant serum from the horses. The new serum displaces, in a measure, the Dakin-Carrel method of treating wounds. As soon as a soldier is picked up wounded, the plan is to give him an injection of the serum so that he can be rushed to the rear ambulances with no fear that the deadly gas infection will develop.

The use of the serum means the wiping out of the big death rate from infection, with death resulting merely from wounds that are in themselves fatal. The gas bacillus was discovered by Dr. William H. Welch, of Johns Hopkins University, 25 years ago. The bacillus frequently is present in soil and when carried to an open wound germinates quickly, developing into bubbles of gaseous matter, whence comes the name "gas bacillus." The bubbles multiply rapidly, a few hours often being sufficient to cause death.

A WOUND-FLUSHING SYSTEM.

Possible gangrene poisoning has been offset by the Dakin-Carrel system of constantly flushing the open wounds, but patients are frequently too far off to be given the advantage of the flushing method and this is where the serum is chiefly valuable. The ambulance or medical corps "shoots" the serum into the wounded soldier even before they douse his wound with iodine.

The progress that has been made along these lines is indicated by the statement of Lord Northcliffe, who after a visit to the front declared that the annual death rate in the English army was 3 per cent of 1000 and that the average illness, including colds and influenza, was less than in London, despite the discomforts of the trenches.

In the past disease has been as destructive as battles. Biology and pathology, to say nothing of surgery and therapeutics, have made such strides that disease has been virtually eliminated as a factor in warfare. War takes medical science into the field, where the control of large masses of men enables it to develop the highest efficiency.

Even in normal peace conditions biological and pathological science has been accomplishing results not popularly understood. Individual cures by surgery and medicine appeal to personal interests, but these are negligible compared to the prevention of plagues like smallpox, typhus and tuberculosis. If such diseases had not been successfully combated by science three out of four of the present civilized population would not be in existence at all. The organized and intensive application and developments of science, of preventive medicine, constitute the strictly neutral work in this war by which all humanity will profit for all time to come.

In passing it is interesting to note that the great power supplied by Niagara Falls is being utilized to produce some of the chemical marvels. One great industry there is making soda by the electrolytic process. That is, salt brine is pumped from the saline deposits in western New York and piped to the works. This is run into electric cells and through these a current of electricity is led. The salt, which is composed of chlorine and sodium, decomposes under the electric attack. The sodium goes to one pole and combines with water to form caustic soda, whereas the chlorine escapes at the other pole. Let us follow the chlorine, which is a yellowish-green gas, more than twice as heavy as air, and has found a new use as poison gas in the great war—for which all the world should be ashamed.