EUROPE IN WAR TIME

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2452, 4 May 1915, Page 9

EUROPE IN WAR TIME

CLIPPINGS FROM FOREIGN NEWSPAPERS The Russian infantry is being dincussed in an article in tho "Franklurtor Zoitung." Tho writor, after praising highly tho Russian uuilormt; and tho excellence of tho military boots, says: "I holiovo that most of ub had not oxpectod tho Russian equipment lo provo so gootl. 11l this connection wo must certainly chnngo our views in laco of tho facts. Tho reports of torn boots, ragged and rubbishy uniforms, men without rifles, and so forth; aro as utterly fabulous as tho stonos of Emission shells filled with sand." Ho also pays a. hirii tributo to tho skill of Russian infantry in Tetreat, and admits that their morale appears to bo nnaflccted by repulses and dofeats which would provo annihilating to almost any othor army.

General Pau. who recently arrived at Bucharest, tho capital of Rumania, from Paris, roceived a magnificent reception. Thoro woro present Messrs. Take Jonoscu, Filepeacu, Michael Cantacuzene, Fleva, Gradistcano, Disesoo, Xenipol, Delavrancca, and Pangrate, all former Ministers. Studonts, officers, and a crowd of tens of thousands sang tho "Marseillaise" and war songs. Tho arrival of the special train, decoratcd with tho French colours, aroused enthusiasm such as has never boon bcou boforo in Bucharest. M. Filopescu welcomed General Pau in the name of tho inhabitants remarking: "Look at tho people; to-day thoy aro going about as usual, and to-morrow thoy will bo undor arms. Prom the bottom of their hoarts they say to you: 'Vive la Franco 1' 'Vivo Paul' To-morrow thoy will salute you othorwiso

German and Austrian agents are roported to be engaged in touring through Bulgaria for the purpose of buying up all available copper. They aro also, it is added, purchasing largo quantities of grain, in spite of the faot that a royal decree, recently published in tho official gazette at Sofia, prohibits the export of oopper in any shape or form from Bulgaria. _ The richest copper mine in Bulgaria is situated near Sofia, and is owned by a Greek company. The export from this mine, as also that of any copper utensils, is equally covered by the royal decree.

In a recent address to a student assemblage, Mr. Konnow, the former Secretary of State of Norway, made a plea for a more open expression of the sentiment of tile country toward the participants in the present European struggle. The Government, he said, was of-' ""ally neutral, but the sympathy, of the people, aroused against Germany Jy.its treatment of Belgium, and traditionally in accord with the Powers of western Europe, was so overwhelmingly with the Allies that it was but fit that it should find public expression.

The Norske Intelligenssedler." the olncial organ of the Norwegian Government, commenting on the speech of Mr. .Konnow, which it particularly deplores as coming from a former Minister, states that, as a matter of fact, sentiment in JSorway_ is very much divided, and that there is but one rational arid W course for the country to followthat of a carefully guarded neutrality.

Paragraphs headdd "War Kitchen" now occupy a prominent place in all German newspapers. The National Female service Committees are responsible for most of these, and they consist for the greater part of menus for the better class, the middle classes, and the' poor. A week's bill of fare for tie middle classes is as folows:—Sunday— Midday: Roast sausage with beer sauce and potatoes 'in their jackets. Supper: Bread and red sausage (blood), with celery ■ salad. Monday—Midday: Vegetable soup with potatoes and rice. Supper: Milk rice with apricot sauce made of dried apricots. Tuesday—Midday: Mustard potatoes and red sausage. Supper: Bread and curd cheese. Wednesday— Midday: Cutlets of crushed oats and potato salad. Supper' Potatoes, bacon, and onions. Thursday—Midday: White cabbage and beef with potatoes. SupOat cocoa and sandwiches. Friday —Midday: Soup from grated raw potatoes and curd pudding. Supper: Vegetabe salad! and fried potatoes. Saturday —Midday: Green peas, carrots, and potatoes. Supper: Bread with hashed herring and onions.

