The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-04-27
The British Army In
The Promised Land

MOSt touching, anu presenting uOu-
bic line Of batteries pointing off a.
the German submarines darting
along the coast.
But Lisbon feels secure against an
enemy attack by sea, for besides the
double lines of destroyers, ready for
defense or quick sortie, there are
cruisers and gunboats with steam
mp, and back of them the big land
] Notifications on both banks of the
Iagus, rising on high terraces and
Presenting a semi-circle of massive
stone fronts topped with lines OF
heavy guns. And besides these land
and sea defenses. there is the feel
ing that the British fleet is not far
'off and presents pretty solid bar
" in the Kiel canal.
| When the British naval commits
sion visited here short time ago
still another naval defense was de-
vised and has since been put into
execution. This is a heavy steel net
extending clear across the channel
leading from Lisbon to the sea This
can be lowered at stated intervals
for the passage of commercial traffic.
But when in position it is not only
a har to submarines, but any which
venture near it are likely to be
caught and held in its meshes.
There are two German submarines
which appear - be keeping pretty
constant vigil of the neA by coast
Eow they are proyisioned and
. lu;pl ed is a mystery They haze
not done )nu II damage to large mcr
chant ships. but give their special
lattCnticn tc the smaller craft and
the ishing qrets. 1t has practically
pat an end to the eoasting trade. aud
a good share Of the trade of Oporto
has been stopped. The shipping TO
England and France is also greatly
curtailed. Tn, ie adding to Eng
land food danger, Tor much of her
fruits and vegetables and most OF
! her wine was drawn from Portugal.
Portugal is feeling the pinch also.
!, in being cut of from supply Of
, coal from the Cardiff coal mines, AMI
In having its supplies of fish cut off.
Coal has gone up to SS7 and $40 4
ton, and is so scarce it cannot be OBJ
tanned at any price. The normal
nrice is about 81 ton. Besides the
, arrangement of domestic heat AMI
cooking. and the misery caused to
the poor the lack of ioal is proving
\ serious menace to factories, rail-
roads, tramways. and the heating
and lighting of public places, hotels
and theaters. The government has
sought to remedy the situation by
reducing the lights in the streets
eytinguishing all lighting at an
early hour and advancing the legal
time by one hour so that people will
get up earlier and live more in the
daylight
With long seacoast Portugal has
always had such an abundance of
fish as to feel proof against any lack
OF meat and other foods But with
the submarines stopping fishing the
normal supply OF fish has suddenly
been stopped, and the price has dou
bled and trebled, until the poor are
unable to get the usual supply Of
fish on which they depended. Four
fishing boats were sunk within the
last week, one fisherman being !,
killed and three injured |
The war is making itself felt in
many other ways. Most of the young
men have been called into military !
service, as the small peace footing !
OF the army has now been increased
to a war footing OF several hundred .
thousand men, including about 40 |
600 sent to the western fighting
front. as many more to Portuguese |
Eas tAfrica, and a large reserve for
home defense and recruiting the |
forces at the front. The streets of
the cities and towns are now crowd
led with soldiers, and at the railway |
stations one sees long lines of freight