VOLUME 37.
THE SMITH FIELD HERALD, TUESDAY, DEC. 3, 1918.
Number 97
WILSON TO HEAD
PEACE DELEGATION
Wilson Will Lead Representatives and
Take Active Part at Peace Table. |
Formal Announcement from the!
White House—Root and Brandeis
Were Expected to be Named;
Sketches of the Four Who With the
President Will Sail for Europe Some
Time This Week on Mission of
World Importance.
Art Associated Press dispatch from
Washington, dated November 29, and
published in Saturday’s papers, gives
the personnel of the Peace delegates
and states that President Wilson per
sonally will head the American repre
sentation at the Peace Conference.
This was announced officially tonight
at the White House.
The other members of the delega
tion will be:
Robert Lansing, Secretary of State.
Col. E. M. House.
Henry White, former Ambassador
to France and Italy.
General Tasker H. Bliss, former
Chief of Staff of the Army, and now
American military representative on
the Supreme War Council at Ver
sailles.
Formal Announcement.
The Wihte House announcement
follows:
“It was announced at the executive
offices tonight that the representatives
of the United States at the Peace
Conference would be:
Th'’ President himself, the Secre
tary of State, the Honorable Henry
White (recently Ambassador to
France), Mr. Edward M. House, and
General Tasker H. Bliss.
“It was explained that it had not
been possible to announce these ap
pointments before because the num
ber of representatives each of the
chief belligerents was to send had, un
til a day or two ago, been under dis
cussion.”
In the absence of any official expla
nation it was assumed that the Presi
dent goes as President of the United
States and that Secretary Lansing,
Mr. White and Col. House and possibly
also General Bliss will be delegates
with ambassadorial rank.
It was recalled that the Presi
dent’s announcement that he would go
to France “for the purpose of taking
part in the discussion and settlement
of the main features of the treaty of
peace,” said that it was not likely
that he could remain throughout the
session of the peace conference and
that he would be “accompanied by
delegates who will sit as the repre
sentatives of the United States
throughout the conference.”
Secretary Lansing.
Secretary Lansing, who heads the
delegation proper, became Secretary
of State in June, 1915, when William
Jennings Bryan resigned rather than
sign a note to Germany in the Lusi
tania case which he thought might
lead to war. During the three and a
half years that have followed Mr. Lan
sing has conducted many difficult ne
gotiations for the country as a neu
tral and as a belligerent, and his name
an nears on all the historic documents
telling the story of America’s entry
into the war as well as those answer
ire Germany’s peace pleas which pre
ceded the downfall of the central alli
ance. At the time of his appointment
he was a counselor of the State De
partment after a career as an interna
tional lawyer which has established
his reputation as one of the foremost
American authorities on this subject.
Mr .White.
Mr. White, the Republican of the
delegation, is a diplomat of long ex
perience, who began as secretary of
the American Legation in Vienna in
1884. He served as Secretary of the
Embassy at various capitals, repre
sented the United States at several
great international gatherings and in
1905 was appointed Ambassador to
It: 'v by President Roosevelt. Two
years later he was made Ambassador
to France, where he remained until
1909, when President Taft sent him to
Chile as special Ambassador of the
United States for the celebration of
the Centenary of Chilean independ
ence.
Col. House.
Colonel House has never held pub
lic office, but as President Wilson’s
personal friend and adviser he is cred
ited generally as having played a
greater part in the present adminis
* tration than any other man except the
President himself. He has been call
ed into consultation at every crisis,
and after going to Europe in 1914,
1915 and 1916 as the President’s per
sonal representative to European
governments, he wras commissioned to
gather and organize data to be used
whenever the time for a peace con
ference might come. He hastened to
Europe when it became apparent that
Germany was crumbling, and was in
France to speak for the President in
conference with the heads of the al
lied governments when the terms of '
armistice and the basis for peace dis
cussion were determined.
General Bliss.
