february 12, 1918
The Bolshevist capitulation
The text of the Treaty of Peace with the Ukraine is published. It provides that the frontier of the new Ukrainian Republic on the south-west shall follow the frontier of Galicia, to the north of which an area of territory, at present occupied by the enemy, in the Governments of Volhynia, Lublin, Siedice, Grodno, and Minsk, becomes part of the new Ukrainian State, and is to be immediately evacuated. Both parties renounce the reimbursement of their war costs, and elaborate provisions are laid down for the exchange of agricultural and industrial products, the amounts of which are to be fixed by a Joint Commission.
The peace treaty was referred to by the Kaiser in a speech at Homburg, in which he said that they desired to live in friendship with neighbouring peoples, “but the victory of the German arms must first be recognized”.
A Brest-Litovsk telegram of today’s date says: At today’s sitting the President of the Russian delegation stated that Russia, while desisting from signing a formal peace treaty, declares as ended the state of war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, and simultaneously is giving orders for the complete demobilization of the Russian forces on all fronts.
A telegram from Brest-Litovsk of today’s date, via Berlin, says: It was possible to announce at the beginning of the last pause in the negotiations that a basis for the conclusion of peace between the Quadruple Alliance and the Ukrainian People’s Republic had been found. Thanks to the energetic and untiring work of all the commissions, and thanks to the spirit of conciliation which inspired all parties, an agreement on all points was established in the course of yesterday, so that the final drafting of the treaties and their signature could be carried out.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-02-10/register/poison-gases-in-warfare-6m0cs278m
A Brest-Litovsk telegram of today’s date says: At today’s sitting the President of the Russian delegation stated that Russia, while desisting from signing a formal peace treaty, declares as ended the state of war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria, and simultaneously is giving orders for the complete demobilization of the Russian forces on all fronts.
A telegram from Brest-Litovsk of today’s date, via Berlin, says: It was possible to announce at the beginning of the last pause in the negotiations that a basis for the conclusion of peace between the Quadruple Alliance and the Ukrainian People’s Republic had been found. Thanks to the energetic and untiring work of all the commissions, and thanks to the spirit of conciliation which inspired all parties, an agreement on all points was established in the course of yesterday, so that the final drafting of the treaties and their signature could be carried out.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-02-10/register/poison-gases-in-warfare-6m0cs278m
february 10, 1918
Poison gases in warfare
The International Committee of the Red Cross has addressed an appeal to the belligerent States against the further use of poisonous gases. The appeal points out that the progress of science in aeronautics, ballistics, or chemistry has but intensified the evils of war and has even extended them to the entire population so that war will soon be nothing but a work of general and pitiless destruction. After recalling that The Hague Convention forbids the use of poison weapons, or weapons calculated to cause excessive injuries, it says: “That these methods [poison gases] should have come into use in war is lamentable in itself, but what we wish to emphasize is that on those who seek to render these methods more cruel still will rest a more and more serious responsibility— the responsibility for having directed war into ways opposed to the humane ideas which seemed to be spreading and of which the Red Cross seemed to be the living proof. For there is no question here of an act which an enemy can reject because it is repugnant to it. An army’s very existence is at stake.
“Fighting against an enemy employing these gases, an army is forced against its will to imitate it, and, if it does not wish to be placed at a loss which may prove fatal to it, it will seek to outdo the efforts of the enemy and will concentrate its efforts on contriving that these poisons may have ever wider and ever more deleterious effects, and there will be a rivalry in the adoption of more murderous methods.
“We hear tell of new gaseous poisons the manufacture of which in great quantities is more easy in that the raw material from which it is taken is easily available. We are shown projectiles charged with poisonous gases which will deal out death horribly not only in the ranks of the combatants, but also in the rear, in the midst of the unoffending population, destroying every living creature throughout wide zones.
“We protest with all our heart against this fashion of waging war, which we can only describe as criminal. And if, as is probable, a nation is obliged to have recourse to counter-attacks or reprisals in order to force the enemy to renounce this odious practice, we foresee a struggle which will surpass in ferocity and brutality anything yet known to history.”
“We hear tell of new gaseous poisons the manufacture of which in great quantities is more easy in that the raw material from which it is taken is easily available. We are shown projectiles charged with poisonous gases which will deal out death horribly not only in the ranks of the combatants, but also in the rear, in the midst of the unoffending population, destroying every living creature throughout wide zones.
“We protest with all our heart against this fashion of waging war, which we can only describe as criminal. And if, as is probable, a nation is obliged to have recourse to counter-attacks or reprisals in order to force the enemy to renounce this odious practice, we foresee a struggle which will surpass in ferocity and brutality anything yet known to history.”
february 9, 1918
The adoption of meat rations
The announcement today from the Ministry of Food regarding the adoption of a scheme of rationing for meat has an interest extending far beyond London and the Home Counties, to which area it is confined for the moment. The scheme is an experiment, but undoubtedly it will be rapidly expanded to the whole of the country. The change from the abundance of meat at Christmas to the present scarcity has perplexed many people, but the truth is that the extraordinary display of meat in the shops at Christmas was misleading. Scarcity has followed with great swiftness, and it is likely to continue, though the situation should be rather better by May.In deciding to fix the meat ration by monetary value, Lord Rhondda and his advisers have taken a step which so far has not been tried in any other country, and a few weeks must pass before we can be sure that they are on the right lines. The essential point is that it is expected to supply each adult with an average of about one pound of uncooked meat, exclusive of bone, each week. Children will receive about half this quantity. An elaborate scale of prices has been fixed for the different cuts of meat. Should poultry or game or bacon be required, the monetary value of the coupons is transformed to a basis of equivalent weights.
The scheme does not err on the side of simplicity, and it will require a good deal of study before it is understood by the general public. No one, least of all the Food Controller himself, expects that the scheme will work smoothly at first. Meat is a far more difficult commodity to ration than sugar, but it is hoped that the scheme will at least ensure a modest allowance of meat for each individual.
At bottom the whole problem, like almost every other at this stage of the war, is one of shipping. The whole country has approved of the recent prosecutions of food hoarders, but there is a danger that the attention of the Ministry and of the local food committees may be too much diverted to these really minor matters. The real necessity at the present time is a crusade, not against petty food offences, but in favour of food production in our own land. Lord Rhondda and his coadjutors talk so much on comparatively trivial subjects that they are losing sight of the really big issues.
At bottom the whole problem, like almost every other at this stage of the war, is one of shipping. The whole country has approved of the recent prosecutions of food hoarders, but there is a danger that the attention of the Ministry and of the local food committees may be too much diverted to these really minor matters. The real necessity at the present time is a crusade, not against petty food offences, but in favour of food production in our own land. Lord Rhondda and his coadjutors talk so much on comparatively trivial subjects that they are losing sight of the really big issues.
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