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

 tended by more or less wanton destruc. ton and slaughter. because the frenzy and passions of the populace incite dread full retaliation. one recalls at the time told of Sherman's march from Atlants to the sea, with it's frlghtful destruction of property to break the resistance of tn, south and end the civil war: on Sheridan cavalry raid through the Shenandoah val ley, of which Sheridan himself afterwar, is reported to have said: -ss
 If crow flies over this valley nov he will have to carry his own subsis tence.'
 The American soldiers were. never. in deed, accused of staying women, childrel or other noncombatants, but the delib crate destruction of towns and sources of subsistence sometimes was unavoid able. mats what sherman meant whei he said: War Is he'll"
 Colonel Belloc writes in Land an, Water:
 Strictly speaking. all operations O. war depend for their success upon tn, moral effect. Excepting that operation by which a hostile force is completely surrounded and may be exterminated, il every case you obtain your success ovei your enemy or the survivors among youl enemy by reducing them to a condition oi mind in which their opposition is inef- fective.
 Action Calculated
 Now that is what we see in the pres. ent campaign. The Kaiser's commanders have carefully estimated and intend to ap. ply this factor of moral effect apart from direct action. l do not say their estimate Is just, but 1 do say their action here is calculated.
 Thus by marching through Brussels the German commanders added a full days fatigue and full days delay te the great body of their troops. Among the 350,00O soldiers shown there was one entire fresh army corps The populace oi Brussels gazed upon men in spick, spar uniforms marching in the goose parade step.
 This was not d piece of empty the atricalism. The undefeated Belgian army had only just been withdrawn toward Ant -verp. The populace was certain to carry stories of the German numbers, weight and condition.
 Its effect was calculated beforehand That effect has been in part attained
 No one reading the papers last Thurs day can doubt that the German parade through Brussels did in some degree, per haps Jess than the German commanders hope affect the spirit of their opponents
 Tt is exactly the same with the much graver policy of torture and murder. The German troops have direct orders from their superiors to clear any object before them and break the resistance on the part of the civilian population, even though such resistance consists only of women, elderly men and children.
 Since their elderly men, women and children have no organization, the terror inspired by the fate of a few individuals overwhelms all the rest, convincing them of the hopeessness of resistance.
 ''I do not say this is wise of the Ger mans. Personally I think it is handi- capping them politically and probably will later on in military way, but the poinf to remember is these actions are calcu. lated actions
 Utter fear and nonresistance on the part of the entire population of civilians in southern Belgium, and now in France in the last few days, encouraged the Ger man commanders to believe these meth ods have a military value. They will be pursued in France, and should a force land in England the same methods will follow.
 RansOming of Towns
 'The same rule applies to ransoming os towns. It is not the town which IS ter rorized, but the financial power of the enemy. This Is much more cowaroly
  900 levied on Belgian towns this week England and France have immediately granted this sum to Belgium as a loan, which means that Germany, by her sue cessful occupation of Belgium, has al ready fined her principal opponents s50,- GOO, 900 and has inspired in the minds of those putting cosmopolitan finance above human life the dread of further loss.
 Germany knows how powerful these men are. Finally. Germany Is certainly on the moral effect of the occu- pa ation of the seacoast There is nothing to prevent small detached bodies of Ger man armies, specially strong in cavalry, from occupying Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais and Boulogne, nothing except a decisive battle adverse to the German army.
 'If the Germans are successful in the long battle on the northern frontier of France, they will certainly occupy ports in the Straits of Dover. Relying as we do upon our fleet. we can tell ourselves all sorts of consoling things concerning such occupations
 Nevertheless, the presence of German troops on the further side of the Straits of Dover would profoundly affect the state of mind of the allies''
 Speaking of the Russian advance against Germany from the east and north belloc 5dyS.
 "The only decisive success thus far ob tained is the battle of Gumbinnen, 2i miles from the frontier Russian mobili- zation provides three successive relays upon the enemy. Germany's best troops were sent against the French frontier The Russians have taken Tilsit and Koe nigsberg, besides capturing number oi field guns.
 Polish East Prussia is now domina tee by Russian forces, but the reader must not assume that the Russian advance will continue like the successful invading army in the west.
 ''No prediction can be made of tn, time the Russians will get to Posen. 15 miles from Berlin, until the Vistula river is successfully crossed. The roads arc very bad. Weeks of rain turn them into a morass. There is no adequate railway system and the transportation of supplies Is extremely slow and difficult.
 By the time the Russians reach the line of the vistula Austrian pressure from the south may become serious When this river Is passed the invaders will find themselves fin territory much easier because it is now certain the Polish population will favor the Russian ad vance,
 "The racial relations underlying this in vasion are exceedingly important bu there are yet several weeks of time neces sary before the Russian advance can gel far enough westward to compel the Ger. mans to withdraw their forces from the French frontier to prevent the Russia, advance on Berlin.'