davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

already noted the numbers in the United
States decreased owing to economic reasons
"In the West sheep raising is an important
industry, at present second only to mining
in its profitable returns. With wool selling
around 60 cents pound, and common sheep
Cor more than $40 head, these are bonanza
days for the sheep kings However, eX
renses of production have increased heavily,
while the winter of 1916-17 was the most
severe in thirty years.
"Thc average reader is familiar, in a
superficial way, with about three kinds Of
sheep-white sheep. black sheep and Mary's
lamb. 1t may be somewhat Of surprise
to learn that there are more than two dozen
we'll known breeds. These are divided into
three general types-the fine wools, the
medium wools and the coarse wools. The
Merino and Rambouillet are fine wools; the
Shropshire and Hampshire-both black faced
are medium wools, while the coarse wools
are represented by the Lincoln and Cotswold.
"Spain and England have long been famous
for their fine sheep. In the West the Ram
bouilet, or French Mcrino, crossed with the
Shropshire, Hampshire Lincoln, is very
common and profitable variety.
"The year irf sheep camp begins in Feb
ruary or March, when the lambs are born.
Busy anxious times these, for often a
blizzard cold rain may cause a heavy loss
of the young.
"When the weather becomes warmer. along
in April, the sheep are sheared. For small
punches hand shearing is the usual method.
A man will shear from sixty to one hundred
head day. Groups of eight or ten shearers
travel from one camp to another and make
short work Of band of several thousand
sheep. The wool is pressed into larger sacks
and shipped by rail, beat or pack mules to
the nearest wool market, whore buyer
grades it and ships it to some mill The
Australians lead in wool packing and grad
ing, and many of our Western growers are
adopting their methods.
"ln some of the larger outfits power shear
ing is used. The sheep and lambs are brand
ed, tattooed and sometimes dipped Divided
into bands of about two thousand each. with
q hcrdcr, camp tender and several well
trained dogs, the sheep are slowly trailed
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
many Strike on the Western Front This Spring?

rupture across those lines of communca-
ton"
The fear that England may be invaded
is the pet of Colonel Repington, formerly
of "The London Times" In a dispatch to
''The New York World" this writer re-
marks
tinually in mind the invasion of these ISL
for it in order. Now for the first time,
neither her navy nor her army has to think
of war Of two fronts, and, az her army is
now concentrating in the West, SO is her
navy, presumably. concentrating for opera
tons in the North Sea.
"No one knows yet what the German plans
in the West may be- but if they involve a
series of great attacks upon the Allied
armies, I find it difficult to suppose that these
Will not be supplemented by an offensive at
sea.
"The great German offensive in the West
against the Allied armies may cost the en-
envy anything from 100000 men upward and
will not necessarily succeed Landing in
England might cost comparatively small
losses, and the damage done'by force which
penetrated London might be rreparable
Danger for danger, sacrifice for sacrifice, in
vasion of these islands does not appear to
softer more risks than great stroke against
our armies, and it promises greater results"
With these other possibilities men
toned, one nevertheless finds, in the liter
ature of the past week at least, the pre-
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
The Question of Fixing New
l Price for Wheat

Meantime movement was on foot in
Congress TO increase the price Of wheat
perhaps to 50 bushel. A line in the
Food Administrator remarks about car
shortages possibly suggests why President
Wilson in the same week fixed the price
cf wheat without waiting for legislation
in Congress to mature. "The most serious
problem" ran the report, "is the car needs
due To the delayed movement Of Last years
crop and Of livestock from the primary
country points TO the interior terminals,
the mills and manufacturing centres,
where they can be purchased for export
and domestic supply" In other words.
there was in part a question whether the
farmer and the spccuIator, awaiting "a
pogsibIc increase in the price Of wheat,
were not holding back apmc Of the wheat
10 badly needed fOr the Allies.
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

