Newspapers / Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, … / March 16, 1917, edition 1 / Page 1
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WEATHER. 0 PAGES TODAY ONE SECTION Fair Friday; Saturday) probably raln VOIii XCIX-KO. 169. ...... i m -'TM-r "rTOTl-j. rfn K.VVTV.k. 1 1 l HI- "TTr . Z . A ID. 1867 ifisi liiiiiffliiiis WlLMIKGTQy, ;y. q, FRIDAY MORNING, MARCH 1(5, 1917 WHOLE CJYIBER 33,3 88 Hill IBIBIHI " l n f anagers fy n IPIBIHI on erence rofalBl niiBia Jr. 12? e Rejects Demcmds Brotherhoods 0OF RUSSIA lEiniBl MS THRONE ALL I Country Divided Into Sections, and Each WU1 be Affected a Section at a Time Under "Progressive" Plan UntU All Freight Men Have Left Their PostsIf Roads Refuse to Give In, Pas senger Employees WiU Strike Wednesday. ' HOPE TO KEEP OP SKELETON SERVICE Chiefs of Workmen's Organizations Flatly Refused to Submit Case! to Eight-Hour CommissionNo Indication is Given That an Appeal by President Wilson Can Prevent Brotherhood Leaders From Putting Strike Order, in Effect. , REVOLUTION FORCES HIM TO ABDICATE THE THRONE. ' FOR GREAT BUILOfNG PROGRAM Private Bidders. Given Orders for Four Battle Cruisers and Six Scout Cruisers. 5.KsV.-.y.V4' -4 GET 10 PER CENT. PROFIT New York, March 15. A "progressive strike -of the 400,000 members of the four great railroad brotherhoods, to tiegin at 6 o'clock (Centra! time) Saturday on Eastern roads, was ordered here late, to day. The walkout will extend to ail -the railroads in the country within five viays. Chiefs of the workmen's organizations set the strike machinery in motion within a few minutes after an ultimatum deliv ered to the conference committee -of railroad managerfThad been Re jected. A compromise proposal offered by the managers was, declin ed without debate. ' ' Brotherhood Leaders Determined. -r' ; ' Only successful intervention by Pres ident Wilson, it appeared tonight, can Contracts Let Yesterday Probably : Largest Ever Made by Any Nation for Warships. avert a strike. The brotherhood lead ers gave no indication that even an appeal from the nation's chief execu tive can change their purpose to ob tain a basic eight-hour day and pro rata time for overtime through the use 'f the "protective feature" of their or eanreations. They refuse flatly to- sub mit their case to the Eight Hour Com mission, headed by Major General Geo; Goethals, or to await the decjsjon of the Supreme Court on the constitu tionality of the Adamson law. Freight employes, yardmen and en gine hostlers on the New York Central, east and west, the Nickle Plate and Baltimore & Ohio railroads and in the ereat yards in Chicago and St. Louis, Jill be the first to leave their posts. They will be followed on Sunday by the same classes of workmen on the southern Railway, the Norfolk & West on the Virginian, Chesapeake & Ohio, and on a group of Northwestern roads. formal outline of the brother floods' program beyond the plans for these two days, was made either to the managers or to the public. It was said, VKvever, that the freight employes on Ve otner roads in the country would w called out in groups at 12 or 24-hour WervaLs after Sunday. "the paralysis of freight traffic thus raised does not result in surrender by ne railroads before that time the em ployes on all passenger trains will be "wred out Wednesday. .. Hope to Operate Some Trains. lha ?urailroad managers ' said tonight ""t they PYllnnto,! V, f tV,.U v,An remain loyal to enable them td operate a skeleton , service on most toads and they estimated between 30, 000 and 40,000 men are employed on tho roads jn which the strike, is to begin Saturday night. . - The members of the managers com mittfewill remain here until tomor row.' If the men ask another confer ence, it will be' granted. They said they would make every effort to oper ate their roads in spite of the strike. Preference will be given to the move ment of trains carrying -food and fuel. . When the managers, in their counter proposition at the final conference, of fered to abide by any decree of the Goethals cqmmission if the Adamson act were "declared unconstitutional, W. G: Lee, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, spokesmen for the employes," declared: , "That would be only another form of arbitration nd our 'men are sick and tired of -arbitration." The brotherhood chiefs contend their demand for the basic eight-hour day for all classes of work, with pro rata time for overtime, would give