New-York tribune. [volume], June 08, 1918, Page 10, Image 10

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Flr?t to Last?the Troth: New??Editorial?
?Advertisements
M?mb? et the Aullt Inureau of ClwulaUoru
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1918.
Owned wid published daily hy The Tribune AsaoclaM?,
a New Y or* Corporation. 0?drn Raid. Pre?ldent? O.
Venior Unser?, Vire ITesldont ; Richard H L""*-. Hccretsrr:
F. A. But?, Treasurer AdclreM. Tribune Rulldlng. 15*
Xaaaau Stre-et. New York. T*l?E?hono. Beekman 3000.
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?1dc of Gre?ter New York
IN TUS UNITED KTATES- OFTSIOIB OF OBJSATBB
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P?1ly and Sunday.?10 00 JJ 00 ?2 50 ?100
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Sanity in War Finance
Not since this country took upon its
shoulders the burdens of war have we
had a more forcible and effective state?
ment of the unescapable alternatives of
war finance than that contained in Sec?
retary McAdoo's letter to Representative
Kitchin. To the President's sharp re?
minder to the^ country of what these al?
ternatives are, and to the warnings of
Mr. Paul Warburg, Professor Irving
Fisher and many others, our Secretary
of the Treasury now adds this blunt and
unequivocal declaration:
"Wo cannot wisely contemplate nearly
doubling our cash disbursement-? in the
fiscal year 1919 without providing addi?
tional revenue. YA'o cannot afford to rely
upon $-1,000.000,000 only from taxation,
because we shall then have to rely on
raising $20,000,000,000 by loans. This
would be a surrender to the policy of
higher interest rates and inflation, with
all the evil consequences which would
flow inevitably therefrom and which
would, I firmly believe, bring ultimate
disaster to the country."
Will our neighbor "The Times" and
some of our friends in Wall Street
kindly attend upon this terse summine:
up of the situation:
"If we are to presence the financial
strength of the nation we must do sound
and safe things, no matter whether they
hurt our pockets or involve sacrifices?
sacrifices of a relatively insignificant sort
as compared with the sacrifices our sol?
diers and sailors are making to save the
life of the nation. The sound thing to
do is unquestionably to increase taxa?
tion, and the increases should be deter?
mined upon promptly and made effective
at the earliest possible moment."
It is very natural that The Tribune
should find satisfaction in such emphatic
indorsement of views for which it has
been battling for so many months. It
has been incredible to us that alike the
press and the public men of the country
could be so deaf to the warnings of the
ablest economists of the nation as to the
effects of unrestricted credit expansion
and the rapid rise of prices which this
inevitably entails. There is rio surer
way to create discontent and sow the
seeds of dissension than to boost the cost
of production at the rate of the last two
years in this country, and especially
since we entered the war. This is the
path to profiteering on the widest and
largest scale, by labor as well as capital.
We mean by profiteering merely the in?
evitable struggle of every one to take
care of himself and his own in the con?
fusion and excitement of rising prices.
Mr. McAdoo is at pains to say that that
is what he means also by profiteering.
Bond issues are very largely financed
by the banks, with a corresponding in?
crease of bank loans. To whatever ex?
tent that is true the effect of bond is?
sues upon prices is practically the same
as the effect of printing paper money.
Therefore, bond issues beyond the power
of the people to buy and pay for them
out of earnings instead of borrowing,
tend to accentuate conditions which are
already much complained of?conditions
in which certain classes of labor and cer?
tain users of capital are benefited ex?
travagantly at the expense of all the
rest.
The vital difference between raising
money by bonds and by taxes is that
while a man will borrow to buy bonds
his business sense resists the idea of
borrowing to pay taxes in order that he
; may continue his extravagant personal
. expenditures. So long as he can cheat
himself with the idea that he has some?
thing to show for his borrowing to buy
bonds he can ignore to his own con?
science the evil effects of his borrowings
and his extravagance. When he has
taxes to pay he cannot.
It would be obviously bad policy to at
tempt to raise the whole of the colossal
I expenditures of the war by taxation
alone, or even a half of it, because that
is to ijrnore all the powerful basic drive
? of patriotic enthusiasm, the instinct for
saving, the desire to get ahead, the wish
for the fine feeling that one is making
a voluntary and free-will effort to help
win the war. We need this enthusiasm
and this feeling.
