davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
STORIES OF THE WAR
The Armenian Situation

The following communication just received by cable from Lord Bryce, gives an unusually clear statement of tn Armenian situation"
 In the history of the early Christian church there are no figures so glorious, none which have continued to be so much honored by the church all trough its latter days as those of the martyrs, men and women who from the time of Nero down to that Dio- cletian sealed with their blood the tes- timony to their faith withstanding every lure and every threat in order to preserve their loyalty to their Lord and Master Christ
 InAour own times we have seen this example of fidelity repeated in the Turkish Empire and it is strange that the Christians of Europe and America should not have been more moved b. the examples of courage and heroic de- votion which the Armenian Christians have given. Of the seven or eight hundred thousand of Armenians who have perished in the recent massacres many thousands have died as martyrs by which I men they lave died, for their Christian faith when they could have saved their lives by renouncing it. This has perhaps not been realized
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
PROPER SENATORIAL MATERIAL

At tfAs time when a dozen senators have come in for so much criticism for the unpatriotic stand which they took relative to the armed neutrality bill calling forth as it did not only condemnation from the states which they represented but from, the whole country, it is refreshing te5know that some of them at least are being re- placed h9 senators who hold different opinions. These states must be con graduating themselves that the change has been made and that they will get henceforth representation which is in accord with their ideas.
 This is particularly true in the case of Frank B. Kellogg of Minnesotas who succeeds Senator CIapp. He is by no means unknown for he, has figured in the limelight of publicity through his activities as federal prosecutor. but he displays his Americanisna :n the proper manner, when in a letter writ ten since he was sworn ain as ma tional legislator he says:
 "I certainly shall vote for an armed neutrality bill which authorizes the president to arm merchant ships to protect American lives against unlaw- full attack by submarines if such a bin again comes before the senate. I will not vote to prevent Americans from
 
 ships of belligerent, neutral or Ameri- can registry or to close the oceans to American commerce. I shall never lend my influence to make this great and enlightened democracy the first nation to take the backward step and close the pathways of the oceans at the request of any or all belligerent nations.
 'I will not vote for referendum on the question of war or to submit to plebiscite the question of whether this country will protect its citizens. The Constitution of the United States places the power and responsibility of declaring war in congress"
 That has the proper ring. It is straightforward and pointed and indi- tates that Minnesota has sent to tho senate the material which is needed in the makeup of that body.
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13

ing floods in the Mississippi valley. the understanding being, however. that the sum to be used annually should not exceed $Ie. .00o, 600. It can be fead- fly appreciated that if the expendi- ture of that amount each year can re- suit in the prevention :. of the great losses which occasionally result from flood conditions. it will have been put to a most admirable use and the coun- try will have been saved many times that amount through the prev xention of the waste and rendering unneces- sary the contributions which are made in the extension of relief. It would have been gratifying if such large sums as have been appropriated to make up for flood losses and re- sulting conditions could have been de- voted at the proper time to preventive work and thus have avoided the de- plorab1e conditions
 In connection with this flood control appropriation. a provision which calls for much cernmendation is that which makes it necessary for the interests directly involved to spend a sum equal to half Of the sum to be authorized by the federal commission. This means that the states or the towns that are tn the danger zone must manifest an interest in the work and bear a cer- tain part of the burden and it will be the willingness on the part of such interests which will determine the use of the government grant
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

must be used which will cost a large sum of money as the wood lots have all been cut over and there is no tim Der with which to make fence rails.
 A large amount of labor must be used to get this land so it will be productive. There is no barn fertili- ze. on this land and some of it has been neglected for 40 years or more, so a chance for good crops is out of the question. This land has become sword-bound and must be p1owed deep and narrowed up before it is in con dition to plant This requires teams and labor to do it. Where are the less this land is fertilizes when pre- pared it will raise a small and poor crCp. --- s4S- |
 The men on these. farms are poor men and have little money to fix up these farms These farmers cannot afford to buy horses to do this work. The only way is for them to raise oxen gone to waste and ruin and no effort en the part of the owners can save them from almost total loss If these farms are ever saved from utter de- struction must be done by some form of county or state paternalfsm
 Count agents, granges and agricuI- tural societies may resolve what ought to be done. but work is the only sal vation. If county or state aid could be furnished in the shape of labor to help these farmers out something might be done. It is worlxi worl1i on these farms that will make them worth something. Resolutions by con- ventions of agricultural societies will not save these farms from decay and ruin.
 DanieISon March 10 1qt7
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
Universal Military Traininq.

