St. John's Daily Star, 1916-02-08

              the st john's daily star newfoundland volume 11 3.00 per annum tuesday february 8 1916 price one gpnt no 32 uncle sam ready back down again on the case of lusitania won't hast on german disavowal of this barbarous act as illegal and washington delighted at prospect of further amicable relations with assassins and pirates—artillery very busy in belgium and in france where allies shells damage enemy positions — nothing new from bal kans iondon feb b.—-optimism prevails ■* al washington that the . situation between the united stacs and ger main which arose over the sinking of the steamship lusitania by a german submarine will be settled amicably in official circles it has been stated the use of the word illegal or disa vowal will not be insisted upon by the united states and that no choice oi words used by germany in meeting the aemrican government's conten tions in the promises will be permitted to block the success of the negitia nons while secretary of state lansing who is to have a final conference with president wilson on the matter stated he considered the situatio nunchanged chairman stone of the senate's foreign relations committee aid h'.s impression was that the case was practically settled except on the front in france and belgium little fighting has been re ported paris tells of the bombardment of german positions near hetsas and traete belgium destruction of a german blockhouse between the oise and the aisne and effective work by freixh batteries in the artojs and cha.vipagne regions french shells on the ormer sector caused powerful ex plosions northeast of arras and a great hire in champagne near challerange the germans have been busy with their artillery the british around loos while the british in re turn have bombarded the german trenches near the ypre:-roulers rail way vienna war office reports the situa tion unchanged on all thed/ronts where the austro-hungarian troops are fight ing nothing new has come through con cerning the reported concentration of troops of the teuton allies m the re gion of the greek border kitchener to go to battle-front reports to this effect gain much cre dence in london i ondon feb 7.—"changes of-great importance in the direction of the war are contemplated says the daily sketch which asserts that kitch ener probably will leave the war of icc the sketch also says that sir wm robertson now chiej of staff proba bly will take the active direction of the war without interference except from the cabinet as a whole and that a civilian of real ability for organisa tion will become secretary for war in the event that kitchener leaves he war office the sketch adds he ill undertake work of an important character elsewhere exit the greeks enter the poilus french soldier the government of greece turning over to the allies the whole territory aroun\l saloniki for their exclusive use creeks to the right french to the left the road leading to zeitcnhk ridicule yarns of 17-inch guns on german ships ridicule british naval experts of opinion ihat 15-in guns are limit in efficient calibre . mew york feb b.—a news agency dcs patch from london published here this afternoon says the idea ihat the german fleet will come haj out of the k;el o iv.l some s?.y equipped with 1 inch gun ihal will blow englands dreadnoughts to pieces was ridiculed by british naval experts to-day the story about 17 inch guns was printed m the london papers , the inactivity of the german navy it was explained was due to the fact that these new guns capable of hurl ing more than a ton of m£tal a db tance of twenty miles were being placed aboard the german warships official utterances on the subject are tabooed in london nevertheless it was learned to-day that british naval officers believe the 15-inch gun which the monster queen elizabeth is equip ped is the maximum calibre for real efficiency especially in the north sea where the british and german fleets might clash americans killed unintentionally so huns tell u.s and slso say they have amended u-boat campaign washington feb 7.—german has agreed that reprisals mus no be directed against other than enern subjects this expression offered b germany to take the place of th phrase containing the word illegal which was incorporated in the cl;;i of the lusitania agreement is nov under consideration it also became known that german expresses the hope that it may ii iv an opportunity to co-operate with ui states in some action looking towarr the freedom of the seas before th end of the war this statement is taken in hig diplomatic quarters to imply that thr berlin government sees no occasion t await a cessation of hostilities before settling that issue as had been previ ously stated germany says in tha communica tion that killing citizens of the stater was without intent and that thi method of conducting warfare in the north sea has been changed out of regard for long-standing friendship between the u s and germany be cause american lives were lost as berlin sees it berlin feb b.