DEADLOCK of great armies.
Distinct Gains Being Recorded by
Belligerents Only in Rumania as
New Year Dawns. Much Talk of
Peace But No Basis Found. War
Map in Main Theatres Shows at
Numerous Points Material Changes
in the Lines as They Stood a Year
Ago.
The following review of the war
news for the closing day of the old
year was published in yesterday's
Columbia State:
The dawn of 1917 finds the bellig
erent armies, temporarily at least,
virtually deadlocked everywhere ex
cept in Rumania. It finds also in the
air a suggestion by the Teutonic al
lies that they are ready to discuss
peace but no basis for the ending of
hostilities has yet been advanced by
them and the entente allies have sig
nified their determination to continue
fighting until their oft-repeated de
sires are complied with.
The war map in the mam theatres
of the war at the commencement of
the New Yaar shows at numerous
points material changes in the lines
as they stood a year ago. On the front
in France the Germans in the Somme
region have been driven back by the
French over fronts of considerable
size hile the Germans in the Verdun
sector made notable gains towards the
fortress but later lost a part of the
terrian through a French counter
offensive; the Italians have advanced
their line on the east closer toward
Trieste and the entente allies operat
ing from Saloniki have placed the
Servians on their native soil again
and also have pushed forward their
lines at various points in Macedonia.
A great drive begun in June by the
Russian general Brussiloff from the
Pinsk marshes to the Carpathians
was successful in clearing the Vol
hynian fortress triangle of the Aus
tro-Germans and in the capture of
much terrain in Galicia and Bukowina.
Half of Rumania which entered
the war in August on the side of en
tente now is in the hands of the Teu
tonic allies. The sweep of the Russians
through the Caucasian region and
Turkish Armenia has compelled the
Turks to yield much territory while
in the south the British in their ad
vance to give up their strategic base
at Kut-el-Amara and are being held
to a virtual standstill by the Otto
man forces. Aside from Rumania
there is little activity on any of the
fronts except by the artillery. On the
Moldavian Transylvania front of the
Rumanian theatre, the Teutons, rein
forced, still are making progress in
their drive which apparently has as
its object the effecting of a junction
with their troops moving north into
Moldavia. Additional points have been
taken from the Russians and Ruma
nians on both sides of the Oituz val
ley and in the Putna and Zobala val
leys.
Meanwhile Field Marshal von
Mackensen's army continues pushing
into the country from the mountains
to the Danube. The eastern flank has
thrown back the Russians from the
Braila bridgehead while in Dobrudja
the Teutonic line has been driven
closer to Matchin, across the river
from Braila. Here the rivers have
been forced to give a point of support
east of the town.
Advices from Athens say the
French, British and Russian minis
ters have signed a note demanding
the reduction of the Greek forces ex
cept in Peloponnesus to a size neces
sary only for police duty, the release
of political prisoners and apologies
to the allied ministers and flags.
Took A Whiskey Still.
On last Saturday, Deputy Collec
tor J. P. Stell, and H. G. Gurley and
Deputy Marshal George F. Moore and
posseman B. Lfl Jones went to the
home of Mr. Dempsey Daughtry,
about four miles South of Pine Level,
where they captured a whiskey still.
In the barn they found a thirty-five
gallon copper still, complete with
cap and worm, funnels, quart pots,
doubling keg and four gallons of low
wines. In the wash house were fer
nicnters and mash sticks. About three
hundred yards from the dwelling was
the place where the still had been
operated. Mr. Daughtry will have a
hearing Wednesday before Dr. R. J.
Noble, the United States Commission
er, at Selma.
The Uruguayan Congress is con
sidering the establishment of a mili
tary aviation school.
(J EN ERA L NEWS ITEMS.
American publishers arc up in
arms against what they allege to be
the news print paper trust. This trust,
they declare, is driving small weak
publishers out df business and goug
ing richer ones for extortionate prices
for paper. The publishers want the
federal trade commission or some
other branch of the government to
take drastic and immediate steps to
remedy the situation.
* * *
It has been confirmed that Lieuten
ant Harteaux, of France, brought
down on the 26th of December his
fifteenth enemy airplane. This hap
pened over Vaux Wood. On the same
day Sublieutenant Guynemer brought
down at a point east of Misery his
twenty-fourth German airplane, and
on December 27 he vanquished his
twenty-fifth air enemy a little to the
south of Maisonette, in France.
* * *
With the new year it is calculated
thut 400 passenger trains will dis
appear from the British railway time
table, says a London dispatch. Many
of the remaining trains will run more
slowly and with a larger number of
stops. Long distance non-stop ex
presses will be as rare as they were
thirty years ago. The London Daily
News says, so far as comfort and
speed are concerned, the clock will be
put back a quarter of a century.
If If H
A London dispatch says that at a
meeting of the Rumanian consolidated
oil fields, William W. Rutherford,
member of parliament from Liver
pool, said that probably the value of
the oil fields destroyed by the allies in
the Rumanian retreat amounted to
$150,000,000. It was a wholesale de
struction, he remarked, carried on by
a British military mission acting un
der the instructions of headquarters.
This work, he added, rendered the
property and stock utterly useless
to the foe. The oil wells of German
companies met a similar fate, he said.
* * *
Announcement is made in the Ber
lin newspapers that the Order of
Merit has been conferred on Captain
Valentiner, captain of a German sub
marine for sinking 128 ships of a to
tal tonnage of 282,000. Included
among the boats sunk are a French
gunboat, a troop transport, four
steamships loaded with war material
and a French submarine convoying
14 coal steamers. Capt. Valentiner has
had numerous engagements with
armed hostile ships, capturing two on
which guns were mounted. It was his
submarine which shelled Funchal, Ma
deira Islands, early last month, and
sank in the Funchal Harbor the
French gunboat Surprise and the
steamships Dacia and Kanguroo.
CAT SKINS VALUABLE.
Growing Scarcity of Furs Has Created
Demand for Them.
Minneapolis Journal.
Business seers decry a dark cloud
gathering over the future of the black
cat. Generations ago a black cat
with nine white hairs in the end of
her tail was in for a bad time, for
she was believed to be a disguised
witch.
But today, with or without the nine
white hairs in her conclusion, the
black cat is playing in hard luck, for
the fur trade has found that her hide
is worth $2, and is prepared to give
it. As the hide has to be untimely
rlpned from the cat the transaction
i? an unpleasant one from the point
of v'ew of the animal.
Ir. fact, the growing scarcity of
furs has brought into prominence and
value the fur of all other colors of
cats. Eastern fur dealers are adver
tising for cat skins and paying good
prices. A common skin brings 15
cents, maltese hides bring $1 and solid
black skins are worth $2. The skins
are worked up into merchantable
goods and few can tell them from the
more costly furs. One New York mer
chant has bought in recent months
15,000 skins, and could use more. It
is estimated that at least 15,000,000
cats in the country could be marketed
with general benefit. For one thing,
the birds would get a far better chance
for their lives.
The cat is a quite general favorite,
but there are times when, owing to
her ideas on the matter of the plac
ing of the voice, her popularity wanes
considerably. Her life suffers then
somewhat from the hazards of exist
ence, and now the values placed on
her outer covering are likely to in
crease these hazards considerably.
PEACE PROPOSAL IS REJECTED.
Entente Allies Will Not Consider the
Proposition, Declaring It Empty
anil Devoid of Meaning. Reply
Charges Germany and Austria With
Starting the Trouble and Says
There Can Be No Peace Without
Reparation.
As was to be expected, the Entente
Allies have rejected Germany's peace
proposal. The following was sent out
from Paris Saturday and published
in Sunday's daily papers:
In reply to the proffer by Germany
and her allies for a peace conference,
the entente allies, in a collective* note,
declare that they "refuse to consider
a proposrl which is empty and insin
cere." The note was handed to the
American ambassador, ? William
Graves Sharp, today by Premier
Briand, and was made public simul
taneously in London and Paris.
The entente allied governments in
sist that no peace is possible as long
as they have not secured reparation
for violated rights and liberties and
the free? existence of small states and
have not brought about a settlement
of the future security of the world.
The note declares that the proposal
of the central powers is not an offer
of peace, but a "war manoeuvre." It
is declared to be founded on "cal
culated misinterpretation of the char
acter of the struggle in the past, the
present and the future."
The note does not specifically out
line the definite war aims of any of
the entente governments, cxcept Bel
gium. Before the war, it is pointed
out, Belgium asked for nothing but
to live in harmony with her neighbors.
Assailed in spite of the treaties guar
anteeing her inviolability, Belgium
the note says* has takeji up arms to
defend her independence and her
neutrality violated by Germany.
Belgium's aim, which is declared
to be the only aim of her king and
government, is described as "the re
establishment of peace and justice.
But they only desire peace which
would aspure to their country legiti
mate reparation, guarantees and safe
guards for the future."
The note, which is the joint act of
Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy,
Japan, Montenegro, Portugal, Ruma
nia, Russia and Servia, declares that
the present strife was desired, pro
voked and declared by Germany and
Austria-Hungary, and that Germany
made no effort to bring about a pacific
solution of the trouble between Servia
and Austria-Hungary, as did Great
Britain, France and Russia.
A peace concluded upon the Ger
man idea would be only to the ad
vantage of the central powers, says
the note, while disasters caused by
the war demand penalties, reparation
and guarantees.
The German overtures are describ
ed as a calculated attempt to force
the future course of the war and to
end it by imposing a German peace.
The overtures also are said to have
been designed to have the effect of in
timidating neutral public opinion as
well as of stiffening opinin in the cen
tral powers "worn out by economic
pressure and crushed by the supreme
effort which has been imposed upon
their inhabitants."
"Finally," it is aserted, "these over
tures attempt to justify in advance in
the eyes of the world, a new series
of crimes ? submarine warfare, de
portations, forced labor and forced
enlistment of the inhabitants against
their own countries and violations of
neutrality."
Board of Education Meets.
The County Board of Education met
in regular session Monday, with all
members present. The greatest work
of the day was that of apportioning
the school fund. The sum of $29,380
was apportioned to white schools, and
$5,320 to the colored schools; $3,160
was reserved for building purposes.
County Health Board Meets.
The County Board of Health met
in regular session here yesterday and
elected Dr. J. C. Grady and Dr. B. A.
Hocutt to succeed themselves as mem
bers of the Board, their term of of
fice having expired with the closing
year. Next Monday, January 8th,
is the regular time for electing a
County Health Officer.
Finland is investigating conditions
surrounding the employment of wo
men and children in bobbin factories
in Viborg and Lahti?.
| YEAR TO BRING GREAT DEFICIT.!
? I
To Be .Many Millions Short in Juno,
1918, Mr. MoAdoo, Secretary of the
Treasury Estir- *es That Congress
.Must Raise Sum of $379,000,000.
Washington, Dec. 31. ? Secretary
MoAdoo estimated tonight that un
der existing revenue laws the govern
ment's dcficit on Juno 30, 1918, will
be $279,000,000 and that in ordor to
meet this condition and give the
treasury the necessary working bal
ance of $100,000,000 congress will
have to raise $.'579,000,000 additional
revenue during the coming fiscal
year.
The secretary takes it for granted
that bonds will be issued for $184,
250,000 to reimburse the general
fund for $102,418,000, estimated ex
penditures for the Mexican border pa
trol up to June 30, 1917, and for $21,
838,000, estimated expenditures for
the Alaskan railway to June 30, 1918.
This would leave $194,817,000 to be
raised by taxation.
"The wealth and resources of the
country are so great," Mr. MoAdoo
said, "that it will not be difficult to
raise this amount (approximately
$200,000,000) by internal taxation,
which can be distributed in such a
way as not to bear heavily or un
justly upen anybody.
"Congress has already authorized
the issue of bonds to provide the $50,
000,000 authorized for a merchant
marine and the $20,000,000 author
ized for a nitrate plant. I presume
that bonds will bo authorized by the
congress for the $25,000,000 required
for the purchase of the Danish West
Indies.
"There is not included in the fore
going anything for an omnibus pub
lic buildings bill.
"I earnestly hope that even as to
some of the items which are included
in the estimates, material reductions
and savings may be effected."
The secretary prefaced his com
ment with the statement that it was
not for the treasury department to
prepare revenue measures and that
what he said merely expressed his
personal views. He said he opposed
bond issues to meet currert expendi
tures but that it was proper to issue
bonds for such permanent invest
ments as the Alaska railroad and pur
chase of the Danish West Indies as
well as for extraordinary expendi
tures due to national emergencies.
The Misses Bailey Entertain.
Kenly, N. C., Dec. 30.-- The Kenly
"Social Circle" was delightfully en
tertained Thursday evening by Misses
Allie and Beulah Bailey, at a Leap
Year Party. Each gyest on arrival
was served with punch by Misses Mil
dred Harden and Alma Lee Bailey.
