Evening star., 1915-04-11

mense reservoir of her recruits, hav-
ing UP to the present utilized only tho
twentieth part. These are the reasons
why the French command has not hur-
ried and awaits the hour which 1t con-
siders favorable. These reasons. based
on precise motives. which are easy to
test, are entirely irrefutable.
The french Superiorrties.
.If, then, we turn to the future we
note that:
THE wastage Of the German army is
in all respects greater than that Of the
French army. The principal cause of
this is the superiority of our artillery
and the fighting methods of the Ger
man infantry, which attacks in closer
formation than does ours. 1t Is now
certain that the losses of our adversar-
les are double ours.
1.-THE possibilities of the German army
from the point of view of electives
will go on decreasing more and more.
The German population capable of
bearing arms is in comparison with the
three to two. Now at the present time.
landsturm included, Germany is en-
ploying on the French front, a number
of men representing two-thirds of her
resources against one-third on the Rus
sian front. On account of the Austrian
defeats Germany will be obliged to
strengthen her forces against Russia
more and more. The number of troops
opposed to France will therefore contin-
ually decrease. Our position will be
improved by this circumstance, as also
by the number of German losses, which
will always remain larger than ours,
and, finally. by the large renforcements
which the British between now and
July will send to the continent.
The capacities of the German army
in the matter of regimental organiza-
tion. already inferior to ours, are be-
cemfng so still more. Granted that our
asdversaries at the beginning Of the war
had more cadres than ourselves. the
text books show that their superiority
In this respect was considerably less
than their superiority in men. It was
not as much as three to two Now 1t is
an established fact that the German
We shall therefore certainly have the
advantage from this point OF view if
indeed we have it not already.
The Offensive Faith of the French.
Out of all these elements has been
born the offensive faith Of the French
army and its leaders. We have before
us two systems. The one, the German
system, demanded a rapid success at
the opening of the campaign-a success
against France before the Russians
could come upon the field, before the
British reserves could intervene, be-
fore the economic trouble could make
itself felt. Hence the creation in all
haste of new corps. whether or not
they could be kept up for long time.
By predetermination the victory was
to be immediate. Now this necessary
victory the Germans did not have.
The other system, the French sys-
tenn. consists. with the advantage of
the freedom of the seas, in maintaining
In good and complete form a number
OF sufficient formations, and in Great
ing new ones only in the measure in
up and suitably and durably equipped
with regfmental organization
This system is established with a
view to prolonged war. OF these two
systems. which. after six months of
trial. shall triumph? To put the ques-
ton is to answer 1t. The Germans can
no longer oppose us with forces su-
perior to ours. They will therefore not
be able to do in the future what they
could not do in the past when they
were one-third more numerous than
ourselves. Consequently our final vic
tory must follow by the imperious
necessity of the concordant force of
facts and figures. Our effort, too, is
offensive which we shall take at our
own good time, and the issue of which
cannot be doubtful.
Reinforcements Being Trained.
Our reinforcements are being train
ed in the instruction camps with