-- VALDEZ, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1914. NO. 362.
VOL. 10. ___
RUSSIANS MAKE GAINS IN GALICIA
CZAR’S TROOPS INVADING HUNGARY AND BUKOWINIA
GERMANS REACH CZENSTOCHAWA 200,000 STRONG
BIG EVENTS EXPECTED IN WESTERN FIGHTING ZONE
SUBMARINES FOR
FOREIGN POWERS
Steel Trust Has Order for Many—Ask
State Department for Ruling On
Neutrality Violation.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 4.—The State
department has received a request
from President Schwab of the Steel
Trust to know if the sending of sub
marines in sections from the United
States to belligerents will violate the
neutrality laws of this country. The
subject is under advisement by the
attorneys of the department ad ex
pressions of the view of the Germans,
French, British, Russian and Austrian
governments has been requested by
Secretary Bryan, who will then de
cide if sectional submarines can be
sent from the United States to any
of the countries now engaged in the
war.
10 HAS LAID
NORTH SEA MINES
United States Begins An Inquiry In
to a Menace To Neutral
Commerce.
WASHINGTON. Dec. 4.—An effort
is being made by tbe United States
government to ascertain officialy who
is responsible for placing mines in
the North Sea. This is one result
of the representations made to the
State department by Denmark, Hol
land, Sweden, and Norway that their
trade with the United States has been
paralyzed by the placing of mines out
side, in violation of The Hague treat
ies.
The United Stales was asKed to
join with these governments in an
effort to have the warring European
powers abate this danger to naviga
tion. Whether it will do so or not
is still under consideration, but mean
while the inquiry is being made to
determine the responsibility for the
mine laying and to what governments
any representations on the subject
should be made.
Counsellor Lansing inquired of the
British ambassador along these lines
today, but the ambassador said he
did not have the information.
KANSAS 1$ 1
BIG CORN CHOP
TOPEKA, Kas., Dec. 4.—The corn
crop of this state is valued at 160,
000,000 and it is one of the largest
the state has ever produced. The
farmers are planning to use every
available acre of land the next season
as the demand for corn will be heav
ier than ever.
Kings of England and Belgium Confer With President Poincare; Lord Kitchener
General Joffre and Other Military Leaders At Conference—Censorship
Stronger Than Ever—Germans Try To Cross Inundated Section On Rafts
But Are Repulsed With Heavy Losses—Canadian Troops Reach Suez
Canal—Germans Attacking Russian Center-Russians Lost 30,000 Officers.
LONDON, Dec. 4.—The Russians
continue to make gains in Galicia and
have broken through the Carpathians
and now overrun three Hungarian
provinces, besides the province of Bu
kowina, which they hold. The Aus
trians are fighting desperately but
have lost all the Carpathian passes
and have been driven upon the plains,
where they will have small opportun
ity to block the Russian advance.
King George Remains At Front.
LONDON, Dec. 4.—King George of
Great Britain will remain at the front
for some time as his presence has
aroused great enthusiasm among the
troops. The king has visited all the
field hospitals of the British armies
and talked to the men. He has al
so been to the firing line and watch
ed the troops in action.
Allies Mold tonierence.
King George of Great Britain, King
Albert of Belgium, President Poin
care of Prance, Lord Kitchener the
secretary of war of the British gov
ernment, General Joffre, the comman
der-in-chief of the French armies and
also the commander of the forces op
erating in France and Belgium, sever
al high British and French naval of
ficers, the Russian ambassador and
high military authorities held a con
ference this morning in northern
France, the censor refusing to allow
the place to be designated. It is be
lieved that some great movement is
on foot. The future plans of the al
lies will be arranged. The censor
ship, however, is so strict that it is
impossible to know what is going on.
Big Plans On Foot.
The censorship extends over the en
tire western zone. It is believed that
important events are transpiring. For
the past few weeks the British have
been sending transport after trans
por to the continent. The new army
of 1,000,000 men has been sent to
France and Belgium. It is said by
military men that the supreme test
of strength will now be made and
that the long expected advance into
Germany will start.
Expect Invasion via Belgium.
While some military experts predict
that the invasion of Germany will be
made via Belgium some of the ex
perts are certain that the allies will
try to crush through the German line
near Luxemberg and thus force the
abandonment of the kaiser’s line in
Belgium as its rear would be threat
ened.
Germans Reach Czenstochowa.