tEe exclusive property of The Hohenzo!!ern
hordcs.
What is Prussiansm? The answer is
formed quickly and confidently in the popular
mind: it is the mailed fist in diplomacy. the
iron hand in battle, autocracy in time of peace
and frIghtfulness in time of war But like
nost popular opinions, this definition is false.
because it is incomplete. And because it is a
half-truth 1T appears more terrible than it is.
More than the swashbuckling of autocracy.
the bristling bayoncts of militarsm. the
sabre-rattling and tho loud -mouthed invoco
tions OF special deity, there is another quail
lty that is the real force of Prussiansm. It
Is the thing that has made Germany a rreut
industrial nation and has carried her NOR
chant marine to the furthcst harbors of the
Seven Seas.
1--WE know that the pomp and splurge Of
ka'ser'sm has failed to COW the world. that
1rghttulncss has failed to frighten. and vet
people still speak of Prussianism in hushed
and awed tones! Strip Prussianism of it's
scarecrow trappngs, its silly and brutal
kalseratIons, and what have you left? Moth.
ing but Americanism, the thing that has made
America great"
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

fensve was in itself a sign that there
would be none: a commanding general
does not go out in front of the lines with
a megaphone and warn the enemy of an
impending attack Moreover, comments
The New York Tribune, "why should the
Kaiser interrupt the easy spoliaton Of
Eastern Europe in order to seek another
Verdun decision on the Western 'front.'"
In London, too, doubt of the Western
drive appears, according to the CORE
spondent of "'The New York Herald"
"Directly opposite views are entertained
here regarding the most important sub
jects connected with the war-the further
German invasion of Russia and the ex-
pected German drive in the West.' The
Paris correspondent of the same paper
also agrees saying: at has been surmised,
also, that demonstrations in the West
were intended mainly to divert attention
from the developments in Russia. That
is where the Kaiser hopes to recoup."
The London correspondent of The New
York Tribune goes even further. He says:
'There are few military students who be-
ieve the enemy will continue on the defen-
sivc in the West, except far as an offensive
move light strengthen his defensive position.
They reason that the Central Powers have
abandoned their hope of territorial acquisi-
tions huge ndemnties in the West; that
! their only expectations of realizing profits
! from the war grounded on the belief they
can seize and reorganzc Russia; that an un-
successful offensive in the West would be
followed by a reaction on the part of the
! German people, while defensive policy
would permit the German miitarists TO CON
tinue to cry the Central Powers are fighting
| against aggression and invasion.
"1n further support of this view is the
fact that Germany still has confidence in the
! y boats ability to weaken the Allies, that
| Germany continues to underestimate the mil
tary power of America, and that Germanys
hopes of obtaining large quantities of food
and minerals from the Ukraine have been
raised high.
"a military writer in The Westminster
Gazette puts it thus:
"'The truth appears to be the enemy has
come to regard his Western chances in an
offensive as problematcal, to say the least.
But he just as certainly regards his chances
on the defensive as thoroughly good"
II eneral Foch Thinks the Germans
~ Cannot Break Through
One not acquainted with military STRAIT
egy might take the statement Of General
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

port Of Ireland, and he writes thus of
his visit:
ain this town, facing the sea, is a street
lined with quaint houses painted in yellows
and browns and green's, and undor each house
the kind Of a shop that brings back to the
mldde-aged decctable memories of extreme
youth and nickcls to spend Up and down
that street on a bright Saturday afternoon
may be seen our Middle Western tackles
cumming with the British sailors and Tom
mics, or flirting with the Irish girls. or gaz-
ing through the little panes of the show vim
COWS, whose cnterprising proprietors have i'm
ported from the States q popular brand of
chewing gum to make them feel more at home.
I'm one OF these shops, where | went to
choose picture postcard | caught sight of
al artistic display of dclicacy had thought
long obsolete-thc everlasting gum drop. But
when | produced a shilling the shopkeeper
shook his head. Sure, every day the sailors
are wanting to buy them off me, but it's for
ornament Pm keeping them he said There's $
no more to be had till the war will be over.
It's eight years they're there now, and YOU
wouldn't get tooth in them, sir!'
so | wandered out again, joined the ad-
miral, and inspected the Bluejackets Club by
the waters edge. Nothing one sees perhaps,
Is so eloquent of the change that has taken
place in the life and fabric OF our navy. n
you nre an enlisted man, here in this com
modious group Of buildings you can get n
good shore meal and entertain YOUR friends
among the Allies; you may sleep, in y ronl
bed, instead of hammock; you may pluv
pool, or sec moving picture show, or wit
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
''The United States and the War;
HO1pe1''

