The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-23
DUAL MONARCHY DECLARES ITSELF AS WELL SATISFIED
 WITH PROGRESS OF WAR
Position Forth As NEost Encouraging From Military and Financial Point of View.

l Entente on the Marne, in the sense
 that the operations in that region
 have accomplished results which can i be regarded as in any way prepared
 formidable intrenchments. Notwith- standing the frequent assaults carried
 on with great violence by the AngI- l F'rdnco-BeIgian armies, the Germans
 have never budged from the posi-
 tions which they had so wisely chosen.
 The result of the military operations
 in western Europe can be defined as
 a German victory which has yet to 1 be completed. A brief glance at the
 actual situation in the West will fur
 nish ample proof of this estimate of
 values.
 l No one conversant with the facts can deny the military importance of I Antwerp and of the ports the
 Channel such as zeebrugge and. Os- I tende, held by the Germans. The 1 commercial and industrial signifi- canoe of the territory taken from the Eeneny is no. less impressive, Belgium and the wealthiest part of Northern i France are occupied by the Germans. ! Tn Belgium the coal mines, the re- iuoWned arms factories of Liege, the tspeIter works of La VielIe Montague. the steel works of John Ceckerill in Seraing, the Fabrique Rationale dsArmes in Herstal, with the affiliated industries, are operated by and for the Germans. In the same manner the northern departments of France.
 which are the chief centers of the French iron and textile industry, I have been made available to German I productive enterprise. The shortage, of ammunition and other war mate I rials from which the Triple Entente Allies are admittedly suffering is the result, to a great extent, of Gerrnany's s Iconquests in the West. The trernen- ] dous stocks of raw material of every description which were stored in Bel tgiun and Northern France kaye aug Ennented the economic power Of Ger In1any and correspondir3gly weakened that of the Allies. It is estimated that the wool and raw materials seIz- sE ed by Germany in this region are
 likely to keep German factories busy for a. long time. Similar results
 it may be said Incidentally have been
 achieved by the Dual Allies to some extent in Russian Poland, where coal land other mines are held by them The cotton stored in Lodz and other I Polish textile centers has been re- moved partly to Germany and partly I to Austria Hungary for use in the I mills of those countries
 In the Eastern theatre of opera tions the Dual Allies have practically 1c1eaned out the Russian armies The temporary occupation of Galic1a by
 the Russians failed to prevent the suc- Icessfu1 pursuance of the plans to re- lduce the Russian armies by a. process or attrltlon. The outcome of this
 military policy is to be seen, not only 7 in the capture of more than a nai1- t lion and "a half of Russian prisoners s- la numbNr hitherto anheard of in war
 but also in the seizure of tremen-
 dous booty ih Russian cannon ma
 chine guns rifles, ammunition and
 war materials of every description T Hindenburg's two great initial victo- ries in the Mazurian region constitute 8 splendid Illustration of the triumph } of strategy over mere numbers. How ever numerous tn Russfean soldiers
 may be, the Russian military organ ism is sure to feel the devitalizfng eff fleets of such a series of b1eedings. The Russian offensive has been converted
 into 9 retreat which has been con-
 tinUous since the Dual Allies began their drive to the. East, ina HgI1rate q at Gerlice May 4th. The unbro- ken line of the Teutonic advance. from the Baltic Sea, with Liball and. Riga
 down to the eastern frontier Of Buko-
 Wlna, shows. thee constant retreat of the Russians Before the onslaught of : the Austro-Gernan forces. The fall of Warsaw. stands out as the salient , event in the taking, actual or innpend- ing, of the entire line of powerful for tresses1 which have cost the Russian Itax-payers unlimited sums of money. Whether the bulk of the Russian
 armies or a considerable part of them will be able to fall back upon the sec 2 ondS line of Brest-Litovsk is still an open question. But in any1event it is pure nonsense to speak of the Russian : forces as intact and unbroIxen after the heavy losses inflicted upon them in the last three months The num- l Der of Russians captured since May certainly mounts up to a total ot
 between 750,000 and 800,OoO and sew : era1 hundreds of thousands in addi- , ton have. been wounded or otherwise l inca apacitated- Even admitting thai the Russian armies who faced the : Austro-Germans at the beginning ot s May had a fighting strength of O0o- { 900 men-Ga figure which is rather < too high-those armies lost in three
 months between 25 and 30 Der cent
 of their effective resources in men
 Besides, there are hardly any officer: left, fact indicated by the extraor- dinary disproportion of officers te
 men among the prisoners captured Ni The ratio often amounts to four ol five officers to 1000 men, whereas the
 normal proportion would be 30 tC
 1000. The loss of more than one third of Russian guns, and the knowr lack of ammunition, are factors o. vital value, which, taken with tn, other losses, leave no doubt that thl [ offensive power of Russia is broken g at least for the time being. It is no likely that she will be able to resume : an active part in the operations befor, Vi the beginning of next year, Nor .possi ] ply not until next spring.
 A situation of advantage for tn, e Dual Allies is presented in. the Turk y ish theatre of events, as in the west : eern and eastern. regions. The Otto y man empire. joiHed the sAustro-GeT 2 tsmans in xital-considerat of self . preservation The Turks knew tha e Russia and her Allies were. bent upo1 s driving her out of Europe; that 2 Russian or. a. British avictory woult :. mean the end of Turkey. The Otto : mans. therefore, did not hesitate t,
 attach themselves to their natura
 allies. the Germans and the Austrian
 Hungarians. How effective from tht