The Alaska daily empire., 1914-12-03

IMaf officially declared on AnaAs.
 oy Gamany has been carried toi
 years % ,ho very beart ol France
 A few incidents brought Co t3e "l | CTS notice since tta aeginnine o ] thc campaifn wili eerye te prove v
 2reret Foria Hritcd Advance 8 RospongibUl0on for nuoa plinene i on the part Of corlain persona Nii j evidently be fixed after tho WaE o' ] the presents orders are in Rranco thaI
 3 veil be thrown over such "errora ] accounts Co be settled later.
 During tho German retreat hetweer
 the rivers 0lae and Aisne Che bfenen
 forces were kept for several days
 ifom gurther advance by aiz batteries
 Of heagy German artillery Every
 where else they were being puahed
 hack irresistably. The German guns
 were posted in tho middle oi the wood surrounded by fortified woria ot such
 strength aa to defy eyon the lre ol
 sixteen three.ncb pieces brought by
 tho French Co bear upon them dur ! ing three consecutive days.
 Commanded hii Roade.
 No victorious army and much lesa a retreatlng one could have built such Qualifications. offensive or defensive { without months of peaceful iabor- The l French army engineers who examined these works Immediately noted thal the advanced Qualifications, backed by much stronger works, commanded oil One roads, and especially railroad ] limo passing through tho wooos and i after @ few hours search found that more than mile of water pipes had been laid three feet underground com meeting fresh springs with tho forti- Gcalions.
 Since February last @ small army of worlmen had been busy ln tho woods, part of which had been bought by 9 very vague syndicate, whose real identity Is still mysterious.
 Built by Vague Syndicate.
 The workmen were erecting 9 saw mnl. The siowness of the building operations. tho material employed, had been 8 surprise to tho villagers. but no one ever Thought that since February the German military author lties had been busily occupied under cover of building a sawmilll in erect ing 8 fortress in the very heart Of France.
 So much has been said about the famous quarrIes around S which served as tombs to nearly 10000 Of the Kalser'B soldiers, that the time may be ripe to relate how these quar- ries became one of the most disputed strategical positions of Che campaign.
 Those quarries, abandoned for Q number of years by their French owners, were bought by another very vague company in September 1913, The price paid for them was very high and at the time it was Q cause of surprise in the region, the atono extracted having long been unit for building purposes. The surprise in. creased when the new superintendent announced to local workmen in search of jobs that Quarrymen were on the way from Austria and Italy. The natives were indignant but helpless, The work began and the stones were extracted by means of narrow goller ios, cut without apparent necessity, and the very amount extracted by such large force Of men seemed toI make che proposition paying one.
 Company Most Benevolent
 Here and there vast openings were made in the sides of the hill, while in other spots old ones were walled up. In June, this year the surprise of the neighboring villages reached a 1 maximum. Huge blocks of stone, steel plates and carloads Of cement were brought to the quarry. Walls were built at certain points, completely hiding the workmen and machinery.
 Questions began to be asked but everyone connected with the enter prise was SO amicable that the au- thorities were not awaked from their slumbers. Furthermore. the roads In the neighborhood of the Quarries were all put in shape at the expense of the quarry company and every one prof tied thereby. Only the opening of [ prevented the good wiling ! CTS from voting thanks Go such bene- volent individuals.
 Heavy Guno Quickly Mounted.
 When 8 few weeks later the Ger man troops, harrassed and pushed back vigorously east of Paris toward ! he North, stopped at the quarries, it was only a matter Of day to mount heavy guns on ready.built concrete platforms, fir bombproof cellars with make Q few telephone l with Von Klulis head [ quarters, 20 miles North, and over the newly paved roadways, mined every ! 400 feet. transport heavy artillery end | ,upply wagons. 4 firstclass. highly ! Efficient fortress was now in the way l ,f che pursuing French.
 Allles Left Wlth Bitter Regret.
 It took just eighteen days and ihe Ives Of nearly 5000 men to take and .estroy this very thorough German 
 The above are two examples which, indefinitely, will explain the uick= success Of the Germans at the eglnning Of the war Throughout rance and Belgium the same minute reparauons is every day more appar- mt and the allies are left with the liter regret of past indulgences and