MT. Editor: I am writing you on the assumption that yourself and the principle citizens of your community, are always willing to do what you can for your own town and that you are especially willing to lend your in 1uence to anything which will pro- mote the security and save the lives of your fellow citizens.
 You are doubtless aware that we are at critical time in our life as a na- ton. far more critical than most men realize. A navy sufficient to restore our safety at sea is yet to be built. Last years scheme to give us an army has failed. Even if the regular army as provided by the legislation of the last session of congress were sufficient in size to rePel an invasion the rate at which recruiting proceeds presages failure and the mobilization of the National Guard on the border proves conclusively that if our nation depends upon such a system for defense this fallacy will produce immense disas- ters in the future, as it has done in the past.
 Of the total number on the rolls of the National Guard at the call for mo- bilization nearly 47,657 were lost on account of physical disability, or for other reasons.
 Of the total number who went to the border 12S ,00O-nearly one-half, or SO 900 were without any military training; 6.S13 had never fired mil itary rifle. and only 37 per cent Of those who were enrolled when the call came were mustered into the service. Therefore had our troops been called upon to face the troops of a first class or even a second class power, the most appalling slaughter of our own people would have been inevita- bIe.
 These figures are significant, but they are especially prophetic when you recall that in peace times one foreign nation can land S27,000 trained soldiers on our Atlantic coast in 46 days, another nation at present can land 23S, 900 seasoned troops on our Pacific coast in 63 days. Is it wise longer to leave our homes and our families unprotected when we can so easily raise an effective barrier against wars reaching to our own shores?
 Universal military training and ser- vice is now our only safeguard against general disaster should war come with a first class military power. Without it we will never have an army sufn- cient to inspire the respect of preda- tory nations, and in the name of hu- manity and of patriotism, I ask you for the sake of the men and women of your own city. to give your infu- ence to bring about this much needed change in our military system. If war comes as the result of our present, al- most criminal negligence :t will carry off the young men of your city just as have past wars, so what better ser vice could you render your fellow eltl- zenS than by helping so to shape con- ditions that we shall be madestoo Se- cure to warrant any nation in attack ing us?
 Yours very truly.
 HENRY A. WISE WOOD, Chairman.
 New York, March 2. 1917.
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13

\ We've been having a lot of excite ment up our way" said the man from he settled down for the last five min- utes of the ride to the city. Your neighborhood will be having nervous protration soon if you don't quiet down, said the man from Woodlawn.
 I'm not worrying about the neigh bors," declared the Hyde Park man. My own shattereda nervous system congresses my entire attention. What has stirred me up this time is Imo- geneis plan to grow winter blooming tulips and hyacinths. She said last fall that she was tired of trying to grow bulbs in the house the way other women did and getting large crop of green jungle and no Blossoms There must be, she insisted, some successful way Of growing winter flowers, for didn't florists grow them and make you pay all kinds of prices when you tried to buy the things in the middle of a snowstorm? Didn't she have as much intelligence as florist? Then why
 You get me, of course.
 'Tmogene ran around to several greenhouses" related the Hyde Park
 man. @She came home triumphant and told me that growing tulips and hyaminths in winter was so shocking ly simple she was ashamed of herself for not having figured it out alone. All you had to do she said was copy nature. If you stuck bulbs into the ground in the fall and let them stay through the freezing weather they would reward you in the spring with gorgeous blooms. What she had to do, therefore, was to stick bulbs in flower pots and then stick the flower pots down in the ground and dig them up about the middle of winter, taking them into the house and deceiving the bulbs into thinking that spring had comei
 'Imogene filled a dozen pots with assorted bulbs and then neighbors be- gan to come over and ask whether the city had been consulted about our us- ing the back yard as burial ground. did not blame them, for Imogene had caused the man of all work to excavate a gravelike hole to accom- modate the pots. Then she had the earth put over them and the place covered with leaves to prevent freez- ing, she said. After that she waited until to-day, when she decided it was time to proceed to the next stage.
 She said she chose to-day to start digging up the bulbs because it was so very wintry that it made one think of spring. After she painstakingly
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13

