20 Dec 1917
Page 1
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This newspaper page contains 26 articles. Subscribers can read the full text of each article.
Newspaper
Harrisburg Telegraph
Location
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America
Date
Dec 20, 1917
Page
1
Petrograd dispatch reports that the central powers informed Russia they intend to push peace proposals to the allies. At a preliminary conference they sought allied participation and noted self determination obstacles while hinting possible talks with Russia alone.
Bolsheviki government proclaims state of siege in Petrograd and issues ultimatum to the Ukrainian Rada demanding a 48 hour decision on ceasing aid to General Kalderines and disarming troops. Rada refuses to obey, threats of war with the Congress of Workmen and Soldiers' Delegates. Odessa clash and rumors of Kaldenes' arrest add to tense relations.
Generally cloudy tonight and Friday with possible rain or snow Friday. Low around 26 tonight. Winds southwest to northwest. Susquehanna River and branches near stationary at about 4.4 feet Friday morning. Temperature mild east, cooler in north and west. Sunrise 7 20, sunset 4 39. Moon first quarter December 21. Highest 34, lowest 25, mean 31, normal 32.
Raymond Gilbert Hangen, 14, a Steelton High freshman, is found hanged by a bed sheet in his room after he left home for Harrisburg and bought a turkey. A note reads Good bye all and asks his parents to tell four girls. He was a Boy Scout, active in sports, and planned to work Saturdays for pin money.
Senate Military Committee moves to investigate delays in clothing and food supply to the army. Major General Goethals to oversee Quartermaster's Department. inquiry will explore how garment shortages relate to disease in cantonments and review prior munitions production delays.
The report notes that the German U boat campaign did not fully block Allied imports, allowing continued flow of supplies. It suggests that Allied shipments remained Instrumental to wartime effort, with imports approaching normal levels despite U boat activity.
In the House of Commons British Prime Minister David Lloyd George says submarine sinkings are declining while shipbuilding rises. He notes merchant tonnage drop, a six percent import loss year over year, and cites military developments in Palestine along with the Italian reverses and calls for greater sacrifices to strengthen Britain’s armies next year.
Washington December 20 Investigation of the government's shipping board and emergency fleet corporation operations under Senator Harding's resolution will begin tomorrow afternoon before the Senate Commerce Committee. The inquiry follows the Senate adopting the measure to probe management records and wartime actions.
Halifax aims to comfort hundreds of blind and crippled children in hospitals as American Santa Claus must provide toys. Local dealers report exhausted stocks after a busy season centered on Nova Scotia forces overseas and a quiet home observance planned due to a disaster. The explosion may have blinded more than 1,000 people, many of them children.
Mayor Keister released an accurate list showing nine of seventeen city dealers received 600 coal shipment orders they could not fill on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. The canvass aims to present the true extent of the coal shortage to the state administration.
Philadelphia reports the Knights of Columbus relief fund for soldiers huts at cantonments now totals $110,000. Ex Governor Edwin Stuart contributed $1,000 by check yesterday, as treasurer John V. Loughney announced.
Scranton council voted to abolish three battalion chiefs in the fire department and eliminate the director of the department of supplies, a $3 800 a year position, as part of 1918 expense cuts.
The annual Boy Scout Council meeting set for tonight is postponed indefinitely due to few members able to attend amid holiday activities and business pressures. A new date will be announced later. London dispatch reports British casualties for the week ending today total 17 976 with officers and men listed as killed wounded missing and dead.
Max Gordon of Verbeke and Penn streets received a long awaited letter from his parents reporting they survived a thousand mile trek into Russia during World War I. The message notes two brothers drafted, one prisoner in Austria, and that Gordon later married with a child. A separate item notes Allentown penny papers will rise to two cents on January 1.
Prohibition leaders say the United States could become dry soon, needing two more avowedly wet states to ratify the pending federal amendment. They count on legislatures in other states to ratify as well. The report notes the situation as of today.
Esther Cleveland daughter of the late Grover Cleveland is announced to wed Captain Bosanquet of the Coldstream Guards. He is the son of Sir Albert Bosanquet and has been decorated with the Distinguished Service Order. Miss Cleveland came to London in June last year after qualifying as a nurse and instructor of the blind and volunteered at St Duns Home for blind soldiers.
Cardinal Gibbons sanctioned work by Roman Catholic miners during the Christmas and New Year season. In a letter to Fuel Administrator Garfield he approved miners taking only Christmas and New Year’s Day off and suggested saloons close from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. to aid observance.
Harrisburg Red Cross Home Service committee vows to shield families of soldiers. Mrs William S Laubenstein chairs with Mrs William Jennings as vice chair and John H McCandless as secretary. The group advises families on government allowances and War Risk Insurance, acting as liaison with the government. Regular hours at Red Cross rooms invite families with loved ones in service.
The article notes Harrisburg streets show Red Cross flags in many windows today and tomorrow with hundreds of windows lacking flags. It invites readers to consider the meaning and to ask neighbors why their windows have no new Cross service.
About 19 000 Harrisburg residents had joined the Red Cross by noon, 11 000 below the 30 000 quota. Campaign leaders blame lack of local interest in the war, apathy toward Dauphin county troops, possible German sympathy, and overlook of the life-saving dollar. Mrs James Steiner mentioned last evening.
Government plans restrict five hundred items during the war affecting women’s cosmetics garments and luxuries. Harrisburg department stores report Washington’s suggestion to curb many goods including pleasure vehicles brewery products candy glassware jewelry toys and pottery.
A stark rhetorical plea questions readers about withholding aid from wounded American soldiers in France, insisting relief must come from the Red Cross and urging support with a dollar to save lives on the front lines.
The fuel administrator announces a temporary limit on outside lights with all lights off except street lamps on the two lightless nights Thursday and Sunday. Window, porch, and display lights are forbidden, while interior lights are restricted to business operations. Officials aim to fix coal pricing for small buyers as milder weather and recent shipments relieve famine fears.
In Mankato Minnesota on December 20 Frank J. Busch a wholesale grocer faced charges for seditious remarks suggesting the United States might as well be under the Kaiser's government. He apologized to Municipal Judge Comstock and then bought 1990 worth of Liberty Bonds subscribed 100 to the Red Cross and donated 50 to both the Knights of Columbus and the Y M C A. Today Judge Comstock fined him 500 dollars.
Rumors that the eastbound embargo on corn and oats would be lifted and that maximum prices might be removed spurred a sharp upturn on the Board of Trade. May corn rose 6.5 cents to 1.265 dollars and oats gained three cents.
In Knoxville Tennessee on December 20 eleven miners were killed and seventy five were inside the mine at the time of the disaster.
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