General Bliss, who formerly was
chief of staff of the army, went to
Europe last December with an Ameri
can mission and later was perma
nently assigned as the American mil
itary representative on the interallied
council at Versailles. As the Ameri
can military representative at the
peace conference he will be assisted by j
a staff of officers, most of whom in the j
understanding here, will come from !
the general staff of the American ex-1
peditionary forces.
Admiral Benson had made several
trips to Europe since the United
States entered the war and went to
Paris with Col. House last month as j
the representative of the navy on the
supreme war council.
There is discussion, but no official
explanation of why two of the names
most generally mentioned in the early
‘peculation as to the probable per
sonnel of the peace delegation, do not
appear on the list. Elihu Root, former
Secretary of State, and Louis Bran
deis, associate justice of the Supreme
Court, were considered in well inform
ed quarters almost certain to be
chosen. Recently it has been said
that Mr. Root did not care to under
take the mission and that Justice
Brandeis would not be able to leave
the country because of his work in the
court.
CAMP GREENE IS
TO BE CONTINUED.
To He Used for Months for Demobili- |
zation l’urposes—May Ultimately
He Turned Into a Soldier’s Home,
Officials Declare.
Washington, Nov. 29—Camp Greene
is to be used for months for the de
mobilization of army forces. Its fu
ture depends on future plans. This
was stated by government officials to
day.
Secretary Baker announced as a
“policy that all tent camps will be
abandoned as soon as practicable. No
more tents nor supplies will be sent to
these camps, nor will any further im
provements be made other than those
necessary fpr the health and care of
the garrisons now quartered thereat
or to be sent there for demobiliza
tion.”
Camp Greene does not belong in this
class and will be continued longer.
The efforts to make the camp an army
post have not been passed upon by the
government department yet.
It is believed here that, if Charlotte
should desire it, the camp could ulti
mately be turned into a soldiers’ home,
where disabled men disqualified for
anything e'se could be cared for by
the government.
The high cost of cotton is given as
one reason for cutting out the tent
camps.
United War Work Campaign a
Success.
.Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 28.—America has
"esponded wonderfully to the appeal
for funds made by the seven officially
recognized war welfare work agen
cies in the United War Work Cam
paign just closed—Y. M. C. A., Y. W.
C. A., J. W. B., K. of C., The Salvation
Army, American Library Association
and War Camp Community Service.
More than $203,179,038 was pledged,
assuming continuation of service
among our American and other allied
soldiers and sailors during the tem
pestuous reconstruction, occupation
and demobilizaiton period, following
the cessation of hostilities.
This is $32,679,038 in excess of the
amount originally asked—$170,500,000
—and the largest sum ever raised as
an outright gift in the history of the
world.
BUNCOMBE W ILL KEEP
RECORD OF ITS SOLDIERS.
Members of the Soldiers’ Fathers’
Cluh of Asheville and Buncombe coun
ty, will issue a book containing the
record of every soldier or sailor who
went fronj Buncombe county during
the war. The book will have the com
plete record of each man, his age, oc
cupation, branch of service entered,
service in camp and abroad and any
other detail possible to obtain. These
books will be kept by the members of
of the club, and will be presented to
the various public institutions of the
city and county, as well as the State
and national libraries, in order that
Buncombe’s record may be preserved.
--
Liberty Bonds to Methodist
Orphanage.
Superintendent A. S. Barnes, of the
Methodist Orphanage at Raleigh, an
nounced Thursday that $5,000 in Lib
erty Bonds had been donated to the
Orphanage by Mr. L. J. Baker, one of
the most prominent business men
and planters of Halifax county. Mr.
Baker is already supporting four
children at the Orphanage.
ON GOVERNMENT OWNERSHIP
Former Candidate Charles E. Hughes
Says That “Government Enterprise
Tends Constantly to Inefficiency." j
Says Congress Should Provide Plan
for Railroad Legislation.