n IGHT HON. SIR GILBERT PAR
n KER, Bart, writes in the March
issue of "Harper's" about "The
United States and the War" This coun-
try, he declares,
true to Its ancient faith is out to defeat the
loathsome purpose Of Germany, which is the
control Of the world, the warpng and sup
preston Of small countries, and the appica-
tion Of the accursed Prussian doctrine Of
Kultur to all the rest Of the world. The
United States is in the war in the interests Of
civilization and humanity-for the right Of
every nation TO live and have its being accord
ing to conscience and the laws of humanity
The United States is in the war because she
nigh seas, obeyng the laws Of warfare as laid
down by the continued practice Of many coun-
tries until the final codifcations by the Hague
Conference
"The United States is in the war in the
protection Of her own individual national
are the properties Of all countries; but the
United Slater is also in the war because she
believes that Il republic which is the supreme
democracy Of the world should take her stand
for the cause OF civilization. which has been
abused and deepoilcd by Germany.
"The United States is in the var for the
canhc Of humanity. Al the beginning che dis
believed that the German nation meant what
Great Britain declared she did mean But
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

The Germans themselves, it appears,
get the praise for the victory before pro-
ceeding with the attack. According to
dispatches from London, after long dis
pute between the "Ludendorff school, and
the "Hoffmann school, of the German
General Staff, Marshal Won Hoffman,, of
recent fame at Brest-Litovsk, is to lead
the new drive, which will be knockout
against the British, whereas Ludendorif
wanted another chance at the French.
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

vailing opinion that Germany is about to
strike in the West. This is the view of
Philip Gibbs, one of the best known cor.
respondents on the Western front. 1t is
the opinion of Frank H. Simonds, Hilaire
Belloc, Secretary Baker and of Colonel
Harvey, editor of "The North American
War Weekly" General Malleterre, mill.
tary critic of the Paris "Temps,' is dis.
creetly inclined in the same direction.
even though it were merely the German
plan "to infict bloody humiliation on
the young American divisions already in
in France, to show publicly that the Ger.
man army is still in condition to put up
vigorous initiative.'
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
Food and Transportation.

"HAT food will win the war" was
perhaps never more apparent than
In news developments Of the last
week centrlng around the problem of food
production, transportation and regulated
consumption. Three recent events Illus
tratlng these phases of the food problem
are the Initiation of food rationing in Eng
land, the Hoover-McAdoo tiff over the
transportation of food supplies within the
United States, and the fixing of the price
oil the 1918 wheat crop by President Will
son at s2.20 a bushel
Seeing that England's food rationing
primarily affects the other fellows stom-
ach, one may dismiss tnat angle eff this
story as indirect. Londoners are said to
have phiosophically frightened their belts.
But the beginning of rationing in Eng
land was more than symptom. 1t was
a part Of the diagnosis which Mr.. Hoover
somewhat startlingly made ten days ago
when he said that food crisis of the most
serious sort faced America in the next few
months Food must be moved faster, he
said, or there would be local famines in
many parts of the United States owing to
inability to distribute plentiful crop, and
the Allies, now looking in desperation for
American food to tide them over until the
summer harvests, would be seriously if
rot fatally crippled. Indeed, one dispatch
from Washington went so far as to say
that passenger traffic might be entirely
eliminated for two or three days at some
time in the near future in order to pre-
serve the food supplies rotting for lack
of care and rush what is needed to the
Atlantic for export.
How Mr.. McAdoo took up Mr. Hoovers
remarks about transportation, how there
appeared for a moment the likelihood of
two American chiefs squabbling rather
than cooperating, is we'll known. Appar-
emily the best of cooperation had not OBJ
tanned, but following an almost unanimous
"Tut, tut, gentlemen" from the entire
country, the controversy was quickly set
tied Mr. McAdoo, it appears, asserted
and more or less demonstrated that he
was ready and able to haul as much as Mr.
Hoover would designate. Arrangements
were made to keep the railroads better in
formed Of the car needs Of the food ad
ministration. Traffic and food experts got
together to Coordinate" and the suuabblt
blew over.
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
The Volunteer Farmers

