OUR NEW MERCHANT MARINE
After having the decadence of the American merchant marine dinned into our ears for decades, we may be pardoned for gloating over the way this same merchant marine has come back under the stress of war. Of total imports worth $1,778,596,695 in 1915, goods valued at $342,796,714 arrived in vessels flying the American flag. In 1917 the value of goods arriving in American vessels had increased to $732,814,858. The increase was the greatest shown by ships of any nation, and the total value was the highest for any, British ships ranking second with imports valued at $693,565,240. This was a decrease of only $7,000,000 from 1915, in spite of all the U-boats could do. French ships, fighting the same sneaking foe, were actually able to increase the value of goods delivered at American ports from $70,275,445 in 1915 to $102,346,317 in 1917, considerably more than making up for the decrease in imports arriving under British and Italian flags. In the seven months ended Jan. 31, 1918, nearly 29 per cent. of all imports arrived in ships flying the American flag.
And the efficiency curve is still climbing. Up to April 10 America, by restricting imports, withdrawing ships from less essential trade routes, and by obtaining neutral tonnage by agreement—in other words, by good management—had been able to place 2,762,605 tons of shipping in the transatlantic service to carry food, munitions, and men to France. Of this total, 2,365,344 tons were under American registry. By skillful handling in port at both ends of the route the efficiency of this tonnage had been increased 20 per cent., which was equivalent to adding more than 400,000 tons to the carrying capacity of the fleet as compared with normal times.
These figures include very little of the 500,000 tons of Dutch shipping requisitioned, and none at all of the 250,000 tons Japan has promised to contribute during the Summer. Neither do they include any of the tonnage of England and the other allies which the American Shipping Control Committee has the power to reroute, nor yet do they take into consideration any of the tonnage under way or to be built in American shipyards, nor the 200,000 tons Japan has agreed to build for us as soon as we can deliver the plates; for this article deals only with conditions as they now exist.
To sum up, the shipping situation, as disclosed by Government statistics, is far more satisfactory than current comment would lead one to believe. If it is not all we could wish, we have the satisfaction of knowing that Germany is much more dissatisfied with it than we are.
Progress of the War
Recording Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events From May 18, 1918, Up to and Including June 18, 1918
UNITED STATES
President Wilson signed the new selective draft bill on May 20, and issued a proclamation designating June 5 as the day when all young men who had reached the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, should register. Figures given out by the War Department on June 15 indicated that 744,865 men had responded. On May 23, Major Gen. Crowder announced that an amendment to the law, compelling men not engaged in a useful occupation either to apply themselves to some form of labor contributing to the general good, or to enter the army, would become effective July 1.
On May 27 President Wilson addressed the Congress urging the enactment of a new revenue bill during the present session. Hearings were begun at once by the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The German Government on April 20 offered to free Siegfried Paul London, an alleged American, held in custody by the Germans in Warsaw, in exchange for the release of Captain Franz von Rintelen, and threatened reprisals against Americans in Germany in case the offer was refused. Secretary Lansing, on June 4, sent a reply through the Swiss Minister, flatly refusing to comply with the demand, and indicated that if reprisals were undertaken the United States would retaliate.
Indictments charging conspiracy to commit treason against the United States and to commit espionage were returned on June 7 against Jeremiah A. O'Leary, John T. Ryan, Willard Robinson, Emil Kipper, Albert Paul Fricke, Lieutenant Commander Hermann Wessels, and the Baroness Maria von Kretschmann, reported to be a kinswoman of the German Empress. Dr. Hugo Schweitzer and Rudolph Binder, now dead, were also named in the indictment. O'Leary, who had fled from justice after being indicted for conspiracy in connection with the publication of The Bull, was taken into custody in Washington on June 12.
General Peyton C. March announced on June 15 that over 800,000 men had been sent abroad.
A supplementary note from the Netherlands Government was delivered to the State Department on May 22, contending that Secretary Lansing's reply to the original protest against the seizure by the United States Government of Dutch merchant shipping in American ports did not fully answer the objections.
