by Richard van Pelt, WWI Correspondent

“War Declared on the Turks by Bordeaux” the headline in the Oregon Statesman declared.

“Ypres Center of Battle in West Flanders”; “Germans Still Hammering Away in Effort to Approach Calais”; “Allies Moving North”; “Attempt to Reach Ostend Is Under Way.” Readers of the Statesman read that residents of Ostend “Have been ordered to take to their cellars with five days’ provisions.” Belgian forces flooded the low-lying areas in order to stem the German advance. The floods created to stop the Germans were hindering any Belgian advance. “Around Ypres,” the paper reports, “the German offensive, according to the accounts of the allies, has met with no success. In fact it seems that all along the line there has been merely a repetition of artillery duels and of infantry attacks which sometimes succeed, but more often do not.”

Locally, the paper reports that voter returns for Marion County show a GOP victory. The latest tally showed Drys beating Wets by 7908 to 6372. The county gave a majority of 1536 for prohibition. The county voted against abolition of the death penalty. Statewide, prohibition won by a large margin and Oregon joined Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and North Dakota as states prohibiting the sale of liquor. Prohibition would not become nationwide until passage of the Volstead Act and the 18th Amendment in 1920.

From the Capital Journal we read:

RUSSIAN ACTIVITY SURPRISES TURKS

Athens, Nov. 6. – Thrown off its balance by the suddenness of Russia’s attack, the Turkish army is in a state of serious demoralization, according to advices received here from Constantinople.

The Sultan’s general staff was said to have supposed the czar was short on troops in Transcaucasia on account of the vast number of men he was throwing against the German and Austrian frontiers. Acting on this theory, the Turkish strategists had prepared several columns of troops to invade Russian territory.

Instead, before they could act, four Russian columns invaded Turkey. One was moving by forced marches today on the important Asiatic Turkish city of Erzcrum. Another was far in the Turkish interior.

SAY GERMANS LOSE IN SOUTH AND EAST; TURKS DRIVEN BACK
Russians Declare They Have Crossed Border and Are Now In Prussia
FRANCE DECLARES WAR AGAINST TURKS
Neither Side Gaining Advantage in Fierce Fighting Along the Frontier

The balance of the news discussed the recent election:

ONLY TWO OF 29 MEASURES PASSED REST SNOWED UNDER
Voters Set Down Hard On Grouches and Professional Constitutional Tinkers
EIGHT HOUR DAY IS BEATEN FIVE TO ONE
U’Ren’s Propositions Are Contemptuously Thrown In Political Waste Basket