, 1917-08-30

The threat of the L. w. W. to tie up
the industries of the West, including
the harvest, If their leaders were not
released was met promptly by the ar
rest of n lot more of the gang. and the
great strike fizzled out miserably. No
sooner was this trouble passed han the
machinists and boilermakers, employed
in the Atlantic coast %shipyards, were
called on to quit. This of course would
put a stop to vast mounts of govern
ment naval work, and the United
States mediators got busy at once. Sew
eral thousand men stopped work. but
most of them either pledged Secretary
Daniels that they would not quit, or
delayed action until q vote could be
taken
President Cuts Coal Prices.
Having started Mr.. Hoover well on
the food conservation campaign, Pres
ident Wilson last week turned to the
almost equally pressing coal problem,
which for several weeks had been ex-
ercising the wits of various state adj
ministrations. Having studied the pro-
duction cost figures supplied him by
the trade commission, the president is
sued an executive order fixing a tenta-
tive scale of prices for bituminous coal
at the mines in nearly all coal produc-
ing districts of the country. These
prices in some instances are more than
81 n ton below the voluntary prices
fixed at the conference last June. The
scale is subject to change when a meth
cd of administering the fuel supplies
1f thN ,,pfr Has h4A. lntA,ry,al
and put into operation.
Later in the week the president
named DR.. Harry Garfield fuel admin
%istrator, fixed anthracite prices for
producers and jobbers and set a limit
on profits to be made by bituminous
wholesalers.
The senate spent most of the week
in consideration Of the revenue bill
Among other things 1t increased he
finance committees income tax pro-
visions by n total return to the treas
ury Of S~73,00O,0OO, adopting unanimous
ly the Gerry amendment. which adds
S40,0O0.0O0 to the returns from in
comes of half a million and over.
Japan's Mission in Washington.
The imperial Japanese mission was
formally received in Washington by
Secretary Lansing and other govern
ment officials on Wednesday. Its head,
Viscount Ishii, made 1t clear that the
mission has come not on a commercial
or political errand, but to decide on
how the two nations can best coop
crate, in both a military and an eco
nomic sense, in carrying on the war.
The neutral countries of Europe-so-
called, though no country there is my
longer really neutral-are still trying
to get around the American embargo
that is so painful to their pocketbOoks
and their stomachs; but the indica-
tons are that unless they quit supply
ing Germany with foodstuffs, their suf-
fering will only increase. Switzerland
and Holland, which depend on Ger
many for coal, have contracted to lend
the kaiser large sums in return for the
privilege of continuing to buy their fuel
from his country.
Hungary took a real step toward
characterization and freedom from Ger
man n Austrian influence in the APP
pOintment of DR.. Alexander Wekerle
as Hungarian premier, to succeed Es-
terhazy. The new premier Is popular,
Democratic, a financial genius and is
known to be no friend of Germany.
The new nationalist movement in Hun
gary has attained great strength, and 1t
is said King Charles Is in complete har-
mony with the desires of the nation.
German aviators distinguished them
selves last week by another raid Oh
English coast towns in which IL per
sons were killed, and by deliberately
bombing two French hospitals behind
the Verdun lines and then shooting
down the doctors and nurses, who were
trying to rescue the wounded soldiers
from the resulting confiagration. IL
would seem that the chivalry of avi-
ators Is one-sided.
Negro soldiers of the Twenty-fourth
United States infantry, stationed at
Houston, Tex, as guards during the
construction of Camp Logan, started a
serious race riot, in which a dozen
white civilians, police officers and M
tional Guardsmen, and a number of ne
groes were killed, and more II F"
score wounded. Among the dead was
Capt. j. w. Mates, Battery A, Secohu
Illinois field artillery, who was trying
Tn rpStnra nrdar