SUBMARINE BLOCKADE
German submarines began to raid shipping off the eastern coast of the United States on May 25. On June 3 it became known that twelve ships had been sunk. They were the schooners Hattie W. Dunn, the Edward H. Cole, the Edward Baird, the Isabel B. Wiley, the Samuel C. Mengel, the Samuel W. Hathaway, and the auxiliary schooner Hauppauge, and the steamships Texel, Winneconne, and the Carolina. Twelve lives were lost on the Carolina. The schooner Edward was attacked, but was saved and towed to port. Mines were set afloat by the submarines, and the tanker Herbert L. Pratt struck a mine off the Delaware Capes, but was raised and saved. Precautions were taken at once to guard against air raids on New York City and other places near the coast.
On June 4 the Norwegian steamship Eibsvord was sunk off the Virginia Capes, and an American destroyer interrupted an attack on the French steamer Radioleine about sixty-five miles off the Atlantic Coast.
The British steamer Harpathian was sunk off the Virginia Capes without warning on June 6, and the next day the Norwegian steamer Vinland was sunk in the same area.
On June 9 the American steamer Pinar del Rio was sunk seventy-five miles off the coast of Maryland.
Two Norwegian steamers, the Vindeggen and the Henrik Lund, were sunk on June 10 100 miles east of Cape Charles, and on the same day an American transport fired at a U-boat off the New Jersey coast.
Germany announced on June 9 that seven submarines were operating in American waters.
The sinking of two Norwegian barks, the Krinsjoa and the Samoa, off the Virginia coast was announced on June 16.
The American oil tanker William Rockefeller was sunk in European waters on May 18. Three lives were lost.
The American troops transport President Lincoln, bound for the United States, was sunk in the naval war zone on May 31. Four officers and twenty-three men were lost.
The Argonaut, an American ship, was torpedoed off the Scilly Islands on June 5.
The Irish steamer Inniscarra was sunk on May 24 on the way from Fishguard to Cork. Thirty-seven members of the crew were reported missing. Another Irish ship, the Innisfallen, was sunk in British waters on June 7 and eleven lives were lost. News was received on June 14 that an Irish fishing fleet of about twenty ships was torpedoed on May 31 between County Down and the Isle of Man.
The sinking of the British steamer Ellaston was announced on June 6. On June 12 announcement was made that the British transport Ausonia had been torpedoed in the Atlantic while on her way westward.
The Köningen Regentes, a hospital ship, was sunk off the English Coast, June 6.
The Swedish steamer New Sweden was torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea on May 30, and on June 14 word was received that the Swedish steamship Dora had been sunk without warning and nine members of the crew killed.
An American ship arriving at an Atlantic port from the war zone on June 1 reported that an American destroyer had sunk two submarines within a half hour. A British transport, arriving at an Atlantic port on June 8, reported that she had sunk two U-boats, and two British ships that reached the United States on June 11, each reported the sinking of one U-boat. Senator Weeks announced on June 15 that twenty-eight submarines had been sunk by the American Navy since Jan. 1.
CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN EUROPE
May 18-24—Brisk raiding operations in all sectors, with varying success.
May 27—Germans resume their great offensive by delivering a terrific blow on a forty-mile front from around Vauxailion nearly to Rheims and take the Chemin des Dames and attack the French lines on the northern flank of the Lys salient between Voormezeele and Locre; Americans drive Germans back at three points in Picardy; long-range guns renew the bombardment of Paris; three persons killed, fourteen injured.
May 28—Americans take Cantigny; Germans advance about six miles on a nine-mile front from Vauxailion to Cauroy, take many towns, cross the Aisne and the Vesle Rivers, and drive a wedge to Fismes; Allies re-establish their line on the Lys-Ypres front east of Dickebusch Lake.
May 29—Germans take Soissons; Allies, with their centre forced back four miles, retire across the Vesle River and fall back on Rheims; Americans repulse three counterattacks at Cantigny; British make a successful raid southeast of Arras; French repulse a local attack north of Kemmel.
May 30—Germans held at both flanks near Soissons and Rheims; gain four miles in drive toward the Marne, take Fère-en-Tardenois and Vezilly; Americans defeat all attempts of the Germans to recover ground near Cantigny; French better their positions north of Kemmel; German attack near Festubert fails; German long-range gun resumes bombardment of Paris despite British promise not to carry out air raids on German cities on Corpus Christi Day.
May 31—Germans reach the Marne in an eight-mile drive, and are closing in on Château-Thierry; Americans make successful raid in the Woevre region and penetrate German line near Toul to a depth of 400 meters.
