The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-02-29
IN THE FATHERLAND
INTERESTING BITS OF NEWS
FROM THE GREAT GERMAN
EMPIRE.
WHAT'S DOING IN OLD HOME
Summary Of the Most important Hap
penings In the Land Of the Kaiser
Timely Items for the German
Readers.

Fifty thousand carloads of cereals
20 to Germany and Austria Hungary
/ from Roumania as the result of nego-
| tiations which have just been termi-
mated An option for another $4,000
carloads has also been secured by
agents of the central powers. The
Roumanian government has sanctioned
the transaction, and export begins I'M
mediatIey. The grain consists prln-
cipally of Indian corn, wheat. barley,
| beans and lentils. 1t will be paid Tor
| partly in gold, but the greater share
| of the purchase price will be in Ger
man paper currency, marks. Inc
| transaction is remarkable for the fact
| that for the cost Of the cereals the
Roumanian government will get
credit on the Deutsche Reichsbank IN
| Berlin, for which the Roumanian Ma
| tionai bank will then issue notes.
these notes reaching the sellers of the
grain The foodstuffs so procured will
| be divided among Germany and Aus
| tria-H Hungary as follows: Six cars
| of each shipment to Germany and five
| to Austria and Hungary. Agents OF
| the entente governments were active
| to prevent the sale, but were defeated
by the fact that Russia does not have
| to buy grain in foreign markets
An increase in the maximum whole
sale price of sugar beets from II
cents per hundredweight to 35 or even
80 cents, is held to be necessary if
production is to be encouraged suffi-
GENTLY to insure a normal crop in
1916. Representatives of the sugar in
dustry and of agriculture in general,
gathered recently in the ministry OF
the interior to discuss the sugar
beet problem. According to the best
obtainable estimates, the 1916 sugar
production from the beet crop will to-
tai only 30,000,000 hundredweight, as
against a normal production of from
fifty to fifty-five million hundred
weight The reason for the decreased
production lies primarily in the high
| price of grain. Farmers find it more
profitable to plant their farms to
wheat than to beets because the
wheat brings them higher prices.
Therefore, if beets are to be grown
again, the price for them must be in
creased. The proposed increase in
the price of sugar beets will cause
corresponding increase in the price of
raw sugar. 1t now is controlled by
maximum price of So per hundred
weight, and will go up to at least
1915.
The last gap in the ranks of the al
lies has been closed by the issuance
of decree by the Italian government,
forbidding under heavy penalty the
importation of any products from Ger.
many or Austria. The announcement
was made after Aristide BRAND,
French premier had conferred for sew
eral hours at the foreign Office. Short
ly afterward Premier BRAND declared:
I'VE have completed the steel wall
around Germany" The royal decree
prohibits importation into Italy of
transit through Italy of all German
and Austrian merchandise, as well as
the expectation of all merchandise OF
German or Austrian origin through
Italian ports
DR.. Ferdinand Sauerbruch, profes-
sor of surgery at Zurich university,
showed an artificial hand which was
able to grasp objects of all forms and
to lift weights up to 200 pounds An
entirely novel feature of the hand is
that it and the fingers are controlled
by muscular action in the upper arm,
which is prepared for such work by
two operations. The muscular power
afterwards is transmitted to the hand
through a system of wires and pulleys,
to which all the fingers respond.
At a meeting of the Red Cross So
ciety for the Rhine province the gov
ernor, Baron Won Rheinbaben, re-
ported that more than 100000 nurses
and physicians have volunteered for
the German Red Cross service. This
staff is partly employed in the hospi-
tails in Germany, partly in the differ
ent theaters of war. Ten thousand
other nurses are attached to the hos
pital trains which bring the sick and
wounded from the battlehelds.
The opening of the annual spring
business fair or "messe,' in peace
times one Of the biggest institutions
| of its kind in Europe, has been set for
Monday. March 6. this year. A year
ago the number of exhibitors fell from
1000 to $500 because of the war This
years prospect is that the aumber will
| be more nearly normal than in 1915.
The University of Kiel has begun
| the collection of all the poetry of the
war which has more than mediocre
merit Requests have gone out to all
| poets of reputation. to all newspapers,
magazines and publishers, to forward
| to the university anything that may
seem to them to be worthy Of place
| In the collection, including prose skits,
songs with or without music, novels
! and dramas,
DR.. ]. Wilhelm Richard Dedekind.
| world famed as a mathematician, died
at Brunswick, aged eighty-three years.
| Uy1J,- Do,,ec woman r,iCcioporv