Charles E. Hughes, speaking Satur- j
day night before the Institute of Arts !
and Sciences at Columbia University,!
says a New York dispatch, asserted j
that “governmental enterprise tends.
constantly to inefficiency.” He char- ,
acterized as “enemies of liberty” all1
“those whose interests lie simply in
extending the activities of government
so as to embrace all industry.”
Discussing conditions following the
war he declared that readjustment
should be brought about as soon as j
practicable and that war powers
should not be used to control peace
conditions. Such a control, he said,
would constitute a most serious of
fence against American institutions.
“The question of government own
emship and operation is. after all. a
severely pratical one,” said Mr.
Hughes.
“It is regrettable, but it is true,
that governmental enterprise tends
constantly to inefficiency. * * * It can
not fail to be observed that even in
connection with the war, inefficiency
in important fields of activity has been
notorious. The notion that the con
duct of business by government tends
to be efficient is a superstition cher
ished by those who either know no
thing of government or who know no
thing of business. The tendency is
strongly the other way.
“Along with this is the grave ques
tion of putting the direct operation of
these great activities unnecessarily
under political control. That is the
most serious question.”
What He Would Have Congress Do.
Congress, he said, should provide a
sensible plan for railroad regulation,
permitting sound credit and growth
establishing securities and insuring
adequate service at reasonable rates.
He also declared co-operation in in
dustry to be just as essential in peace
time as during the exigencies of war
and that big business was needed, if
soundly organized and properly super
vised. He further declared that seri
ous labor conditions were looming on
the horizon and sugested that in order
to take up the labor slack an effort
should be made to start immediately
all important public work throughout
the country which has been held up
during the war.
BRITISH AIR LOSSES HEAVY.
2.680 Killed in Last Period of Seven
Months.
London. Nov. 80.—Casualties in the
Royal Air Forces from April, when
the forces were amalgamated, to No
vember 11, were: Killed. 2.680; wound
ed. missing and prisoners, 4,900, ac
cording to an official statement by the
Air Ministry.
The total air casualties throughout
the war will be announced later.
TO RETURN FROM THE FRONT.
There Are 83,114 Men in First Batch.
They Are Mostly From New Eng
land and New' York.
Washington. Nov. 30.—Gen. Peyton
C. March, Chief of Staff,' announced
today that 3,451 officers and 79,663
men of the American overseas forces
had been designated by Gen. Pershing
for early convoy to the United States.
The list comprises the Thirty-ninth,
Seventy-sixth and Eighty-seventh di
visions and major units from the
Thirty-first, Thirty-fourth, Thirty
eighth, Fortieth, Eighty-fourth, Eigh
ty-fifth, Eighty-sixth and Eighty
eighth are now under orders.
“In bringing back troops from
France,” General March said, “the
Department expects to work up to
150,000 or 175,000 men in December,
and in doing so we will utilize the
army transports and a large number
of navel vessels which will carry be
tween 20,000 and 30,000 men, and at
the same time transform cargo boats
which were originally passenger boats
back to their original use.”
So far 649,000 troops have been
designated for demobilization in the
United States, General March said.
These include depot and development
battalions, 26,000; divisional troops,
10,000; railway troops, 28,000; United
States guards, 26,000; tank corps, 7,
000; chemical warfare troops, 7,000;
central officers training schools, 20,
000; student army training corps,
160,000. So far 46,000 officers and men
have been discharged.
American factories have produced
more than 12,000 airplanes, 31,814
motors and necessary equipment to
go with them. To November 22, 150,
131 Liberty motors had been com
pleted. Thirty thousand Lewis flexi
ble type aircraft machine guns and
35,000 Marlin fixed type guns have
been turned out.
CROIX DE GUERRE
TO EDWIN S. POU
Gallanf Young Officer Who Lost His
Life in a Seaplane Accident Cited
for Distinguished Service—Address
Delivered at His Funeral by the
Commander of the Air Patrols of
Loire.
