Evening star., 1915-12-17
Boon to the Central Empires
and to Bulgaria and
Turkey.
RECORD BREAKING VOLUME
is REACHED BY TRAFFIC
Barges Take War Munitions East
and Food and Raw Ma.
terials West.
Correspondence of the Associated Press.

correspondence oil the Associated Press
BELGRADE, Serbia, November IA
What great military and economic ad-
vantages were gained by the Germans
and their allies with the opening of
traffic on the Danube has been shown
by the activity in shipping which de-
veloped directly the Serbs had been
driven from the banks of the river.
Fighting along the Danube was still
in progress when the Austrians started
TO clear channel through the mine
fields which the Russians, Serbs and
English had laid out. Meanwhile large
toWs, carrying military supplies need
ed by Turkey and Bulgaria, were be-
ing brought down the river from
Austro-Hungarian and German ports
and assembled at Semlin, ready for the
minute when navigation became nos
sible.
g, austrian river monitors. notably the
Sava and Temes, had in the meantime
patrolled the Danube as far as LON
Palanka, and later to Ruschuck. both
bulgarian ports, and in SO doing had
cleared the river of some Russian
armed merchant vessels stationed in
the Rumanian port of Turn n-Severin.
That these vessels were not sunk or
captured by the Austrians is due to
the fact that on the day on which the
Associated Press correspondent made
the trip up the river as a guest on the
Sava they were being conyoyed down
stream by Rumanian monitors, the
Russians themselves flying the Ru-
manian flag.
Scene Of Great Activity.
The Bulgarian port of LON Palanka
was the scene of great activity. For
more than fifteen months no boats
from up stream had arrived there Now
the Jetties were crowded with barges
from Austria and Germany On the
previous day King Ferdinand of Bull
garia and Premier. Radoslavoff had
been at Lom Palanka to assist in the
resumption of traffic Between Bulgaria
ana the central powers, an event which
Germany and Austria Hungary thought
important enough to have inaugurated
by Duke Albrecht of Mecklenburg,
brother-in-law of Emperor William,
who was a passenger on the first con-
voy arriving.
military supplies were shipped down
stream, principally arms and ammuni,
tion Tor Bulgaria and Turkey Both
these countries stood in need Of heavy
artillery and artillery ammunition.
Some of the later boats brought a
large number of heavy motor trucks,
combat and scout aeroplanes, ambu-
lances and sanitary supplies. Since
then ordinary merchandise has been
admitted to shipment. The returning
parges and boats carry raw material
OF all sorts and foodstuffs. During the
last few days a regular passenger and
mail service to LON Palanka has been
In opertion, until today traffic on the
with the difference that never before
had 1t known such proportions The
military supplies of which Bulgaria
and Turkey can make use are many,
and on the other hand. Austria Hun
gary and Germany offer an eager mar
ket for the agricultural and animal
industry products of the two first
mentioned countries.
Meant Much to Teutonic Allies.
Some anxiety had been felt in Con-
,stantinople and lately in Sofia that
the heavy demand which the war made.
on their relatively scant stores of ar
tillery ammunition might soon create
problem it would be difficult to solve
in case a free route of communication
were not opened up. This. in fact, was
the principal reason why the long de-
layed offensive against Serbia was un-
dertakeh when it was, though the at
titude Of Bulgaria necessarily played
But German and Austrian war stores
were not the sole factor. The central
powers could make good use of Turk
ish and Bulgarian wool, skins, hides.
and Bulgaria needed the revenues
which would come from the sale Of
these materials. 1t is to be. doubted
that history ever before presented an
instance in which the opening of line
of communication met SO adequately,
the needs of four allied peoples en-
gagged in war, or that from this condi-
tion SO urgent a necessity had sprung.
For the first time since the outbreak
of the European war Germany and
Austria Hungary are relatively inde-
pendent economically, while Turkey
and Bulgaria now have within their
reach an inexhaustible supply of war
materials, inexhaustible today because
the German and Austro-Hungarian
arms and ammunition manufacturers
now have access to the great mineral
stores of the Balkans and the Ottoman
empire.
Ends Shortage Of Copper.
The shortage of copper in the central
states has been ended by the taking of
the copper mines near Milanovac and
elsewhere in Serbia. Bulgaria, too, has
a large number of copper mines, the
best of them near Mesdra. on the
Mesdra LON Palanka branch railroad,
and the Turks can meet any possible
shortage with ores from Anatolia, no
tably from the Smyrna region. Chemi
cal raw material also may be brought
from Turkey in Asia and paucity of
cotton for explosives is now altogether
unlikely, since this staple is produced
in considerable quantities in the Gill;
clan plain. 1t is of interest to learn
that even a placer gold field has fallen
into the hands of the central powers.
that near Milanovac, Serbia. Washing
is now in progress.
In a single day the Associated Press
correspondent saw as many as nine
tows go down the river. each consist
ing of a tug and seven barges. the lat
ter each carrying the equivalent of 100
freight cars, giving the days traffic a
total of $500 carloads or 215 trains of
average size. For the five days spent
on the river the total cannot be less
than 10000 carloads, or, with bulk and
weight brought into relations, over a
million tons.
Barges Came Long Distances.
Many of the tows came directly from
Germany, the names of the largest
home ports and the distances travelled
indicating that they had been concen-
trated in the Austrian reaches of the
Danube when the offensive against
Serbia had not yet begun. AS an ex-
ample Of German and Austro-Hun-