The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1915-07-27
IN THE FATHERLAND
INTERESTING BITS OF NEWS
FROM THE GREAT GERMAN
EMPIRE.
WHAT'S DOING IN OLD HOME
Summary or the Most Important Hap
penings In the Land Of the Kaiser
Timely Items for the German
Readers.

Timely Items for the German
Readers.
The regular barracks of Germany,
which are capable of housing some
eight or nine hundred thousand dol
diers, are all full of new soldiers, and
many public buildings have been TAX
en- for this purpose. The reserves on
hand now are generally estimated at
about eleven hundred thousand, but it
is impossible to say anything definite.
Very seldom you hear anybody men,
ton the kaiser, and If you do, 1t is
generally in a tone OF sympathy with
him, whom war has prematurely aged.
The glory of Hindenburg, Mackensen
and Falkenhayn has put the Hohenzol-
lerns in the shade, but as for Moltke.
his very existence appears to have
been forgotten
Says T. F. Logan: IF Germany had
not developed her water power, with
a view Of obtaining nitrates from the
air, the European war would be over
today and Germany would be a
wrecked nation. Three very large fac
tories, operated economically by water
power are now turning out sufficient
nitrates for the manufacture of all the
explosives needed by Germany to car
ry on the war If Germany had not
developed her water power, she would
have been dependent on the supply OF
nitrogen obtainable from the deposits
of sodium nitrate in Chile. This sup
ply has been cut off from Germany
by the blockade established by Great
Britain"
The Giornale d'Italia has received
the following dispatch from Sofia, Bull
garia: "A conference was held at
Vienna by Doctor Won Bethmann-Holl-
veg, German imperial chancellor;
GottIieb Jagow. German minister of
foreign affairs; Baron Burian, Aus
trian minister of foreign affairs; Count
Stephen Tisza, the Hungarian pre-
mier, and :. special Roumanian envoy,
THU Majoresco, the Roumanian pre-
mier, is said to have been offered
Bukowina and Bessarabia for neutral
ity until the end Of the war"
A semiofficial statement, comment
ing on the recent appeal of the Ger
man Socialists for peace, declared that
1t had failed 20 bear fruit and called
uron the people of Germany to show
an "unbroken front until the final vic
tory" Socialist leaders In countries
with which Germany is at war con-
tinue to take the stand that this Is
war Of conquest and that Germany
must be crushed, the statement said.
hence Germany must continue to fight.
Beer cards, on a system similar to
that of the bread cards, are now being
distributed In Munchen. Owing to the
shortage of malt, unlimited quantities
of beer can no longer be sold. The
consumption in one large beer garden,
which formerly used 2,700 to $500 gal
Ions daily, has been cut to 100 gal
Ions by the authorities.
1t is no exaggeration to say that
every square inch of German soil ca
pable of producing any kind Of crop.
has been brought under cultivation.
Everywhere back gardens, empty
building lots, factory sites and In
smaller towns and villages even the
sidewalks have been made into potato
fields, which are now being carefully
hoed and weeded by women and chill
dren.
The government has put aside for
the use of the army immense quanti-
ties of grain ard flour, which as the
harvest approaches will be doled out
to the general population in rations
which will keep them from starving in
the literal sense of the word
Those who suffer most from the eff
feet of the war are the middle classes,
because of the increase in price of ev-
cry article of food. Generally speak
ing, the prices, not only of food of ev-
cry kind, but also of shoes and cloth
ing, have increased nearly 100 per
cent The big department stores in
Berlin and other large cities are, to be.
sure, still advertising food at normal
prices, but little is obtainable at the
stores at the prices advertised, and as
everybody knows this, no comments
are made.
1t is impossible to replace the more
expensive articles of food with bread,
for the quantity allowed is insufficient
and the nutritive value is small
New clothes are as yet not so very
expensive, but the price Of repairs Of
all kinds istyery high because labor is
scarce and because women are here
unable to do the work of men.
Shall we be able to hold out until
the haryest?" is the question you hear
everywhere, and the answer is invari-
ably Yes" Very often agricultural
experts add to their affirmation the
statement that If Italy had declared
war three or four months earlier,
Germany would have been lost Even
as 1t is farmers In many parts Of the
country have found themselves forced
to cut their rye green in order to feed
their cattle, and the government has
had to forbid them, under threats of
severe punishment, to cut any of their
grain before 1t is ripe.