The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-02
WAR ECHOES

1 lished A sensational article to the effect
 that Russia would be ready to completeiy
 crush Germany and Austria in 1916, and | to establish a great Slay empire in Eu- rope. Of course, this article was trans
 lated in German newspapers, and 1t goes
 without saying that it made very deep
 impression in Germany and Austria. Ger
 mans asked themselves, why should We
 oblige Russia by waiting another two years?' The Berliner Lokal Anzeiger wrote, Rather have an end with terror than l terror without end" On July 2 the great Russian liberal paper. the Retch, wrote
 that, if a great European war should | break out, the cause would have to be
 laid at the doors or the Novoye Vremya for their warlike article. As the Retch | continued in agitating for peace. the news paper was ordered to be suspended by the Russian government On July 29 last a council of the Russian cabinet ministers decided for war, and ordered a general ! mobilization of the Russian army and I navy dhe only Russian minister who spoke for peace in this council was the minister of agriculture). On July 25 l travelled from Helsingfors to Reval. where
 
 sembled. On July 20 I witnessed hostile demonstrations of big Russian mob before shops and hotels owned by Ger mans and Austrians in Moscow. On July 30 Germany asked Russia to stop mobiliz- ing but Russia declined to do SO. On August 1 squadron of Russian Cossacks crossed the German boundary on the 1 River Warthe.
 1 As we Anglo-Saxons have always prided | ourselves on our love of fair play, ask you whether Germany was not justified under these circumstances to decide war? l Philadelphia Public Ledger: The naval battle at Helgoland, in which the Ger mans lost three cruisers and two destroy I CTS, although not fought by the major
 units of the opposing fleets, produced a stimulating moral effect upon the people
 of Great Britain and their naval defend- CTS. It terminates a long period of anxious tension, and demonstrates that the British seamen have not lost that power of initiative and rugged daring which won for their nation the proud title of Mistress of the Seas" The circum- stances of this the first hostile contact of German and British sea forces are partic- ularly gratifying to British pride, for the Britons were the aggressors, the engage
 ment was fought in the defended waters of the enemy, behind Notifications which were though to be al-sufficient defenses of the approaches to the Elbe. and result ed in serious loss to the enemy.
 This sea raid upon the naval station at Hegoland while it emphasizes the i'm portance of the islet of the North sea as base for offensive action, proves that so long as the command of the sea re- 1 mains with the British it is far from the menace to British security it has been represented to be. Germany, since the res- toration of the island by Great Britain, has used it as naval base, and more re- gently as Zeppelin station. If, however it can be successfully raided by British light squadron and its naval defenses drawn out and shattered, as was done in this instance. its sting is largely drawn. New York Times: If it is true that Bel guim is to receive s10O, GOO, GOO from England and France as a solace for the losses in cured through her brave resistance of the invaders, the world will feel that the gift is we'll bestowed "Horum on,nium fortissimi sunt Belgae' (.'Of all these the
 bravest are the Belgians'), writes Caesar in his Commentaries of the tribe which inhabited the northwestern part of Gaul. There was no Liege in his day, but the identical site of Namur was occupied by Aduaticum, which gave him a resistance Isaf dax off Ia iC dafa .,f Ix Nervii.
 The Belgians, who once occupied the land north of the Seine almost to the banks of the Rhine, have preserved their name as a people from that day to this, but their name as a nation, obliterated by Caesar, was not revived until 1S3O, when the present kingdom was founded. All through the dark ages, the middle ages. the Renaissance, and even through the Napoleonic period, their country's den- tity was merged in that of the Neither lands Sixteen years after the defense of Quatre Bras by the Belgians the king
 dom which united the people with Hol- land collapsed and the Belgians asserted their independence as nation.
 OleNeldIut I-idlil Dedlef. StdrNatlOn ls an ancient and honorable adjunct of war fare. When army of superior num- bers finds it difficult or impossible to cap ture Rity or fort by force of arms it forms itself in circle about it's victim, and sits down to watch it starve.
 Forty-four years ago the Germans be- seged Paris for four months. The city
 was not prepared for a siege. and the
 suffering was great. The capitulation
 was practically the end of the war.
 It is becoming increasingly likely that
 German army of invasion may again
 fight its way to the gates of Paris. The
 slow but steady advance from the Bell
 gian frontier has Paris as it's avowed
 crushing blow at the immense army of
 the Kaiser, Paris may once again be sub
 jected to the process of starvation.
 But this time Paris will not starve so
 soon The government has been busily
 hoarding food supplies within the forti-
 fications. There is said to be food enough
 to last for an indefinite period Horses.
 cats and the animals of the zoo will not
 be sought as table delicacies.
 Moreover, science has made advances since 1871, and one line of advance has been in the development of concentrated and tabloid foods. Nourishment of this kind may not be altogether satisfying but men can live on it and fight on 1t. Aside from the undoubted fact of tho