But bond issues alone, save in such a
rigidly governed state as Germany, in?
evitably have exactly the effect which
Secretary McAdoo describes. They tend
to a policy of "higher interest rates and
inflation, with al] the evil consequences
which inevitably flow t -efrom." No
one likes to give up 10 per cent or more
of his income, even under the high emo?
tional stress of the war. But ours is a
careless and 'ipendthrift nation, and the
sudden access of unprecedented wages
and the unsatisfied demand for every
kind of labor inevitably bring a corre
? sponding scale of expenditure among the
masses.
It is not alone the extravagance of the
! rich that is promoting the present high
| cost of living, but also the extravagance
'< of the wage-earners, the planters 3nd the :
' farmers, who have never known such ;
! prosperity. Taxation alone can reach
j this extravagance, and in order that it
S may be reached every one, the thrifty
j as well as the thriftless, must face his
added burden. It is a gratifying thing
j to feel that we have at the helm of the ;
government finances a man with a clear ,
; grasp of the situation and the blunt
; courage to meet it without paltering or
demagogy. We beg to felicitate Secre- ;
tary McAdoo's admirable exposition of !
I fact.
The Marines Have Come
It's a dull American who doesn't feel
! moved to throw his hat in the air over
i the news from the Marne. There will be
| time for patience and sitting tight later :
j on. Let us be proud and happy to-day j
I that our men have signalled their arrival
! upon the most famous of battlefields with
! a new and glorious victory.
We don't think Americans will be un- j
duly puffed up. We knew before they
i went to work that our marines were as ?
? good as the best. There is no famous J
I unit in all the world that can beat them j
' in personnel cr morale or downright man- ?
| to-man fighting ability. The marines j
I were bound to make a dent in the German j
? helmet whenever their wallop was turned
1 loose. The job they have done is exactly
the kind of hard hitting that was ex?
pected of them by all observers. Ameri?
cans or not.
We think the chief emotion that will
follow in the hearts of most Americans
| will be thankfulness that we are in time, i
| deep thankfulness that we can already j
! begin to strike blows side by side with i
! our battle-worn allies. Our men come up ?
i new and eager. They bring a fresh
| spirit, a fresh confidence, that must be a
| blessed and heartening relief to the vet
j eran French and British with whom they
j stand. We cannot bring a new bravery
to that glorious line. We can and do
bring a new nation, unwearied, untouched,
in numbers without limit.
The European battlefield has seen no
omen carrying such portent to the Ger- j
man nation as this small but sweeping
victory by American troops.
Up to the Red Cross
The Raker bill for the reorganization I
of the nurse corps of the medical de?
partment oivthe army could be passed if
the war council of the American Red
Cross would only recommend its passage
as an imperative necessity.
Why the Council withholds support
from this deserving measure is a puzzle.
The Red Cross administrators themselves
accepted high military rank because they
found that without the insignia of au?
thority they were seriously handicapped.
The lack of relative rank also handi?
caps the devoted and capable women who
have gone into the nurse corps of the
army medical department. They dis?
charge professional functions similar to
those discharged by the surgeons of the
Medical Corps. They do an officer's work,
but they lack the outward signs of rank
which would define their status as su?
perior to that of non-commissioned offi?
cers and hospital orderlies. The Red
Cross is an auxiliary organization?out?
side of the army. The 'nurse corps
should be a staff corps?inside the army.
If rank is needed by Red Cross officials
j it is doubly needed by nurses.
Every trained army nurse should have
at least the grade of lieutenant. Notice
by Congress that a real nurse staff corps
is to be created would be the greatest
possible stimulant to the present cam?
paign for the recruitment of 20,000
skilled army nurses.
-
Continent-Wide Bird Protection
Passage by the House of Representa?
tives of the enabling act putting into
j effect the treaty between Great Britain
! and this country for the protection of
| migratory birds represents the end of
: one of the most ambitious efforts to
| conserve wild life ever attempted. The
plan will operate from the southernmost
boundary of the United States to the
northern boundary of Canada and will
cover song birds and insect eaters as
! well as game birds. It has, in fact, been
I in operation here under Federal laws
j for several years, and those iresponsi
I ble for Hs origin believe that this trial,
incomplete in comparison with the con
I tinent-wide scope which it is to attain,
i has already proved its ?high value.
