davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
THE BALKAN SITUATION,

With Germany asking Bulgaria for two divisions of troops and getting the reply that they cannot be spared because of the attitude that is being manifested by Rumania and the fear that it will not be long before that country enters the war on the side of the allies, the situation in the Bal kans takes on new aspect.
 It has been affected considerably by the success which the Russians are having in Asia Minor and less is being heard about the concerted drive of the central powers against Salon rk1 now that the supreme effort is be- ing directed against Verdun, so that the position of Bulgaria and Turkey is entirely different from what it was 9 few months ago and it is but nat ural for King Ferdinand to realize that he Is going to need all his men at home if the allies send the forces now assembled in Greece northward or if Rumania enters the arena and starts southward.
 Bulgaria had rather an easy time of 1t getting the coveted portions of Servia while the Teutons were push ing across that country, and it has undoubtedly made plans for bringing lAS dNquASu LSILltOry anu US people under Bulgarian rule, but with the situation changed as it has the out look becomes less rosy than 1t was in the recent past. With those who made it possible for Bulgaria to con- quer Servia calling upon Bulgaria fol aid and Turkey having so many trou- bles that the desirabinty for peace has already been indicated, it is nor surprising that the Bulgars are com. mencing to look to the security O. their own country. Instead of divid ing Servia they may be participating in a struggle soon to preserve the ter ritorial lines which they already pos sess.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

cause they were left behind and there was no one to look after them Some women of high society in Belgrade were found dead along the roads"
 What became of the Austrian pris- onerS, 10000, which the Serbians had captured?"
 "They were sent on some days be- fore to make roads, replied Madame Grouitch.
 T hear that only s2.OOO of them reached the Albanian coast where they lands2" said the correspondent.
 T don't know how many of them got through" said Madame Grouitch. but they were in the same position as Serbian Soldiers. many of whom died of cold sed hunger in the retreat. When the Serbisns left the cultivated parts of the country, they were simply going into the vacant mountain spaces where there was no food, no rest, nothing to go to.
 The Serbians treated their prison CTS with kindness. I know that 1t often used to be said that we were too sen- Austrians more than regular rztions while tho Serbian soldier had only the usual ration. Even during our flight we used to meet parties of Austrian prisoners, and if any of us had any bread left, all the women and some of the men would give 1t to them | Thirty-tvo of us had only sixty , loaves of bread during five days. The allowance for the day Has dealt cui each morning and if when evening came you didn't have any bread left there was no possibility of getting more. So that anyone who gave
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
THE WAR PRIMER By National Geographic Society

CiIician PIain-One of the historic places of the remote past that may yet be destined to range itself along side of Bagdad and Mesopotamia in present-day interest is the Cilician Plain. a small territory ranged around the extreme northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea. It was to a harbor on its coast, Alexandretta, that German capital turned for an outlet for the Bagdad Railroad when check mated in it's desire to reach the Per sian Gulf; and it was here that the Germans were beginning to build a modern comercial port in the near East before the European war broke out.
 In a statement prepared today by the National Geographic Society, whose headquarters are in this city, a striking picture is drawn Of the his toric plain.
 "A glance at the map of the Medi- terranean shores will reveal the fact that the Gulf of Alexandretta is a deep indentatiOn in the extreme northeast ern coast of that sea- Thanking it on either side are high mountain ranges running back from the waters edge into the deep interior of Asia Minor Many miles to the north of the nar- row gulf these ranges come together and the triangle thus formed is a watershed by three historic rivers when once bore the CLASSIC names Ol Sarus, Cydnus and Pyramus. Through the ages that they have coursed do|r the sides of the Taurus, Anti-TaurcG and Amamus mountains, they have brought down the weathered materials from their great slopes, and have bull 1 up at the head of the gulf a magni' fcent alluvial plain of about eigh | hundred square miles.
 This little plain once was the cross roads of civilization, through whicl ran the greatest highway between tht | East and the West on which stooC | Iarsus, Adana and Mopsuestia. Thi'
 great highway, decending from tn,
 Anatolian plateau to Tarsus, was bull | through a narrow defile called Ghulel
 Baghaz. Further to the east 1t pass
 ed through a masonry gate before. en tering the plain of Issus. From thi latter plain one road extended soutl and another north, each of then l through giant masonry gates.
 Tt is thought to have been due t
 the fact that Alexander knew noth ing of the pass to the north that Oar
 iuss was able to cross the mountain prior to Ehe battle of Issua. Fron | those tf9Nfes onward the Cilician Gate figured history, and the Cilfcian plai
 became a cockpit in which armie
 strove for mastery"
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
Stories of the War.
At the Fall of Belgrade

