The WARINTHEMi [Copyright, 1907, 1908, by the Macmillan Company.] PROLOGUE OF THE STORY. Germany, hating the Monroe doctrine and ambitious for world's suprem acy, secretly builds a vast fleet of airships and plans to surprise the United States by means of a sudden attack. Her airship fleet consists of great dirigi bles of the Von Zeppelin type and small aeroplanes called Drachenflieger. 'Prince Karl Albert commands the German airships. Germany and Eng land have both been endeavoring to buy an extraordinary flying machine in vented by Alfred Butterdidge, who arrives at a British seaside resort in a runaway balloon, accompanied by a lady in whom he is interested. Bert Smallways, a motorcycle dealer in hard luck, who is In love with Miss Edna Bunthorne, and his partner, Grubb, are impersonating a pair of "desert dervishes" at the seashore. Bert catches hold of the basket of the balloon and falls into it Just as Butteridge and the lady fall out. The balloon carries Bert across the North sea. He finds drawings of But teridge's airship in some of Butterldge's clothing and hides the plans in Ills chest protector. Ills balloon drifts over Germany's immense aeronautic park. German soldiers shoot holes in it and capture Bert. They think he is But teridge. Soldiers carry him to the cabin of the Vaterland, flagship of the air fleet- I.ieutenimt Kurt guards him. The vast fleet starts across the ocean to attack New York. Graf von Wintertield denounces Bert as an impostor, but offers him £SOO for Butteridge's secret. The prince agrees to take Bert along "as ballast." The German and American warships engage in battle on the sea, and the German air fleet reaches the scene. Drachenflieger In Action, 1% T first only the Vaterland of /A all the flying fleet appeared / % upon the scene below. She " ' hovered high over the The odore Roosevelt, keeping pace with the full speed of that ship. From that ship she must have been intermittently wiglble through the drifting clouds. The rest of the German fleet remained above the cloud canopy at a height of six or seven thousand feet, communi cating with the flagship by wireless telegraphy/ but risking no exposure to the artillery beloW. ■ It is. doubtful at what particular tlrue the unlucky Americans realized the .presence of this new factor in the fight. No account now survives of their experience. We have to imag ine as well as we can what it must have been to a battle strained sailor suddenly glancing upward to discover that huge long silent shape overhead, vaster than any battleship, and trailing now from Its hinder quarter a big Ger man flag. Presently, as the sky clear <ed, more of such ships appeared in the through the dissolving clouds, and more," all disdainfully free of guns or armor, all flying fast to keep pace with the running fight below. From first to last no gun whatever was tired at the Vaterland and only a few rifle shots. It was a mere ad verse stroke of chance that she had a man killed aboard of her. Nor did she take any direct share in the fight until the end. She flew above the doomed American fleet while the prince by wireless telegraphy directed the movements of her consorts. Mean while the Vogel-stern and Preussen, each with half a dozen drachenflieger In tow, went full speed ahead and then dropped through the clo*uds, perhaps five miles ahead of the Americans. The Theodore Roosevelt let fly at once with the big guns in her forward barbette, but the shells burst far below the Vo gel-stern, and forthwith a dozen sin gle man drachenflieger were swooping down to make their attack. Bert, craning his neck through the cabin pprtliole, saw the whole of that Incident, that first encounter of aero plane and ironclad. lie saw the queer German drachenflieger, with their wide flat wings and square, box shaped heads, their wheeled bodies . and their single man riders, soar down the air like a flight of birds. "Gaw!" he said. One to the right pitched ex travagantly, shot steeply up into the air, burst with a loud report and flamed down into the sea; another plunged nose forward into the water and seem ed to fly to pieces as it hit the waves. He saw little men on the deck of the Theodore Roosevelt below, men fore shortened In plan into mere heads and feet, running out preparing to shoot at the others. Then the foremost flying machine was rushing between Hert and the American's deck, and then bang came the thunder of its bomb flung neatly at the forward barbette and a thin little crackling of rifle shots in reply. Whack, whack, whack, went the quick firing guns of the Americans' battery, and smash came an answering shell from the Furst Bismarck. Then a second and third flying machine passed between Bert and the American ironclad, dropping bombs also, and a fourth. Its rider hit by a bullet, reeled down and dashed Itself to pieces and exploded between the shot torn funnels, blowing them apart. Bert had a momentary glimpse of a little black creature Jumping from the crumpling frame of the