The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1917-05-23

mittee submitted to the senate the
greatest war budget In the history Of
the nation, the total being nearly 49,
4O00O0,0OO. All the week the house
debated the war revenue bill.
Aggravated by criticisms of con-
gress for it's alleged dilatoriness in the
matter of war legislation, many sena-
tors on Wednesday bitterly attacked
the war policies of the government.
Their especial targets were Secretary
of War Baker, the advisory commits
sion of the Council of National De
tense, the car efficiency committee OF
the American Railway association, pro-
pOsal of a food dictatorship and plans
for fixing maximum and minimum
prices. The outbursts of the senator's
showed they were speaking In large
measure in behalf of the business con-
Germs of their respective localities who,
they asserted, had had no chance to
get government contracts.
Trading in Futures Stopped.
Food supply matters in America
moved rapidly toward a crisis last
week. Actuated presumably by the
Investigations of the government into
gambling in foodstuffs, and by the ire
mendous rise in the price of wheat,
the Chicago board of trade and the
grain exchanges of several ether mid
die West cities put a stop to trading
in futures. Wheat and flour prices
fell promptly and decisively. The gov
eminent gathered the necessary data
for prosecution Of the wheat gamblers,
and then got after the butter and egg
men. The government also came to
the conclusion that the exorbitant
prices of wheat and flour were due In
part to the gigantic wheat buying OPP
eratiOns of Great Britain and France,
and asked them to dispose of their i'm
mense holdings of grain for future de-
livery. This the allies agreed to do,
and they also agreed to cooperate
with the United States In a pooling
system to apportionate exports.
All in a position to know scout the
idea that there will be an insufficiency
of food In this country. The problem
is to regulate the distribution and the
exports.
HoIweg Won't Talk of Terms.
The imperial rulers of Germany are
not yet holding out an available perch
upon which the dove Of peace might
alight. Stubbornly resisting the prod
ding of both the pan-Germans and the
Socialists, the chancellor, Doctor Holl-
veg, on Tuesday told the reichstag
and the world that the time was not
fitting for a statement of Germany's
war aims or peace terms. The mill
tary situation Of the central powers,
he declared, was satisfactory, and he
intimated that they were ready to grant
liberal terms to Russia, if that strug-
Cling nation desired to get out of the
conflict. But he asserted there was no
reason to believe England and France
would at present listen to any PROPOSE
tons from Germany, and to make any
would be construed by them as an evil
dence of weakening. On the whole,
the chancellor's speech was bold and
defiant, and his position does not seem
to be weakened, despite the continued
attacks on him. The most startling
of these attacks last week was made
by GeOrg Ledebour, Socialist leader,
who warned the reichstag that events
must happen in Germany as they have
in Russia and that the people must
ir1+n FN1Ihl IL In
Though such sentiments are support
ed by many, it is likely the mass of
opinion in the empire is better repre-
scented by Herr Roesicke, president Of
the German Farmers union, who de-
nounced the Socialist aims as sinister
and anti-natiOnal, and as tending to a
prolongation of the war since, as he
declared the entente based their
hopes on German disunion
president Wilson," Herr Roesicke
continued, wants no peace with the
HohenZollerns, but the monarchy is too
deeply rooted in German hearts for
the malignity of the entente or of
President Wilson to be capable Of de-
stroying it."
Developments In Russia.
After much travail the Russians
managed to settle the crisis in that
country by the formation of a coalition
cabinet in which all elements, includ-
ing the workmen, the soldiers and even
the peasants, are represented. Prince
Lvoff. the premier, then announced
that for the first time they had gov
eminent that would combine both
moral authority and material power.
The e-without-annexatio s-or-in-
IDENTITIES factions still adhere to that
policy, but all seem agreed that the