. Professor and Privy Councilor.Ewald, one of Berlin's greatest physicians, has written to the Press making the suggestion that in all hospitals and infirmaries, civil and military, there should be days at regular intervals when no meat of any description be served out either to the patients or to the staff. He would like to see this suggestion realised, because in itself it would be hygienically sound, and because enormous quantities of meat would be saved. He realises that there might he exceptions, e.g., for patients suffering from diabetes, but this need not interfere with the general rule. In Professor Ewald's opinion, it would be well if the masses of the people could be made to ■ see that the daily consumption of large quantities of meat is unnecessary, and. more, that it cannot be justified under the existing economic stress. He believes that if his plan were introduced objections to ' it would probably be raised by the. doctors, nurses, and attendants more than by the patients.

Professor Arnold Schroer, a recognised authority in Germany on English literature, contributed some time ago an article to the "Kolnische Zeitung" dealing with the state of the British mind. He said that it was a mistake to accuse England of national hypocrisy, and thought that the British nation might be held to be religions, oven though its piety showedjnany shortcomings, judged by German standards. Since then the learned professor has been the recipient of a number of communications expressive of annoyance that he should admit even qualified goodness in a nation which was straining every nerve to ruin Germany, and in a recent ''Kolnische" he returns to the subjoct in an article in which he maintains that the British suffer not from hypocrisy, hut from illusion, from an historical delusion rather, that they are the chosen people of God, and that other nations are inferior beings in regard to whom a different codo of morpls is applicable than would be applied to me. The British do not make any secret of this, says Professor Schroor; they are quite candid about it. It is because the French, Russians, and Serbs assist the British in realising their ideas that these nations are now tho subject of laudatory remarlcsi As human beings they are to be despised, but as helpers in attaining British aims they aro to be admired. This it is, in the Profesor's opinion, which makes the struggle with England so teirible. The Germans are the first nation in history who have dared, man to man, equal to equal, to fight the British to the bitter end, to cure them of their mad delusion about being the chosen people. This is why. Germans must destroy them, and awaken them to tho knowledge that they are only men among men. Professor Schroer comes to the conclusion that the religiosity of the English in its pathological degeneracy cannot serve as an example for the German nation. But among the masses of the people there is deep religious earnestness, feelings which a. student of their literature has no difficulty in finding in the works of Robert Robert

Elixnboth linrroM. llrmniiiiK, R.uokin nnd Kmnnion, Tniin.ynoii and (Jnrdinal Now- i in n n. Profosnor Sohroor, admitn Unit in a flonso Enghnd lias rison to groat moral lioigliliH, but "ovory height litis its dangor," mid tho doiicont had bogim. Slio might Jmvo buvckl lici'holl from decline by "tlin iim[r<iratin[( power of riorum ii.y'n philosophic-ethical iiifluonooN," bill. blio did noli. Tliiii wan in tho middle of tlii) last ooiiLnry. Gormano aro Hilary llial, I,hoy ovor-ctil/iiiih l.od tho power and j;io(||,iionh of Kngliind. but 1-lip.V have now a clour duty, 'I'lioy do not flutter tlionißolvoK, nayii I'ni/nniior Schroor, that Ihoy uro tlto elcct nf God ; bill tlioy know for nil that that thoy [il'O real children of God, and that it is thoir duty now no ud'ocluiilly to smasb tbo English that thoir daliwionu may bo lor ail timo dinpnlled. It in Gormany's duty to dispel tlio uiilwly notion from tho British mind that I,ho Hritisli nlouo havo a lion on A God, and that tho rest of mankind is but a footstool doßtinod by Ilim for thoir big foot.

In Pankow, a Borlin distriot inhabited mainly by a working-class population, tho Municipal Council lias set aside 130 acres of land for tho cultivation of potatoes and othor vegotablos. This land will bo ploughod, miimirod, and soodod by tho council, and divided into small allotments nt a Toritn.l of 26 marks each. Tho tenant will undertake to look after tho growing crop and onjoy tho usufruct. He will mako an initial paymont of 7J marks, and a regular payment of half a mark a. woolc until tho crop is gathered in, when tho balance, if any, will bo paid.

A correspondent of the Swedish "Aftonbladot," who recently returned from Russia, says that tho powerful "prophet" Rasputin, whose mfluonco over tho Tsar and the Tsarina, is as groat as eyor, is in favour of an early j)eaco._ It is rolated that the Tsar, during his recent visit at tho front, expressed to Grand Duke Nicholas his desire for peace, and that the Grand Duke replied: "Your Majesty, then I shall continue the war on my own account." Grand Duke Nicholas, says the correspondent, is the virtual dictator of Russia. The army is devoted n> him.