i America Has Passed Most Stirring Year j
r'tioto No. o © by Mutual Film Corporation; others by American Press Association.
Pictorial Phases of Year's Events at Home
I, James Whitcomb Riley, poet, died; 2, subsea liner Deutschiand; 3-8, Presi- '^y
dent Wilson and Charles Evans Huohes; 4, Congressman William C. Adam
son, sponsor for eigh; hour bill; 5, Francisccr Vilia, bandit leader; 6, General
Pershing, leader of punitive expedition; 7, soldiers leaving for border.
By GEORGE L. KILMER.
TllE chief events in ih'.s country
during the twei\o inouilis jus:
closed have been tiie national
election and the situation on
the border of Mexico. The prospects
of complications with Germany over
submarine warfare assumed serious
aspects early in the year. The whole
country has had an unusually pros
perous year. The prices of all kinds
of produce and of many household
necessaries have advanced, in some
cases, beyond all precedent, with the
result that the cost of living has in
creased on an average of 33 1-3 per
tent or more.
Villa's Columbus Raid.
The situation on the Mexican border
became acute early in the spring, when
a body of Mexicans led by General
Francisco Villa crossed into United
States territory on the Oth of March
and raided Columbus, N. M. Eighteen
United States soldiers were killed in
repulsing the attack. This foray halt
ed temporarily proceedings looking to
a favorable understanding between the
United States and the de facto govern
ment of Mexico headed by Carranza.
It was about this time that rival fac
tions in Mexico were aiming to defeat
Carranza's efforts to restore order.
Following Villa's raid, troops of the
United States army were rushed from
their stations inland to re-enforce the
slender garrisons which the United
States had maintained at important
points on the Mexican border since
the outbreak against the government
of Porfirio Diaz five years ago.
The Affair at Carrizal.
A "punitive expedition" was ordered
to cross the Rio Grande and eliminate
Vflla and his band. On March 15 Colo
nel Dodd and General Fershing were
on Mexican soil, proceeding south In
two columns, Dodd's in the lead. On
March 20 Dodd's column defeated 500
Villistas, killing thirty. Other actions
between United States troops of Persh
ing's column and the Mexicans fol
lowed. Carranza immediately began to
object to the presence of United States
troops on Mexican soil and asked for
their withdrawal, xlt the end of ApTil
General Obregon met General H. L.
Scott and General Funston at Juarez
to discuss the situation on the border.
Nothing came of it. A month later
Carranza asked for immediate with
drawal, alleging bad faith on the part
of the United States.
The first clash between Carranzistas
and United States troops occurred in
June. On the 16th General Trevino
Informed General Pershing that a
movement of United States troops
east, west or south from the positions
then occupied by them would be con
sidered a hostile act. About that time
president Wilson called out the militia
of the whole country for service on the
Mexican border and notified Mexico
that American troops would remain
solely to protect the United States bor
der. The next day two troops of the
United States cavalry were attacked
outside of Carrizal. ninety miles south
of Juarez. Mexican General Felix Go
mez was killed, also Captain C. T.
Boy,d and Lieutenant Adair of the
Tenth cavalry. The affair resulted
from an attempt by the cavalry to
march westward in defiance of General
Trevino's notice of the 16th. Twenty
three troopers were made prisoners by
the Mexicans, thirteen killed and six
teen missing.
President Wilson demanded the im
j mediate release of the prisoners and
ordered the militia rushed to the bor
der. The prisoners were delirered at
El Paso three days after the president's
demand. Early in September an Amer
ican-Mexican joint commission met to
confer upon the matters in dispute be
tween the government of the United
I States and Mexico. This joint com
-5 rhission signed a protocol Nov. 24.
; Meanwhile, one day before the protocol
was signed, Villistas attacked Chihua
hua City and were defeated by Car
ranzistas. Two days later they again
attacked and occupied part of the city,
but were expelled on 1 by Carrau
za forces. ,
% Election and Politics.
Following his nomination for the
presidency by the Republican conven
| tion in June, Justice Charles E. Hughes
resigned from the supreme court bencb
and immediately entered the canvass
| against President Woodrow Wilson,
j who was renominated by the Demo
: cratic convention. Theodore Roosevelt
declined the Progressive nomination
and supported Hughes. The campaign
was noted for exceptional vigor, and the
outcome was uncertain even for some
days after the election. Victory for
Wilson was not conceded until the
count in California gave him a safe
majority in the electoral college.
Second only in interest to the presi
-1 dential canvass were the participation
of women in campaign work and the
result of the anti-saloon voting. With
gains made, it is estimated that nearly
seven-eighths of the territory is now
under "no license" rules.