'ENHE Department of Agriculture and the
x extension divisions of most Of the
agricultural colleges in the North and west
are cooperating in a campaign to establish
q farm bureau in every agricultural
county, as provided for by Congress, says
"The Weekly News Letter of the Depart
ment of Agriculture" The following ex-
PLANTATION is given:
every farm bureau is made up OF voiuh-
tcor farmers from all parts of county
Officers and committees are chosen 10 rep,es
sent all parts of the county, and each OF '"e
special branches of farming practised IN 'hs
county. These officers and committees con-
suit with one another and with the s'a'.
county agent leader regarding general plano
OF work and the selection of county ae.s
cultural agent. When suitable man, w". WIZ
measures up TO the high standard set by '"'
colleges and the Department Of Agriculture
has been found the appointment IS Hlaae
The farm bureau and the county agent ths"
make plans for carrying forward deilhi''
production or other projects in the eoun'E
any necessary modification, the farm buress
serves as the local agency to push wo's
that has also the support of the agricuituiess
college and the Department of Agriculture
The plan works, for the farmers know snss
local situation, and the county agent sers.s
as organizer of local forces and as agent - ~;
bring the services of state and nationssl|
agencies to his people, s121
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

now, after every known law of warfare has
been broken by Germany, she realizes the
truth. And what is the truth? 1t is that the
German people believe that Prussia and Prus-
sian civilization should control the universe.
ana that 1t does not matter how that control
Is secured so long as it is got"
AS for Germany
the first act of Germany in this war was an
act of pcriIdy, and firmly predict that the
last act VIII be an act of shame. She may
succeed against Rumania, she may succeed
against Russia, she may enter Petrograd with
her armies but so did the army of France in
the time OF Napoleon; and when think of
inc mllIlons OF people in Russia, chaotic, un-
disciplined, uncontrolled, and yet aspiring, |
still have grim kind Of satisfaction in know
ing that if Russia has to be the momentarv
sacrifice, it is Germany that will be sacrificed
in the end"
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
THE Possibility of an Attack
l In the Southeast

Granted, then, that Germany appears
to be holding off her attack in the West
because Of Russia, or has never really in
tended to attack in the West, one finds a
small school Of critics pointing more and
more toward the possibility of the Ger
man stroke coming in the Southeast, and,
possibly, then extending to Italy and to
the West, with an attack on England
across the Channel as the most fantastic
possibility. The London correspondent Of
'The New York Herald" quotes Italian
officers as expressing fear "of an attack
on Venetia and Lombardy as soon as the
SHOWS melt in the mountains on the north.
Then there is the Macedonia front, easy
to attack through Serbia and very diff
cult to reinforce through the submarine
infested Mediterranean" However, Cen
eral Foch has expressed doubt that the
Germans may "begin their offensive in Ru-
mania and Macedonia, working westward
to Italy, and, as they break down the Al
lies resistance, bring the troops released
from Macedonia and Italy to the Western
'front.'" where Paris or Calais seem the
two most feasible objectives
On the other hand, can Allied diplomat
at Washington, according to The New
York Tribune, thinks that "more likely
a drive against the French and the Brit
ish :. are forward movements in
the Balkans and Italy
Germany apparently feels confident Of her
ability to drive the Macedonian army of the
Allies into the and reGstablsh Constan-
tine the throne of Greece. These would
be minor considerations, however, as the de-
terminlng purpose of any military movement
must be military one The expulsion of
the Allies from Macedonia, therefore, would
have as it's justification the freeing of the
Balkans, which means Germany's contact
with Turkey, from the menace of an enemy
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
Asst week the word wool came promi-
nently into the news headlines. A

