Evening journal., 1915-10-29
GERMANY IS BEATEN
lFrom DC New York Tribune.l

II there were needed any evidence
of the actual as contrasted with the
apparent condition of the European
struggle. it could be found without
difficulty in the statements Of German
public men, German newspapers and
German people After fifteen months
Of strife, after conquests, victories,
triumphs, unequalled since the Ma
poleonic era, who is it that is talking
of peace?
Take the public statements of Ger
man statesmen, take the comments
OF the press, is there any mistaking
the fact that in all. at some point,
the word peace crops up. Victorious
peace" or some other beadjectived
peace, il is, to be sure. but peace.
Travellers returning from Germany
recently agree that the only real
qualification to German confidence Is
found in the apprehension OF pro
tracted war. Peace now means VIC
tory-but next year?
Now, we in the United States have
in our own experience a very admir-
able standard OF measurement for
German military success. In our civil
War the victors were over long
months and years the vanquished.
Defeat, disappointment, blundering
stretch all the way from First Bull
Run to Chickamauga. Compare Ger
man with Confederate successes, ana.
with proper allowance for the differ
ence in size, the essential fact is the
same.
Yet, reading history. looking back
now, nothing is clearer than that the
South was always doomed. unless It
could get an early decision on the
battlefield Outnumbered Inferior
In population, resources. cut off from
sea-borne commerce. the South was
condemned to defeat unless on the
battlefield il could win a victory that
would destroy the armies before IL,
Precisely this the South could never
do. Il could win battles, campaigns,
operating as do the Germans, on in
terror lines, il could concentrate su-
perior forces at the important point,
while inferior in numbers as a whole.
But its victories fell short OF the es-
sential, requirement. Steadily the
armies Of its foe grew stronger, its
own numbers weaker. The whole
world contributed to the arming and
munitioning Of Northern armies as
the whole earth now contributes TO
the Allies.
All this was not perceived at the
outset or until almost the close OF
the Civil War. Dependency, despair
were common at times, when, as we
see it now, victory for the North was
already assured. Compare Northern !
depression after the bloody and fruit I
less campaign from the Wilderness !
10 Cold Harbor with British depres- |
sion now and the thing is patent Yet |
this campaign broke the back Of the |
South by, the sheer attrition Of Lees |
army.
With all the various differences in .
degree between Germany and the /
the main fact is the |
same. Germany and her Austrian |
ally are outnumbered, the wealth and |
resources of England. France, Russia |
and Italy are incomparably greater |
Sea power has destroyed German
commerce. sealed up German harbors,
while for the Allies the sea brings
all the resources of America and the
Colonies to the battle lines.
AT Antietam and Gettysburg the
South bid for the decision-it failed.
At the Marne and in the recent Rus
sian campaign Germany made a sim
liar bid and lost Neither French nor
Russian military power was crushed,
nor was territory or population vital
to either country seized.
The single significant fact in the
military situation now is that Ger
many is bleeding to death. German
soldiers on three fronts are killing
British, French, Russian and Serbian |
troops to match this these are /
all killing Germans. The terrible |
drain on German manhood is utterly !
disproportionate to the drain on any
one of her opponents, although col /
lectively their losses may exceed 1
German.
II may take a year, two years. to |
bleed Germany white; il took four to |
grind the seed corn" of the Confed- /
eracy. But the thing every one who