Among the political events of the year
was the passage of the Adamson eight
hour law for railroad employefes* to
take effect Jan. 1, 1017. The act was
passed when the nation confronted a
general strike of railroad men which
would have paralyzed traffic. A com
mission was appointed to investigate
the working of the law.
In July a rural credits act was pass
ed to facilitate loans for the especial
bev?fit of farmers.
Neutral Rights.
The president at the end of February
asked congress to take action on the
question of the arming of merchant
men traversing the war zone and other
points at issue regarding submarine
warfare. Germany had "recognized re
sponsibility" for the loss of neutral
lives on the Lusitania in February, but
the general aspect of the submarine is
sue was one to cause uncertainty as
to safety of neutral lives on the high
seas. Both houses acted upon separate
resolutions, practically leaving the mat
ter in the hands of the executive. Sen
ate vote was OS to 14; house. 27G tp
142.
Merchant Submarines.
A new phase of the submarine ques
tion involving the United States came
up when the German merchant sub
marine Deutschland arrived at Balti
more with a cargo of German goods.
Although the Deutschland was not
armed, the entente powers asked the
United States to treat her class as war
ships, which the state department de
clined to do. The vessel sailed for
Germany in August and arrived at
New London on a return trip Nov. 1.
Meanwhile on Oct. i the armed Ger
man submarine U-53 entered Newport
harbor, coming direct from Wilhelms
haven. She received the usual privi
leges of a warship in a neutral port.
Next day, off Nantucket shoals, Unit
ed States coast, she torpedoed and
sank three British and two neutral
, ships, giving tb<? wan ing as preview
! ly pledgee] by Germ my lor unarmed
; ships. All on uoaxxi esc-ai «d. Tlie
t United States treated the matter as
I simply an extension of the naval war
zone and notified the allied powers on
Oct. 10 that this country would con
tinue to apply existing rules of war
fare to submarines.
British Trade Blacklist.
Involved with the great problems of
neutral rights and illegal measures af
fecting them was the announcement by
| Great Britain in July of the blacklist
of American firms which carried on
trade with Germany. Trade with
firms so listed, by merchants of the al
lied powers, was prohibited. This call
ed for/li a protest by the United States,
which elicited the reply that the pro r
; hibition is a local regulation and not
within the purview of international
law.
Vagaries of weather began in the
winter and continued up to autumn.
On Jan. 27 the temi>erature was 66-G9,
a record, in New Yprk. The same day
there was a blizzard on the Pacific
coast and in the Rocky mountains.
Aug. 14 was the coldest for that day
known in the east in forty-six years,
the thermometer touching 56. The lat
est real snowstorm known in New Eng
land in fifty years came on April 28.
In August the United States conclud
ed a treaty with Denmark to purchase
the Danish West India islands for
$2.".000.000. The Panama canal was
reopened to traffic in April after being
closed for several months by obstruc
tions in the Gaillard cut. In June the
epidemic among children known as in
fantile paralysis broke out in New
York city and spread to neighboring
districts. During August the death
roll exceeded 2.000. and the epidemic
began to subside.
Bigger Army and Navy.
During the year congress appropri
ated nearly $700,000,000 for national
defense. On July 1 the army reorgani
zation act of June 3 went into effect
It increased the strength of the regu
lar army and federalized the national
guard, placing it under the pay and
control of the national government
The new law authorizes a war strength
approximating 300,000 regulars and a
national guard maximum of 460.000.
The defense legislation authorizes ear
ly construction of four huge battle
ships and four big battle cruisers.
July floods in Virginia, North Caro
lina and South Carolina caused a loss
of life estimated at fifty and property
loss of $15,000,000. In August a cloud
burst and flood in West Virginia de
stroyed sixty-six lives and property
valued at $3,000,000. An explosion of
European war munitions in New York
harbor caused damage amounting to
$15,000,000.
Among the deaths of notable people
during the year were General Victori
ano Huerta, J. T. Trowbridge, Robert
Burns Wilson. Clara Louisa Kellogg.
Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight, James J.
Hill. Hetty Green. James Whitcomb
Riley, John P. Sr. John, Horace White,
Seth Low, Frank Dempster Sherman.
Charles Taze John D. Arch
bold and Fercival Lowell.
The nomination of Louis D. Brandeis
to the supreme court bench*caused crit
icism. but he was confirmed June 3.
Bartholdi's statue of Liberty Enlight
ening the World was first illumined by
an electrical flood of light, which is
to be permanent, on the 2d of Decern
ber.
j Time For Litib but War Abroad In 1916j
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Photos by American Press Association.