The Weeks-McLean act, adopted in
1913, was the beginning of this huge
conservation scheme. It had long been
apparent that the varying state laws,
entirely without uniformity as to shoot?
ing seasons or the standards of protec?
tion for bird life, were bringing about
a gradual extinction of songsters and
the insect and seed eaters, so tremen?
dously important to the agricultural in?
terests of the country, as well as of
! game birds. So the American Game
! Protection Association and the Audubon
! Society, with many local organizations,
worked for the passage of national
legislation creating zones of territory
within which the shooting season and
the standards of protection were to oper?
ate regardless of state laws. There was
great outcry against this measure by
devotees of bird shooting in the breed?
ing season, but it finally became law.
Thereafter the need for extending the
principle became apparent, and a treaty
was negotiated between Great Britain
and the United States providing for the
laying out of Canada and the United
States in these geographical zones. The
net effect of this treaty, of the zoning
regulations approved by President Wil?
son, of this latest enabling legislation and
of Canada's acts will be a prohibition of :
spring shooting from the time the birds
begin their flight until they reach their
breeding grounds and during the time
they are nesting.
The Big Spirit
Foreign observers of our conduct in
war are amazed at the spirit in which
radical economic measures are accepted,
almost without comment. Suddenly the
government announces that it has laid itr,
hands upon the entire American output
of steel and iron. No legal processes
were required. It was necessary only
for the War Industries Board and the
American Steel and Iron Institute to sit
in conference for a day and adopt a joint
resolution morally binding upon every
member of the greatest industrial aggre?
gation in the world. It is agreed that no
iron or steel shall be delivered to any
one for any purpose except on priority
certificate from the War Industries
Board. When the wants of the govern?
ment and the Allies have been supplied
in logical order private consumers may
have what is left for non-war indus?
tries, under the eye of government and
subject to its continuing pleasure.
This might be very startling news, but
it receives only perfunctory attention.
Not a single newspaper thought it worth
front-page display. In Wall Street the
price of United States Steel common
was affected hardly at all. It is a re?
markable demonstration of how industry
may be mobilized by assent. The power
of the War Industries Board is increas?
ing by virtue of its own works. It ap?
peals to the right-mindedness of mer
and it plays fair, and the response is
what we see. The credit belongs to B
M. Baruch. He is the liaison officer be?
tween government and business. By hi?
genius for effecting great arrangement;
we are evolving a Ministry of Muni
tions. You may call it what you like.
The "Alien Slacker" Muddle
There is reason for complaint at th
long delay in fixing the military statu
of resident aliens. Our draft system wi'
remain confused so long as the govern
ment fails to lay down a clear rule o
exemption or liability.
All aliens were included in the orig
inal draft registration on which stat
quotas were based. Enemy aliens hav
been generally excluded from servici
But not all of them. According to tr
report of Provost Marshal Genen
Crowder, made last December, 12,95
Germans and 92,199 Austro-Hungariai
were called by registration boards ar
928 Germans and 13,233 Austro-Hui
garians were conscripted. Nineteen hu:
dred and two Turks and Bulgarians we:
also drafted. There ought to be no di
ficulty in laying down a clean-cut ru
for enemy aliens. They not only oug
not to be drafted into the army, b
they ought all to be interned.
Then comes the group of neuti
aliens. We have treaties with some ne
tral countries by which we grant th<
citizens or subjects here immunity frc
conscription. The State Department h
asked for a general exemption of nc
trals. This request is in accord w
American policy in the past. Neutr
might be drafted for war work; th
ought not to be expected to fight. Y
according to General Crowder's figur
55,901 neutral aliens were called by c<
scription boards and 11,206 were s<
into the army.
The biggest alien group is that of s
jects or citizens of Allied nations.
these, up to December last, 772,744 w
registered, 281,982 were called by boa
and 49,276 were accepted for service.
The status of co-belligerent alien;
chaotic. Congress has tried to straigh
it out in various ways, noted by Rej
sentative Rogers in his speech in
House last Wednesday. The Ser
passed the Chamberlain bill provid
for the drafting of all aliens except
emy aliens and neutral aliens protec
by treaties. The House passed the I
nctt bill providing for the deporta
of all aliens who should claim exemp
from service on the ground that 1
were aliens. The House Committee
Foreign Relations requested the Se
j tary of State to negotiate treaties
j the inclusion in our draft of the subj
| of foreign countries (enemy coum
j excluded) residing here.
