The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-03-07

training and discipline could be called
first class today, because only such
troops were able to get maximum re-
suits from the technical methods now
used in warfare. Technical superior
fly starts with the character and abil-
ity of a general staff and ends with
the quality of barbed wire; in other
words, it's elements and phases are as
varied and manifold as are the means
with which modern war is conducted.
The most important parts of the
governments tax measures have been
submitted to the bundesrath, but
strict secrecy is preserved regarding
their nature. 1t appears, however.
that the bills have been designed to
furnish 800 100000 marks OF new reve-
nue.. The publication of the new meas
ures probably will occur before the re-
assembling of the Reichstag On March
Is. 1t is assumed that the chief fea-
lures of the fiscal legislation will be
a tax on extra wartime profits, as mas
already been decided in principle, by
requiring corporations and firms to re-
serve so per cent of their increased
earnings for future taxation. 1t is I'M
derstood that among other taxes to be
proposed are levieS on gas and cleo
tricity for illuminating purposes. On
the other hand, the much mooted tax
on works of art has either been reject
ed or postponed.
The declining birth rate in Germany,
which was attracting attention before
the war, is receiving more serious con-
sideration at the present time in view
of the losses sustained in the field.
This subject was brought up in the
budget committee of the Prussian land
tag A representative of the ministry
predicted that unless a radical change
should be made Germany would soon
be in the same position as France,
with deaths exceeding births. The
speaker also referred to the high rate
of infant mortality. He also said one
of the. glavest hindrances to the
growth of the population was the in
births. caused deliberately, an evil
which was not confined to the poorer
classes. ...asss8ssS
The German soldiers in the field in
sist that shrapnel manufactured in the
United States is more deadly than
the kind made in the English and
French factories. They declare that
between so and 80 per cent of
the American-made shrapnel explodes,
while Of the French and English
manufacture only so per cent is eff
fective. They insist that if the Unit
ed States had not sold arms and
ammunition to the allies the war would
have been over long ago.
The first royal war bride" of Eu-
rope will be Princess Marie Auguste of
Anhalt, whose marriage to Prince Joa-
chin, youngest son of the kaiser,
takes place March H. The marriage
will take place at the palace of Pots
dam The bride is seventeen, and the
first European princess to marry since
the war started. The groom is twenty
five Prince Joachim is the only one
of Emperor Williams six sons unmar-
ried.
In the building Of a subway in Berlin
recently engineers encountered a prob
lem not met in ordinary construction.
cd
beds of peat halted progress. The ma
terial was too spongy to support the
weight of the subway, let alone that
of passing trains. To surmount the
difficulty the engineers evolved the
novel scheme of building two steel
bridges within the tunnel structure.
One of the structures so built has a
span of 200 feet and the other lao feet.
foundations and storms are reported
from the Thuringen woods, Franconia
and other parts of southern Germany.
Some of the smaller places in Bava-
ria are completely inundated Several
children have persisted and many cat
tie have been drowned Navigation
has been stopped at Wuerzburg and
also on the river Neckar. The situa-
ton at Mainz is serious. A dispatch
from Munchen says that a great ava
lanehe fell in the Hochkoenig region,
carrying away mountain shelter with
its occupants Thus far So bodies have
been recovered.
The bread card, which today has
| been a year in operation, will be sup
| plemented henceforth in Greater Der
| lin by similar regulation with respect
| to the butter supply. The executive
authorities of Greater Berlin have da-
| cided to limit the sale of butter to a
quarter of pound for each person
weekly to be obtained on presentation
| Of the bread card.
| Edward Higgins, American consul al
Stuttgart, Germany, has applied for a
4 Of most