June 1—Germans turn west in their drive toward Paris, push forward along the Ourcq River six miles or more into the area beyond Neuilly and Chony, beat back the French between Hartennes and Soissons, press on northwest of Soissons, reaching Nouvron and Fontenoy, and attack east of Rheims.
June 2—French counterattacks slow up German drive between Soissons and Château-Thierry; Germans occupy Longport, Corcy, Faverolles, and Troesnes, but lose them all; Germans in possession of the eastern half of Château-Thierry; French hold the western half and recover ground southwest of Rheims.
June 3—Germans make slight gains west of Nouvron and Fontenoy, take Chaudun, and push ahead slightly west of Château-Thierry; French retake Faverolles north of the Ourcq.
June 4—American troops, co-operating with the French west of Château-Thierry, check the Germans, beating off repeated attacks and inflicting severe losses; Germans thrown back at all points except in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Poterie; British recover Thillois, southwest of Rheims.
June 5—Americans beat off two more attacks on the Marne battlefield; German advance checked all along the line; attempt to cross the Oise near Montalagache fails; French regain ground north of the Aisne near Vingre; British repulse a raid near Marlancourt.
June 6—American and French troops advance two-thirds of a mile in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Poterie; American marines gain two and a sixth miles on a two and a half mile front northwest of Château-Thierry; Germans recapture ruins of Locre Hospice.
June 7—American marines drive on two and one-half miles northwest of Château-Thierry, storm Torcy and Bouresches, and take Veuilly-la-Poterie in co-operation with the French.
June 8—Germans resume shelling near Montdidier; Americans again attack near Torcy and hold Bouresches against fresh assault; French push on north of Veuilly, reach the outskirts of Dammard, gain east of Chezy, and retake Locre Hospice.
June 9—Germans begin new offensive on a front of twenty miles extending from Montdidier to Noyon, and gain two and a half miles in the centre; Americans again repulse the enemy near Veuilly; Germans pound British positions between Villers-Bretonneux and Arras; Paris again shelled by long-range guns.
June 10—American marines penetrate German lines for about two-thirds of a mile on a 600-yard front in the Belleau Wood; Germans gain two and a half miles around Ressons and Mareuil.
June 11—French deliver two counterblows in the centre and left of the Noyon-Montdidier line, drive Germans back between Rubescourt and St. Maur, regaining Belloy, Senlis Wood, and the heights between Courcelles and Mortemer, and regain Antheuil, but lose Ribecourt, and are forced to give ground along the Oise, as German drive to the Matz River flanks their position; Americans take Belleau Wood; Australians drive Germans back half a mile on a mile and a half front between Sailly-Laurette and Morlancourt; Americans gain at Château-Thierry and cross the Marne.
June 12—French make further advances between Belloy and St. Maur, on the left of the Montdidier-Noyon line; Germans gain a foothold on the southern bank of the Matz River, occupying Melicocq and adjoining heights, and advance east of the Oise and on the Aisne flank; French win further ground east of Veuilly, and occupy Montcourt and the southern part of Bussiares.
June 13—French make successful counterattack against the German centre on the Matz, retaking Melicocq and Croix Ricard, and throwing the enemy back across the river; Germans gain a footing in the eastern end of the line in Laversine, Coeuvres, and St. Pierre-Aigle; Americans repel attempt to retake Bouresches.
June 14—German offensive west of the Oise ends; artillery fighting south of the Aisne and in the area between Villers-Cotterets and Château-Thierry.
June 15—British and Scottish troops in the Lys salient capture German forward positions on a front of two miles north of Béthune; French improve their position at Villers-Cotterets Forest; French recapture Coeuvres-et-Valsery, south of the Aisne; Americans repulse night raid south of Thiaucourt; announcement made that Americans are holding sectors in Alsace.
June 16—Americans drive Germans off with gas attacks northwest of Château-Thierry; French repulse Germans on the Matz River.
June 17—French improve their positions between the Oise and the Aisne, near Hautebraye; Germans drench American lines near Belleau with gas.
June 18—French improve their positions in local operations in the Aisne region.
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
June 11—Italians repulse attacks at Monte Carno and Cortellazzo and east of Capo Sile.
June 14—Austro-Hungarian forces launch attack against the Italian lines on Cady Summit and the Monticello Ridge, but are beaten back.
June 15—Austrians begin great offensive on a 97-mile front from the Asiago Plateau to the sea.
