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GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY. London reports that the allied lines are holding solidly against a lierce continuous attack of the fiennuns in the vicinity of Yprea. At the war oUice in Iaris it is declared the euemv is bringing tremendous pressure to bear in what would seem to he a supreme effort to crush the allied defense, ipres is in Hames. The roar of big guns is incessant as the Oermans keep up a constant artillery lire under cover of which the infantry assaults are made niton the British and French trenches. The iermans managed to get the range of the old Flemish town with their heavy artillery and eleven inch and thirteen inch shells were poured into the city at the rate of from two to twenty a minute. The town itself was completely deserted. Xo loss of life resulted from the lie.-wy shell lire, but the place is practically in ruins. A dispatch from Petrograd says that the Kussians are now attacking the Anstro-Germau rear srnard on the outer lines of the Cracow fortress and that all sources of contact oa the eastern battle front now are inside of German territory. The Russians took 1.0CO railroad cars laden with coal in East Prussia. The cars were being transported to positions which the Germans had evacuated. Tho czars cavalry which invaded Posen lias pierced tht. German left flank at the crossing of the river Wartha at Kodin. These cavalry operations, with strong supports, have nullified the entire defensive preparations of the Germans east of the Polish frontier. The Russians now hold without resistance the great line of intrenchiuents running from Czenstochow southward on the Cracow line and northward on to Kaliz. German reserves and local forced labor were employed for months digging and equipping these works, which are buttressed like underground dwellings. The German cruiser Kmden, which has been the terror of British shin-ping in the Pacific, has been destroved bv the Australian warship Sydney. Tho admiralty at Ixmdon announced that the Emden had been driven ashore on Cocos Island and burned to the waters edge. It is oflicially announced at Petrograd that Germany is moving troops from Belgium and France to the frontiers of fcast Prussia. Posen and Silesia. The kaiser has been compelled to weaken his force in the west to defend the richest provinces of the German empire and to close in the face of the Bussians, if possible, the opening gateway to Berlin. An official dispatch from Constantinople says that the Turkish fleet shelled near Kosloe. on the Black sea, a portion of the Russian fleet, which, however, managed to escape with the Turkish ships in pursuit. The British cruiser Glasgow, which was engaged with the German squadron in battle off the Chilean coast on Sunday, Nov. 1. and the British tranport Otranto have passed Delgada j Point lighthouse in the Straits of Magellan. The i two vessels are bound for the Falkland island, a British possession to the east of the extreme southern point of South America. According "o the London Daily Chronicle the government is pre-, paring a census of Great Britain. An order h.n been placed for the addressing of 7,r00,000 envelopes in which a circular will le sent to every voter on the parliamentary register asking information about the age and military eflieiency of the members of his household. It is oflicially announced at Bordeaux that in the region of the Sanga river, in the Congo, French troops commanded by Gen. Aymerich succeeded in driving the Germans from the larger part of the territory lost in the 1011 convention. Przemysl has been hastily prepared for a second siege. The outer forts which were dismantled by the Russian guns are being feverishly repaired and strengthened. General de Wet has 2.000 rebels in his immediate command in South Africa and is meeting but slight opposition in a raid he is making in the vicinity of Doornberg. The government admitted that the South African rebel leader had defeated a small loyalist command, under General Cronje. a member of the legislature, near Doornberg. Strong reinforcements have been ordered to the aid of General Cronje and are now en route. On tho Vet river, southeast of Bloomhof, loyalists under Commandant J--mmors. have routed the rebels of General Beyers. Nine rebels wore killed, eleven wounded and Mi captured in this engagement. Three royalists were killed and nine wounded. A formal declaration of war. signed by the five allies, has been issued airainst Turkey. A Tokyo dispatch gives additional particulars of the destruction of the Kmden, as follows: "The German cruiser Emden, pursued by the Australian cruiser Sydney, has been beached on one of the Cocos islands. According to reports reaching Tokyo, the captain and the majority of the crew of the Emden were saved. Previous to the engagement with the Sydney the ITmden cut the British cable connecting the Cocos islands with the outside world." The German stronghold of Tsingtao was formally handed over to Japan unconditionally yesterday. The German cruiser Koenigsberg, which disabled the British cruiser Pegasus several weeks ago, has l?en bottled up at Matin island, on the coast of German East Africa, by the blocking of the channel to the harbor. That England is prepared to carry on the war indefinitely, with every confidence in the result, was th-3 tenor of the speeches at the annual banquet in augurating the new lord mayor of London at Guild Hall, delivered by tho men who are responsible for the conduct of the war. Another Russian repulse on the blood-drenched and trench-scarred hills of the eastern frontier of East Prussia has been reported lo Berlin from Gumbinnen under date of Nov. S. Simultaneously with their operations against t lie main German army under Gen. von llindenbcrg on the line of tho river Warthe. the Russians attempted to break into East Prussia by the old route south of Wirballon. but they were met at the fontier by Gen. von Morgens army and after heavy lighting were driven back across the frontier. No intimations regarding the strength of the forces engaged have been published hero, but they must have been considerable, as the Russians are reported as having left 4,000 prisoners in German hands. The inundations in Flanders which prevented the Germans from making their way :iIong tli coast in their efforts to reach Calais are proving equally unfavorable to the allies, who are finding it impossible to proceed through these marshy