Yellowstone monitor., 1915-06-10

the army service corps may deliver
marmalade and cartridges to the
trenches, and no matter how quickly
the army medical corps may get the
wounded from those trenches into the
surgeons hands, the thing that really
counts, when all is said and done. is
the spirit OF the men themselves.
The British soldier of this new
army has none of the rollicking, devil
may-care recklessness of the tradi-
tional Tommy Atkins. He has not
joined the army from any spirit OF
adventure or because he wanted to
see the world He is not an adven-
turer; he is crusader. With him it
is a deadly serious business. He has
not enlisted because he wanted to en-.
list or because he had to, but because
he felt he ought to.
In ninety-nine cases out of hun
dred he has left family, a COM
Portable home and a good job behind
him. And unlike the stay-at-homes
in England, he doesn't make the mis-
take of undertaking his enemy.
He knows that the headlines which
appear regularly in the English pa
pers, exultantly announcing "An.
other British Advance" are bun
combe. He knows that it isn't ques-
ton of advancing, but of hanging on.
He knows that he will have to fight
with every ounce of fight there is in
him, If he is to remain where he is
now. He knows that before the Ger.
mans can be driven out of Belgium,
much less across the Rhine, all Eng
land will be wearing Grape.
He knows that there Is no truth in
the reports that the enemy is weaken
ing. He knows it, because hasn't he
vainly thrown himself in successive
waves against that unyielding wall of
steel?
He knows that it is going to be a
long war. Every British officer or
soldier with whom I have talked
and l have talked with great many
of them-has said that he expects
that the spring of 1916 will find them
in virtually the same position that
they hold now. They will gain ground
in some places. Of course, and lose
ground in others; but year or 50,
the men in their trenches believe, will
see no radical alienation in the pres
ent western battle line.
Such is the opinion Of the men
who are doing the fighting. All of
this, of course, will not make pleas
ant reading in England, where the
Government and certain sections of
the press have given the people the
that Germany is already
beaten to her knees, and that it is
all over but the shouting. Out along
the battle front, however, in the
trenches and around the campfires,
and in the hospitals, you do not hear
the men discussing "the terms of
peace we will grant Germany" or
what we will do with the Kaiser"
They are not talking much, they are
not singing much, they are not boast
ing at all: but they have settled
down to the herculean task that lies
before them, with that same bulldog
of purpose, that same grim
which characterized
the men who wore the blue in the
darkest days of the Civil War.
Don't misinterpret what l have just
said. Don't think that doubt the
triumph Of the allies, for
1on't-not for a minute. But from
what l have observed while in the
ield with four Of the armies, from
what l have seen Of the strength of
he German positions along the west
,rn front, from what l have learned
rom reliable sources of Germany's
and economic resources and
he temper Of the German people,
rom the conversations I. have had
With Cabinet ministers and diploma
lists and Generals and staff officers,
nd particularly with the fighting
nen themselves, I have come to the |
'pinion-and it is not q hastily |
ormed opinion, either-that the war
vill unQuestionably last two years:
hat it will not improbably last |
hree, and 1t may last four; and that |
ven then Germany may not be con-
uered.
The sooner the people of Eng
and stop deceiving themselves and
ook the facts in the face, the sooner |
hey will be willing to admit that the
ierman soldier is as good a fighter |
3 the British soldier, and that the
!orrnon nficorc oro oo whole FOR