June 16—Austrians cross the Piave River in the vicinity of Nervesa and in the Fagara-Musile area; Italians give way at the Sette Comuni Plateau and in the regions of Monte Asolone and Monte Grappa, but later re-establish their lines.
June 17—British and Italians check Austrians in the regions of Asiago and Monte Grappa; Austrians extend their gains west of the Piave River opposite San Dona di Piave and capture Capo Sile.
June 18—Austrians repulsed on the eastern edge of the Asiago Plateau and fail in attempt to cross the Piave between Meserada and Cardelu, a mountain position across Piave on their eastern flank, but suffer enormous losses.
BALKAN CAMPAIGN
May 31—Greek troops, supported by French artillery, capture strong enemy positions of Srka di Legen, on the Struma front.
June 2—Greeks enlarge their gains west of Srka di Legen.
June 11—Serbs repulse attacks in the region of Dobropolje.
CAMPAIGN IN EAST AFRICA
May 19—Nanungu occupied by the British.
May 24—Announcement made that direct communication had been established between the advanced troops of Brigadier Edward's column, advancing westward from Port Amelia, and Major Gen. North's troops, advancing eastward from Lake Nyassa.
CAMPAIGN IN ASIA MINOR
May 22—British advance north of Tekrit on the Tigris to Fatha.
May 29—Turks on the Irak front occupy Kirkuk.
June 14—Turks occupy Tabriz in Persia.
AERIAL RECORD
The London area was raided on May 19. Forty-four persons were killed and 179 wounded. Five German airplanes were brought down by the British.
On May 22 the Germans made an ineffectual attempt to raid Paris. Three persons were killed and several were injured in the outskirts of the city, and one German machine was brought down. In another raid, on May 23, one German machine succeeded in reaching the city. One woman was killed and twelve persons injured. The city was raided again on June 1 and June 2, and several persons were wounded.
Cologne was raided by allied airplanes on May 18. Fourteen persons were killed and forty injured. On the nights of May 21 and May 22 British aviators bombed railway stations in German Lorraine, a chloride factory in Mannheim, and the railway near Liége. In an allied air raid over Liége, on May 26, the railway station was destroyed and twenty-six persons were killed. Karlsruhe was bombed by the British on June 1, and tons of explosives were dropped on Metz, Seblon, and other towns. Twenty-seven German machines were downed. Metz and Seblon were again attacked on June 6. During the period from May 30 to June 12 the British carried out many raids against Bruges, Zeebrugge, and Ostend. On June 13 British aerial squadrons made raids into Germany, bombarding the railway station at Treves, in Rhenish Prussia, and factories at Dillingen, Bavaria.
A British official statement issued May 21 announced that 1,000 German planes had been downed in two months.
On the night of May 19 four squadrons of German airplanes raided British hospitals behind the battlelines in France. Hundreds of persons were killed or wounded. Hospitals containing French and American wounded were again raided on the nights of May 29 and May 31. One nurse was killed, several persons were injured, and a number of civilians died of their wounds.
Two hundred and fifty-two German airplanes were brought down by allied aviators on the western front in the week ended May 23. In the first two days of June the French downed fifty-seven German machines and dropped 130 tons of explosives in the battle area. British airmen destroyed or damaged 518 German airplanes and seven observation balloons in the month of May.
Major Raoul Lufbery, the foremost American air fighter, was killed May 19 in a combat with a German armored biplane back of the American sector north of Toul. The plane which brought him down was later downed by a Frenchman.
On May 25 announcement was made that the first airplanes to be furnished to the American Army from the United States had arrived in France and were in use in a training camp.
The first American bombing squadron to operate behind the front raided the Baroncourt railway on June 14, at a point northwest of Briey and returned safely in spite of German attacks. A second excursion was made later in the day, when the railway station and adjoining buildings at Conflans were bombed.
NAVAL RECORD
An official announcement was made on May 23 that the British Government had on May 15 established a new mine field between the Norwegian and Scotch coasts.
One Austrian dreadnought, the Szent Istvan, was sunk by two Italian torpedo boats off the Dalmatian coast June 10, and a second was badly damaged.
RUSSIA
On May 23 General Semenoff established an autonomous Government in the Trans-Baikal region, after a report of a quarrel with Admiral Kolchak. The Bolshevist Foreign Minister, Tchitcherin, sent a protest to China on May 26 charging the Chinese Government with officially protecting General Semenoff in his activities against the Soviet power.
