The Washington times., 1914-11-29
THE ALLIED FORCES.

When Lord Kitchener the other
day declared in public speech that
he had 1,250,0O0 British troops ready
for service in France, there was no
intimation that they were actually
being pushed toward the battlefelds
of France and Belgium. The war
chiefs assurance was accepted as
indicating that he could count that
huge army in human material; not
quite as a declaration that he was
ready to hurl it against the weak
ened German battle line. But now
comes the statement that these
troops are being rushed across the
channel at tremendous speed. At
Havre, it is declared, as many as 200
British transports may be counted
at times, waiting off the port for
berths where they may tie up to dis
charge their throngs of soldiers.
At the same time comes the an
nouncement that France has pre-
pared arms and equipment for an
other 100000 soldiers of the reserve,
who will be added to the force under
General Joffre at once. France, like
Britain, was richer in the human
than in other material when the war
broke out. Its military system had
indeed trained the reserve to readi-
ness for service; but it could not
serve without arms and accouter-
ments. These have now been pro-
vided by the immense plants which
France has been running day and
night ever since the war began, and
it is possible for the first time for
France to bring her field forces up
to something like the proportions
that the German army bears to the
national supply of men capable of
going to battle.
At the same time that these huge
re-enforcements are being hurried
into the western war area, Russia is
giving proof Of her ability to bring
forward and use effectively a per-
feet deluge of soldiery in the east.
The war is four months old. The al
lies have held their enemy while they
made ready their immensely superior
reserves in men and material. It is
to be kept in mind, as the present
eastern campaign is studied, that no
check administered by the Germans
to the Russians, no victory of one
army over another, can possibly be
exaggerated into the proportions of
national disaster to Russia or to
the allies. Germany in the long run
cannot face the huge numbers Of the
allies in the west and the hordes of
the Russians in the east, and follow
up Incidental victories. The cam
paign as a whole is based on the
plan Of applying a pressure in over
whelming numbers at both ends of
the German empire, and keeping up
that pressure until the shell of Prus-
sian military power shall crack. The
winning of a battle by Germany is
only a casual incident. Defeating a
Russian army, or destroying it, or
capturing it, is not defeating Rus
STA. Napoleon learned that.
Looking back over the war from
its beginnings, the wonder is not that
Germany has accomplished so much,
but that she did not accomplish more,
in the opening weeks. She planned
to go to Paris in three weeks. His
tories, to be written in the calm of
contemplation and full knowledge of
records and facts not now available,
will tell just who was responsible
for her failure. Joffre looks like the
chief figure in the solution of that
riddle, as it is seen today. But at
any rate, the time is past when the
tigers leap may be counted on to
bring instant victory. The most Won
derful thing about the war is the
celebrity with which, under the coali-
ton ministry in France, and the
management of Kitchener in Eng
land, the western allies have CONSOLE
dated their potential military force
and brought it to bear where it was
needed.
There has been in some quarters
disposition to rail against the British
military system, and especially to
charge that the British citizenry was
not responding to the call for troops
with the enthusiasm that it ought.
There will not be much qualification
for American vanity in q comparison