Norwich bulletin., 1918-04-24
FACTS AND COMMENT

Nineteen out of 3S upstate cities in New York went dry in last weeks election and the results were watched with keen interest, inasmuch as women were voting for the first time in those places. It has been frequently held that women are practically unanimous against the saloon, yet these elections divided in just about the same pro- portion as did the men.
 
 Congress is to be asked to appro- priate fifty million dollars for the con- struction of concrete ships. The Faith" recently built and launched at San Francisco, has been carefully inspected by experts employed by the government and her construction has been heartily approved. The plant at which she was built consisted of little more than hoist, a concrete mixer, a small power saw, a pile of lumber, a heap of gravel and a supply of ce- ment. Apart from the gang of car= penters that built the forms. the labor was mostly unskiiIed. Thus neither materials nor labor need be drawn from the regular shipyards for the production of the new type of vessel The life of such craft is unknown A years contact with salt water has not affected the Norwegian built Namens- fjord, So disintegration from this source is not feared. The uncertain factor is the effect of vibration caused by the engines. Only a practical trial will settle this doubt. But even if the new vessels last but a couple of years, they will have been wall worth while in the great emergency that now con- fronts the government.
 The disappearance of the U. s. navy collier Cyclops remains as much | o ia mystery as ever. Leaving Bar bados on March 4 bound for an At lantic port where she was due March IS, all trace of her has been lost. No great storm has been reported from that region, no raider is known to have been operating thereabout. Had any of the ordinary accidents of the sea happened, she would have made known her position and her plight bv wire less. As it is. the great vessel of 19,- 900 tons with her crew and passen- gers, nearly three hundred in all. has utterly disappeared, nor has a trace of her been found by any of the many navy craft that have been sent in search of her.
 l The Germans got footing on Mes- sines Ridge last week and were able to drive their way little further ur the valley of the Lys. but desperate l efforts did not avail to widen theil field of operations. Any advance westward up the river would be unjus- tified from military point of view, as long as the shoulders of their deeply ] driven wedge are fianked by thf
 strong British positions of Messines
 Ridge on the north and the heights ol 1 Givenchy on the south. These posi-. tions have been the object of fierct
 German assaults during most of tht week. The first of these netted som, ground, yet did not serve to dislodg'
 the British or materially weaken thei positions Division after division il massed formation was pushed on t, its fate. In some parts of the iron the British actually wore out thei
 machine guns by constant firing int 1 the advancing ranks.
 The same story was repeated on tn southern side of the wedge, excep that hereshardIy foot of ground wa gained to compensate for frightfu
 losses. Here the Germans put forth supreme effort after a furious five
 hour bombardment with high explo sives and gas. But the British hel firm through all these hours of horror
 and when the waves of infantry cam cn they were met with rife, macfin
 gun and trench mortar fire. The figh went on over a ten mile front. A one point where the Germans wer . trying to force a crossing of La Bas
 see canal. more of them were kille
 than on any other day of the fightin l ;,, 4l,s | l. n climax of the struggle had passed. ths 150 Germans hoisted a white handkef chief and surrendered in a body, som even swimming the canal to reach th British lines. Other prisoners te with horror of the frightful havo wrought by the British artillery 0 the German reserves and transpol
 behind the fighting line
 Before the great attack began th British forces had been holding th
 whole of the Passchendaeel ridge ths
 extends ten miles east and nerthea!
 ef the city of Ypres This ground ha
 been won at great cost during the oK erations of last fall, yet the positio was considered well worth the prit paid for it. inasmuch as it was u
 only high ground on the west ar looked eastward without obstrlcti1 t over the great plain of Flanders. IT r possession of this ridge not only reI dered the position at YpreS secure, bl
 it afforded point of departure for 2 anticipated spring drive across Be
 gium. When, however, the German < succeeded in driving their wedge Il deep into the British lines south
 Ypres, it was not deemed safe to r
 ] tain ground lying so far to the eas - and the hard-Won Passchendaele rid! $ was evacuated, the British lines fal ing back five miles to the westwar
 The British public did not conce
 their disappointment at this volunta, :, retirement. yet it was accepted witt -i out undue grumbling as part of u = Dla nof campaign.
 The execution of Rolo Pasha Il
 past week brings to a close the care Il Of one who might well have broug 1t about the defeat of France despite u 70 utmost efforts of her heroic soldier e A Frenchman by birth, Bolo had pu sued the life of financial adventur
 in both henispheres, until early
 the war he had found himself e Switzerland, out of a job and ban l. fupt. Here he met with Ger1al al agents and with money secured in NJ y York through the personal efforts
 Bernstorff, he proceeded to buy
 certain influential papers in France ,e order to control their columns in t v interest of Germany. Thus the spi S of Encouragement and "defeatisl le was spreading throughout France a II it bade fair to undermine all the
 forts of the French armies, until B.
 was arrested. Evidence was subm le ted to the court martial that not or 10 convicted BolO himself but also u le covered the trail of other traitors f. France. among them the great ex-pl
 mier, Joseph Caillaux. who is now fil