Mexico Missouri message., 1917-10-18

without annexations or Indemnities,
Austrla-Hungary would revise its pro-
gram and demand compensation for
further costs of war. He said his
country had proved that 1t was per-
fectly sound and could not be over
thrown by force of arms, and conse-
quently was In position simultaneously
with its allies to lay aside arms and
regulate conflicts by arbitration. Aus
tria-Hungary certainly seems Just now
to be more united against the idea of
separate peace, despite the feeling
of the CrOats and other of It's peoples,
and foreign correspondents warn the
United States that neither Bulgaria
nor Turkey is likely to separate itself
from Germany; they must be whipped
together or not at all.
Count Czernin's bold words are
scarcely supported by the develop
ments on the Austro-Italian front, for
though the Austrians have been hang
Ing on desperately to the edge of the
Bainsizzi plateau and making repeated
attacks to recover lost ground, the
Italians have not yielded an inch.
There were indications that Cadorna
was about ready for a renewal of his
offensive, and that the enemy expect
this was shown by the rushing west
ward of large numbers of Austrian
and German troops from Bukowina
and Roumania.
kerensky Plan Voted Down.
If only Russia were In condition to
take advantage of this troop move
ment, 1t might accomplish much. But
Russia is still struggling with its in
ternal affairs, and only In the Riga
sector are its soldiers showing any
disposition to fight. Up there they
pushed the Germans back In several
places. Meanwhile, Premier Kerensky
Is having desperate trouble in estab-
fishing a firm government. He ap-
peared before the democratic congress
and used very plain, even defiant Ian
guage, which at first had its effect in
vote approving a coalition cabinet.
But next day the BolshevIkists and
other extremists gained control of the
gathering and voted down the plan.
To add to the perplexities Of the pro-
visional government, q serious revolt
broke out in Turkestan.
The allies are following the lead of
America in cutting off supplies from
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Hol-
land, the action determined on being
not joint but uniform. Last week
Great Britain extended the principle
heretofore followed by prohibiting the
unlicensed expectation to those coun-
tries of all articles except printed mat
ter and personal effects.
Air Raids to Bring ReprlsaIs7
Repeatedly last week the German
air fleets raided London and the towns
and countryside of Kent and Essex.
Flock after flock of great airplanes
few across and dropped their loads Of
bombs, killing few civilians and do
ing some damage TO property. Not
many of the deadly missiles fell on
London, for the antl-aircraft guns put
| up q barrage fire that ringed the city.
These raids reused the people and
press of England to renewed demands
for reprisals, and the government
seems to be ready at last to yield to
the demand, for Premier Lloyd George
said to a crowd OF poor people In the
southwest district Of London who
clamored for revenge: "We will give
It all back to them, and we will give 1t
to them soon. We shall bomb Germany
with compound interest" The Ger
mans themselves are expecting re-
| prisals and are removing to places of
safety the art treasures Of cities that
are believed to be within reach Of the
| British airmen.
The French, less squeamish than the
British have been, made reprisal raids
on a number ef towns last week, In
Guiding Stuttgart, Baden, Frankfort
and Coblenz. This was In return for
the bombing OF Dunkirk and Bar-le.
Due. Though some of the places at.
tackled by the French aviators are
open towns, the immediate obJectives
of the raids were military establish.
ments, and the results were good.
The British merchant vessels sunR
by submarines were fewer than in any
week since the opening Of unrestricted
U-bOat warfare, but among the vic
tins Of the submersibles was the
British cruiser Drake, which was tor
pedoed on the Irish coast and sunk In
shallow water. One officer and 1S men
were killed by the explosion.
Another romantic story Of sea war