The Alaska daily empire., 1914-12-26

ANsH. H-lHlt a Ai fime to strike Ghia men they win pick .bg eatla6eid and tae day. They B1 nS oifth ntge O. initia.
 Gen Jo0eo'a demalYa mcebada meanwhilo ore not merely receptive. 70 be- on lh8 ddieasife mems go him
 o spare men and uge ammunition. dis men keep as comfortable as mey bo In th0 trenchea t0 guard aeninal infansry atwcks, and oyer i8oig heade ihels artillery keeps up 2 atoady 6om. bnrong oi the onomga position par. licniariy tho qnemy'a canncn.
 haze been watching this strategy of Jonro's at yarione ponta on Che French lines and, aDeatng merely rom the point of view Of an observer. would much have preferred being where was, on the French side. The greneh artillery ire does thorough job The Germans answer almost al. ways with bigger guns and if they set Che range of battery or 9 tronch they cause horrible slaughter in g small area but che French search ont every. cornor and keep Alp the fro ever lastingly The Germana arc supposed to be tho thorough race, but the French sweep the lines cleaner
 Long Artillery Duel ovor 2oo-Mllo
 Front.
 Unless' Germany decides to force tho situation and mako another dnah for some place, tho fight this winter along nearly Che whole of the line for over 200 miles ia going to be an artil- lory duel, with the French coming out fer ahead it would be impossible to guess how many millions in ammuni- ton it will cost Che French. but it will be worth the cost and will be worth the crippling of tho middle. aged French territorlals if the line can be held where it is until spring.
 The trenches they have In France are mostly on hilly country and well drained By working shifts every few hours it can be borne. The most un. pleasant place Is in Flanders. For 9 distance Of forty or fifty miles, reachs ing south from the sea, there is a stretch of country where it is diff 6cult to keep dry feet but the French territoFiaig seem to be able to make themselves comfortable there This is due to the practical construction Of their trench shelters-which are sus- cepHble of being closed into compart- ments every few feet-and tho wooden shoes most of them wear.
 l struck my head into one of these recently on very mean rainy day and would have gone further except for fear of creating some absurd sus- picion of spying in the ever susDi- cious French
 Soldlers' Lives Dull ln cheerless
 Trenches.
 The ground was damp. and that was not much relieved by the damp straw on t. but the wooden shoes Of the four occupants were serving them very we'll The shelter overhead leaked on them in only 9 few places. It was not the kind of place one would choose to be in, and if you had to stay there half an hour in ordinary clothes you would probably be chilled through, but the French territorlals in it had on woolen under clothing of the thickness and texture Of one Of those blue nan- nel shirts worn by loggers without a. coat in all kinds of weather. It was bleak and uncomfortable-about as cheerless and monotonous & surround lng as you could think of.
 When the territorials have wealth cred out this winter they will de- serve an easy summer. They arc running much smaller chances of be- ing Killed than the younger, better trained troops, however, and they would probably take their present job for choice On the other hand the. best troops would go to pieces under. the strain. So there we have Jon,ro's again. He has put his men into the positions they would prefer to be, and he VIII come out in the spring with fresh army it to take the field. To 1t will be added Kitch- ener's million and half men, then fully trained, and Che two hundred thousand the Belglans expect to add to the allied army
 If no important change takes placo In the western theatre of war, the ole. lies will have a fresh army by Feb ruary of nearly four million men,
 French Now Holdlng Whole Battle
 Line.
 For the first time since the war be-I gan French troops are holding prac- .ically the whole first line or defense. From the North Sea to Switzerland. except iH-the inundated district in Belgium, French troops now hayo tho hardest positions.
 French troops, of course, have held most of the line from the beginning The British expeditionery force has not been big enough at any time toI hold moro than a front of twenty i've niles and the Belgians have lat- terly been able to dll the trenchesI over an even shorter distance. Thig has left the French to do four.dithsI of the defending
 For the last few weeks Che Eng fish troops which made Q magnid-I cent stand south of Ypresi have been