%.
plot of German industrial interests,
backed by the imperial German govern
ment, to buy up the worlds output of wool
for military use now and commercial use
after the war was reported by the press
as having been disclosed with the arrest
of Eugene Schwerdt, a millionaire wool
importer charged with being a dangerous
alien enemy.
Some interesting wool facts were given
not long ago by E. T. Baker, assistant
state veterinarian of Idaho, writing in
"Munsey's' His article, headed "Wool
and the War" ran in part as follows:
"ro keep Bill and his comrades warm,
millions of pounds of wool will be required
The average uniform is made up of four
and one-half yards of olive -drab cloth, each
yard containing fourteen ounces of wool, or
nearly four pounds to the uniform. Blankets
and other items of equipment take nearly
three pounds more. In year, three uniforms
Will be used; in actual warfare many more
Taking into consideration the wool re-
quircd by the navy, by the Red Cross and
for general hospital supplies, the whole
amount makes up staggering total "A con-
servative estimate for the first year is that
more than fifty million pounds of wool will
be consumed for military purposes. This is
about onc-tfth of our total production.
sheared from nearly fifty million sheep
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
1t Doesn't Take Them Long
l To Grow Sleek and Fat

Entering the forest about the middle Of
June, and moving camp every few days the
sheep and lambs browse on the herbage and
soon grow fat. Sometimes they reach the
snow line, and it is no uncommon sight to
lambs playing amid snowdrifts, while the
lowlands swetering in the August heat.
about the middle OF September the sheep
are brought down from the mountains, and
the homeward trip is begun. The lambs have
been wcaned, and the surplus shipped East
to furnish the most delicious chops in the
world. 1t is not wasteful to eat this meat,
because the male lambs the ones SO used,
and it would prove too expensive to raise
them to maturity.
"Arriving at the home ranch in October,
the sheep and lambs are sorted into bands
for winter feeding. Each year the same meth
DDS are pursued, for the sheep is the same
docile, harmless animal that it was in the
days of Abraham, when he guarded his focks
on the Chaldean hills.
'Of all the carnivorous animals the coyote
is the special pest Of the sheepman. Com
bining the cunning of fox and the intelli-
gcnce of a dog with the agility of a streak
of lightning, he taxes the flockmaster'S pa
tience and ingenuity. Each year he destroys
more than five million dollars worth Of sheep
and lambs in the Western states.
"Other predatory beasts are the cougar,
the wolf the wildcat, and sometimes, but very
seldom, the bear. The last named is more
Of a practical joker, for he loves to scatter
the contents of hcrdcr's tent and eat the
available supply Of molasses, sugar and ba-
con. More than one aggrieved sheep herder
has delivered address, literally punctuated
with vivid " cstcrn profanity, that would rank
with that Of Spartacus to the gladiators, upon
returning TO his tent at night.
Poisonous plants also cause much loss,
especially in the early spring, when the sheep
are famished for green food. Death camas.
lupine and other noXious weeds have killed
as many as two thousand sheep in half
day"
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03
Outweighing the Handicap
COlZlel,'.s

\ MERlCANs, of course, have a lot to
a learn about guntire. But, accordinp
to Harris Dickson in "Collier's" for March
Z, their "zest and enthusiasm" give them
running start
AT t'rst glance 1T might seem that we
Americans will carry dragging handcap be-
cause ot our inexperience with many of the
weapons and methods employed in trench
warlare-huge guns, hand grcnadcs, trench
mortars' bayonets, gas masks. True, perhaps.
measurapiy true But we bring to it some,
eh'hg else, definite and valuable asset. OF
course nobody knows, nobody can know. lust
"hat our asset may be worth, vet we Amer-
cans VIII carry into this war Il zest and on
thusasm which, with n few weeks experi.
ence, may far outweigh our handicap."
New-York tribune., 1918-03-03

ness a vaudeville worthy of professionals like
that recently given in honor of the visit of
the admiral of our Atlantic feet A band of
thirty pieces furnished TIE music, ana in the
opinion of the jackies one feature alone was
lacking TO make the entertainment complete
s"ccess-the new drop-curtain had failed to
arrive from London. I happened to be pres
ehI wheh TINS curtain was first unrolled, and
oeheld spread out before me most realistic
presentation Of little old New York seen
from the North River, towering against blue
American skies. And though l have never
been overfond of New York. that curtain in
That place gave me a scnsation!"