PETROGRAD, Dec. 4—Five Ger
man army corps totaling 200,000 men
have reached Czenstochowa to rein
force the Germans who have been en
deavoring for several days to aid the
German-Austrian troops near Cracow.
The Russian force is far inferior to
the German force but is holding the
kaiser’s men back to give the gen
eral staff an opportunity to send re
inforcements south.
Heavy Russian Losses.
BERLIN, Dec. 4.—The total Rus
sian casualties to date among the of
ficers total 30,000. The drain in of
fleers has caused the Russian general
staff much worry, as new men can
not be found to replace the killed,
wounded or captured. The German
sharpshooters are Inflicting heavy
toss among the commanding officers
of the czar’s army, as the men re
fuse to go where ordered, but will
follow the commanders and as a re
sult the loss in officers to the Rus
sian army has been much greater
than in the German army.
Canadians Reach Egypt.
BERLIN, Dec. 4.—Forty thousand
Canadians reached Egypt today. The
men were sent to strengthen the ca
nal guards The Turks are threat
ening the canal and are advancing in
force from Arabia.
Germans Watching Danes.
COPENHAGEN, Dec. 4.—There has
been great nervousness recently
among the German forces watching
the Danish frontier, and the German
guards have been reinforced consid
erably. Any other language s3ve Ger
man over the telephones in the fron
tier districts is prohibited. The pres
ence of German spies in the Danish
capital is common talk. There is
also an ever increasing number of
German buyers of food and horses
in Copenhagen. Some of these buy
ers tried to place large orders with
a Scandinavian firm for iron wire.
No firm, however, would accept the
order, and this despite the fact that
wire is not in the list of articles
prohibited for export.
Bar Caricatures of Kaiser.
LONDON, Dec. 4.—The war office
has barred from the front all post
cards caricaturing the kaiser because
the German officers have been sum
marily punishing all prisoners caught
with the cards in their possession.
Rumania To Buy Here.
PITTSBURG, Dec. 4.—The Pitts
burg Trade Commission announced
today that it has been advised that
a delegation of business men and
financiers of Rumania would arrive in
the United States this month to make
extensive purchases for *’ eir govern
ment which will approximate about
$12,000,000. This delegation, it is un
derstood, will endeavor to close con
tracts for small arms, light and heavy
LANE FAVORS
SEWARD ROUTE
Washington Message States Secretary
Wants $5,000,000 To Buy Seward
Road and Continue It.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.—Secretary
Lane will ask congress for $5,000,000
to commence building the Alaska
railroad to be constructed by the gov
ernment from tide wrater to the In
terior. This sum is considered enough
to buy the Alaska Northern railroad
and to continue construction work to
the Matanuska, where the big coal
fields are located. A base for con
struction woitc will be established
at Ship Creek, in the Cook Inlet
country.
The above message came late this
afternoon. It is dated from Washing
ton but does not state that Secretory
Lane has announced the facts as stat
ed in the message. It has been known
for a year that the Secretary of the
Interior favors the Seward or Portage
Bay routes, but it is hardly likely
that the head of the Interior depart
ment would make any announcement
prior to receiving a report from the
engineering commission. Chairman
Edes wired the Prospector on Tues
day that the commission had as yet
not formed its own opinion, as the
work of comparison between the pro
posed routes had not been complet
ed. The message from Washington
is likely sent out by interested par
ties.
John Ballaine is in Washington.
ITALIANS WILL
REMAIN NEUTRAL
Premier of Italy So Announces When
Parliament Is Opened At Rome
—Deputies Cheer.
ROME, Dec. 4.—The Italian parlia
ment opened here yesterday.. The
premier, in addressing the deputies,
stated that the government intend
ed to remain neutral in the present
war and had no desire to engage in
the conflict.
The government was cheered when
the announcement was made. The ex
pense of the mobilization of the
troops and the navy is a heavy burden
upon the people, but will be continued
as the Austrian forces on the Italian
border are strongly reinforced and
constitute a menace.
Interned Belgians Start a Riot.
ZEIST, Holland, Dec. 4.—The Bel
gian soldiers held here by the Hol
land government started a riot last
night and endeavored to break away.
The soldiers on duty shot several of
the Belgians before order was estab
lished.
Recharge Fire Extinguishers.