Yet nothing has happened. Secre
j Lansing obtained treaties with G
! Britain and Canada and had treaties
France and Italy in sight. The Br
and Canadian treaties were submitte
the Senate last February. They
withdrawn in March. Congress
taken no definite action. So the s
I tion remains unclarified.
If the State Department is not aL
obtain treaties Congress cannot be
pected to delay much longer in stra
ening out the manifest inconsistenci
our present "alien slacker" policy.
President Wilson and Food Adn
trator Hoover together have prol
defeated a preposterous attempt oi
part of Congress to accomplish m
wide dryness as by one heroic drii
bout after which there should be
ing left for temptation. This was
done by an amendment to the agrii
ral appropriation bill already ad
by the House, stipulating that no r
? could bo spent under the general
of the bill until the President exe:
the power conferred upon him b;
j food control act to prohibit the r
\ facture of beer and wines. The c
ing of liquor is already prohibitec
there is still a large stock of whisl
the country. Suddenly to stop th(
duction of beer and wines woul
! evitably divert the thirst to wh
i The consequence would be "an or
? drunkenness" which Hoover declii
be responsible for. Prohibition f
j be achieved, if at all, he thinks, by
| legislation. The President thinks s
I Coiled in the Flag?Hear-s-s-t
GERMANY and Hearst are in one manner of mind excited over the yellow
peril and distressed by the thought that if the war in Europe continues
the white races may be at last too weak to defend themselves against the
Asiatics. The parallelism is perfect, as follows:
The German White Peace Propaganda ?
From the Deutsche T(i?fejizeitun??
"On the other side of the Atlantic, in the
meantime, Wilson is manufacturing boI
diers. In his own words he is stamping
armies out of the ground, minus equip?
ment, minus training and minus leaders
or a general staff and lacking any kind of
organization.
"Not long since he laid emphasis on the
fact that five million men would not satisfy
his 'iron resolution.' He has just given
assent to an enactment which provides that
every youth who has attained the age of
twenty-one since June 5, 1917, must enroll.
That is the way the Americans fight against
hated 'militarism.'
"But he knows very well that these fig?
ures will play no part in this war. Perhaps
the situation in the East and the treaty
between China and Japan are causing him
to reflect. It would almost seem that
preparations are being made hastily for the
contest over the future power in the Far
East for which the Americans and the Eu?
ropeans who survive may serve as leaders
and instructors."
The Hearst White Peace Propaganda
From The New York Ameriran
December 20, 1917: "While the white
nations of the world, including the United
States, are destroying one another, ex?
hausting their resources, sacrificing their
men, Japan, leader of the yellow nations,
is increasing her wealth, extending her
trade, enlarging her territory and includ?
ing within her control tho immense re?
sources and the enormous population of
Western Asia."
January 5, 1918: "Every day that the
present European war lasts the white races
are becoming weaker and poorer and les3
numerically, and less able to dispute with
the yellow races the domination of the
world. . . . The only battles which
count are the battles which saved the white
race from subjugation to the yellow races.
. . . Russia was the great buffer be?
tween Europe and Asia. . . . Germany
and Austria, the second line of defence, we
are endeavoring to depopulate and destroy.
. , . Is it not time that the white na?
tions settled their quarrels among them?
selves and made preparations to meet their
one real danger?"
January 11: "The suiciding white race.
February 27: "... laid in ruins'
the civilization of the white race."
April 5: "... this unhappy, suicidal
white world. ..."
Or is it merely that the Hearst papers circulate in Germany, and have by
their editorials suggested the thought that our exercises against Germany are to ?
conceal preparations for war with Japan?
Glimpses
By Wilbur Forrest
WITH THE AMERICAN FORCES IN |
PICARDY?There is a certain I
major of machine guns here who ;
receives frequent letters from his family.
The major had just returned to his dugout
after a particularly dangerous mission, dur- j
ing which he had dodged many German
shells. In his mail he found a letter from
a cheerful cousin in Nebraska which wound ?
up something like this:
". . . We are all hoping that you will
return from the war. Some one in the
house reads the war news aloud every day
and we all watch the casualty lists closely,
but, of course, we don't expect to find your
name among the casualties."
"Wow!" exclaimed the major as he read
f,he windup; "that's what I call a real cheer?
ful letter f ronf home."