flying ma chine, hitting the funnel and falling limply, to be instantly caught and driven toliothiugnoss by the blaze and rush of the explosion. Smash came a vast explosion In the forward part of the flagship, and a huge piece of metal work seemed to lift out of her and dump itself Into the sea, dropping men and leaving a gap into which a prompt drachenflieger planted a flaring bomb. And then for an Instant Bert perceived only too clearly in the growing, pitiless light a number of minute, convulsively active anlmalculae scorched and struggling In the Theodore Roosevelt's foaming wake. What were they? Not men— surely not men! Those drowning, man gled little creatures tore with their clutching fingers at Bert's soul. "O Gord!" he cried. "O Gord!" almost whimpering. He looked again and they had gone, and the black stem of the Andrew Jackson, a little disfigured by the sinking Bremen's last shot, was parting the water that had swallowed them Into two neatly symmetrical waves. For some moments sheer blank iorror blinded Bert to the destruction below. j Then, with an immense rushing sound, bearing as it were a straggling volley of crashing minor explosions on tts back, the Susquehanna, three miles and more now to the east, blew up and Vanished abruptly In a boiling, steam ing welter. For a moment nothing was to be seen but tumbled water, and then there came belching up from be low, with immense gulping noises, eructations of steam and air and petrol and fragments of canvas and wood work and men. That made a distinct pause In the fight. It seemed a long pause to Bert. He found himself looking for the drachenflieger. The flattened ruin of one was floating abeam of the Moni tor; the rest had passed, dropping bombs down the American column; several were In the water and appar ently uninjured, and three or four were still in the air and coming round now in a wide circle to return to their mother airships. The American iron clads were no longer in column forma tion. The Theodore Roosevelt, badly damaged, had turned to the southeast, and the Andrew Jackson, greatly bat tered, but uninjured in any fighting part, was passing between her and the still fresh and vigorous Furst Bis marck to intercept and meet the hit ter's lire. AWay to the west the Her mann and the Germanlcus had ap peared and were coming into action. In the pause after the Susquehanna's disaster Bert became aware of a triv ial sound like the noise of nn ill greased. 111 hung door that falls ajar— the sound of the men in the Furst Bis niarck cheering. And In that pause in the uproar, too, the sun rose, the .dark waters became luminously blue, and a torrent of golden light irradiated the world. It came like a sudden smile In a scene of hate and terror. The cloud veil had vanished as If by mnglc, and the whole Immensity of the German air fleet was revealed in the sky, the air fleet stooping now upon its prey. "Whack, bang, whack, bang!" the guns resumed, but Ironclads were not built to fight the zenith, and the only hits the Americans scored were a few lucky chances in a generally Ineffec tual rifle fire. Their column was now badly broken. The Susquehanna had gone, the Theodore Roosevelt had fallen astern out of the line, with her forward guns disabled, In a heap of wreckage, and the Monitor was In some grave trouble. These two had ceased tire altogether, and so had the Bremen and Weimar, all four ships lying within shot of each other in an involuntary truce and with their re spective Hags still displayed. Only four American ships now, with the Andrew Jackson leading, kept to the southeasterly couree. And the Furst Bismarck, the Hermann and the Ger manlcus steamed parallel to them and drew ahead of them, fighting heavily. The Vaterland rose slowly In the air for the concludlng'act of the drama. Then, \talling into place one behind the other, a string of n dozen airships dropped with unhurryiug swiftness down the air in pursuit of the Ameri can fleet. They kept at a height of 2,000 feet or more until they were over and a little in advance of the rearmost ironclad, and then stooped swiftly down Into a fountain of bul lets and, going just a little faster than the ship below, pelted her thinly pro tected decks with bombs until they became sheets of detonating flame. So the airships passed one after the other along the American column as it sought to keep up its tight with the Fui'st Bismarck, the Hermann and the Germanlcus, and each airship add ed to the destruction and confusion its predecessor had made. The Amer ican gunfire ceased, except for a few heroic shots, but they still steamed on, obstinately unsubdued, bloody, bat tered and wrathfuliy resistant, spit ting bullets at the airships and un mercifully pounded by the German Ironclads. But now Bert had but in termittent glimpses of them between the nearer bulks of the airships that assailed them. It struck Bert suddenly that the whole battle was receding and growing small and less thunderously noisy. The Vaterland was