them only what they would gain under the provisions of the Adamson law. They have abandoned their original demand for time and a half "for overtime. Membership Impatient. - Declaring thatthe rank and file of the brotherhood membership had be come impatient and would tolerate no further delay in enforcing their de mands, Mr. Lee said the Supreme Court might adjouro without handing down a decision on the Adamson act. In that event, he declared, there would be no decision until next winter, and the men would not wait. The managers! refusal, to comply with the ultimatum o)f the brotherhoods was (Continued on Page Tro) President, Amazed At Action of Brotherhoods, Declines Comment ashifieton, March 15. Word that a Jneral r:'ilroad strike - had been o'r Ce.rei t0 "egin Saturday night was re JV"ed y President Wilson tonight ith -ciert that would ""aze-ment. He had confidently some kind of agreement atTTji faC'liHoc o f nrfeSlo V lfi on the verge of war; 0 state ment was authorized by the 11 Trt T t . to i,e antI all officials professed might Urant of what the President hePract ' 1 t0 do- APPaently he feels comes b powerless unless it oe ires 't. ,.C0Hsary for him to adopt meas- AftB p t,le mails moving. . Seer.. -.tel,Phone conference .with nt i jlson of the Labor Depart-; iecid . s un3erstood the President i0 make no move tonight, C,A1V THE PRESIDENT Wav, ;' .MAKE SOME MOVE SOON iWn " n' March 15President 4"irrA?0tifl!!4 immediately of the erati,; thfe strke and he began con en r of the steps which might be 0us! the President . had heen watching the situation closely he had not abandoned hope that a compromise would be" reached and so far as reveal ed had made no definite plans for inter vening. No statement was forthcoming from the White House, but it was well understood . that some '.move would be made as soon as officials were fully ad vised. ; v , v. The general belief in official circles is that the President will make an appeal to the patriotism of the men, urging them not vto. tie up- "transpdrtaion fa cilities with the country facing a great international crisis. , .. - Therewas every indication that the Presldent; would not call the represen tatives of the two sides to Washington again as he did i last "year when the strike was threatened. , , ANY STEPS THE GOVERNMENT COUID TAKE IS MOOT QUESTION Washington, March 15. It fs a moot question what steps the government could' take to prevent paralysis; of transportation facilities and. conse quent weakening of the , nation's re sources In the international erisis. The general ; opinion among . officials seenls to be that the President could da little Continued on Page Two) . Washington, March 15 Contracts Cor Avhat is believed to be the largest sin gle order for fighting craft ever giv en by any nation were placed today by the Navy Department. Private build ers undertook to turn out four great battle cruisers and six scout cruisers, and pledged themselves to keep' 70 per cent, of their working forces on navy, construction. In response to an appeal to "their pa-, triotism by Secretary Daniels, the maj or ship builders .ha-ve .Agreed to "accept J.y per cent, net profit on the battle" cruisers, whose cost will represent about ?76,0CO,0O0 of the total sum in volved in today's contracts. A fifth battle cruKjer will be built at the Phil adelphia navy yard so as not to strain the limit of facilities of private estab lishments. Government Given Preference The builders are besieged with of fers of merchant work, and are getting as high as 50 per cent, profit.' on these jobs with more-work in sight than they can?do. They have placed .their facili ties at the disposal of the government, making it unnecessary for the Presi dent to consider employing' authority to commandeer plants. - 0 Both classes of cruisers ordered to day are. new types to naval architec ture, and are designed for a speed of 35 knots an hour. The scouts were awarded on bids submitted yesterday, prices ranffinsr from $5,950,000 to $5,996,000 and stipu lated time of delivery from 30 to 32 months. Under the emergency clause Of the naval appropriation bill con struction will be hastened to the limit, government footing the bill for addi tional cost. i1 Bidden to Whom Awarded The battle cruisers, the fixed limit of cost of which is $19,000,000 per ship, exclusive of speeding up expense, were placed as follows: , Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, two ships; Fore