The curious subjective effect of in tense shell fire is described by Madame Slavko '. Grouitch, the American wife of the Serbian Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who has ar rived in Paris. She was in Belgrade throughout the bombardment.
 t11ty thousand shells fell in Bel grade on the first day of the bom- hardment," she said. The detona- tions were so continuous, the steady crash of shells exploding simultane- ously had the strange effect of de- prtving one of the power of action. It was not a sense of danger, but a sense of calm with which one heard these incessant explosion, so numerous that one might compare them to the discordant beating of a gigantic snare- drum. When time was so important most of us seemed to feel that we had plenty of time for everything.
 When news of the bombardment was communicated to the Allies it succeed ed only in evoking the opinion that iI was nothing more thar a demon streteea meant to draw on the Bull garians. This theory was accepted by the people, even in Belgrade, all the more because 1t was believed that French and English troops were even then on their way from Saloniki to NiSh, and possibly to Belgrade. No very grave concern was felt until the afternoon, y6eE the ipcessant severity of the firing. the wholesale destruction being done to he lower part of the town where many buildings were all ready on fire, and finally the tick-tack Of the machine guns proved that an l attack upon the island in the Save was being made for the purpose of land- in1. that people began to leave the | town. Admiral Trowbridge of the British naval detachment with the of. l HrAr= 1f I1i a faa xnyifh | ladies in a pretty summer house which ! only twenty hours later was de. raolished by the explosion of a shell.
 All day long the German aeroplanei two of them, hung over the city di' recting the fire. It was continuou!
 upon the roads leading out of the city It was the big guns that took thu heart out of our men. It was theil helplessness at being battered b!
 weapons far beyond the range of any,
 thing that we had which made it seen 1 20 hopeless. The position on the twt great hills beyond Belgrade, whicl had never before been captured, no even by the Turks, in all our history fell before the long 13-inch guns O the Austrians and Germans"
 Madame Grouitch made the retrea with the Serbian rear-guard She lief town after town in the morning which was occupied in the afternoon by Austrian and German pursuers l Later, the trip through the mountain
 to Saloniki was by horseback or b. cart through wild country.
 The reason officials and womel
 with them were among the last t
 leave places was because they did no want the population to be in a panic,
 explained Madame GrouitCh. Tt wa not possible for the Serbian govern
 ment to forbid people to leave thei
 homes, but it seemed far better fo them to stay where they lived rathe
 than to take the road without fooa O any means of transportation. and in desolate country. We did meet every whore parties of people along mountain
 roads and mere paths. When anybod, fell out in the fog they were lost be
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES.

Many of those who have been the most enthusiastic advocates of the presidential primary are today either lukewarm or openly opposed to the idea. It was considered to be the one best way of giving the people a chance Ito say who they wanted for their can- didate as president instead of leaving it to a convention. The plan was de- vised and presented because of the manner in which some of the conven- tions have been. conducted, but the working out Of the pra9td ,pri- mary. has failed to saGs0ndpl fish all that was expected of! it.
 1 Not only 11avs those who have Hesn favored for candidates srefused < to al- low their names to, be used on the primary ballots, but&even some o1 those who are considered to be antica. pating the nomination are unwilling that their name should be- considered until the delegates are assembled tir eonvention.
 There has also been. a general effort mAde in behalf yof faNorite sons. in fIch aaSsg -1ts meAng 4thatss if sta9E
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
GASOLINE FROM STALE
Yield of About 10 Per Cent. Gasoline and 35 Per Cent. Obtained From It.