The late Ensign Edwin Smith Pou,
the gallant and brave young son of
Congressman and Mrs. E. W. Pou, has
been recognized b5^ the French govern
ment by the bestowal of the distin
guished service emblem, the Croix de
Guerre. This great honor, which is a
most coveted one by every Frenchman,
was given at the impressive funeral
ceremonies. A letter to Mr. Pou from
Captain Sugden, of the United States
Coast Guard, states that this honor
was bestowed by the Senior French
Officer for “meritorious services ren
dered just a few days prior to his
death.”
The letters from Commodore Jolivet
and Captain Sugden and the funeral
address of Captain de Courvette Vas
chalde follow:
Citation of the Order of the Day of
the Division of Patrols of Loire.
(Bronze Star.)
Ensign Edwin S. Pou, U. S. N., Pilot
Aviator at U. S. Naval Air Sta
tion lie Tudy.
Remarkable officer, full of gallantry
and energy, distinguished himself on
August 7th. and September 27th,
when he attacked two submarines he
had sighted near important convoys.
Has destroyed on 22nd of October a
mine moored in the route of the con
voys.
Killed on duty in a landing accident.
Lorient, 29 October 1918.
The Commodore Jolivet Chief of
Division.
(Signed) JOLIY’ET.
le Capitaine de Courvette
VASCHALDE, C. P. A. L.
U. S. Naval Forces Operating in
Foreign Waters. U. S. Naval
Aviation Forces, Foreign
Service.
U. S. Naval Air Station,
He Tudy, Finistere,
' 30 Oct. 1918.
Sir:
It is my very sad duty to inform
you that your son, Edwin S. Pou, En
sign U. S. N. R. F., was killed on Oc
tober 28, 1918, at about 4:15 p. m.,
when the seaplane which he was pilot
ing collided with an iron spar buoy
at the entrance of lie Tudy Harbor.
In the opinion of the Medical Officers
on the Beard of Inquest death was in
stantaneous.
Your son was buried in the ceme
tery of lie Tudy with full military
honors on October 30, at 11:30 a. m.
In addition to the American Naval
Forces participating, many French
navy and army officers were present
and a French guard of honor. At the
funeral ceremonies the croix de guerro
was bestowed upon your son by the
Senior French Naval Officer present,
for meritorious services rendered
just a few days prior to his death.
Ensign Pou had been at this station
under my command for three months
and had shown at all times a keen en
thusiastic interest in his work, ever
cheerful and willing to do more than
his share, and by his unflagging de
votion to duty, setting an example
that was an inspiration to all. He
was loved by his brother officers and
men of the station, and by everyone
in the surrounding country who knew
him and who testified to this love and
their sorrow at his tragic end, by
decorating his grave • with beautiful
floral offerings. Pictures have been
taken of the ceremonies and grave
and I will forward them to you as
soon as they are completed.
I have requested authority to send
your son’s effects to his wife and
when this authority is received they
will be forwarded as soon as possible.
The flag which draped the coffin
will be held here for a period of three
months pending a request from you
for it for any relatives, society or or
ganization to which your son be
longed.
If there is any further information
that you desire, I shall be only too
glad to give it to you.
Assuring you again of my very deep
sorrow and sympathy for you in your
bereavement. I remain,
Respectfully and sincerely,
(Signed) C. E. SUGDEN,
Capt. Engr’s U. S. Coast Guard
Commanding.
The Hon Edward W. Pou,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D. C.
Patroulles Arrinnes
De La Poire.
Address delivered on October 30, at
U\ S. N. A. Station, lie Tudy, by the
Capitaine de Corvette Vasehalde,
Comanding the Air Patrols of Loire,
for the funeral of Ensign Edwin S.
Pou, U. S. N.