rising in the air, stead ily aud silently, until the impact of the guns no longer smote upon the heart but came to the ear dulled by distance, until the four silenced ships to the eastward were little distant things. But were there four? Bert now could see only three of those floating, blackened and smoking rafts of ruin against the sun. But the Bremen had two boats out; the Theodore Itoosevelt was also dropping boats to where the drift of minute objects struggled, ris ing and falling on the big. broad At lantic waves. The Vaterland was no longer following the light. The whole of that hurrying tumult drove away to the southeastward, growing smaller and less audible as it passed. One of the airships lay on the water burning, a remote monstrous fount of flames, and far in the southwest appeared first one and then three other German Iron dads hurrying in support of their con sorts. Steadily the Vaterland soared, and the air fleet soared with her aud came round to head for New York, and the battle became a little thing far away, an incident before the breakfast. It dwindled to a string of dark shapes and one smoking yellow flare that presently became an Indistinct smear upon the vast horizon. Never before had Bert Smallways seen pure destruction, never had he realized the mischief and waste of war. Ills startled mind rose to the concep tion; this also is in life. Out of ull this tierce torrent of sensation one im pression rose and became cardinal— the Impression of the men of the The odore Uooseveit who had struggled in the water after the explosion of the first bomb. "Gaw!" he said at the memory; "It might 'ave been me aud Grubb! I suppose you kick about, and get the water in your mouf. I don't suppose it lasts long." He became anxious to see how Kurt was affected by these things. Also he perceived he was liuugry. He hes itated toward the door of the cabin and peeped out into the passage. Down forward, near the gangway to the men's mess, stood a little group of air sailors looking at something that was hidden from hlui In a recess. One of them was in the light diver's costume Bert had already seen in the gas cham ber turret, and he was moved to walk along aud look at this person more closely and examine the helmet he carried under his arm. But he for got about the helmet wheu he got to the recess, because there he found ly ing on the floor the dead body of the boy who had been killed by a bullet from the Theodore Uooseveit. The boy lay Just as he had fallen and died, with his Jacket torn and scorched, his shoulder blade smashed and burst away from his body, and all the left side of his body ripped and rent. There was much blood. The sailors stood listening to the man with the helmet, who made explanations and pointed to the round bullet hole in the floor and the smash in the panel of the passage upon which the still vicious missile had spent the residue of its energy. All the faces were grave and earnest: they were the faces of sober, blond, blue eyed men accustomed to obedience and an orderly* life, to whom this waste, wet, painful thing that had been a comrade came almost as strangely as It did to Bert. A peal -of wild laughter sounded down the passage 'n the direction of the little gallery and something spoke —almost shouted—in German, In tones of exultation. fT« h* k GLftWCE »T WORLD HffHIRS THE meeting of the Democratic national committee on Jan. 8 clears the decks for the na tional conventions, and the first stage of the presidential campaign has begun. This may be called the primary stage since it concerns the election of delegates. Several states actually have presidential primaries, and in others one party or the other provides for the election Of delegates by the primary system. The national conventions this year will be larger thun ever before because of the new apportionment. Each will have more than 1,000 delegates. In the Republican convention a majority will nominate, as heretofore, while in the Democratic a two-thirds majority will be required. The Tariff Board. The report of the torifT board on the wool and cotton schedules has been delayed longer than was anticipated. The first promise was that it would be ready when congress met on Dec. 4. Then It was put over to a later date. Now that it is before congress we may expect another tariff debate, to open which will eclipse even that of the special session. Professor H. C. Emery, the chair man of the board. Is professor of po- Professor H. C. Emery, Chairman of the Tariff Board. litical economy of Yale university. It is said that when President Taft ap pointed the board he submitted the matter to a large number of colleges, asking them to recommend three men fitted to serve on the board. Professor Emery was named on practically every list and headed many of the lists sub mitted. Mr. Taft therefore made him chairman, a filing that probably gave him all the more gratification since he himself Is a Yale man. Professor Emery is only thirty-nine years of age, and