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C GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY i : From London a cable of yesterday says: It is learned from inside sources that Premier Lloyd-George, who is making quick progress toward recovery and who, no doubt, will speak in the house of commons on Tuesday, will confine himself almost entirely to expounding the policy of the government. He will say little of the past, more regarding the present, and most pertaining to the future. His speech, according to the Times parliamentary correspondent, will be divided Into the following main divisions: "First, a statement of policy, especially on the questions of food, shipping, man power, and labor. Second, an explanation of new government machinery, especially regarding the reduction of the size of the cabinet. Third, a general review of the allies war position, Fourth, a statement as to the German peace proposals." Maj-Gen. Seott, chief of staff of the army, told the senate military committee yesterday, in discussing the Chamberlain military bill, that the army general start recommended without apology that the volunteer system be discarded because "the time has come when this country, unless it intends to avoid war at any cost, must resort to universal liability to military training and service." Arraigning the volunteer system as extravagant, inefficient and dangerous, tiie chief of staff told the committee that universal training would be democratic, reliable, efficient and economical, and within a few years practically would render the United States immune from attack. Says a dispatch from London: Andrew Bonar Law, chancellor of the exchequer, announced in the house of commons yesterday that parliament, before it was prorogued, would be asked to pass a bill to authorize the treasury, if the house was not sitting, to issue a war loan. The bill, said the chancellor, would not state the terms of issue and it did not imply that the loan would be issued; it merely would enable the treasury to issue the loan if it considered the time opportune. It is hoped that parliament may be prorogued on Friday, to reassemble early in February. A dispatch from Rome says that Pope Benedict has no intention of attempting to mediate among the belligerents at present, accordng to a statement issued yesterday by the Vatican. The statement says that neither the pope nor the holy see lias made or wishes to make any comment regarding Germanys peace proposals, and that, therefore, any announcements attributed to them are absolutely unfounded. Approximately 110,000 acres of lands in the Big Horn and Big Little Horn River Valley, within the Crow Indian reservation, are to be offered for sale at public auction at the Crow agency on January 2, 1917. All bids must equal or exceed the appraised value of the land; which averages around 0 an acre. The proceeds will be divided between 300 Indian beneficiaries. Wreckage crews were dispatched yesterday after- -rrrz noon to Corinth, near which town two cars of the AVabasli express, which runs rroin Buffalo to Chicago, have been ditched, according to word received at Hamilton, Out. Two other cars were derailed. Several persons have been hurt, railroad officials are informed, but it is believed no one was MlhyJk Willie President Wilson is awaiting the si-ech of Lloyd-George, the British premier, before taking action in the German peace proposals, word comes from London that England and France are preparing to float another huge loan in the United States in order to prosecute the war with greater vigor. The prize court yesterday confiscated, under the reprisals order, German securities valued at 30,000 marks, about 87,130, being sent from Germany to the Continental and Commercial Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago, says a United Press dispatch from Loudon. An Athens dispatch to Renters says that the indications are that the allied ultimatum will be accepted in principle by King Constantine. The dispatch implies that this decision is the outcome of a cabinet council held under the presidency of the king. Fourteen persons were killed and seventy-seven were injured by a violent explosion Friday night at a munitions factory at Felixdorf, a village of lower Austria in the district of Wiener-Neustadt, says the Neue Freije Presse. Several buildings in the town were destroyed. The correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company quotes the Frankfurter Zeitung as saying: "Germany does not want a cessation of fighting, but merely a conference at which all the belligerents shall openly state their peace proposals." It is reported that when the Mexican-American joint conference at Atlantic City convenes Tuesday, Commissioner Alberto J. Pani will present First Chief Carranzas virtual rejection of the proposed protocol. General Carranza has decreed that after January 1 all private employes shall be paid entirely in gold or its metallic equivalent, special agent Thurston reported from Queretaro yesterday afternoon. With no coal in the bins, railroad sidings blockaded and a ear shortage such as never before existed, Chicago wholesale and retail dealers yesterday declared the fuel situation desperate. Inauguration of a movement to have a parcel-post system established between the United States and Russia was announced yesterday by the Merchants Association, at New York. French forces have taken a total of 11.3S7 German prisoners on the Verdun front since Friday, according to the announcement made by the French Avar office yesterday afternoon. The Dominion Prohibition Committee, recently established in Montreal, will make an aggressive prosecution of a campaign for a dry Canada.