The American soldier will have his joke.
In a town very close to the line where per?
haps more enemy shells have fallen to the
square acre than in any other part of the
American sector a large building stands
on the corner which can barely now be dis?
tinguished as the remains of a tourist hotel.
A battered sign still invites automobilists
to drop in and try the wines and menu.
There are holes now in the structure that
would accommodate the largest auto truck.
Some waggish soldier has taken a piece
of chalk, which substance is incidentally
the immediate subsoil of Picardy, and
marked in largo letters on the remaining
front of the building:
"HOTEL DESTRUCTION."
* * *
Albert and Walter Grierson, twenty-one,
are twin American soldiers from St. Lou?3,
Mo., fighting the war together here in Pi?
cardy. The Grierson twins, dressed in
American uniforms, are of such remarka?
ble likeness that none but themselves can
tell the difference. They are literally fight?
ing the war "together," because they en?
listed together in St. Louis, came to France
together on the same transport, eat, sleep,
work and fight together in France as mem?
bers of the same company. In addition to
that, what one does is done by the other, so
they are corresponding via the army mail
service with pretty twin sisters, G?raldine
and Blendine Smalley, back in Sheldon, 111.
It is a growing romance, in which the Illi?
nois twin sisters answer the twin soldier
letters with knitted things and home dain?
ties that make the average soldier smile.
One fine day, about a year ago, the Grier?
son twins resigned at the same moment
from the passport windows in a big St.
Louis bank after making up their twin
minds "ensemble," as the French would say,
to do a little fighting for Uncle Sam. They
walked together from the bank to their
home, at 3312 Lucas Street, and told their
mother about the double intention in the
rame breath. Then they went to the near?
est recruiting station and enlisted. They
passed a single medical examination, which
elicited that the only difference in the two
Griersons was an infinitesimal mole on
twin Albert Grierson's right foot. The
medical examiner made a careful note of
the mole, but he didn't send his notes to
the commanding officer of the company
graced by the presence of the Grierson
twins. At first the twins occupied the sama
section in the same platoon, but the exas
' perated commanding officer was forced to
; place them in different sections so that he
; could talk to one or the other separately
i and intelligently.
There are many things that the C. 0. of
the Grierson twins will never know. The
other evening twin Walter was called upon
? for guard duty when he wasn't feeling equal
; to the emergency. Twin Albert made a
brotherly offer and Albert slipped into the
guard position while twin Walter slipped
back to the Grierson twin bed?a soft bun?
dle of straw in a well ventilated French
barn.
The Griersons are frequently under fire,
but always side by side. If a shell gets
one it will probably get the other. If they
survive the dangerous business of war that
budding twin romance which reached from
a spot on the French front to Sheldon, 111.,
?will probably be realized.
The Great Gamble
Abstract from '?The Journal of Industrial and
Engineering Chemistry" of the American
< 'la mica I Society.
IN PRESIDENT WILSON'S recent address
at the Red Cross meeting in New York
City he raises the question concern?
ing our army, "Why limit it to five mill?
ion"? The answer which suggests itself is
that such a limitation would not be neces?
sary because of a lack of patriotism or un?
willingness to serve, but that it v/ould be
forced upon us through our inability to
manufacture sufficient ammunition because
of a shortage of platinum.
The government has been trying to meet
this situation by commandeering platinum
in a general order on March 1, and again
on May 15, by a more inclusive order, in?
cluding iridium and palladium, but releas?
ing 25 per cent of the jewellers' stock for
commercial usage. Those charged with
building a dam across the platinum stream
to store up its waters extended the dam
two-third3 of its needed length (importers
and refiners) whereupon through the re?
maining space (manufacturing jewellers)
platinum flows into the already green fields
of non-essential adornment. And the dam
builders rest contentedly upon their labors,
oblivious to the important role of this rare
metal in the winning of the war.
And the dam has been purposely built
short of completion, for in reply to remon?
strances it was asserted that the present
measure would furnish adequate supplies
for ammunition manufacture. (But on
how large an army are they basing their
calculations ?)
Thus is begun the great gamble, under
official authorization, between the paltry
profits of the jewellers and the limitation
of the number of men in our army?unless
some of the future drafts fight without
ammunition and without supporting artil?
lery, depending for their offence and de?
fence upon the bayonet alone.
Is there to be still further dissipation of
our limited supplies of these vitally impor?
tant metals ?
