Middletown transcript., 1918-02-09
NEWS review OF
THE PAST Week
AMERICA AND ALLIES ARE lay
ING PLANS FOR VICTORY
BEFORE YEAR CLOSES.
GERMAN STRIKES SPREADING
Workmen Of Empire Demand Peace
Civil War RACES in Finland-ItaI-
ians Drive Back Austrians-Sec-
rotary Bakers Excellent De-
tense Checks Criticism.
By EDWARD w. PlckARD.

Washington correspondents were
permitted to say, last Friday, that the
United States and the entente allies
are maturing plans Of supreme impor-
lance which, it is hoped and believed.
will bring the war to an end before
the close of this year. What the pro-
ject is, cannot be stated. but 1t is
known that this country is about to
use it's men and resources on a far
greater scale than has been considered
possible, and that there will besclose
cooperation by NIL the opponents OF
the central powers.
In a message to American farmers,
President Wilson declared the cul-
minating crisis of the struggle has
come, and that we must and shall
win. He added that victory or defeat
would be decided this year.
Industrial Germany at last seems to
be rising in its strength, demanding
that the war be ended without indem-
mites and annexatiOns and that the
condition of the proletariat be improv-
ed. This is really the big news of the
past week, for IL the hundreds Of thou
sands Of striking workmen, backed by
the women Of the country, can gain
the support of considerable part Of
the German army the autocrats and
militarists may be driven from power
or forced to recede greatly from their
pan-German program In order to re-
tain their hold on the reins Of gov
eminent. In Berlin, Hamburg, kiel
and the Chemnitz industrial district Of
Saxony work has come to a standstill
and all over the empire there are
strikes. According to the meager dis
patches from Germany, the soldiers
and strikers fought in the suburbs Of
Berlin and some deaths resulted,
though in several instances the SOL
diers refused to fire on the people. The
two socialist factions are conducting
the great demonstration. and many Of
their leaders are said to have been ar
rested. Three important newspapers
Of Berlin were suppressed. Minister
Of the Interior Walraff refused to hold
a conference with the delegates of the
wOrkmen.
Such was the condition Of affairs,
II surface indications meant anything.
But the foreign correspondents in Hol-
land and elsewhere were dubious.
They more than half believed the i'm
perial government had stirred up the
strike movement in the hope that It
would affect the entente countries and
bring about peace. or that 1t intended
to use the movement to break off nego-
tiations with the Russian bolsheviki.
There was much uncertainty rs to
what was going on in Austria, as the
censorship was very active. Reports
from Vienna were that the state gran
aries there were destroyed by con-
flagration which the revolutionaries
were accused of having started.
From Petrograd came the statement
that the wOrkmen Of Warsaw had
struck in protest against Won Kuehl-
mann's demand that Russia recognize
a Polish government protected by Ger
many.
It Is interesting to learn that Will
liam b. Thompson. formerly head Of
the American Red Cross mission to
Russia. contributed million dollars
or more to promote the spread of boil
sheviki propaganda In Germany and
AUSTRIA believing 1t would be the
greatest instrument in the undermin-
ing Of the militarist regimes in the
central powers. This idea seems to be
aviators have carried vast quantities
fully justified by results. The Russian