MT. Editor: Farming in eastern Con necticut has become a thing of the past. The land has been so long neg lected it will not produce fair crop. Some recommend sheep-raising; this cannot be done The ravages from dogs have demonstrated in the last few years that this project is a disast- fous failure. It is simply a loss of time and money for farmers to think of raising sheep. Some of the land has so long been neglected that 1t is a loss to a man to try to make a suc- cess of farming in this vicinity.
 There is one town in Windham county which has a tract or zone of 4,000 or more acres which is sadly neglected. Sixty years ago this tract of land supported 20 yoi<es of oxen and 75 head of other cattle This same tract has not sseen a yoke of oxen on it for years. It has now not to ex- ceed Is head of catIe and one pair of horses which works on the. road team = ing most of the time. These farms 50 or 60 years ago were all well fenced with wooden rails cut from the farm. Now these fences have all routed down and no fences are on these farms
 The pastures on these farms were kept clear of. brush. Now those pas- lures have all grown up to bushes, briars and bramhles and will not feed cattle. The only sound in this once broad field is the crack of the sports mans gun. Nearly one-half of the farms named in this tract of land are now deserted. These farms mus: now be fenced to divide the pasture from the moving land. A wire fence
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13

even by those who in Europe or America have read of and been horri- fled b ythe wholesale slaughter and hideous cruelties by which half of an ancient nation has been exterminated. They can hardly understand how there should be religious persecution in our time; so let me try to explain the facts.
 It was not religious fanaticism that led the present rulers of Turkey to seek to root out Christianity. So far from being fanatics most of these men though nominally MohammedanS have political. z They wanted to make the whole Turkish Empire Mohammedan in order to make it uniform with only one creed and no differences between one class of subjects and another. They saw that the Christian part of the popultion suffering under constant oppression and crueltieS, continued to tur it's eyes westward and hope for some redress fro mthe Christian na- tions; so they determined to eliminate Christianity altogether.
 During these recent massacres wien- ever any Christian would turn Moham- medan his life was spared It was only as Christian that he was killed. Many a Christian child was torn from it's parents to be brought up as a Mussulman. Thousands of Armenian Christian girls were sold in the market or distributed among Turkish officers to be imprisoned for life in Turkish harems and there forced into Moham- mechanism. But many more thousands of Armenians, women as we'll as men, were offered their choice between Christ and Mohammed and when they refused Mohammed were shot or drowned forthwith. For days and days together the bodies of Christian women who had thus perished were seen floating down the Euphrates.
 Surely the remains of this suffering
 nation could make no stronger appeal for pity and help to the Christians of It is still a sorely afflicted remnant. America than they make through these
 martyr deaths. Only a remnant is now left to whom charity can be extended. Some in territory occupied by the Rus sian army though safe fro mtheir fe- rocious enemies are in sad need of help to rebuild their homes and cultivate once more their ravaged fields. The condition of others is even worse. They are barely supporting life in the deserts of Northern Syria where their oppressors watch their sufferings under hunger and disease and refuse to all leviate their agonies. There is still however a chance for relief to reach them and their friends in Europe hope that generous charity of America much as it has already done will respond once more to the appeal made to it to send aid to these helpless survivors of an ancient Christian people
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
sKiMmEp MILK.

Tn looking about for methods of de- creasing the cost of living and over coming the great amount of waste which takes place throughout the country each year, it is not surprising that the department of agriculture calls attention to skinned milk. which it figures is thrown away to the extent of 17.00o. 100000 gallons every twelve months
 this is one of the ways in which the consumer can bring about a saving but it would also mean the prevention of a large amount of waste on the part of those who have large quanti- ties of it and have no other use for it than to feed it to the pigs or throw it away. It wasn't so many years ago that certain peddlers found it profit able to make business of selling skinned milk. There are those to- day who sell it for what it actually is but according to the departments fig ures there is an opportunity for many more to engage in that business. Care must be taken to see that it is not pa1ned off for the real article but with proper supervision this can be govern ed and what is now a loss turned to a. profit.
 The skinned product yields a con siderable amount of protein as we'll as properties that make it not only proper but. of value as factor in nourishment. Food can be greatly inn proved If it is used in place of water. luce the annual waste which takes place in this respect and certainly it would in no way be injurious to the health
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
eERMANY,s ANSWER.

If an answer was being awaited rel ative to what Germany was going to do about passing the Belgian relief ships. it must be looked upon as hav- ing been given by the treatment which was accorded the Storstad. This was a Norwegian vessel but was engaged in Belgian relief work and was on its way to Rotterdam with a cargo of maize for the people of Belgium hav- ing come from South America and was taking the northerly route in accord ance with German orders.
 The vessel was not only flying the Norwegian flag but it was also carry ing the flag of the Belgian relief com mission and both of these with the name. of vessel and the service it was engaged in were painted on it's sides. The vessel was bound for a neutral port and it's cargo could in no way have been diverted to use by the a1- lies.
 The sinking of this Vessel like the destruction of the other grain ships by the German submarines shows what an attitude Berlin is taking towards the carrying of relief to the nation which has been so unjustly and harsh ly treated. Germany is not only doing its utmost to depopulate and impov- erish Belgium but it is blocking at every opportunity whatever efforts are being made to relieve the suffer ings of non combatant people and the denial Of such aid is simply piling up the number of outrages which have been committed against them since the opening of the war. and it is a blow which results in no military ad- vantage to- the aggressor and which is no way handieaps their opponents.
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
'AFrER-rHE-wAR PROBLEMS.