River Shipbuilding- Corporation, one ship; New York Shipbuilding Company, one ship. With the exception of the New York company each private builder will have to install new ways and machihery for the huge craft. The government will bear its fair share of this expense Four of the scout cruisers will be built on the Pacific coast and the other two will be built by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, .Cramp and the Union Iron Works may be called upon also to build a number of destroyers. . Open Other Bids In April . Of the "authorized building program there remains to be con-tracted for three dreadnaught's, 88 submarines, 15 de stroyers and several auxiliary vessels. Bids will be opened early in 'April on these craft and at the same time orders will be placed for more than 100 coast patrol boats. The ultimate cost to the govern ment of the ships ordered today will ex ceed by many millions the figures given for hull and machinery. It. will cost $465,692 per ship to arm and equip the scouts and $5,337,810 additional for each battle cruiser. The shipbuilders having made finan cial sacrifices to meet the government's needs Secretary Daniels is seeking simi lar agreements- with the contractors who supply material to go in the 'Ships.' The plans for the thl-ee 42,000-tori dreadnaughts - are not completed. At least two may have to go to govern ment yafrda. In addition a- considerable number of destroyers and. submarines must be laid down at the yards, as the" private plants are overtaxed witht ; the work given them. - t " ; Statement by Daniels. In a statement, tonight Secretary Daniels said:. "The representatives of the Navy Department are to have the right to re quire the contractors to employ at all times - the maximum number : of men that can be utilized to push the work and if a sufficient force of mechanics' can be obtained, "it is hoped that 'the battle cruisers may be finished in about three years. :'.:..-. .' - "Under the agreement made, they will , -- .. (Continued on Page Sloe). V 5 mm mm Mm 1 REGIME II RUSSIAIS ERtHROWW BY REBELLION Emperor Abdicates and Grand Duke Alexandroyitch is Appointed Re gent Entire Ministry Swept Out of Office and a New Cabinet, ' Headed by Prince Lvoff, is Named Empress Reported : to Have Fled or to be in Hiding. Si. m mm mm. Co- 2 W CITY OF PETRQBRAD THE SCEsE OF A GREAT BATTLE Government Troops Join the "Cause of the People" and the Move ment is Backed Unanimously by Members of the Duma Minis ' ter Protopopoff is Reported to Have Been Killed, While f . All the Other Ministers Are Under Arrest. CZAR NICHOLAS OF 13USSI A Petrograd, . March 15. The Emperor of Russia has abdicated, and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, his young'er brother, has been named as regentl . The Russian ministry, charged with corrup tion 'and incompetence, has been swept out of office. One minister, Alexander Protopopoff, head of the interior department, is reported :-iuaA other ministers, as 'well- as 4he president of the imperial ouncil, are under arrest. . A new national cabinet is announced, with Prjnce Lvoff as presi dent of. the council and premier, and . the other offices held by the men who are close to the Russian people. . . ' Troepa Join Revolutionists. . . . , For several days Petrograd has been the scene of one of . the most remarka- RUSSIAN REVOLUTION TOOK DEFINITE SHAPE ON SUNDA Y Workingmeii Started it by Quitting Work as Protest Against Shortage of Bread Regiment After Regiment Joined Revolters as Also Did the Duma City of Petrograd One Vast Battlefield. Petrograd, March 15. Events leading up to' the resolution, began a week ago with street demonstrations of working men who quit work." as a protest against the shorta'ge of bread. The first " two days mounted patrols kept the crowds moving without resorting to violence. When ordered to fire on" the people they ref used.j Police were substituted and a battle occurred' between them and the troops. Regiment after regiment join ed the revolters and seized arsenals and other strategic points. The duma joined hands: with the rev olution, on being dissolved by the emperor, and declared that the ex isting government had been over thrown. The v duma resumed ' its sit tings. It - had sent the notification :to the , emperor of. these developments, warning him that the fate of the dy nasty' depended on his acceptance of the new order of affairs. , Jails Thrown Open The city is now quiet. Perfect order prevails. So far as is known, no for eigners were. Injured:'- All the minist ers resigned, with the exception of M. Protopopoff. -Former Premier Sturmer, Premier Golitzine and the: head, of the secret police were arrested The 'jails were thrown open. The headquarters of the secret police and several govern ment buildings, were burned. Until Sunday night there was no in timation, that the affair would grow, to the proportions of a revolution. From then until Tuesday morning.- almost continuous. fighting .in the streets and throughout the city occurred, leaving the revolutionists in full control: - The ' latter are proceeding to reorganize the i government.. - . ... Business Again Resumed. Today the city , emerged - from . a week's nightmare of revolution and fig uratively smiled under a brilliant flood of sunshine after the- series of gray days ending with' a snowstorm. yester day evening. -v Planks were pulled down from windows, long closed. , Stores, banks, and business. establishments re opened their doors as confidence in the new temporary governemnt gained, in force: Truek; sledges and little sleighs for hire, began-tp appear again in the streets that for six days had been; abso lutely void of any -means of private transportation.' ' :Ar- ' . .'. ; : Newspapers with th? exception of rev ' ' olutionary publications which sprang into life with the - success of the re volt, had failed to appear. Street . car service, it was believed, would-be part ly resumed tonight. 1 The" only , visible signs of the. desper ate clash of authority that turned the city into a battle .ground were the char red ruins of the. jail, which are still pouring a cloud of smoke, skyward and the..' remain, of other police institu "tions and the homes of the few individ uals who were regarded as offenders against the rights of the people.' In front of other government institutions are, piles of charred embers showing where wreckage and documents have been dumped. I Final Clash Wednesday Night The' defenders of , the old. regime doubtless a few. remain uncaptured by the police put up a last feeble de fence last night from the office of the wrecked Astoria Military Hotel and St. Isaac's cathedral, facing on two sides of the same square. They were soon si lenced by sharpshooters. ' With the reopening of bread, sugar, tear and meat shops, lines of women with shopping bags an'd baskets, often extending to the length of a block, were formed to resplenish stores exhausted by the long siege. The most phenomen al feature of the revolution has been the swift and orderly transition whereby the, control of the city passed from the regime of the old government into the hands of its opponents. Until Sunday, disorders in the streets, which never went beyond quiet gatherings or mild demonstrations,- could not. properly be termed a revolution at all. . . ' Rebels Control the City. . After thirtysix hours-of continuous street fighting, the whole area-of Pet rograd was on Tuesday in the hands of the revolutionists. V Regiments called out to disperse street crowds that were clamoring for bread refused to fire upon the people, but mutinied, killing their officers in many cases, and joined the swelling ranks of the insurgents. With the exception of a" Finnish regiment, which' took possession of the admiralty building on the Neva and kept up a desultory rifle and. machine gun fire, the last regiments to remain loyal to the government had capitulated after a sustained bat'tleon the Morskava and made "no further resistance to the rev olutionists city.f .; v.v 1 'The -police lhad disappeared from the . ' - Continued on Page Six). ble uprisings in history. Beginning with minor food riots and labor strikes, the cry for food reached the hearts of the' soldiers, arid one by one the regi ments rebelled, until finally those troops that had for a time stood loyal to the government,: took up their arms and marched into the ranks of the revolutionists. The president, bf the Duma,fcMIchael V. Rodzianko, was.' the leading, figure among the deputies who unanimously decided to - oppose; the imperial order for a - dissolution of the house. They continued their sessions and M. Rod-, zianko informed the emperor, then at the front, that ' the hour had struck when the will of the people must pre vail. Even the imperial council real ized the gravity . of the situation and added its appeal to that of the Duma that the