Chief Engineer Graham of the Fire
Department announces th^.t all chem
icals should be recharged and that
he will attend to them for the citi
zens if the chemicals are brought to
the fire hall. No charge is made for
recharging the hand machines.
guns for the artillery arm of service,
and other war munitions. In addition
to securing war material, it is un
derstood that the visiting delegation
will endeavor to arrange for the ex
portation of many products which they
have in the past received from Ger
many. Agricultural machinery is said
to be especially wanted in the Bal
kan states.
Germans Using Rafts.
LONDON, Dec. 4.—Under cover of
darkness the Germans attempted to
cross the inundated section of Fland
ers, where the Belgians opened the
dikes and flooded the kaiser’s troops
out and separated them from the al
lies by many miles of water. The
search lights of the British and
French troops soon discovered the
Germans and the artillery fire swept
them from the rafts or forced them
to abandon the attempt to cross the
open water between the two armies.
The Germans started during a heavy
fog, which lifted, however, when the
rafts were well out on the pond and
exposed the men to the terrific fire
of the allies. The loss to the kai
ser’s army was tremendous.
Cracow Guns Out of Commission.
The failure of the German-Austrian
guns in Cracow to resist the Russian
capture of Wieliczka is believed to
indicate that the guns have been dam
aged by the Austrians who do not
wish to defend the city and have it
destroyed by the gun Are of the Rus
sians, while the German general staff
insists that the city be held so as
to protect the heart of Germany. The
Russians are pushing the attack and
expect to have the city within a few
days.
The Russians have overrun three
Hungarian provinces and also hold
most of the province of Bulowinia.
Prince of Wales On Firing Line.
The Prince of Wales has finally
been allowed to reach the firing line
and watch the fighting. The young
ster has been striving for months to
reach his regiment, which has already
lost many men in the fighting. His
efforts were in vain as the authori
ties refused to allow the boy to get
in the danger zone, but his constant
pleading finally won for him the op
portunity to go to the front and he
is now with his staff where the bul
lets fly.
Germans Attacking Kussian center.
The Germans commanded by Gen
eral Hindenberg are resuming the at
tack upon the Russian center In Po
land. The czar’s troops, however, have
been reinforced. The campaign In
East Prussia has been dropped for the
moment and the troops from the
north are advancing south to strike
the German flank. The danger of a
tremendous Russian defeat has pass
ed, although the conditions are still
unsatisfactory on the Russian center.
To the south in Galicia and Hungary
the most encouraging repors are re
ceived.
Reports Heavy German Loss.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 4.—Foreign
office dispatches to the French embas
(Contlnuea on page 2.)
PAID POLICE
GRAFT MONEY
Clairvoyant In Chicago Made $5,000
a Month and Paid Police $400
for Privilege.
CHICAGO, Dec. 4.—Frank Ryan, the
head of the clairvoyant ring in this
city, confessed today that he had paid
the police $400 a month for the priv
ilege of doing business and that the
gullible public had in turn paid him
$5,000 a month to tell them the things
they wanted to hear. Ryan is dying
and cannot be brought to trial, but it
is hoped that some of the police de
tectives and grafters who have been
allowing him to continue business by
paying hush money will be brought
to time.
The district attorney has started
an investigation which may be fol
lowed by prosecutions.
IRISH PAPER
IS SUPPRESSED
Was Protesting Against Enlistments
So the Dublin Police Closed Up
the Plant.
DUBLIN, Ireland, Dee. 4.—The po
lice today closed up the “Irish Free
dom,” which is published here daily.
The government was angered at the
constant appeal to the Irish not to
enlist in the army or aid Great Brit
ain in the present fight. Several
warnings had been given the editor
that if he persisted in his fight against
enlistments the police would act, but
he continued and an editorial this
morning calling upon all loyal Irish
men to resist with force of arms if
necessary any attempt to enforce con
scription brought to an end the ca
reer of his paper.
In spite of the agitation against en
listments carried on in Ireland the
government has been more successful
in securing fighting men from Ireland
than from England.
WIRELESS PLANTS
ARE DISMANTLED
SEATTLE, Dec. 4.—The federal au
thorities have dismantled 1,500 ama
teur wireless stations on the Pacific
coast, fearing that they might be used
by the owners to communicate un
neutral messages from the shore to
warships of the belligerents in the
Pacific ocean. All United States mar
shals have been aiding the Custom
and State departments in locating
wireless plants, especially those being
operated without permits.
Subscribe for the Prospector.