Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1915-09-09

Inc prep ireoneaa OF Germany for
war Is graphically outlined By the Phil.
adelphia Inq iirer in the following;
When Ger many plunged nearly all Of
Europe into the war she was ready IN
every possible way. That was year
! ago. Today her most hated enemy
England-is only just getting on it,
feet. Germany had prepared. En-.
gland had not.
Think what you may of German war
lords; denounce, as most every unhyp-
hensted America citizen must, the in
vasion of Belgium, the scraps Of paper
to which treaties have been reduced
and the methods that have followed
the brutal and damnable policy that
might makes right, and there remains
q respect for German throughness. A
wonderful war machine has been con.
structed. for many a long year, 1t
might almost be said that all Germany
is machine under the guiding direct
ton Of the kaiser and his advisers. He
and they had prepared it for instant
use. and not the slightest cog had been
overlooked.
In England there were calls for vol
Eunteers. Thousands responded. Men
on the Liverpool and London docks,
men in the mines, men in the manu-
featuring plants joined Kitchener's ar
my. The result wasaa shortage Of the
very labor that was so necessary.
The demands for ammunition could not
be met. It is only within brief period
that daylight has been seen. The gov
eminent has succeeded in establishing
sixteen ammunition factories and
promises of ten more. Its difficulty has
been to find the men competent to work
them. It has at length made a
registration and has a list of volunteers
who can be drafted to government
establishment. More than that, it has
traced the skilled men who went into
the army, and such of them as are left
are to be brought home to labor in the
mills.
Germany has been driven to no such
expedients. Under her system of com.
pulsory service In the army record is
kept of every man. When mobilization
came it meant, not merely the gathering
of the fighting forces on the field of
battle. but the ordering to this and that
factory, to this and that bench in the
factory, of the man best fitted for the
special work desired. Not only had
Germany laid up vast stores of all sorts
in preparation for the war which it
was waiting only the psychological
moment to invoke, but it had mills and
factories in complete readiness and
there has never been any complaint
concernig lack of ammunition in Ger
many After a year of conflict there
are no signs of anything approaching
exhaustion Of food for the people or of
food for the guns. The world never
has witnessed such remarkable ex
hibition of readiness.
| And so we must have hearty re-
specE for the intricate and efficient
system that has been created. Mill
tarism in Germany is an ugly beast.
It has overawed the nation. 1t has
subordinated all else to its ferocity.
Peace has been crucified to satiata its
appetite. But, ugly as it is, it is
something to be admired for its amaz.
ing efficiency.
It was this amazing efficiency that
the German war lords relied upon to
carry them to immediate triumph,
when this efficiency, this complete
readiness, is given due recognition, the
wonder is that it has not accomplished
more. 1t intended to crush, Failing
in that, time has been given for Eng
and to get itself ready, and, if Lloyd
George is to believed, the shortage in
ammunition that has heretofore exist
ed is about to be overcome.
But if the astonishing German ma
chine has not crushed, it has not in
turn been crushed, and SO the war
Fingers. with no signs Of peace in sight.
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