 Tn view of the ever-increasing de- mand for gasoline and the increase in price of crude oil, from which it is obtained, it is important to know that an almost inexhaustible supply of oil may be obtained from tho sh1le of northwestern Colorado. northeast ern Utah, and southwestern wyoming. This shale contains materials which when heated. may be converted into crude oil, gas, and ammonia. The high cost of distilling oil from shale
 as compared to the cost of producing oil from wells has thus far prevent
 ed the development in this country of such an industry and may continue
 to prevent it for some time but soon- CT or later this great source of sup ply will be utilized to supplement
 the decreasing production from the
 regular oil fields.
 The oil derived from the shalc is similar to that which is being pro- duced from wells in the United States at the rate of more than 25O, | 0OO, 900 barrels a year. When refined | by ordinary methods the Shale oil yields an average of about 10 per cent gasoline, 3j per cent. kerosene, and q large amount of paraffin- The yield
 of gasoline from the shale may prob
 ably be largely increased by the use
 of refining methods especially de-
 signed for that purpose. The gas
 which is a very good Illuminating gas will perhaps be sufficient to furnish all the heat required to distl the | crude oil from the shale.
 | The ammonia is a most valuable | by-product of the distilation and may | be utilized in the manufacture oi
 commercial fertilizer or other ni.ro-
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
SHE FIXED HIS DESK

Foot Rulers would lunch at 12:3o and listen to the Hon. MT. Dubbs speak on 'Neckttes in the Philippines and things like thati My wife opened, read and dumped them
 At the very bottom it seems she found one of her letters to me writ ten while away last summer. Of course, I had opened that, all right, but it nearly broke up our happy who would leave around missives from the wife of his heart to be read by scrubladies and stenographers was an awful brute. That especial letter had nothing In 1t but request for a check and a reminder to be sure and come on the Friday boat, but the fact made no difference to her feelings. She disposed of every pile on that desk, hid my pens and erasers so well fresh desk blotter and sighed with sat- isfaction. I expect that if she could
 have tied bow of pink ribbon on the
 desk chair she'd have felt still better. T forgot to say one of the dusdeSt piles was important business memo
 randa jotted down on old envelopes and scraps, among them rfle measure
 ments of a building that had taken me five hours to get. And that was what came back to later! I'm still sJrug- gling bravely to adjust my life!" 'But," said the young married man, reprovingly, you really shouldn't have kept all that useless mess around, you
 know! It's a good thing to have it cleared out!"
 ''Aw shucks!" said the other gloom fly, maybe so-but I'd got used to | seeing it around and I miss its cherry face!"-Exchange
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

delegates are sent to conventions pledged for these men, 1t either means deadlock or the selection of can didate who has not had the consid- eFation, either of the people or of a large proportion of the delegates.
 With these conditions faced it is not surprising that there is a strong effort being made for sending unin- structed delegates to the national con- venton and by the selection of the
 best men to represent the different
 states, it is not believed that any mis- take will be made. In states where the presidential primary law has been adopted this cannot be done but the way in which the instructed delega- tions are going to be hampered is likely to put quick end to that kind of legislation.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

