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GENERAL NEWS NOTES OF THE DAY Under the heading "Secret treaty between Japan and Russia for joint armed demonstration against America and Great Britain in the far East," the Izvestia publishes what it says is the text of the secret treaty drawn up last year providing for joint- action by Russia and Japan to prevent any third country from achieving political dominance in China. The treaty, dated July 3, 1910, runs for five - years, automatically extending itself until a year after one party expresses the desire to annul it.. Secretary Lansing said yesterday that no information of the terms of Germanys expected "Christmas peace" offer has reached the state department, and that "the attitude of the United States toward a peace negotiation was unchanged. What purports to be an outline of the peace terms has been received in Washington through neutral diplomatic channels. The attitude of the United States on peace accords with that of the cobelligerents reparation and restoration by Germany. The old French cruiser Chateaurenault, employed as a transport, was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean on the morning of December 14, and the submarine which attacked her later was destroyed, according to an announcement made by the French minister of marine. The passengers on the Chateaurenault, all of whom were either soldiers or officers, were saved. Ten members of the crew were lost. Winter wheat this year, planted on the largest acreage ever sown in the history of the country, showed on December 1 the lowest condition on record. A forecast of a crop of only 540,000,000 bushels was made yesterday by the department of agriculture. The final production, however, will be above or below that quantity, according as conditions hereafter are better or worse than the average. A dispatch from Petrograd asserts it was unofficially reported the Germans have refused the Russian peace terms and that the Bolsheviki delegation has been recalled to Petrograd. The decision, if accurately reported, does not mean resumption of hostilities on the Russian front at once, as complete stoppage of all fighting for a month has already been agreed up by terms of the armistice. Three British aviators in training at Fort Worth, Texas, were killed yesterday when two machines collided in the air. Two of the men were in one machine. The collision took place at a low altitude and less than half a mile from the landing field. The dead: Arthur Eden Webster, Kingston, N. Y.; Lieut. Russe .Tenner. Kingsville, Ontario, and Cyrie Albert Baker, Kent England. Declaration of Avar against Germany by Argentina is regarded as almost certain in Latin-American diplomatic circles in Washington, as the result of new evidences of Germany trickery disclosed simultaneously in Washington and Buenos Aires by publication of another series of telegrams between the notorious Count Luxberg of "spurlos versenkt" fame, and the Berlin foreign office. Plans well laid by the war department contemplate the listing for service in the national army under the new questionnaire, now being answered bv the draft men, of a sufficient force to enable President Wilson to issue a call for a new draft about February 1. This call, it is now expected, will be for 313,000 men, not for 500,000 men, as lias been generally believed. President Wilson will send a message to Congress recommending enactment of legislation to meet the transportation situation immediately after the holiday recess. Until it has been received, the president yesterday requested that the Interstate Commerce Commission committee withhold making any investigation as provided under the Cummins resolution. The officers of the Russian army in France have volunteered as a body to give their services to the United States. They are desirous of continuing the battle against the Germans, notwithstanding the Russo-German pence negotiations and declare thev will welcome an opportunity to fight to the finish for Russia under the Stars and Stripes. Austria-Hungary is pledged to support Germany in retention of Alsace-Lorraine, according to a dispatch printed yesterday in the Matin, purporting to reveal the text of the agreement between the two biggest central powers. The Matin also asserts Germany has determined not to evacuate Belgium and France unless her colonies were restored. A proposal that the province of Quebec secede from the Dominion of Canada was expressed in a motion introduced into the provincial legislature assembly yesterday by J. N. Francoeur, deputy for Lothbiniere. Quebec is the only province that voted against conscription at the recent election. The motionwill be debated January 8. All alcoholic beverages except light wines and hctrs are denied to members of the American expeditionary forces in France by Gen. Pershing ill general orders issued yesterday.