Pictorial Phases of Year's Events Abroad
1 r King Constantins of Greece; 2, F-'rench soldiers protested cy mas°<s against a
gas attack on the Somme front; 3. Sir Rarer CEtoment- h?nrc-d for :r.rt;ci
pation in Irish rebellion; 4, Emperor Francis Jcscph ov Austria, who c;ed;
5, Roumanian infantry, which entered war this yeir; t, tar! Kitchener.
Britain's war minister, drowned; 7, fia Sussex, cross channel cceamci, tor
pedoed by a submarine; 8, British bac!«?»hip battered or? Jutland dun/i
greatest sea battle in history.
By Captain GEORGE L. KILMER, Late
U. S. V.
SURPRISES have not ceased in
the surprising world war, now
well into its third year. The
more important of these sur
prises in 1916 have been in France, at
sea, on the Italian front and in the
Balkans. In January the Germans,
who were supposed to be on the defen
sive in France, sprang a vicious attack
along a five mile front in the Cham
pagne. Farther north, on Vimy ridge,
and at Ypres, Belgium, they stormed
British trenches. 800 yards and 600
yards in length. While attention was
thus drawn to the northern front the
Germans suddenly launched heavy at
tacks on Feb. 22 north of Verdun,
starting a tremendous drive against
that famous salient* which the crown
prince originally struck at in August,
1914. Three days later Fort Douau
mont, four miles from the city, was
captured following a bombardment
which nearly razed its walls. Next
day the Germans captured six fortified
French villages and on the 29th shifted
the attack from the north to the south
east. Fighting continued for weeks.
The middle of May it was evident that
the French line would hold in front of
the city itself.
The element of surprise in the Ver
dun drive lay in that the Germans
would risk heavy losses in storming
fortifications for the mere purpose ap
parently of shortening their front.
Counterdrive by the Allies.
It has been hinted that the German
offensive at Verdun was launched to
forestall an expected Anglo-French of
fensive against the German communi
cation farther north. Such a move
ment was launched the Ist of July
along the river Somme and the river
Ancre, Peronne and Bapaume being
the objectives. Every day for two
weeks either the French or British
plunged forward, now capturing a vil
lage, now a woods. Again the Ger
mans would retake ground by desper
ate counterattack. Supposed keys like
Contalmaison and Combles were cap
tured, but Peronne and Bapaume still
cover the railroad along which th »
Germans on the battle line in France
receive their supplies through Belgium.
At the end of two weeks of forward
movements on the Somme, Lloyd-
George. British minister of war, ex
claimed in a council of leaders. "Vic
tory is beginning to flow in our di
rection."
Russia Comes Back.
Lloyd-George evidently included in
the flow of victory Russia's great en
terprises in her southwest war zone,
Bukowina and eastern Galicia. The
Russians had been expelled from the
Warsaw and Vistula line in the au
tumn of 1915, but a considerable body
remained in eastern Bukowina and
just outside its borders. The Austro-
Germans had also left garrisons for
their original fortifications there. Early I
in January the Russians began a drive
in the vicinity of Czernowitz. Noth
ing of consequence resulted, but the
movement, taken in connection with
attacks in the district of Vilna and
Dvinsk. in the north, gave proof that
Russia still had aggressive power. In
June General Brusiloff assumed com-,
mand in the southwest and, aiming for
Lemberg. turned the flank of the Aus
trian defenses in Volhynia and Buko
wina. In one week the Russians claim
ed SO,OOO prisoners, captured the for
i tress of Dubno, also Czernowitz, and
were marching upon Lutsk and Kovel.
But about the time that Lloyd-George
voiced his optimism the Russians found
themselves checked on the river Stok
hod and on r.he Dniester, south.
Greatest of Naval Battles.
Lloyd-George also had in mind the
naval battle of Jutland, which took
place on the last day of May. This
has been called the greatest naval ac
tion in history. It was the greatest to
date in this war. The British claimed
a great victory, which amounts to a
confession that the German navy is
by no means a negligible factor. The
Germans ventured to sea seeking bat
tle. They overcame the advance Brit
! ish column and were not checked uu
j til the heavy British battleships ar
| rived on the scene.
Both sides lost heavily in battleships.
I cruisers, destroyers and men. In a
tactical sense the action was a draw,
j but it demonstrated that the German
navy is not "bottled up." v
Early in the spring the Italian*' re
j sumed activities on the line of the
i Iso»*o, particularly at Goritz. In April
the Austrians suddenly began an of
fensive against Italian positions in
Trentino, which the latter had invad
ed May, 1915. This move was a com
plete surprise and forced the Italian?
into hurried retreat. At the end oi
May Austria reported SO,OOO prfconer
and 200 cannon as the spoils of tw<
months' operations. By the middle of
June the Italians had turned on I heir
enemy, and the great offensive was
checked.
The Austrian movement was evi
dently timed to affect Italy's aggressive
i movements in the south, where the ob
ijective of the Italians is Trieste.
