The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-05
WAR ECHOES

statesmanship of Germany and Great
 Britain, their policies of preparedness, are 1 undergoing the acid test.
 | Germany's devotion to military affairs resulted in the creation of war system | tory of the world. With fine. stalwart, brave men as the basis, Germany armed them with the best of arms, drilled them to perfection. and supplemented human flesh with horse flesh, armored motors, airships and splendid artillery. She built up navy that is fully equal to any other, except in number of vessels Ringed with great forts. industriously engaged in agriculture and manufacture while always preparing for war; storing up supplies and developing natural resources, Germany began the war in the pink of physical con- dition.
 Great Britain devoted her attention on the physical side mostly to her navy. powerful in the world She was equally as industrious as Germany in manufac- turing and utilizing her smaller resources. Her people developed the colonies and for eign regions at great profit, making Lon don the worlds financial center. As para mount on seq as Germany on land, war between them alone might resemble struggle between tiger and a shark.
 In the field of diplomacy, which Is just as important as the battlefield, Great Brit ain has outgeneraled Germany. While Germany has perfected her own war ma chinery, she has not carried. on with ~.l~str 11. task of diplomatic combination. Her gen. eral staff appears to have absorbed much of the Emperor's attention, which might have been better employed in diplomacy.
 Great Britain found way to bridge the ancient feud with France-a feud older than the Franco-German ennity- and by artful, patient diplomacy brought about an entente that is equivalent to the services of 100000 men in behalf of Great Britain. Inch by inch Germany was isolated, apparently with her own consent; for Germany, instead of check mating British influence at Paris. actually estranged France permanently by forcing the resignation of Delcasse on account of his part in the Morocco imbroglio.
 Great Britain then accomplished the astonishing diplomatic feat of arranging an entente with Russia at the same time that she contracted an alliance with Japan. It was a triumph over Germany far more potent than any victory ever gained in battle. It arrayed the millions of Russia against Germany in behalf of Great Britain. and pronounced the doom of German ambitions in China.
 We now see the German military ma chine fighting madly against the enormous forces which Great Britain's diplomacy has managed to coordinate. Great Brit ain has the sea, France has the money, and Russia has the men. Germany is iso- lated, with nothing but her own strength and her own undaunted will
 If Germany should defeat the British fleet, another will rise to fight her. If she exacts an indemnity from France other stores of gold will be available for the allies in carrying on the war. If she kills lions more will appear.
 Boston Transcript: The world will! nave modern firearms on tactics. It is as- sumed that the era of close formations ended when the magazine rife acquired a range that enabled the man using it to wound or kill seen or unseen opponent at distance of more than mile The earliest use of the weapon appeared to confirm the opinion that in the great bat ties of the future open order would be ol,-
 ligatory and the firing would be for gen eral results" When the Russo apa. .ese war was we'll under way the world might have seen causes for modifying it's opin- ion. The Japanese used mass formations, but these were ineffective in. direct at tacks on Russian positions. The common explanation of the Japanese tactics was
 that national enthusiasm carried the Mikado's soldiers farther than was to be expected of those of any other nation. The European war has demonstrated in its very first month the willingness of the German soldiers to throw themselves 1n their anta gonists in masses and to accept all the risks of the operation. Enthdsin sm combined with discipline often leads to the refutation of tactical theories elab- orated in peace time and apparently ir- refutable.
 Lord Kitchener's statement more than corroborates the assertion of dispatch as to the adherence of the Germans to the old touch-elbow order. He gives an in- stance of German column filling a street from side to side, and, thus penned h, slaughtered by British rapid-fire guns. The Belgian defenders of Liege told tales of similar episodes, but the critical world was inclined to think excitement tinged the narrative. The German forces being of immense proportions 1t would bc in-
 of fronts here and there, but those who
 have witnessed the peace-time maneuvess
 of Kaiser Wihelms army will not regard the attacks in mass as accidental. For eign military attaches have observed with wonder in the sham battles in the rea~e-
 time fatherland long columns of infantry
 hurled upon hypothetical batteries and
 brigades of cavalry led at the gallop across flat country against artillery m ro- l sitions. These spectacuIar<movement ot- ! servers have put down as arranged to make the maneuvers Interesting to par l ticipants with no thought of their being repeated in war. Today we see them practiced In war; we also see cavalry meeting cavalry and the old shock tac- | tics" we have been SO often told were ob- | solete revived.
 | Perhaps the worlds fall into the error [ of thinking "close order had gone by was due to not making allowance for en- :, thusiasm. The dry professionalism of of i fee generals never counts emotion aa among the great factors of success. The