Many have asked, the question, Af- ter the war. what 2?-r And many are stiii asking it. Well, there will be many changes after the war and it is impossible to tell today just what they will be- It is impossible to say what the territorial. limits of the dif- ferent belligerent countries will even tualIy be. any more than it can be told just what it will cost to repair the damage that has been done by the armies, or what the burden of taxa ton is going to be for the people of the several countries and how long it will last in order to recoup the finan- cial losses that have been occasioned by the war.
 But each and every one of the countries, as we'll as many of the neu- trals. is bound to feel the effects for a long period of years 70 come. It will be handed on from generation to generation.
 This is always to be expected when nothing in the way of life and ex- pense is allowed to stand in the way of victory. Some idea of what it is going to mean can be gathered from the establishment of a new pension plan in Great Britain under which privates totally disabled will receive a minimum weekly sum of Se.s7 or an alternate pension based on their earn ings previous to the war. It is esti- mated according to this plan that it will cost SIPS. 100000 the first year and gradually decrease thereafter, but that Is only one of the many ways in which money raised by taxation will have to be used following the war There are the widows and orphans, the great war debts. the destroyed villages and cities to be restored. to say nothing of the wrecked factories and enterprises which must be rees- tablished. The after -the-war problem is almost as difficult to imagine as some of the conditions which actually exist among the countries at war
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
Danielson, March 12. 1917.
That Petition fo- Addie Burns, Release

That Petition fo- Addie Burns Release MT. Editor: The signing of a peti- tlon for the release Of Addie Burns by few names conspicuous in Norwich society, by no means expresses the opinions of a vast number of mothers whose daughters vacations daily bring them into contact with the Heutenants and assistants of such creatures as Addie Burns.
 Why such morbid seutimentalityI In the sentence Christ would have inn posed upon her there is not a trace of leniency, charity or mercy-onIy death.
 Why do we have any laws if they are not to be fulfilled?
 Would the mother of the little child whose bright young life was so horri- ply blackened by that most heinouS crime of Addie Burns consider her to- tally bad2
 Would the grief-stricken relatives and former friends of little Mary Ba- ker-the noble little girl whose loyal consideration of them failed to reveal her identity, her birth record, and her whereabouts and brought a light sen tence upon those guilty of the same crime as Addie Burns-sign that peti- ton?
 If ray of repentance has frightened the conscience of Addie Burns she has found more peace and joy within those prison walls than she ever realized before and the remaining years will do more for her.
 B. c. A. Norwich, March 12, 1917.
Norwich bulletin., 1917-03-13
WINTER BLOSSOMS

, picked off all the layers of solid1y frozen leaves she found that the ground rang like iron under her trusty trowel.
 T felt sorry for Imogene, so after breakfast I let a train go by in order to help her. Standing ankle deep in snow wf1aci<ed the ground with the ax and the head flew off and bounded over next door through the top of the Blalxes new chicken coop. Naturally Blake came out to ask what meant by that. Then other neighlbors, seeing Blake standing there in the whirling brandishing an ax, dropped their mornings occupations and hastened to view the affair at close range. We could have charged s1 apiece for kitchen windows and made good money. The next time chopped the ground I dislodged a large chunk of earth which hit me in the eye and put me out of commission.
 Then I put the man of all work on the job with a chiSe1 and a crowbar. After toiling an hour he handed over the tools, explaining that as he was beyond him. Imogene then declared that she was going to get those buried flower pots if she had to use dyna- mite. She continued to whack the icy that such a fine woman should have lost her wits.
 Suddenly Imogene had an inspira- ton. She said she would pour boil ing water on the ground while I chop ped. So presently we staged that an- imated tableau for the assembled pop ulace. You know, it is impossible to go out in a snowstorm with a teakettle full of water and an ax and do dym- naStics without attracting attention. People roundabout telephoned all their friends to hurry over and see the show.
 Finally I managed to hack out a large chunk of earth and we eased out flower pot, but when we gouged off the frozen covering the three inches of bulb shoot already started came away also. Thereupon Imogene burst into sobs and cast herself upon my chest, at the same time dropping the teakettIe in such a way that the con- tents went down the inside of my shoe. I added an intricate and en- tirely original dance to the already elaborate prograIn.~ So Imogene will have to buy her flowers of the florist after adli'
 T believe she will enjoy that better, any way" said the Woodlawn man. Chicago News.