Global war news and policy shifts highlighted in Washington dispatches
Wide-ranging items show extending federal rail control to five years, Charles Plez to head Emergency Fleet, labor push for soldier farm colonization, and withdrawal of war construction projects. Other reports note Armenian massacres, navy expansion plans, and political maneuvers in Britain and Germany.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mce-Adoo
Washington
Charles Plez
The
Emergency Fleet Corporation
Charles M. Schwab
U S Marines Suffer Casualties in Yokohama Coal Fire
A U S S Brooklyn crew suffered six deaths and 31 injuries when a coal dust fire and gas explosion struck the berth deck and bunkers during coaling in Yokohama Japan near noon December 9.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington
U. S
Brooklyn
Yokohamma
Japan
Peace call and war updates from European front lines
Premier Lloyd George urges permanent peace to end conscription in Europe in Bristol speech. Marshal Foch allegedly delays surrender of German locomotives to February 1. Polish American divisions move from Havre to occupy Posen and Silesia with HQ at Posen. A French mine sweeper lost in storm seen near Richardson's Bay. Troopships Kroonland Empress of Britain Sierre arrive in New York with thousands of servicemen and equipment. Influenza pneumonia deaths reach 8198 in Chicago. Sir Charles Gordon named head of Canadian trade commission in Montreal funded US trade push.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lloyd George
Bristol
Europe
Charles Gordon
Canadian Trade Commission
Canada
United States
Montreal
Christmas carols reflect national spirits across lands
The piece compares how Christmas celebrations in Italy England and America shape distinct carol traditions. It notes Italian peasants voice a different festive quality from former Kaiser’s land and highlights England's long lineage from old folk songs to modern hymns like Hark the Herald Angels Sing.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
America
Christmas in America and the evolving Christmas mood
The piece surveys how Christmas imagery shifts across America from New England to California, contrasting pioneer hardship with festive warmth. It cites Longfellow’s Christmas bells, Civil War echoes, and the California scene, ending with the enduring popularity of Clement Moore’s Night Before Christmas.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
America
New England
Christmas Day Poem Recalls Santa for Children
Readable fragments celebrate Christmas gift giving and Santa Claus. The piece cites Ruth Ray La Chile and James Whitcomb Riley with nostalgic lines about stocking moments, bells, and warm family scenes.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ruth Ray- la
A Christmas Spirit Across Dialects and Hymns
In serious verse a speaker senses a mystic Christmas air as he weighs seasonal weight and health, while Dunbar’s dialect fire and Sangster’s meditation on Bethlehem evoke a nation’s festive mood, children’s carols, and angelic chorus across tradition.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Windah
Margaret E. Sangster
Terry
Bethlehem
Mary
Dressing Christmas Dolls for Orphans Finds Frugal Fashion
A charitable task involves dressing 50 dolls for orphans in an institution. The woman buys dolls wholesale and enlists helpers while keeping the clothes unsellable, ensuring the dolls are dressed and redressed for holiday joy. Patterns for doll clothes are cheap, with easy alterations, and scraps provide lace, ribbons, and trimmings.
Americans Expand Christmas Aid to Belgian Soldiers in 1918
Mr and Mrs Ralph C Norton plan a $40000 Christmas gift package for the Belgian army of 120000 including chocolate soap and candies with a Flemish and French greeting card. Their Moody Bible Institute work since 1915 earned Belgian royal and army recognition and over 12000 soldiers joined their League of the Holy Scriptures. Last year 6000 boxes reached Belgian soldiers in German prison camps with requests for Gospel copies.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Ralph C. Norton
Jesus Christ
Norton
Moody Bible Institute of Chicago
League of the Holy Scriptures
Various World Science and Social Updates from Prewar Britain
Notes on England's prison population dropping from 18 000 to 9 500 before the war. Portable electric machinery to screen coal and load wagons. About 400 inhabited of 8 000 Philippines islands. Camphor additive saving gasoline about 20 percent. A pulley with depressions to prevent belt slip. Japan to establish wool producing sheep farms to meet future demand. Some Japanese women hired on cars of Mino Ethnic company due to labor shortages. potential wider use if proven satisfactory.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Philippines
Sen
Mino Ethnic Company
Chorus Led by Miss Beatrice Eaton at Emergency Fleet
The Emergency Fleet corporation runs a girls chorus composed entirely of employees led by Miss Beatrice Eaton. In England a concrete motion picture theater 80 by 45 feet with 18 foot height has been built. In Sweden a Viking era loaf of pea flour bread shows peas were grown in Europe over a millennium ago.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Emergency Fleet Corporation
Beatrice Eaton
England
Sweden
Eusrope
California Syrup of Figs advertisement and duchess note
An old ad touts California Syrup of Figs as a gentle laxative for children with feverish, cross, or constipated symptoms and warns buyers to seek genuine product from the California Fig Syrup Company. A London correspondent reports the Duchess of Marlborough appearing youthful with her soldier sons at a charity concert and sharing a witty exchange about dances.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
California
California Fig Syrup’Company
Adv
Duchess of Marlborough
London
Marquis of Blanford
Lord Ivor Spencer-Churchill
Constance
Tin foil for Red Cross becomes secret supply
Joseph, a school collector, notes his tin foil intake rose as the influenza epidemic began. He reveals he told classmates the foil carried germs to keep others from handling it, enabling him to collect more for the Red Cross.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Joseph
Red Cross
Indianapolis News
Life’s Endless Opportunities for Love
The line suggests daily opportunities for romance for both men and women, emphasizing universal availability of chances to connect, yearn, and pursue affection in everyday life. It frames love as abundant and ever-present across society.
Also Mentioned on This Page
William B. Wilson
Wilson
War Department
Navy Department
Marshall
Railroad Administration
McAdoo Im
Washington Dispatch
Germany
A. Bruce Bielaski
Bureau of Investigation
Department of Justice
Senate
Congress
Navy
Daniels
Bureau of Navigation
Viscount Milner
London Daily Express
Krupp Munition Works
Cologne
Copenhagen
Nobel Committee
Polo de Bernabe
Berlin
Madrid
Canopie
Boston
Henry
Prussia
Holland
Great Britain
Paris
Soldiers' and Workers’ Council
Constantinople
Rachid
Diarbekr
Chakri
Haroun
William Hohenzollern
London Exchange Telegraph Company
Herr Hohenzollern
U.S
Teutonic War News
Amsterdam
Coblenz
Camp
Rastatt
Switzerland
Denmark
Rhine
Metz
Poincare
Lokal Anzeiger
Marshal Foch
Warsaw
Amsterdam Weser Zeitung
Havre
Danzig
Posen
Silesia
Richardson's Bay
Midland Prince
Sault Ste. Marie
Ont
Cae Arabes
Kroonland
Brest
France
New York
Sierre
Empress of Britain
Liverpool
Chicago
Christ
Herald Angels
Provincetown Bay
White Hills
Old England
Longfellow
Christendom
Southland
Sill
St. Nicholas
Kris Kringle
Santa Claus
Clement C. Moore
Chile
James Whitcomb Riley
Bob
Lawsy
Santy
Santy Claus
Belgium
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!