! Goritz stood in the way of progress
j toward the coveted citadel. It -fell
Aug. 9. Since the fall of Goritz the
Italians have made slow progress to
ward Trieste.
Something was needed in the allied
I camps at midsummer to pull up wan
[ ing hopes, hopes dashed by the aban
donment of the Gallipoli expedition
early in January, the surrender of Kut
el-Amara with 10,000 British soldiers
in April, the subjugation of Servia and
Montenegro and the menacing situa
tion in Greece. The allies' infantry
from Gallipoli had been transferred to
Saloniki with the evident purpose gf
marching northward and taking the
Bulgar forces in Servia and on their
own borders in the rear.
Seriour Outlook For Germany.
In some respects it seemed as though
the allies had unloaded a dead weight
by abandoning the direct attack upon
Constantinople. The Russians almost
from the beginning of the war had
i been coming down into Asia Minor in
a direction which would bring them
into Junction with the British column
moving up the Tigris river toward Bag
dad. In February Russia captured Er
zerum. Mesopotamia, from the Turks.
This was followed two months later
by the capture of Trebizond, on the
j Black sea. Russia's southward march
from bases in her own home territory,
backed up by her fleet on the Black
sea, really a strategic prolongation of
her line in Bukowina and Galicia, con
stituted a menace to German ambition
in the near east.
• The elimination of Servia as a factor,
which was made certain in the winter
of 1916. and the certainty that Turkey
could be relied upon for troops and
supplies, coupled with the apparent dif
ficulty of the allies in launching a
stroke in the back of the Teutonic ,
powers through Greece, brought up
again the supposed German dream of
a Berlin to Bagdad route. This dream
was dissipated when it became evi
dent that Russia was forcing the
Turks out of Mesopotamia and effec
tively co-operating with the allies at
Saloniki. The situation of Germany
had a serious look as autumn came on,
with Verdun untaken, the allies storm
ing a third line on the Somine and the
Russiaus displaying enough vigor in
their southwest to hold the Austrian
forces at full strength in Volhynia,
Bukowina and Greece. Then sudden
ly Roumania cast her lot with the al
lies and, as it was supposed, added
400,000 men to the enemies of the
Teuton On the Vienna to Constantino
ple line.
Von Hindenburg Scores Again.
How Von Hindenburg turned to grap
| pie with this new foe is the most sur
| prising chapter in the history of the
war, a new example of efficiency at
headquarters and in the fighting ranks.
Xo check worthy or the name was suf- 1
feiel after crossing two frontiers un
til converging armies mot before doom-
I ed Bukharest, taken on Dec. (J.
Roumania seems to have repeated
| the French blunder of August, 1914,
I when, instead of going to the aid of
Belgium, Joffre sent a big army to re
cover Alsace. Instead of stabbing Bul
garia, Roumania marched north into
Hungary, a move which Invited Ger
mans and Bulgars to strike at her vi
tals from the south. So, while Von
Mackensen marched and conquered in
the general direction of the Danubey
central Roumania and Bukharest. the
Roumanians, who had poured over her
northern border, were easily turned
back, their conquests wrested from
them and the entire venture of the
last of the Balkan states was turned
into a fizzle, so far as support of the
allies was concerned. There remains
Greece —at least the rebellious part of
it—to stimulate the hope that the Teu
tonic powers may yet receive a vital
thrust in the back. The conquest of
Roumania required time, energy and
lives. Whether the compensation will
equal the investment time alone can
tell. The end of 191G finds the German
powers resourceful in men and un
daunted in spirit. On the other hand,
the allies' cabinets are reorganizing to
restore the flow of victories to the
channels of midsummer. Lloyd-George
became British premier Dec. 7.
Miscellaneous Events.
Minor events of the war were the
torpedoing of the British channel
steamer Sussex, the transfer of the
submarine war zone across the Atlan
tic in Octojfrer and General Kitchener's
death at sea. Air craft battles have
been many, fierce and deadly; casual
ties of all kinds have been heavy.
Outside of war the old world has
been normal, with the exception of a
brief rebellion in Ireland, which had
been expected and was ruthlessly sup
pressed. Japan and Russia formed an
agreement, and Japan made new de
m ;nds upon China, whose ruler, Yuan
S! ih Kai, died in June, Deaths abroad
di ring the year included Franz Joseph,
emperor and king; Carmen Sylva, Rou
manian queen dowager and a person
ality of note; Dr. Metchnikoff, the bac
teriologist; Mounet-Sully, French ac
tor, and Sienkiewicz, Polish author.
Sir Roger Casement was executed for
treason as instigator of the rebellion
in Ireland; also Pearse, the rebel
"president," and Connolly, the military
chief.