he studied at Bowdoin, Harvard, Columbia and the University of Ber lin. He was professor of political economy in Bowdoin before going to the same chair in Yale. The Monetary Commission. The monetary commission ended its statutory existence on Jan. 8, aud its report is likewise before congress. Its chief recommendations were for a na tional reserve association und an asset currency. The avowed object of this radical departure from our present financial system is to provide for a more elastic currency that may be used for crop movements and at other times when a large volume of cur rency is required. It Is certain that these proposals will occasion a fight in congress-since many members oppose an asset currency. It is also charged that a national reserve association will be In effect a central bank. Former Senator Aldrlch was the chairman of the monetary commission. State Railroad Cases. One of the most Important hearings of recent times, originally set for Jan. 8 in the supreme court at Washington, has been postponed. This is the case in which the committee of governors, consisting of Governors Harmon of Ohio, Iladley of Missouri and Aldrlch of Nebraska, Is so much Interested. When the governors' conference was held at Spring Lake, N. J., last fall the action that caused the widest comment of any there taken was the appoint ment of this committee to appear In the hearing of the Minnesota rate case. The issue involved In this case Is that of federal control of railroad rates within the state. As a number of other cases from other states involving this or kindred principles were before the court, these were combined for one hearing. The governors stood for the right of the states to control the rates within their own borders. These are known ns intrastate rates as contra distinguished from interstate rates, over which congress has undisputed control. Standard Oil Onee More. Notwithstanding the dissolution of the Standard OH company, the direc tors of that cori>oratlon held a meeting at Bayonne, N. J., during the week. Other meetings were that of the Amer ican commission merchants In Cincin nati on Jan. 10 and that of the United States Golf association in Philadelphia, Jan. 13. Federation of Labor. Because of the wholesale investiga tion of the dynamite cases and the charges against labor leaders in vari ous parts of the land the meeting of ♦ho aTociitlvn hoard of the American Federation of Labor, which opened in Washington on Jan. 8, was of more than usual importance. Another thing that rendered it of especial Interest to workingmen Is the labor legislation now pending or about to be Introduc ed in congress. This includes or will include an eight hour bill, employers' liability, child labor and many kindred subjects. The report of the congres sional commission on employers' lia bility, which was recently prepared, gives assurance that some sort of leg islation on this subject is probable during the present session. Governor Joe Brown. The re-election of Joseph M. Brown as governor of Georgia on Jan'. 9 fol lowed the primary in which he beat I'ope Brown for the nomination last December. In Georgia the Smith and Brown families seem to be in,the as cendency, as Hoke Smith and Joe Brown have been alternating as gov ernor for some years. First Smith was elected, then Brown defeated him for renomination, next Smith turned the tables and beat Brown for a renomina tion, and now after Smith is elected to the senate Brown again wins, defeat ing Smith's candidate, Pope Brown, who, though of the same name as Joe, is not of the same family or faction in the party. Georgia's history dur ing these alternating administrations will look to future generations some thing like a political teeter board. The Republic of China. There are two men involved in the Chinese revolution in both of whom Americans are especially interested. They are Wu Ting Fang, former min ister at Washington, and Sun Yat Sen, who spent years in America and; Eng land laying plans and raising funds for the present revolution. Wu Ting Fang was made minister of foreign affairs in the cabinet of the provisional republican government at Shanghai. Sun Yat Sen is the head of the re publican movement for the whole em pire, whose headquarters ahs at the ancient capital of Nanking. While. Mr. Wu was dealing with the repre sentatives sent by Premier Yuan Shih Ivai, Dr. Sun and his friends were busy proclaiming a republic without waiting for the action of this confer ence. It seems safe to say that the Chinese republic, like the newest pa per, has come to stay. Turkish-Italian War. Tripoli now is accepted by the world as an Italian dependency. Even though there be no formal announcement of the fact, this is accepted in the capitals of the world. Italy will still have con siderable fighting before she reduces the Arabs, but so far as Turkey is con cerned she has lost her hold in Africa forever. The history of the war is no\y only a chronicle of skirmishes between the Italian troops