During the evening progressive con
versation furnished entertainment as
did also the impersonation by the
young men of the mannnerisms pe
culiar to the young ladies and vice
versa. After bidding for their part
ners the young men were escorted in
to the dining room where delicious re
freshments were served which consist
ed of fruit whips served in orange
halves with fruit cake.
Those enjoying the Misses Bailey's
hospitality were Mr. Larry Barnes
with Miss Marie Kirby; Mr. Marvin
Revell with Miss Gladys Kirby; Mr.
Howard Edgerton with Miss Eaye
Barnes; Mr. Rudolph Kirby with
Miss Inez Edgerton; Mr. Yates Ed
gerton with Miss Gladys Jerome; Mr.
Claud Edgerton with Miss Eunice Je
rome; Mr. Ben Wellons, of Smithfield,
with Miss Lillian Edgerton; Mr. Jesse
Sauls with Miss Grace Jerome; Mr.
Tyra Bailey with Miss Brownie Ez
zell, of Dunn; Mr. Bud Bailey with
Miss Frances Hales; Mr. Roney High
with Miss Irene Parker, of Rocky
Mount; Mr. Dobbin Bailey with Miss
Agnes Hales; Mr. Addie Flowers, Mr.
Howard Grady and Mr. Ralph Hales.
Killed Some Fine Porkers.
Mr. W. E. Parker, of Oneals town
ship, killed two pigs a few days ago,
out of a three-acre lot ? never penned
at all ? which weighed 370 and 430
pounds respectively. These pigs were
not thorough-breds at all. They were
bought for ten cents per pound on
foot and were 14^4 months old when
killed. Mr. Parker says that if the
Duroc Jerseys will beat these he is
ready to give 12 Mj cents a pound for
two to put in the same lot.
Of the 43.000 persons employed in
the Swiss hotels, it seems strange
that only 30,000 are Swiss.
MI CH MORE WHEAT PLANTED. !
liig Increase in Acreage in Georgia,
Alabama and Mississippi and
Other Southern States.
Commenting on the report of the
United States Agricultural Depart
ment on the area of winter wheat
sown this year in comparison with
last year, says a Washington dispatch,
President Harrison, of the Southern
Railway Company, said:
"The figures show a gratifying
tendency in the direction of crop di
versification. In every Southern State
traversed by Southern Railway lines,
except Kentucky and Tennessee, the
acreage reported this year shows a
substantial increase over last year.
Kentucky shows a decrease and the
acreage in Tennessee, is the same as
last year. The largst increases are
shown in Georgia, Alabama and Miss
issippi ? States into which the cotton
boll weevil has spread. Georgia and
Alabama show increases of 13 per
cent over last year, while Mississippi,
which has heretofore grown little
wheat, shows an increase of 157 per
cent.
"These increases in wheat acreage
are in line with increases in other
crops and with increasing the number
and improving the quality of farm an
imals in the South and show that
Southern farmers are making real
progress in 'the way of producing, as
far as possible, everything consumed
on the farm and of having other
things besides cotton and tobacco for
sale."
IIOW UNCLE SAM GOT 11IS NAME
Nearly Every Nation Has Been
Given Some Familiar Designation.
(Kansas City Star.)
A nickname is not always applied
to a person, but sometimes to na
tions. In fact, nearly every nation
has some sort of nickname. Two of
the most important ones are England
and the United States.
For many generations England
has been nicknamed John Bull. John
Bull means beefy, brawny and ob
stinate. It is a popular personifica
tion of the English people. He is
represented as a bluff, corpulent,
irascrible old fellow, clad in leather
breeches and top boots, and carrying
a stout oaken cudgel. The nickname
is derived from Dr. Arbuthnot's sa
tire, entitled The History of John
Bull, a political skit on the subject
of the Spanish succession, first pub
lished in 1712, and afterwards re
printed complete in Pope's Miscel
lany in 1728.
Arbuthnot thus describes John
Bull.
"In the main he was an honest,
plain-dealing fellow, choleric, bold
and of very inconstant temper. Very
apt to quarrel with his best friends,
especially if they pretended to gov
ern him. If you flattered him you
might lead him as a child."
But with less distinction is Uncle
Sam the type of an American and
the tutelary genius of the United
'States. The phrase Uncle Sam arose
during the War of 1812. An army
contractor named Elbert Anderson
had a store yard at a small town on
the Hudson. A government inspec
tor named Samuel Wilson, who was
always called Uncle Sam, superin
tended the examination of the cup
plies, and when they were possed
each cask, box or package was mark
ed "E. A. ? U. S.," the initials of the
contractor and of the United States
The man whose duty it was to mark
the casks, being asked what the let
ters meant, replied that they stood
for Elbert Anderson and Uncle Sam,
The story was retold, printed and
spread throughout the Army and the
country.