—tension in what is called here the lusitania crisis les sened somewhat'today as the result cf more favorable news from america which was featured prominently by most of the newspapers the loosened strain was renectedjnstantly on the . bourse which showed greater strength in american securities than at any time for the week 1,429,171 allies soldiers held war prisoners berlin hraes lists of men and materi ab cap'ared by germans during the war berlin feb b.—a total ol 1.429 171 enemy solders to date are prison err of war in germany the oversea news agency announces today fhi is net inclusive of pr;soscfs made b ci:r.t i troops ao4.elft in ayojli:a-hun g::ry in order to shorftri franspbrt h addition 9170 cannon 7,700 militan carriasjes r.nd 3,000 machine gun have been taken from the enemy anc these were used at once by the germai troops ihe number of rifles taken whicr are still t for we is poo',ooo h.m.s caroline was not injured nor was any ship whatever struck by air bombs as berlin reported i ondon feb a special state ment was issued today as follows german wireless messages toda quote koclnische zeitung reports frorr he dutch frontier that on the occa sion of the recent air raid on englanc h.m.s caroline was struck by a boml n the wumber and sunk with grea oss of life neither the caroline nor any of hi lajestys ships nor any other merchan hip large or small was struck in th lumber n r r " v " j t wt naval vote made by u.s congress i vill equip yards for • programme of - warship building i today authorised an immediate ex | sland navy yard to begin buildmp j readhoughts or battle cruisers the | rst to be constructed m the pacific oast government yard it also authorized an expenditure of ) 100,000 to enlarge the facilities of he new york yard the senate has o yet acted british trade growc london feb 7.—the british board if trade figures for january show mports increased 7,702,000 export the principal increase of imports if ood 3,750,000 raw material £\ op,ooo chemical dye i 1,000.000 ncrease of exports is made up prin-~t ally of manufactured art«.c!ts rebels routed peking feb 7.—the governmeni to-day announced that its troops had recaptured ping shan northeast of siam fu the far southern part of sue chuen province and that a general at tack on the rebels at sium fu is im minent the rebels defeated at ping shan were driven back upon sium premier briands visit to rome very important wih arrange for co-opsratien of ital ans in genera military pciicy of the allies 3ar"s feb 8 in explanation o premier bnand's v:sit to italy the latin says that the prolongation of ihc a d to ceratin difficulties for the taiian government which however eahses ihal ii italy is to profit by tiw fc'ory ci he fflfics sric fit us take i ictive part in their operations hit vill add to italy burden says th f via tin but will also increase the ad vantage which she is to reap bnand's reputation as a long-headec 7 . tatesmr.n is well established in rome it was he who saw that the best way to protect egypt was to stay at salonika nd the salvage of the serbian army vas due to his steadfastness t to italy will go far towards bringing about that absolute political and mili tary unity of the allies which is the one condition by which victory must be gained 1 isk the sagdna ailed at 7 tliis nioni ng l or n 0 rtli s y due y king presides at conference his majesty meets the war leader of the empire ] ondon feb b.—a courl circula announces that the king today re reived in audience premier asquith sir henry jackson major genl chas idward caldwell mr asquith is president of the imperial defence gom tiittee sir henry jackson is first sea lord and general caldwell is director of military intelligence special significance is believed to at tach to the conference of the king vith three such important chiefs of war operations it is also noted that earl kitchener secretary of war had a long audience with the king a few days ago » no ultimatum london fob 7.—the government has received definite information that the report to the effect that an ultima tum has been delivered by the central powers to rumania is without foun dation carson is hi london feb b.—sir edward car son former attorney-general has been ordered by his physician to take a five weeks rest he is suffering from ex haustion due to his activities of the past four years briand to visit rome paris feb b.