The Commander of Air Patrols of
I/oire, speaking in his name and as a
delegate of Commodore Jolivet, Chief
of Division of Patrols of Loire, and
of Vice-Admiral Aubry, Commanding
in Chief, wishes to salue for the last
time Ensign Edwin Pou, which we
are going to accompany to his grave.
This brilliant officer has always,
since he arrived at He Tudy, shown his
gallantry and his courage. He was
always ready, even when the weather
rendered his duty more difficult still,
to face all dangers in order to fulfill
the useful though dangerous task of
the Station.
A sad accident caused his death.
Aviators well know that such acci
dents may befall them at any time,
and this constitutes the greatness of
their task. What we human beings
call death, threatens them always, and
strikes the moften unawares.
Even the day before yesterday we
were gathered to render the last hon
ors to Ensign Sprague; yesterday we
accompanied to the grave the casket
of the French Lieutenant Albertini,
of the Naval Air Station of Quiberon.
They died like Ensign Pou, fighting
for civilization against barbarism.
French Navy, and France herself, will
always piously remember the heroes
who crossed the ocean to help drive
out the Huns from our country. And
it is in the name of France, Ensign
Edwin Pou, that I bring you my last
farewell.
NO CERTIFICATES FOR
SUGAR AFTER DECEMBER 1.
Distribution of sugar under the cer
tificate system will be discontinued
December 1, under an order issued
by the food administration. The
administration emphasized, however,
that requests for conservation of su
gar were in no way modified. Domes
tic consumers, it was said, will be ex
pected to observe the voluntary ration
of four pounds a person a month and
public eating places will be required
to use only four pounds of sugar for
each 00 meals served.
Five Airplanes Stop at Raleigh.
Five army planes surprised Raleigh
with a visit when they stopped Wed
nesday afternoon to remain overnight
before resuming the flight from Lang
ley Field to Camp Jackson, Columbia,
S. C. However, a slight damage done
to one of the ships in effecting a land
ing on the drill grouds at Camp Polk
together with the damage to the
planes in the rain Thursday made a
longer stay necessary.
Besides discovering suitable landing
spots in this territory, the purpose of
the flight, as stated by Captain Da
vies, in command of the party, is to
demonstrate to the public that the
armv has an active and effective air
service.
PERSHING’S OFFICIAL
CASUALTIES REPORT.
Washington, Nov. 30.—General
March gave out amended casualtiy
lists from General Pershing, giving
the official total to November 6, as
262,723 exclusive of prisoners. The
figures on prisoners were unintelligi
ble in the cablegram. General Maich
said the total number under this head
probably would be practically the
same as announced last Saturday.
General Pershing reported the fol
lowing official casualties to November
26:
Killed in action, 28,368.
Died of wounds, 12,101.
Died of disease, 16,034.
Died of other causes, 1,980.
Missing in action, 14,290.
Pr'soners (unintelligible).
Wounded, 189,955, divided as fol
lows :
Severely wounded, 54,751; undeter
mined, 43,168; slightly wounded, 92,
036.
THIRTIETH DIVISION IS
NOT COMING BACK SOON.
Washington, Nov. 30.—Genera'
March corrected an erroneous impres
sion that the 27th (New York troops)
and 30th (Tennessee, North Carolina,
South Carolina and District of Col
umbia trooos) Divisions, reported as
withdrawn from the British lines, had
been designated for early return to
the United States. These two di
visions, he explained, have been re
turned to Pershing’s fommand and
have not yet been assigned for tran
portation home.
England to Aid Russian Finances.
London, Friday, Nov . 29.—Great
Britain has decided to assist the pro
! visional government of Russia by es
tablishing a new ruble currency at a
fixed rate of exchange of forty ruble^
to one pound sterling. Money thus
! received will be deposited in the Bank
of England as an unalienable reserve
to insure the convertabibty of Russian
notes into sterling at the above rate.