It v.s time for some one to put the dam
completely across.
Disgraced Harmonies
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Monday afternoon we were as?
tounded by news of the latest sample of
Prussian warfare.
Monday evening, at the commencement
exercises of one of our leading schools of
music, in an auditorium usually devoted to
this art, parents and friends of the grad?
uates were invited to hear this nearly all
German programme:
Overture, "Egmont".Beethoven
Two movements from Concerto in
E minor.Chopin
Fantaisie.Georges Hiio
Song of tiie Pihine Maidens from
"Twilight of the Gods".Wagner
Introduction and Allegro Appassion?
ato.Schumann
Romance and Tarantella. . . . Helmesberger
Overture, "Ruy Blas".Mendelssohn
Waltz, Stories from the Vienna
Woods.J. Strauss
With the temper of our people what it is,
and not eight hours after the newest mur?
derous adventure of the Germans, this time
within our very gates, within gunshot of
our homes, was made known to us, our
minds still stunned by this further ad?
vancement ( ?) of "Kultur," we were asked
to listen to Rhine Maidens and to Stories
from the Vienna Woods, the civilizing in?
fluence of which made possible the sinking
of the Lusitania, the massacre of the Ar?
menians, the cutting off of the hands of
poor Belgian babies as they were raised in
supplication to the defilers of their mothers,
the bombing of Red Cross hospitals, the
perpetrating of atrocities too horrible to
contemplate and unparalleled in history.
And not only this, but among the students
who played this G*erman music were men in
the uniform of this glorious country. Was
it right to ask them to do it? Was it right
to them?
I am not taking from Bach and Beethoven
and Mozart and Haydn and Schubert and
Schumann the place that is theirs in music;
but it is entirely possible to make pro?
grammes of other than German composi?
tions, programmes containing auch names
as Chopin, Saint-Sa?ns, C?sar Franck,
Debussy, MacDowell, Grieg, Elgar, Berlioz,
Tchaikowsky and many besides.
Was this an intentional insult, or was it
in the worst degree a manifestation of bad
taste and a want of tact that is incompre?
hensible except in a German?
Let there be no more of it!
AN AMERICAN AND A MUSIC LOVER.
New York, June 5, 1918.
THE ONLY SNAKE IN IRELAND
?From The Milwaukee Sentinel
America Arrives!
Bv Frank H. Simonds
THE pause in the German offensive
in Champagne gives time to deal
with one circumstance in recent
events which must be of utmost interest
to the people of the United States. We
have been told in the present week by the
French Premier that victory or defeat in
the battle for civilization now depends
upon America?and we are learning that
a beginning has been made by us on the
battlefield, a beginning of victory.
The conditions of the last terrible Ger?
man bid for military decision are now
clear to the whole world. The German
has succeeded in the fourth year of the
World War in bringing upon the decisive
Western front a superiority of men, of
guns and of method. Thanks to the Rus?
sian collapse, he has been able to concen?
trate between Lille and Verdun practi?
cally the whole of his man-power, as he
concentrated it in the months of August,
September and October, 1914.
Four years ago the*1 German strategy
was comprehended in the determination
to dispose of France before Britain could
aid much, or Russia, with her slower
mobilization, gravely threaten East
Prussia. This strategy was parried at
the Marne and completely blocked at the
Yser. Thereafter the German was com?
pelled to transform his purposes and
adopt a defensive in the West, while he
disposed of Russia in tne East. Al?
though he temporarily reversed his pro?
cedure during the Verdun offensive, the
East kept him occupied until the close
of last year, when he did succeed in dis?
posing of Russia and of Rumania.
Left free to come West again, the Ger?
man undertook the campaign of 1918
with the conditions and limitations of
the campaign of 1914 clearly in mind.
His new foe now was America, and
America played the r?le which Russia
played nearly four years earlier. Un?
less he could dispose of France and Brit?
ain before America had brought large
forces to the Western front, the German
would have to accept a permanent de?
fensive in the war, which meant the loss
of the war and complete economic ruin
after the end of the conflict.
The essence of the German's strategy
in 1918, as in 1914, was therefore
speed. He had, theoretically, eight
months this year, where he had but half
of that time in 1914, but he had before
him stronger forces than in the earlier
campaign, better organized and better
prepared for his thrust. He had, more?
over, to face the fact that, win or lose,
the battle would impose a greater strain
upon German man-power than upon Al?
lied, because Germany would have to
foot the whole bill, while France, Brit?
ain and, to some extent, America would
divide the losses of the Allies. But as a
draw meant ruin almost as complete as
defeat, the German had no choice.