—-it was announced to night that premier briand will leave for rome on wednesday the pre cise purpose of his visit was not stated but it is believed to be connected with a plan of the leaders of the entente powers to come into closer unity re garding the all important questions of war american battleship gets trials new u.s.s pennsylvania a monster warship of 31,400 tons and capa ble of developing 31 knots���main 4rmament consists of tweive 14-in guns—ls oil-driven—was built at fte newport news yards and cost 13,000,000 fcs s.—the nev ponsier super-dreadnought u.s.s pennsylvania one of the most power uljpattleships afloat her trial ffihe maine coast he pennsylvania d.splaces 31,40 on is 608 feet over all 97 feet ii nd will if she fills her con act agreement be capable cf develor ig 31 knots her~main battery con is of tvelve 4-:iich guns in four i:ur et and four submerged torpedo boaif * h her secondary battery are twenty v/a 5-:nch rapid fire guns four 3 or der sshiting guns two two-pound r guns for boats twe 3~:nch field gun p.ji tv/o 30 calibre machine guns her full complement is sixty-five officers 363 men and seventy-four ma riis she has a fuel capacity cf 591,830 gallons cf oil and 2,322 tons floal her total cost was 13,000 m an idea of the monster's size end ojver can be belter realized through comparison with the delaware launch edfn february 1909 and at that time o3.ic!ered the last word in a m"p.-c the delaware displaces 2q,qoc orfe she carries ten 12-inch guns ir vi turrets from which can be hurled r of five ton a broadsidr refn the pennsylvania weighs ceve inp one half tons whe pennsylvania was the seconr sh to be launched since 1843 witfc ceftmonies that included prayer the other was the oklahama launched in this latest dreadnought v/r.r du'lt at the newport news yards increasing tale of atrocities in cardinal mercier's charges agajist the germans rome feb b.—there has been published in italy the letters exchanged between cardinal mercier primate of belgium who is now in rome and the cijrman authorities accompanied by hijtierto unpublished documents which r§irgc the killing of a larger nunber olfpriests in belgium than was specifi ed when allegations of this nature were mlde previously sacrilege and violalion of nuns are also charged how london comments on german plot british newspapers say that new york herald's exposure of a hun plan for the invasion of canada makes plain certain passages of yon pap en's correspondence cheques sent by german attache to persons in ottawa and buffalo york.—a cable to the herald from london says the new orks herald's exposure of a german lan for the invasion of canada pro ides prominent newspapers here this morning w.-th further revelations in onnection with the letters taken from 3apt yon papen at falmouth com nenting upon these ndw yon papen evelations the daily chronicle says the opinion of one set of the kais r's creatures about another set make lehghtful reading the newspapers express amazement t the appearance of max longhorn merican military attache at berlin in he curious role of letter carrier to cap am yon papen from europe in view of the revelation of a ger nan olot against canada and the out ages perpetrated there the daily chronicle says yon papen's checks to persons in ottawa and buffalo have nore than ordinary interest all the newspapers publish promin ently george yon skal's letter in vhich he pillories dr dernburg extols louni yon bernstorff and glorifies falkenheim the daily express commenting on his says no doubt wilhemstrasse vill convict captain yon papen and iot the american public of idiocy anticipate raid on the kiel canal german authorities instruct people how to act in such an event copenhagen feb 7.—the kiel authorities have published a warn ing concerning the action to be taken by the population of that german port in case of an aerial raid steam siren warning it says will give notice of a raid with a series of short shrieks lasting for two minutes similar notice will be given when the raid is over the inhabitants of the city are urged not to expose them celves as did the parisians during the recent zeppelin rai4 on the french capital me-srs alonfoc & co had a mess age from burin this morning saying that the nellie m had left at 9 o'clock for this port give the boy a smart appearance v with a good fitting and a good wearing suit all sizes to fit all ages riainn navy sailor suits illly 1 twkki fancy fcsuitb •**" * to lit from 3 to s years old nai/jf tweed norfolk suits iilly 1 twkkdsi i tolk si its r|/\¥rjn tweed and serge till v 1 rugby st'its t ai long pants ii ii h 1 to lit from 12 to 18 iuuiu j years old a full range men's suits from 6.00 to 15,00 no advance in the prices unequaled for style and value bowring brothers limited north sydney screened coal now landing ex s.s neptune at franklin's wharf choice cargo of 400 tons of best north sydney screened coal book your orders at the united coal company's office united coal company v i . - ' ' '■'. v