The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-12
WAR ECHOES

Chicago Herald: By carrying the war into Turkey the allies have certainly adopted a course calculated to turn all the wavering interests of neutrals i'll their direction-to say nothing of frus- trating any designs that might have been entertained of detaching Russia from the alliance.
 Not only Italy but all the Balkan states feel that they have vital in- terests in the dispotion of the Turkish empire. And they naturally feel that it would be regrettable to the last de- gree to find themselves on the wrong side in case new and important rear engagements should occur
 From a military standpoint the cap ture of the capital would inevitably spell the end of effective Turkish oper. ations. The pressure on Egypt would be relaxed, the end of the dream of q holy war be quite clear. the Russian problem in the Caucasus be simplified and channel opened for the transport of great stores of Russian wheat, which the allies plainly need.
 All of which means that the cam paign to force the Dardanelles is of the first importance. But it Is too early to intimate that it will prove the turning point of the war. Assuming the neutrals still remain neutral, Germany and Aus tria will be in no worse position than they were before Turkey declared on their side.
 Carrying the war into Turkey is thus simply an important part of the grand strategy on which the allies are rely ing for ultimate victory; a strategy which includes attacking the German states at every vulnerable point, from the international food supplies to the armed forces of the nations in the field.
 Metropolitan Magazine: It is asserted on the part of certain critics that the German social democrats have missed a grand historic opportunity by failing to rise against their governments Tn a way they undoubtedly have. And so have the French and English socialists and the workers, and peace advocates and humanitarians and Christians of all
  agination can hardly conceive of a more sublime spectacle than a universal ris- ing of all that Is best in the nations the men of brawn and brain and hearts against the savage atrocities of war; an imperative def hurled by the peace- loving people of the world into the teeth of the mischievous war-makers of the nations-"Thou Shalt Not"-But alas! history is not made of fridescent Large masses of human beings are moved not by remote and abstract ideals, but by their immediate compelling interests When they scent danger they act on the instinct of self-preservation
 The conduct of the socialists of France in Belgium in this war meets with general approval on the ground that their countries are engaged in a defensive war against the aggressive many profess to believe that their country is under similar necessity to fight against threatening invasion of the Russian troops.
 Whether the German socialists are right or wrong in their estimate of the situation is neither provable nor very material If they believe in good faith and on plausible grounds that this war presents to them a case of national self-defense, they did not consciously or deliberately leave the path of interna- tional socialist solidarity. In point of naked fact the German socialists are doing precisely as the socialists of the other belligerenti nations-they are fighting for their country If they are singled out for condemnation it is mere ly on the assumption that their country IS clearly the aggressor in this war. Can we accept this charge as an indisputa- ble fact?