The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-01
WAR ECHOES


 way are hard hit by the war of the great powers. Holland is maintaining the strictest neutrality and has strong hopes of being able to keep out of the actual conflict But in the fields thou sands of tons of vegetables are rotting because markets are lost. The produce land and Germany Now the surplus after home consumption is supplied is worthless. Much the same condition ex- ists in Norway Sweden and Denmark. Norway's army is mobilized as points most exposed to possible invasion by the belligerent nations. King Haakon has decreed that prices of food be fixed by the public authorities. Breweries are shutting down and turning over their grain supplies to be made into four In Holland over 1SO,000 workers are made idle by the war. Norway and Sweden and Denmark must have more than 250,000 workers in id1eness. Those who have savings are compelled to see them rapidly melting daily with pros- poets constantly darkening as it be- comes more and more evident that the war will be long.
 Brooklyn Eagle: The Uhlan, the cav airy arm of the German army, has had his full share of fighting at Liege and at other places on the long line of bat tie now raging. Splendid efficiency is the reputation which the Uhlan enjoys both at home and in the camps of the enemy. This high standing was won mainly during the Franco-Prussian war. when they did wonderful scout service and were no mean factor in beating down the opposition of the French in the field
 The Uhlan huzzar was borrowed from the Polish military system. uhlan meant simply lancer Huzzar is word
 that comes from the languages of the |Hungarians, meaning twenty. It com memorates the time when every group of 20 men in the Kingdom was required to furnish one cavalryman. So it means the representative of 20 men. The word dates from the time of Matthias Cor vinus. when, in national Hungarian |levies. every 20 men had to furnish one fully equipped horseman. who. In ac- cordance with the fact was called ehuzzar." So efficient was the Uhlan in the war of A years ago that he was |called the 'subiquitous Uhlan."
 The lance is the distinguishing arm of the Uhlan. It was the Polish lancers. the finest regiments of light horse in the Austrian service. that made the arm popular in all the armies of Eu- rope Part of it's success is owing to the great care taken in forming the regiments They are divided in groups of 100 or less, and only men or like habits of mind are admitted to group. The officer in charge must understand each man intimately in character physical strength and temper, for horse and man must be matched with the ut
 most care and judgment if the best that each is capable if is to be attained. The Worlds Work: The reason that Italy held off from the allies in the triple alliance is written large in its history The grandfather of the present King or ltaly Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia, with
 Cavours guidance, made an alliance with Napoleon III and picked quarrel with Austria in 1859, much as Bismarck in 1866
 made a treaty with Italy and picked
 quarrel with Austria. In each case these nation builders deliberately provoked war
 as a means to the unification of their country. In the campaigns of 1859 Lom-
 bardy was taken from Austria. Nn 1S66 In alliance with Prussia, Italy went to war with Austria again, this time chiefly as result of the Prussian victory at Sa- dowa, receiving Venetia from Austria Austria was held to be the chief enemy of Italy's independence and unity. Despite this. however, in 1882 Italy joined Ger many and Austria in the triple alliance This unnatural alignment was entered into chiefly because France, Italy's nom inal ally, had blocked her colonial ann bitions in Tunis. Yet the alliance never made Austria popular with Italians. nor did it cover the Mediterranean or the Adriatic. The head of the Adratic is a constant source of enmity between Italy and Austria. In Trieste and Plume, sea- ports of Austria. the population is chiefly Italian. Italy has always coveted not only these ports but the Albanian shore of the Adriatic as we'll She looks with suspicion upon the German Austrian att tempts to dominate the Balkans. Early in the Italian Turkish war Kaly began to Lombard the Albanian coast, then held by Turkey. She was immediately warned off from Aviona by Austria. This added fresh vigor to the old antipathy. Again the tension over the control of the Adri- atic was so acute during the Balkan war l that there was even a possibility of hostil- ities between Italy and Austria. When. therefore. the question Of, renewing the triple alliance came up in 1913 1t was only with great difficulty that Germany succeeded in getting Italy to join it,
 even though it was only defensive all liance and did not include the Mediter- ranean. The Italians look upon securing
 Trieste and the control of the Adriatic as the French look upon reconquering
 Alsace and Lorraine.
 l Austria stands fair in the path of this
 ambition. The memory of former wars and the recognition of present conflicting qualities make the Italian people unwilI- | ing to support Austria. The Italian gov ernment's decision that 1t was not bound to help Austria and Germany because they were not engaged in defensive war
 relieved it from entering upon warlike policy which would probably have failed of public support
 l Moreover, Italy has nothing to gain by