gen compounds. as the market de- mands. The United States Geologf- cal Survey has examined large areas of the shale in Colorado. Utah. and Wyoming and has made many dis tillation tests. Some beds of shole that are several feet thick will yield more than a barrel of oil to the ton of shale and one bed inches thick will yield more than two barrels of crude oil to the ton of shale. One ton of shale should therefore yield nearly 10 gallons of gasoline by the
 present commercial methods of gaso-
 line extraction. and larger yields may
 be made possible by new methods.
 Little attention has been paid to this shale because the quantity of pe- troleum produced from wells in the United States has been sufficient to
 satisfy all demands. but for more than
 90 years the oil shale industry of 1 Scotland has been a very important | one. Tn a recent year more than 5000 men were employed in the indus
 try in tha: country, yet the average yield of oil per ton Of shale was
 much less than that which appears possible from the shale of Colorado
 ard Utah. It is estimated that In Colorado alone there is sufficient shale | in beds 2 feet or more thick and | richer than the shale being mined in | Scotland. to yield twenty billion bar l rels of crude oil, from which at least | two billion barrels Of gasoline may
 be extracted by ordinary refining | processes.
 As was stated in the rectn reply Of | Secretary Lane to a senate resOlu- | tion on the subject of gasoline: The | development of this enormous reserve | simply awaits the time when the price | of gasoline or the demand for other ! distillation products warrants the | utilizati ton of this substitute scource. | This may happen in the future At all events these shales are likely 10 be drawn upon long before the ex- haustiOn of the petroleum fields" | -
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

thousands of horse power running to waste there. A water power company cannot obtain a license from the gov ernment that is not revocable on some excuse or other by a bureaucratic of ficial in Washington. There is no appeal to the courts against this of ficial. One company which did ven ture out into that field is said to have had a O,OO0, 900 investment taken away from it, and it was obliged to charge off that amount because of this bureaucratic system. What evidently is needed is that private capital be all lowed to develop this water power for a given term of years, without revo- cation, except on a court decision, of the Hcense.-Waterbury American.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
THE RECIPROCAL AGREEMENT

If this country has reached a thor ough understanding with Carranza re- garding the running down of Villa, and it is to be understood from the notes exchanged that such is a fact, it means good progress at the very start. This country has had no am- bition to become involved in war with any country, and it has none now, but 1t cannot tolerate such deliberate vio- lation of border rights as have been carried on by Villa and his army cul- minating in the raid upon Columbus.
 Carranza has obligated himself to stop such operations but in spite of all that he had done they continue. The time has therefore arrived when this country must act for its own pro- lection. Villa is the common enemy of both Mexico and this country. As long as he is at liberty it can be ex- pected that he will persist in terror izing the border and making life mis- erable for the subjects of other coun- tries.
 Understanding that Villa is not car rying on his operations with any sanction of the de facto government oi that country, but in opposition to ii for the purpose of weakening it, the reaching of an understanding between the two governments whereby both will unite in getting rid of the bandit leader promises, if fully adhered to, tc prevent any wrong ideas being gained as to the purpose of the United States expedition by the Mexican people, and with that possibility eliminated ar important obstacle has been removed With the constitutionaIist forces and those from this country cooperating there ought to be little difficulty 1T cornering and capturing Villa, whict act would mean the end of the opera. tions by the forces from this country
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

For the relief of suffering babies and little children in this country and in Europe. the Camp Fire Girls are mak- ing efforts in the week of March 11-1S to collect money and clothing. The appeal says: Little children are suffering untold miseries both in our country and in Europe. What is going on in Europe is enough to make us all unhappy is we only knew about it We go on with our work and play. little thinking of 1t. The newspapers can not make people unhappy all the time by publishing the dreadful things that are actually happening. Over there children are found wandering in the fields hungry and cold, crying for their parents. Babies are born every day, and the mothers not only have no dainty layouts for the little ones. but in many cases have no clothing at all many freeze and many starve to death" The picture shows Mrs. Eastburn, one of the Camp Fire Girls guardians"
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