regions. The Germans have been forced to evacuate Middelkerke on the coast, half way between Xiciiport and Ostend. and this point ha not been occupied by the allies. Tim French official bulletin given out in Paris says that fighting con-tinned with great severity between the sea nnl the region of Armentieres. An immediate effect of the capture of the German cruiser Emden, whieh during hei career as a commerce destroyer has destroyed British shipping estimated to be worth 0,0C0,C.CC. was a drop of 50 per cent in the insurance premiums on vessels bound to points east of Suez. A proclamation issued by the Germans at Brussels threatens, according to a dispatch to Renters Telegram company from Amsterdam, to stop the distribution of food by the American relief committee among the unemployed until the Belgians go to work. Reports received from Sofia. Bulgaria, set forth that a majority of the inhabitants of Odessa on the Black sea have tied to the interior. The commander of the Turkish forces at Beirut. .Syria, in a formal note addressed to the American consul-general and intended for the British and French governments, announced that for every Mussulman killed in the bombardment of any open and unfortified port, three British or French subjects will immediately be executed. The Turkish note says, moreover, that the commander refuses to take the responsibility for an uprising a ainst Christians that might follow such a bombardment. The Turkish commander stated that for any Turkish property damaged compensation whl be exacted by seizure of property of British aud French subjects in equal value. The communication asks that the British and French consuls be advised of his determination. The Mexican situation is again becoming acute. First Chief Carranza lias formally defied the convention of generals at Aguas Calientes, which demanded his resignation as president of Mexico and followed this up by declaring his intention of fighting Villa. Upon being oflicially informed of the action of the convention in electing Eulalio Gutierrez provisional president of the republic, the first chief ordered "all generals, representatives of generals and other jefes" at Aguas Calientes to quit the convention by 0 p. m. November 10. The proclamation was issued at Cordoba and directed to the military chieftains and the civil employes of the central "government, who were ordered to obey Carranza as first chieE of the constitutionalists and to disregard to tally the mandates of the Aguas Calientes convention. To the military chieftains he said that unless they left the conference and were back at their posts by 0 oclock Tuesday evening their next in rank would assume their places. Gen. Eulalio Gutierrez, who was appointed provisional president of Mexico by the Aguas Calientes convention, has proclaimed himself the chief executive beginning Nov. 10. Gutierrez has appointed the following cabinet to act with him: Foreign minister Fernando Iglecia Calderon; Minister of communications Gen. Antonio Villareal; Minister of war Jen. Jnvencio Robles: Minister of the interior Gen. .Tose Blanco: Minister of public instruction Signor Soto y Gama: Minister of justice Jose Vas-couselos; Minister of progrefs Pastor Roaix; Minister of the treasury Felicits Villareal. Grave concern is felt at Vera Cruz regarding the situation in .Mexico City. Wild rumors persist that conditions of open anarchy are imminent in the -Mexican capital. Political refugees arriving at Vera Cruz are authority for the report that in some parts of the city there have been open outbursts and signs of violence by mobs led by constitutionalists. One of these reports, which, however, has not been confirmed, said that the National Bank of Mexico City had been threatened. Wars continued effect on American immigration a decrease of more than 1200 per cent in tho last three months was shown in an analysis by the Department of Labor. Aliens arriving "at Atlantic seaports of the United States and Canada from August 1 to November 7 last numbered 07.-45S. compared witli 421. 5S4 for the same period last year. The number of arrivals at those ports on Novemler 7 was 740, compared with :,270 on the same day last year. An order for the immediate construction of twenty submarines has been placed witli the Fore River Shipbuilding corporation of Qulncy. Mass. Officials of the idant refused information as to the identity of tlie power for which the submarines are intended. An officer of the corporation said the order would amount to about 0,000,000. A constitutional amendment providing that California may vote only once in eight years on prohibition was defeated in Tuesdays election complete returns indicate. For several days after tho election it was supposed to have carried. Latest figures show 40,000 majority against it. Persistent reports that hidden wireless stations along the coasts of the United States are serving as information bureaus for belligerent cruisers at sea have caused the navy to join the state department in efforts to locate and destroy such stations if they exist. The important farm crops of the United States this year are worth $.1,008,742,001, or ."5104.000,000 more than the value of the same crops last year, notwithstanding a loss of 5418,000,000 sustained bv cotton planters on lint alone as a result of the European war. Dispatches from Cordoba to the constitutionalist agency at Washington say that Carranza, at a conference with Generals Obregon, Villareal, Hay and Benavides. agreed to recognize the actions of the Aguas Calientes convention with some reservations. Federal authorities in their efforts to stamp out foot and mouth disease among meat animals, issued an order barring shipments of cattle from Canada into the United States, and placing a federal quarantine on New Jersey and Rhode Island. The Norwegian steamer Pluton, lwund from London for Christiania, was sunk by a mine off Yarmouth. Nineteen men of her crew and three passengers were rescued by a Dutch lugger. Secretary of Commerce Redtield in all probability will resign from the Wilson cabinet to become chairman of tho newly created trades commission. Postmaster General Burlesonr in his forthcoming annual report, will urge the advisability of government ownership of all telegraph and telephone lines. Robert J. Burdette. the preacher-humorist, is at tins point of death at his home, Snnnycrest. Pasadena, Cal. Enrique C. LJorente will be appointed Washington representative of the constitutionalists.