emperor should take steps to give the people a policy and govern ment in accordance with their desires and in order that there should be no in terference ' with carrying on the war to a victorious ending. Empress May Have Fled. The emperor hastened back from the front, only to find that the . revolution had been successful and that a new government was in control. The em press, who it is alleged, has been influ ential irf the councils opposed to - the wishes bf the people, is reported to haVe ffled or to be in hiding. -v Although considerable fighting took place, it is not believed that the, casual ties are large.. The early period of the uprising bore the character rather of a mock revolu tion. Cossacks charging: down the street did so in a half-hearted fashion, plainly without . malice or intent to harm the crowds. The troops exchang ed good natured raillery with the workingmen and women, and as they rode were cheered by the populace. v : Long" lines of soldiers stationed .in dramatic attitudes across Nevsky Pros pect, with their guns pointed at. an imaginary . foe," appeared to be taking part in a tableau. Machine guns firing roulades or blank cartridges seemed only' to add another realistic touch to a tremendous theatric production. Broke. Into Flame . Sunday. Until Sunday night this pageant con tinued without serious interruption. Then' in a flash the whole scene lost its theatric quality; it became a genuine revolution. The regiments had received an order from the commandant to fire upon per sons assembled . in the street. This caused Immediate dissention among the troops, who did not understand why they , should be compelled to' take vio lent measures against fellow citizens, whose chief offense was that they were hungYy and were asking the govern ment to supply bread. Several regi-?' ments deserted and a pitched battle be gan between the troops who stood with the government and those who, refus ing to obey orders, had mutinied. A long night battle occurred between the mutinous regiments and the police at the end of St. Catharine canal. Im- (Continued on Page Ten). ' London Shows Unmixed Joy Over The Turn of Affairs in Russia who controlled ? the entire London, March 15. The news that "great Russia" had joined the democra cies of the world and that one of the three great absolutist rulers of the world had resigned his throne in ac cordance with the demands of his peo ple, was received here with unmixed joy. There has been no illusion here about Russia. Particularly in the last.1 year -it has been well unerstood that the. situation there 'has been the peo ple against the throne. "The people and the army are all for the war and against Germany," has been the word which came from Russia from all channels repeatedly. That the court has been enshrouded in a pro German atmosphere and that the em peror was a weak man under the thumb of his wife and also urfder the domina tion of several members of the bureau cracy, some of whom were influenced only by the tradition of the old bureau cracy and others, of whom were inform ed here as wholly to the benefit of the entente powers In the war. CITY OF KRONSTADT IS SAID TO HAVE JOINED REVOLUTION London, March -15. Telegraphing from ' Petrograd Wednesday, Reuter's correspondent says JCronstadt, the fort ress and seaport at the head of the Gulf of Finland, twenty miles west of Petro grad, has Joined the revolutionary movement. Two deputies, Pepelauff and Tasklne, on Instructions from the duma committee, proceeded to Kronstadt where the troops placed themselves at the disposal of the duma. M. Pepelauff was appointed com mandant of Krondstadt, which is Rus sia's great naval station. TRENCHES' ON FRONT OF TWO AND HALF MILES CAPTURED London, March 15. Another impor tant gain has been made by the British troops between Peronne and Bapaume," ri hv in tha To-r e a J5i -""'"'"s i wiiii-iai Biaieraeni is-. afso hid been reported.' " - it "fXJ, n f The. men now in control of the des- u"! ' i!!' 'Jh,.". 2.m tinles of the j:reat empire of western j north of the villaee of Ramii h ?P Blanf anti- Joeen occupied. uv.umu. ouu jiiu-nussiaa w xne core, so the Russian developments are. regard- ' A .J. ei . . . f oouineasi 01. Arras tne Germana en terea British trenches. v r i ,v::'
Wilmington Morning Star (Wilmington, N.C.)
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March 16, 1917, edition 1
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