Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-12-31
RuSSIA'S MOVE ON
P Z U'SSIA SAY ED
PARIS TO FRENCH
Slay. Said to have Com
PEELED Germans 70 With
draw Large Force
Neither France Nor England Was
Prepared for War When Hos &
titities Were Precipitated.

Washington, d. That Germany
came within an Infinite fraction Of
repeating this year Its achievement OF |
the war OF 1870 ID the statement made |
by en- officer 0f rank, who recently
has returned from the European war.
According to this authority, the in- |
efficiency OF the French and British
armies ii far below that made public
through the news sources controlled
by their respective governments.
While superior to any known Ia the.
United States, the French army was
not prepared for immediate war. In
France, as In the United States, there
has been pacificist party, and in
France as well as III the United States
lit has stood stub bbornly IN the way Of
army efficiency.
They Blocked The Way.
| French officers long have been ia
miliar with the German howitzers Of
different sizes and they have been
persistent in their efforts to procure;
I them for the French army The pac-
ificists, however, siiceeded In pre-
venting an appropriat ion TOR this piirs
| pose and seized upon an Ingenious
/ but ineffective contrivRnce to- turn an
ordinary field piece into hoWitzer.
French officers also have known
4 since the Japan Russian war that
1 4 the frontier forts were Incapable OF
4 defense against howl szef art cry, but
j they have been prey rom ssr
tablishing modern defenses
fsiees 81 eritlsh Luck
4 It is deemed d piece of British luck
4 4 that war broke but before the de-
4 moral lizing Influences had affected the
4 Organization bull up by the Beers I'D
Il 1900. " Indeea war came at ansap:
A perfume time for the Western allies.
If the British army would have de-
Perforated greatly In the next twelve
Il months, the French army has trav-
Il eled equally far on the road to effic-
Il iency in the last year, for General
a Joffre has done much to improve that
organization since the French cabinet
Z allowed him to remove the incompe,
4 tent generals whom the politicians
u wished to retain.
or course, it Is no secret that strong
political pressure was brought on
General Joffre to compel him tc
match his inferior army against the
4 Germans on the frontier, and it was
: mot until after the British cabinet had
a delegated its functions TO Lord Kitch
4 ener and Lord Kitchener in turn had
a forced out of the French cabinet some
OF It's incendiary members that the
q war In the western zone was commit
ted to- scientific military principles.
Credit q Russians
What is hardest for the French ans
q British public to admit is that not the
: strategy Of Joffre or the loyal suppori
: OF the British contingent, Or even ths
Quixotic self-sacrifice of Belgium
would have saved the F'rench-B British
army from another Sedan
\ 1T was the hlssfan heroic and self
sacrificing invasion into north Prnssis
7 that induced the Germans to-; with
I draw several army corps from th,
X northern frontier and lost them ths
& chance Of decisive victory on ths
\ Marine.
The German effort has been chang
ed from the French frontier to POLAND
D Russia is lighting the main strength
Of the German army ais well ais th,
4 total Austrian army, commanded b,
81 von Hindenburg, the greatest, If no
8 the only great, tactician the war ha,
t produced, and the western allies ar
< mot able to deliver d counter attacl
s5of sufficient force to draw any sub
E |stanfial part of the German troop.
4 back to the western theatsr Of war
Lack of Preparedness.s
!. he reason for this is# no lack d
81 courage or good will but fatal lacl
u Ok preparedness As before mention