TELLS HOW THE BOYS
WENT OVER THE TOP
Johnston County Boy Writing to His
Mother Gives an Interesting Ac
count of an Early Morning Drive—
He Is a Member of Company K,
119th Infantry.
In a letter to his mother, Mrs. B. M.
Stephenson, written October 26, Hallie
Stephenson gives a graphic account
of how the boys went over the top
early one morning. He says:
*“I am just back from the front on a
relief. I guess I will be out for sev
eral days now, as it is the first time
we have been out for quite a time, and
thank the Good Lord, I am one of the
lucky ones. Yes, I should say lucky
to even get out alive, much less with
out a scratch. I got a small scratch,
but it is well now. My experience was
some experience, mother. It was hell
on earth.
“I will give you just a little of my
experience in the lines and in battle. I
will have lots more to tell you when
I get home, believe me. Well, I was
told one Friday evening that we were
going to pull off a big stunt on next
Sunday morning about the break of
day, and take a town held by the Ger
mans and full of machine guns. It
was about 1,000 yards behind the Hin
denburg line, which was strongly for
tified with machine guns, trench mor
tars and barbed wire and every other
thing that could be thought of to pre
vent us from breaking through their
line. On Saturday evening we march
ed up to a point within a mile of
where we were to make the start from
the next morning. Shells from the
German artil'ery were falling all
around the small dugout about 17 of
us boys were occupying. It looked like
when every shell fell the next one
would hit our dugout, but the Good
Lord was with us, and the next morn
ing about 4:.‘10 o’clock we went up to
the front line and took our position
just in front of the Germans and were
under heavy shell fire all the time we
were getting our position. We were
there just a few minutes before the
barrage started. Every gun, little and
big, in reach, opened up 'and such a
roar I never heard before. We all
went over the top and every man did
his little bit. We killed and captured
every German that did not run at the
rate of about 25 miles an hour. Of
course he could not hold out long at
that rate. We also captured hun
dreds of machine guns and some field
guns and general trench mortars, and
I should say a trench mortar does
some dirty work. We are glad to put
one of them out of action, fdr it means
lots of our boys’ lives saved. I have
just escaped trench mortar shells my
self and machine gun bullets besides.
But we captured the town and since
that day we have captured several
other small villages.
“I will write you again as soon
as I have time.
“HALLIE STEPHENSON.
“Company K, 119th Infantry.”
NAVY PLANE TAKES UP 50 MEN.
Greatest of AU Machines Proves to
I5e Success in Long Island Test.
The navy’s newest type aeroplane,
the Giant NC-1, the largest in the
world, broke all records for the num
ber of passengers carried in any air
plane when it made a flight with 50
men on board last Wednesday at the
naval air station, Rockaway, Long
Island.
No special modifications of the plane
were made for the flight, which was
made to demonstrate the machine’s
enormous lifting power. The NC-1 is
the first American trimotored sea
plane, and is propelled by three Liber
ty motors that develop a maximum of
1,200 horsepower, giving it a cruising
speed of 80 miles an hour. In the
test flight the plane was piloted by
Lieut. David H. McCullough, of the
| naval reserve flying corps.—Wash
ington Post, 1st.
Proposed Change in Postal Rates.
_
Should Congress adopt the recom
mendations of* the Senate Finance
Committee, second-class mail will be
I classified under a two-zone system,
j There will be one price of one cent a
| pound inside the 200-mile zone, and
| one and one-half cents extra for any
! distance outside this zone. Moreover,
as far as magazines and newspapers
are concerned, there shall be no addi
tional taxing for the amount of ad
vertising which a magazine or news
paper carries. This part of the com
mittee’s amendment becomes effect
ive as soon as the new revenue bill
becomes law.
Under the same amendment, first
class mail reverts to the old status,
that is: two cents an ounce or frac
tion thereof for letters, and one cent
, for postal cards. This section of the
bill does not become effective until
July 1, 1919.—Washington Dispatch.