The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1916-02-15
IN THE FATHERLAND
INTERESTING BITS OF NEWS
FROM THE GREAT GERMAN
EMPIRE.
WHAT'S DOING I'M Old HOME
Summary of the Most important Hap
penings in the Land of the Kaiser
Timely Items for the German
Readers.

A German chemical expert has dis
covered a new alcoholic fuel that may
prove the long desired substitute for
gasoline, according to an article pub
lished in the Commercial Motor The
new spirit, which possesses a specific
gravity Of 80 to 80, is mixed with ben
zOle or gasoline in the proportions Of
one to five. 1t is said that millions
Of gallons will shortly be manufac-
tured by German firms. which will ma.
terially relieve the scarcity of gaso-
line throughout the country. Substl-
tutes for rubber tires, and, indeed,
all rubber goods are, however, not so
readily discovered, and in Berlin there
is said to be so serious a shortage OF
the raw material for the manufacture
of tires that no civilians except doc
tors are permitted to drive automo-
biles Rubber is struggled into the
country in many ingenious forms, the
latest vehicle for this traffic being
sausage skins All rubber floor cloth
and rubber scraps Of every descrip-
ton are being carefully collected and
used to supply the deficiency.
President Wilson's personal repre-
sentative, Colonel Edward NJ. House,
who remained in comparative seclu-
sion during his first two days in Ber-
lin, began his series of conversations
with German officials at a luncheon
at the American embassy. DR.. w. S.
Solf, secretary of state for the col
onies, was present. Ambassador &c,
rard PLAYED no part in Colonel Houses
program at first He attended the
service at the cathedral in honor of
Kaiser Wilhelms birthday and spent
the afternoon at shooting on his pre-
serve near Berlin.
There are now hardly any so-called
American bars left in Berlin. Most
Of them were suppressed as undesir-
able resorts. Respectable establish
ments of this kind did not pay, since
the sale CT strong drink was prohib-
tied on three days of the week-Sat-
urday, Sunday and Monday-and after
nine o'clock at night on the four re-
naming days of the week. So the
American bar is no more. 1t was done
in the strenuous German way; first
they eXterminated the institution and
then they killed it's name.
A Paris dispatch says the new Ger
man airships have total motor power
of 700 horsepower, in four motors, two
of 220 horsepower each and two of 100
horsepower each. They are described
as ironclad, carrying four machine
guns, bomb throwers and other de-
structive devices, and having a speed
of 10 miles an hour. The wings
measure rs feet across and % feet in
depth and the capacity is 27 men, or
their equivalent weight in munitions,
Their altitude limit, however, is about
5000 feet
Kaiser Wilhelm celebrated his fifty
seventh birthday in the field with his
troops. At the kaiser's special re-
quest the elaborate celebrations of the
years preceding the war were not
duplicated The kaiser has complete
ly recovered from his recent illness,
and spends the larger part of the day
light hours in the field.
The socialist newspaper Voerwaerts
of Berlin says that discussion of food
prices and the coming war taxes in
Germany has been forbidden. The
military authorities are said to have
prohibited a number Of meetings ar
ranged for this purpose on the ground
that they would depress the spirits
of the people
German casualties in the war total
2,525,76S Under Secretary of War Ten
nant announced in the house of COM
mons. The Germans have lost GIG, 900
in killed and 1,566,549 in wounded,
Tenant announced, while 356,153 men
had been taken prisoner In addition
24OSO Germans had died from various
causes.
Thousands of German and Austrian
prisoners of war in Russian concen-
tration camps in Siberia are described
as starving and dying from exposure
in the bitter cold of Siberian winter"
by F. w. Wakefield. a San Francisco
business man. who arrived from the
Orient on the steamer Shinyo Maru.
Fifty English women, who have been
employed in various occupations in
Berlin, have been ordered to leave
the country The authorities say that
this action is taken in reprisal for the
expulsion of German women who had
been employed in England.
The Dutch minister of agriculture,
industry and commerce has authorized
the publication of an official defense
of the Netherlands against certain
British newspaper accusations that
cereals from the United States have
been reaching Germany through neu.
trail countries, including Holland, this
deduction being made from the large
increase in American exports.
Cardinal Won Hartmann, archbishop
of Koln. has been appointed by the
king of Prussia member of the Prus.
sian house of lords.
In Austria a general requisition OF
oil auto tiroc now and old has hnap