The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-04-14
INSIDE LIGHT ON THE
WAR.
A Highly Important and Instrue-

tive Survey Of the Situation.
From o p,tvets letter from London.
think that you will be interested
to hear something Of opinion in a
quarter Of high influence and author
ity. There was keen interest to learn
OF American sentiment about the war.
The following is a running precis OF
much that was said, though Of course
1t Ia not verbatim. Tho terms Of peace
were discussed:
That's where America comes In.
She may not be interested in the res
toration OF Alsace and Lorraine, IN
Poland, or even in Danish Schleswig,
but another question must be handled,
and that is the reduction of arma-
ments. In that America is surely
greatly concerned and in that she
could be useful, but the time for
America or for any other neutral
Power to talk about peace has not yet
come. At present neither we nor Ger
many would listen to any talk of
peace"
Talking Of the probable duration Of
! the war: Had thought II would be
long war. He said he thought II would
last till next year; yes. even II Italy
and the Balkan States come in with
the Allies, but never had and had not
now any doubt OF the ultimate result.
Went on to say that Germany must
be utterly defeated before she would
accept the terms that were necessary,
for terms might be possible now
she would call humiliating; and In
deed any terms that will have to he
| imposed she will reckon humillatinC.
Foreshadowlng the scope Of the ulti-
mate terms OF peace: belgium must
be Unidentified. Poland must go, per-
haps even Danish Schleswig. for Ger
many has no right TO that. OF course
! Alsace-Lorraine must be restored to
| France, Austria seems doomed TO
practical destruction. Austrian Poland
goes. the Bukowina, Pennsylvania.
| Italy Irredenta, and, OF course, for her
and Germany reduction OF arma-
ments"
Then came most glowing eu'ogy
OF the French. AT the beginning
! that country was in chaotic state,
| divided by every trouble that a nation
could have, political. financial. every
thing Her iinanciers would not ad-
vance a penny. Her soldiers at first
! ran away like rats. but now they are
| fighting msgnificently. The Republic Is
showing all her best qualities, and
| others that were hardly looked for in
France. such as patience and endur-
ance. The whole nation is working as
qfriL 81
| The French are making a magnificent
output Of munitions. inventing new
guns, new powder. showing the great
est Ingenuity. Frances organization is
| perfect Those who have been per-
m!tted to go Just behind the French
army of two and a half million men
find surprising state OF things; they
would scarcely know that war was
going on. Everything Is orderly and
running like a machine. France has
really done more than any OF the AL
lies. and the English people perhaps
hardly recognize this sufficiently.
France. too. perhaps does not recog-
nize fully what England has done. our
ARRANGEMENT from the first with
France was. II you are attacked we
vii, support you: IL you attack You
must fight 1t out yourselves. She
asked MS what We could do. In every
conversation we said we could hold
the seas. but we have no troops. The
most We can spare IL 100 900 or 10000
men. We never promised more than
that. Now We must already have sent
pretty well four times that number 10
the front and have a couple OF million
men here. Volunteering has been %
mo a most surprising thing. BEFORE
the war no one would have said tina,
We could have raised a voluntary
army of 500 900 men. Such thing
has never been done by any nation
Even Lincoln had to resort To- form
Of compulsil Yet We have enlisted
more than two million. Conscripuor
has passed away.
There Is a sign OF revolution goinG
on in England now. We shall Ne a new
country after the war. Life Will b,
simpler. There don't seem many signs
of much reduction n expenses ans
that sort Of thing 'ust yet. hut Il WI
ha ana must he This people cannot
spend seven hundred million pounds 8
year on war and go on Just the same
]
| are getting more money than they
ever had before. \ woman with fou,
children gets - shil,ings a week, agri
cultural laburers In large districts ar,
getting II shilings and - shilirgs Z
week When the men come back they
won't stand that any more. The
standard Of luxury and expense IN th'
upper classes has increased enor
mously and rapidly Of late years. Th'
rich Americans who come over her'
| have 20 n certain extent set the pac"
luxurious hotels, Sc. All that sort O
= thing il going to be reduced,
There was talk about the drinl
, question: The time sheets shown hl
, the employers from the north OF Eng
land and Scotland We're simply appal
ling. IIalf days off were marked II
blue ink. whole days off in red. The
2 looked like spotted fever. The mel
: arc working far less hours than he
fore the war. Something must h
done. After the war the public hous
system In this country will never "
| the same again. The loss Of rcyenu
: and the cost of compensation, suppos
e ing there was "A complete stop to tn
t sale of Intoxicating liquor, must b
\ faced but II Is not important tn
{ | ro,-nrtrA from drink IL ODl