and the natives' in Tripoli. « Home Rule Probable. When the British house of lords was deprived of the veto power the success of Irish home rule became only a ques tion of time. Parliament is now mov ing in that direction, and it seems prob able that a home rule bill will pass tile house of commons this year. The German Election. On Jan. 12 was held a general eloc- ' tion throughout the German empire for members of the reichstag. Interest was lent to the contest becnuse of the general discontent over the terms of the Moroccan agreement with France and the popular resentment in Ger many toward England. The .Social- Democratic party conducted au aggres sive campaign as usual. The Lorimer Case. The second Lorimer Investigation having been completed, perhaps we" are about to hear the last of this fa mous case, as the verdict this time L j ' ' Copyrlßht by American Pi*ss Association. Senator William Lorimer, Whose Elec tion Was Investigated. should settle it. The majority of "the first committee, it will be remembered, vindicated I.orlmer, aud after a " Jong and sensational debate Its flncltiigs were approved by something like sis' majority. The new congress was not satisfied with this finding, JioweX-or," and ordered another Investigation.. In the meantime new evidence came to light. The committee also reported in the Stephenson case. Mts verdict - was In favor of the aged senator In a gen eral way, although It condemned the lavish use of money In a senatorial •lection. 18 B1 ARABIA'S DATE TREES. V- lt • ' Every Part of Them Is Made to Serv# a Purpose. _ Tft the Arab mind the date tree is the perfection of beauty and utility. Every part of this wonderful .tree has Its use to the Arab. The pistils of the date blossom .contain, a fine, curly liber, which is beaten""out and used''"ln nil ' eastern' bath's 'as - a ■sponge for -soaping the 'body. ".At of the trunk is'a terminal bud containing n white substance'resembling an almond in consistency and'tastc, but-a hundred times as largel This is a great table delicacy. There are snhl* to be more , than a hundred varieties of date palm, all dis tinguished by their fnJif.'a'nd fhe Arabs say that a good housewife,can furnish her husband with a dish of dates dif ferently prepared every day for a month. -- ; ' Dates form the staple food of the | Arabs in a large*part of Arabia and are served in some form at every meal. Sirup and vinegar are made from old ' dates, and bv ll'irise Whfr disregard the teachings of the Koran a kind of bran dy is distilled from ttyem. The date i pit is ground and fed 'to 'cowk find sheep, so that nulling of the precious | fruit may be lost. Whole pits are used j as beads and counters for the Arab children in their games on <the-desert j sand. | The branches or palms are stripped ' of their leaves and used like rattan for | the biAking of bpds,tables,Vvhairs,-era-' dies, blrdcage,s, boats,' a'bd so forth. The leaves are made irtto baskets, fans and string, and the outer trunk-fur-V; | nishes; fiber r'opb"of inany l sizes and' | qualities. - j ■ The wood of the trunk, although light [ and porous, ,is 1 muqli used in britlge building and architecture and Is quite durable. In short; wjien a date palm is cut down there is not a particle of lt that ' l is wasted. This tree'has-'been called the "poorhouse" and asylum for all | Arabia.' "Without it millions . would | have neither food nor shelter. Qnej„, j half of the population of Mesopotamia, -: | it is estimated, live fn dilte mat dwell-, i ings.—Pittsburgh Tress. BREAD ' FROM ACORNS. How India/is of the Sierras Made Ker nel Palatable. The Indians of, the Sierra country have their own method of transform ing the bitter "kernel of the acorn into a kind of bread that is said to be ex tremely palatable, and a correspond ent has described the process as fol lows: ' .• *, "They shucked and ground in' the usual manner a large mass of acorn meat. A number of circular vats had been hollowed oot>of the black soli in the shapfc of w punch bowl. Into these was put the acorn pulp. At hand stood several large clothes baskets flHed wi,th watef. » , . • •"'lnto these baskets they dropped hot stones, thus heating the water. Ijpou the mass of crushed bitterness they ladled the hot water until it was about the' color and -consistency of cream. Not "a" speck appeared. A buxom rfluhala (squaw) stood l»y each vat and wfth a small fir bough stir red the mass, skillfully: removing any speek~ ttafet floated on the surface. -Tbe Soil gradiiylly absorbed the bitter waters,, -living a firm white sub stance- fhis tjaey removed so adroit ly thjt only ft smMVVortiori' adhere*! to soil..' Tb{s»tliey spread uppn rocks to dry and afterward mixed it with water, \paitled : lU. into tliin cakes and baked before the flre.."—Ste.war<J. ~. Newcastle* Limerick. Ireland. hasjustf appointed the first woman town clerk in the pe£ son of Mrs. John Flanagan, the wldon of the late holder of the office.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers