The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1915-02-06
WEAPON MAY BE BREAD

The most significant development in the
war during the week has been the German
and Austrian DEGREES taking over entire
control Of the national food supplies, and
Great Britain's S declaration following, that
henceforth all food stuffs from this or
any other country, bound for Germany,
Austria-Hungary, or Turkey, will be con-
sidered contraband
Winston Churchill, first lord of the ad-
miralty, states exactly what Great Britain
hopes to accomplish by control Of the sea.
He says:
Germany is like man throttled with
heavy gag You know the effect Of such
gag when action is necessary. The effort
wears out the heart, and Germany knows
it. The action of navy necessarily is
slow, but the pressure that it exercises
on an adversary is unrelenting. Compare
it to the forces OF nature, to the inexorable
grip Of winter, and remember it is a stress
nothing can resist"
Will the most deadly weapon now to be
used in the great world conflict be bread?
Reports are persistent that four of the
Dardanelles forts have been blown up. 1t
is assumed they were those at the mouth
Of the Dardanelles, as inside-particularl
in the narrows-there would be at least
a dozen others to pass before the allied
fleets could reach Constantinople and re-
store communication with the Black Sea-
The dreaded cholera is more in evidence
at the present time in the east notably
among the Austrians, than at other points;
but with the spring thaws, it is asserted by
health authorities, with thousands Of dead
lying in shallow graves and with highly
unsanitary conditions in the camps and
trenches, an epidemic cannot be averted.
| A correspondent on French territory
thus describes conditions there:
"After all, war is not the worst thing
these people face Pestilence, that poi
soned breath Of death, is far more terrible.
Lille is closed now like a tomb filled with
corruption. No one may enter it, and
those who remain there cannot escape.
Every hospital and every house is over
flowing with victims Of the fever scourge.
It is impossible to exaggerate the raw
ages Of disease in many Of these towns
bombarded by the Germans. There were
thirteen hundred case Of typhoid fever in
Senlis and the neighboring villages during
the month of October The germs of
every disorder fill the air. Every rain
floods the waterways with them. They
are in the dust on the grass. They poison
all the milk To touch ones lips with
bread in these places is to invite death
Fighting continues more or less inter-
mittent between the opposing forces, but
with no great decisive battle on any terri
tory, during the week.
1t has been reported that Notifications
| have been erected on the hills above
| Nazareth, in anticipation of the possibil-
ity of a great battle being fought there.
Italian reservists living in England have
been warned to prepare to respond to
call to the colors - There have been
many rumors of the retirement of the
Austrian Emperor Franz-Josef, who is
now in his eighty-ffth year and broken
in health. His reign, dating back since
1848, has been one Of the longest in his
tory -- The second Australian contin-
gent has arrived in Egypt and joined the
first contingent. The first Australian
and New Zealand troops were disem-
barked in Egypt early in December. -
A dispatch from Hamburg says that all
British colonials in that city, with the
exception of the Australians, have been
arrested and transported to Ruhleben,
where they are to be interned. - The
FIJI Islanders are going to fight the Ger
mans, Great Britain having accepted an
offer Of contingent from her distant
South Pacific colony. - The Russian
news agency has issued categorical den
nial Of the rumor Of peace negotiations
with Austria Hungary. It is described as
utterly without foundation and circulated
by the newspapers of Austria with ute
rior motives. The council Of Greater
Berlin has appointed 10000 special con-
stables to guard the baker shops of the