Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-04-14
EVENTS OF A WEEK

q $50 n e mas pdaSeQ IL any noteworthy 0VeHt
4o< . military nature in the war between the United States
Germany. There have been rumors OF German craft
Z OF New England and in the Gulf. and an unverihed. but
quite circumstantial story Of the sinking Of an American
y or. Il there was one. has been inactive. and the story Of
the alleged southern sinking has been denied by the Gu
ban government
Z Austria did the expected thing in severing her re-
|, latons with the United States. This occurred on Mon
{ day. Baron Zwidenek, the official in charge of Austrian
affairs at Washington. acting under instructions from
= his government. asked for his passports, and arrange
ments have been undertaken for the removal of the Off
! cial representatives Of each country from the territory Of
the other. Following the break a number of Austrian
!. ships in American harbors were taken in charge by tho
: American government. and their crews were placed I'M
3 dor close surveillance. The ships seized were found, in
Z Z time.
! The war activities Of tho week in the United States
may be summarized under the word preparation" This
work has been in progress through a hundred different
channels. Army recruiting has gone on apace, and the
: regular army has now been increased to about its maxi
mum peace strength, some 100000 men. Several addi-
tonal bodies OF the National Guard have been called out.
! and 1t is expected that within a very short time the en-
s tire force will be In service. Naval officers are busy all
:, over the country gathering in recruits.
While the man power of the country has been in
: process Of organization, there has been fully as great
: activity in the pushing forward Of arrangements for sup
. plying our armed forces with the war material that they
need, and for conserving supplies of food and all other
: material in such a manner that when the time for real
/ armed activity comes there will be as few complications
as possible from the unprepared state Of the country to
I stand the strain of war.
Some slight conception of the estimate placed by
I the lawmakers Of the country on the gravity of the war
/ situation, and the need for making the most complete
possible preparation, may be obtained from the fact
that congress is now considering, with the practical GER
tsinty Of its adoption with merely formal debate, of bills
appropriating over seven billion dollars for war purposes.
A little over twenty years ago orators pointed with alarm
to the fact that a single congress. during its two years
existence had appropriated a billion dollars for all pub
lie purposes. Gradually the country grew accustomed
to billion dollar congresses, and for some time billion
dollar sessions have been quite common. This single bill
appropriates for war purposes about seven times as much
4 as has ever been appropriated for the entire operation
Of the American government for a whole year.
Tho statement that America can feed the world
has been made so often, has been SO generally accepted.
and has seemed to have such a solid basis Of actual fact
that the idea of a food shortage in the United States is
as far outside the conceptions Of most of our people as
1 the possibility Of war has been. But we are just begin
ming to grasp vaguely the possibility that America will
need to exercise the best kind of forethought and good
mana cement in order to be able to feed herself. We
have been as lavish with our food supplies as the back
woodsmen were with their timber. and have thrown
foods right and left because it was easier to produce
more than it was to take care Of what we had. The war
is shocking us into a realization that there may, in this
country. be hunger because there Is not enough food to
go around.
The government is bending its best energies to the
81 solution or'the 1000 problem. Problems OF transporter
ton and distribution, of providing seed. Of supplying
farm labor. and a hundred others are being studied by
men of scientific training, and there is ground for sat
isfaction in the fact that Herbert c. Hoover, late head
Of the Belgian relief commission. has been chosen by
the National Defense council to head the national food
commission that has Just been organized. Mr.. Hoover
has demonstrated his ability to handle a complicated
4 problem of this character, and his appointment will Gre
ate q feeling Of confidence at once.
Among the other war measures taken is that taken
w ~nA>~kI~ $o-n~d $1o h,{1di~ ~ = mn Pae% Iot$ voOdor
ships for commercial purposes. One Of the reasons ad-
vanced for the decadence OF our merchant marine Is
that European shipbunders took to building iron ship.
during the period of our enforced inactivity, and that
when our builders, who had held to the tradition of
81 wooden ships started again upon their work they found
Af that their methods were out of date and the business
which had thus slipped away from them, has never been
regained. But as the war has forced a return TO- a num-
Der Of ancient methods which it was supposed had been
/ abandoned for good, so we are again to gee the little
wooden vessel breasting the seas az Of old.
49, One Of the reasons for the building of a large num-
bsr Of small vessels rather than an equal tonnage in
Is6swer ships is that the work can be so distributed as to
- done more quickly, and the ships can be so stand
aEdissd that certain parts can be made in great quaint
t5ss IN factories suitably equipped, and the assembling
lean - dons elsewhere. Another reason is that tho risk
ks1romS Submarines will be diminished. A torpedo from
a submarine Will destroy any ship. big or little. But II
k@athArs&ars many ships instead of few, the proportion of
f#3oaDss WIN be smaller. Again, torpedoes are costly
4ainel and. no, submarine can carry many Of them. This
a%Gfuaon q 1Ak will therefore operate In several ways
Ito IL dstriment of the enemy. General Goethals has
Ehssn phesd in charge Of the governments ship. build
EsnS.which Il . guarantee that It viii be done promptly
E6aAgM Z workmanlike manner.
HAA . . t
hbs1 situation has given a good many govern
ssnss for anxiety. Assurances have been given
E G106k1enal Defsnse council by President Gompsrs. Of
q EGesnan Federation of.LAbor, that the government
a4xSS - No embarrassment from the actions Of organ
= e11E 2S1e@Aurtn the war. He declares that the Nom.
~ r. IN organisations which he heads will do nothing
31l1 & ~ smeisncy Of the government, and he takes
BS76saa1sd that neither employers nor employees Will
a1eyyaAAkass d the conditions created by the war to
s1nGnag csnditions.
MnSM4E fss@geeurse of Cuba and Pananna, ssvsral
H4A1I 4 csntsal A1nsrtoan rsDublias hass takan