Death Near Smithfield.
Mrs. John R. Jones died last Sat
urday morninpr at her home at the
Eldridtre place near Smithfield. Her
death was unexpected. She was bur
ied Sunday afternoon at the Gay
graveyard near Bethesda church. The
funeral was preached by Rev. John
E. Lanir. She leaves her husband and
several children. She was the mother
of thirteen children, the youngest
beinpr only a few hours old. We ex
tend sympathies to the family and
friends.
A Danish nerve specialist place?
convalescent patients on top of s
piano so that they may be benefited
by its vibration as it is played.
JUSTICE WILLIAM JOHNSON.
Famous South Carolina Judge Who
Was Appointed Justice of the Unit
ed States Supreme Court by Presi
dent Jefferaon at the Age of 33.
(Washington Post.)
William Johnson, the first justice
of 'he Supreme Court of the United
States to oppose the practice of per
mitting the Chief Justice to act as the
organ of the court, was born in
Charleston, S. C., December 27, 1771,
and died in Brooklyn, N. Y., August
11, 1834.
In the early decades of the govern
ment of the United States conflicts
between the executive and judicial de
partments were somewhat frequent
and were attended by the expression
of intense feeling. Thomas Jefferson,
third President of the United States,
had many quarrels with the Supreme
Court :\nd denounced that body as an
instrument of tyranny on certain oc
casions.
He had a very bitter difference with
Chief Justice Marshall, which was not
so strange in view of the wide dif
ference of political sentiment between
the two gentlemen, but on another
occasion the action of a justice of the
court was so displeasing to the Presi
dent that the matter became the .ob
ject of a controversy in which the
justice replied with great heat to the
charges that were made against him
in the name of the administration by
Caesar A. Rodney, then United
States Attorney General.
This justice was William Johnson,
of South Carolina, who had been ap
pointed to the Supreme Court near
the close of President Jefferson's first
administration, and who served
through the administrations of Presi
dents Madison, Monroe and John
Quincey Adams and the first admin
istration of President Jackson.
Justice Johnson in his views was
a very mild federalist, but he rarely
approved of the strong national ideas
of constitutional interpretation of
Chief Justice Marshall, and shrank
from the extreme views of Justice
Story.
Justice Johnson's father, William,
removed from New York to Charles
ton, S. C., and is said to have been the
first who "set the ball of revolution
rolling" in that State. The son, Wil
liam, after graduating at Princeton
with the highest honors of his class,
studied law, was admitted to the bar,
was elected to represent Charleston in
the State legislature and was chosen
speaker of the House.
He became judge of the court of
common pleas and at the age of 33
was appointed by President Jefferson
i an associate justice of the United
States Supreme Court. Four years
, later an incident occurred which
I brought him into antagonism with the
President. The collector of the port of
, Charleston, acting under the authori
ty of the embargo act and the in
i structions of the President of the
United States through the Secretary
' of the Treasury, which prohibited ves
1 sels from carrying goods from Ameri
I can ports, refused clearance to the
' five ships.
' Some doubt arose as to the right of
i Pitiident to give such an order, and
i it was agreed to submit the matter
? to Justice Johnson, on a motion for a
i mandamus to the collector directing
? him to issue such clearances. To the
? surprise of the administration Justice
1 Johnson decided that the mandamus
should issue, declaring that the Presi
' dent's order was without warrant in
law.
President Jefferson thereupon re
ferred all the proceedings in the man
damus to the Attorney General, Cae
sar A. Rodney, who prepared an elab
orate statement attacking Justice
Johnson, and insisting that the exe
cutive department must of necessity
be independent of the judicial. Jus
tice Johnson replied vigorously, and
the controversy was continued in the
press.
Years afterward, when the nullifi
cation agitation arose in South Caro
lina, Justice Johnson, finding himself
opposed to the views of the majority
in his own State, sought to insure
neutrality of his position by removing
to Pennsylvania.
For many years Chief Justice
Marshall voiced the decisions of the
"ourt, but Justice Johnson was the
first to break in upon this practice
and to restore the ancient habit of
seriatim opinions, wherever there was
any marked difference of opinion.
A movement is on foot to build a
cotton miil in Zebulon.