The Germans continued their advance into Ukraine, and on May 25 broke the armistice on the Voronezh front, in spite of the truce between Russia and the Ukraine, and occupied Valuiki after four days' fighting. Atrocious methods were used in reprisal for disorders among the peasants. On May 31 several villages near Kiev were drenched with gas.
The Bolshevist Foreign Minister, Tchitcherin, protested to France on May 29 against the further retention of Russian troops on the French front.
The Chinese Government informed Tchitcherin on May 29 that it was unable to admit Russian Soviet councils in China because the Soviet Government had not been recognized by China.
On May 29 announcement was made that a new Cossack Government had been set up in the Don country with General Krasnoff at the head. His first proclamation announced that the Austro-Germans had entered the territory to aid in the fight against the Red Guard and for the establishment of order.
The Bolshevist Government offered to surrender the Russian Black Sea fleet to Germany on condition that the warships be restored to Russia after peace had been declared and that the Germans refrain from using the vessels, June 6.
Several moves were made looking toward intervention by the Allies to save Russia from complete domination by Germany. A military agreement between China and Japan relating to the expedition into Siberia was signed on June 2. On June 10 Senator William H. King introduced a resolution in the United States Senate proposing that a civilian commission be sent to Russia, backed by an allied military force, for the purpose of overcoming German propaganda and to aid in giving freedom to the country. The Russian Ambassador at Washington, Boris Bakhmeteff, presented to the State Department on June 11 a resolution adopted by the Central Committee of the Cadet Party of Russia urging allied intervention.
June 18—Further advances into Russia by the Germans in contravention of Brest treaty.
FINLAND
General Mannerheim, Commander in Chief of the Finnish White Guards, resigned on May 23 because of the plan of the Finnish Conservatives to invade the Russian Province of Karelia.
The Cabinet resigned on May 25 as a result of the appointment of former Premier Zvinhufvud as temporary dictator. M. Paasikivi, a member of the old Finnish party and a former Senator, was asked by the dictator to form a Cabinet.
On June 2 Russia agreed with Germany that she would accept proposals for the regularization of her relations with Finland.
A Swedish Socialist paper, according to a dispatch printed in The London Times of June 3, published a statement that a secret treaty existed between Finland and Germany whereby the Finnish Government undertook to establish a monarchy under a German dynasty, to place the Finnish Army under German leadership, to allow Finland to be used as a passageway to the arctic and the Aland Islands as a naval base. Later reports announced that Prince Oscar, the fifth son of the German Emperor, would probably be the ruler.
On June 12, the Government proposal for the establishment of a monarchy with a hereditary ruler was presented to the Landtag.
Kronstadt was seized by the Germans May 30, and on the same day announcement was made that General von der Goltz had been placed in supreme command of the Finnish Army as well as of the German forces in Finland.
Announcement was made on June 10 that Germany and Russia had reached an agreement concerning the boundaries of Finland, providing that Finland cede to Russia the fortresses of Ino and Raivola under guarantees that they were not to be fortified. Russia ceded to Finland the western part of the Murman Peninsula with an outlet to the Arctic Ocean.
In response to communications from the French and British Legations at Stockholm, the Finnish Government announced that it had no designs on the Mourmansk railway, but would not undertake not to reunite Carelia with Finland, and on June 17 it was announced that Finland would annex Carelia.
RUMANIA
Lord Robert Cecil announced in the British House of Commons on May 28 that diplomatic representatives of the Allies at Jassy had notified Rumania that their Governments considered the Rumanian peace treaty with the Central Powers null and void.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY
An official French dispatch received in Washington May 22 announced that a decree had been issued in Vienna dividing Bohemia into twelve district governments, with advantages to the Germans which would reduce the Czech powers in the Reichsrat at Vienna as well as in Bohemia itself. Martial law was proclaimed in some parts of Bohemia.
The aspirations of the Congress of Oppressed Races of Austria-Hungary, which was held in Rome in April, were indorsed by Secretary Lansing in a statement issued May 29.
Disorders throughout Bohemia and the Slavic regions of Austria-Hungary by the Poles, Slovenes, Czechs, and Slavs. Serious political unrest throughout the Dual Empire. Prime Minister of Austria, Dr. Seidler, resigns.
Austria and Germany fail to block an agreement regarding disposition of Poland.