My wife," said the very young mar ried man with i'll concealed pride. lis coming down to my office this after noon and"
 'Ts your wife a terribly neat wo- man?" anxiously inquired the middle aged married man.
 ''Why-why," stammered the young man in some surprise, why, of course she isl Why, Isabel"
 Then" broke in the other intense- ly clutching his coat lapel as he spoke, for your life don't leave her alone in your office for one minute! If you can't stand guard over her then be sure to tell your stenographer not to take her eyes from her and at the first faint indication of trouble to rush for janftor or elevator man! She"
 ''Wh- what do you mean?" gasPed the young married man.
 "Listen." proceeded the older man My wife came down to my office too, last week unexpectedly. She said it occurred to her how nice 1t would be to surprise me and she was very in- dignant that I was not there to be surprised. My stenographer told me so when I insisted on details. My wife said that, inasmuch as she didn't get over as far as LaSalle street once in purple moon, she didn't see why should choose that precise time to go out. Then she began wandering around waiting for me. until she his my desk. Miss Keys says she gave a sort of strangled moan and pressed her hand to her brow as though il really were more than human woman could bear!
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

bread to a prisoner did so by going without himself"
 The Germans and Austrians so far as Madame Grouitch has been inform cd, have treated the Serbian popuia- ton kindly. There have been no atrocities. so far as she has heard, eX- cept the terrible things done by the Bulgarians in the South"
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

What has been called the heavy hand of strangulation" has been laid on al water power production. but it especially affects the northwest. The hard times are still along the Pacific coast and in that general region. One reason given by those who live there is that all private initiative Is so con trolled that capital cannot be found for investment in new enterprises. And no wonder Take the et5te of Oregon. There are thousands upon
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
Elrat Time in History.

This is the first time we can recall when st would have been safe for For tugzl to undertake to whip Germany, Austria Bulgaria and the Turk all at one time.-Indianapolis Star.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

Unless this country feels pretty cer-
 tain of Carranza's position, 1t doesn't tappear to be a wise move to stock him [ up with all the arms and ammunition he can take.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

From the speed with which Car ranza's men have, surrounded Villa, and allowed him no chance to escape lit is time plans were made for an-
 other public execution.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

When appeals are made in England to economize in clothes it probably has no reference to further abbrevia- ton of evening gowns.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

Reference is made to the fact that despite negotiations the torpedoing
 goes on steadily. That has been a
 characteristic feature of Teutonic methods.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

The reported mutiny among German troops and the decision to issue po- tato cards in Berlin indicate that all the suffering is not on the battlehelds.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

Now that it is denied that there are inhabitants on Mars, that relieves one
 | danger of any interplanetary squab- bles.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

The latest from Col. Roosevelt is
 l that he Is sending messages and mak-
 ing speeches, and yet he went to the | West Indies to get out of the public
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

From all accounts it must be inn possible to tell by the noise whether there is letup in or resumption of the attack before Verdun.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

The man on the corner says: Not withstanding the scarcity of dyestuffs, one sees a red nose here and there.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

It Is remarkable, but still believea.ble on the reasons given, that the New Haven road is making less net profit than it did year ago, notwtthstand ing that it is handling from thirty three to sixty per cent. more business now than 1t did then. Of course there are correspondingly larger receipts for example the gross income for Janu- ary this year is S300,O00 more than was that of January last year. while the net corporate income was $140O0O less. This is accounted for in vari- ous ways but chiefly and above all by a certain congestion of freight that TO suited in slow movement of loaded cars, and involving at the same time much payment of entirely profitless overtime. Moreover there were an unpreceded amount of denurrage charges, and charges for about 10000 cars belonging to other roads, or twice as many as the New Haven cars de- tained on other lines. In short, strange as it may seem at first sight, the read is losing money by having more busi- Eess on hand than its normal facilities enable it to do economically. - Stam- ford Advocate.
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15

Those members of congress who voted against standing up for the rights of their country took a position which is likely to give them consider
Norwich bulletin., 1916-03-15
EDITORIAL NOTES.

If the elections in Maine cities in dicate anything this is an old time republican year