Now we recognize that the Allies did
not at once perceive the gravity of the
situation and failed to make the drafts
upon their own man-power which were
essential. They had too few men in line
when the German blow of March 21 fell
and they have not been able to repair
the error as yet. On the other hand
now that three months have passed, new
calls to arms in Britain have raised largi
numbers of men, a considerable numbei
of whom will be available before tht
present campaign ends. France, on tht
other hand, can contribute no more thar
she has; she has called up the totalitj
of her resources.
On the assumption that America coulc
put but few troops?less than a quar
ter of a million?into the furnace dur
ing the campaign, Germany gambled or
a sure thing. Blow after blow was U
be delivered, destroying the divisions or
the fronts attacked, abolishing the sys
tern of defence until the whole front waj
dislocated and a decisive, wide-swinging
blow was possible?a colossal extension
of the Napoleonio method of puttin* ir
the Old Guard when the enemy was
shaken to deliver the decisive thrust'
But this blow must fall before the
tide in numbers turns. The situation is
exactly that of the race between the
U-boat and the shipbuilding programme
of the Allies; once the new shipping pro?
duced each month exceeds the destruc?
tions, the hope of success in this sub?
marine campaign is over. Once the yield
of American troops per month passes
alike the Allied loss and the German re?
sources for replacing* his own casualties,
the game is up, because the German will
lack the numbers to enforce his local
victories. He will be, like Napoleon at
Waterloo, when the Emperor put in the
Old Guard after the Prussians had ar?
rived, doomed to defeat because of in?
feriority of number:;.
Despite all our apprehensions to the
contrary, the German resources in re?
serves are- limited. Half u million casu?
alties, so far, have made heavy drafts
upon them and removed a material frac?
tion of his picked troops. And up to
the present moment we are told authori?
tatively that America has been able to
put 500,000 men into France, at least
half of whom must now be fighting or
on the line. These men are in all re?
spects save one better troops than Ger?
many has or can expect to have during
the war. They are young, the pick of
our youth, physically the best now left
in war-stricken Europe. Their weak?
ness lies in their lack of training, but
unde- battle conditions this will scon be
largely removed. Meantime supericritj
in the quality of troops nr:st count fol
something against the superiority in
training of the otherwise greatly in?
ferior German troops.
There are left five months of cam?
paigning in the present year. Befon
they are over we should have more thai
1,000,000 troops in Europe and upwari
of 750.000 on the line. Before this tiro?
is up Britain should have nearly 500,0(X
in the field as the result of new levies
These two contributions should largel;
make good any casualties the Allies wil
suffer, conceding the first three blow
have cost them and their foe 500,00"
casualties apiece. Therefore, even thougl
the German still maintains a superior
ity of numbers on the West front, it i
certain that unless he destroys som
large fraction of his opponents' force
before November he will lose the ad
vantage of numbers well in advance o
the close of the campaign, and with th
loss of this advantage goes the powe
to deal a decisivo blow.
All now turns upon the speed wit
which our troops get to France and th
promptness with which they are throw
into the line, a promptness only to t
attained by temporarily assigning ou
smaller units to our allies. If the pre;
ent pace of shipment be maintained an
the existing system of brigading wit
the French and the British is continue
it is not too much to hope that t
August or September America's contr
bution alone will suffice to deprive ti
German of the superiority of numbei
without which he cannot enforce h
local victories by a supreme thrust
Thus, the appearance of our troops :
Picardy and in Champagne is the ce
tain sign of improving Allied prospect
The German, seeing these signs, mu
hasten his blows, as Napoleon at Wat?1
loo hastened his blows when Prussia
columns were sighted on the road fro
Wavre. Quickening the pace means i
creasing the rapidity of the exhaustic
of numbers. It spells ultimate ruin i
as at Waterloo, the victory final
escapes the assailant. But Wellingt<
would have been ruined at Waterloo
Bl?cher had failed to keep his ptedi
and push to his assistance. The ?M
will be destroyed if there is any hesit
tion now either in the sending of ?'
troops or the prompt transfer of t??01
sent to the Allied service,