The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-17
Lord Kitchener's Opt mlsm.

Irr the fluent, s~anguine, confident
War Secretary addressing the House
Of Lords the Kitchener whose motto
was deeds. not words. IL hardly recog-
nizable. He has become n statesman.
and a statesman In whom there Is
something of the politician. In
sketching the course Of the war he
laws on the colors OF optimism with
n large brush. The Germans have al
most shot their bolt. Russian defeats
are tactical successes. The new Brit.
lsh troops In the field are as good as
regulars. Never were finer soldiers
than the French. The Turks are
fighting In the last ditch. Splendid
are the achievements of the Italians.
still England may have TO resort TO
Consumption, which means that Lord
KITCHENER has not modified his judg-
ment about the length of the a
The Allies would like to believe
that Germany-Lord KITCHENER does
not mention Austria at all-has al
most shot her bolt. But do the con
dltlons on the fronts east and west
Justify that belief? With regard TO
the eastern front II cannot he true
while the Russians are fighting des-
perately To save Riga. which. Il taken
-. rn..t x,x- IVkNrxpV-o u.Nttfl
he intellectually nor valuable to the
Germans as a military base than War
saw. Operations both by sea and
land could be conducted against Pet
rograd in the spring. S~trategically
Russia would suffer Il r%rievous blow
II Riga fell into the hands Of the Ger
mans. Warsaw and Iyangoroi cap
tured on August >. Novo G%eorgievsk
on August 10, and the great fortified
camp Of Brest. Litovsk on August -.
Riga may take It's place on the cal
endar before winter sets In. As TO
their western front. the Germans
must feel secure about it,. or they
would not lie pressing their colossal
operations in the Baltic province.
Lord KITCHENER says that our po-
sitions lin the west have been much
strengthened, not only by careful clab-
Grafton Of the system Of trench forth
fications that already existed hut
also by a large Increase in the num-
Der of heavy guns which have been
placed along our lines" But the
Germans have also had time TO de-
yelop their intricate system of in
trenchments-they have always had
| the heavy guns. The situation In the
| west Is a deadlock neither side can
attack without sustaining enormous
losses. The war that the Allies were
to begin in May is five months be-
lated. and winter Is near.
Concerning the Dardanelles cam
paign Lord KITCHENER. who Is kept
well Informed about the Anglo-French
operations, makes no vaunt and in
dulges In no predictions. lie men.
tons the landing at Suyla Bay, but
without comment. The truth is that
the Allies are hoping as much from
the collapse OF the present Turkish
Government as from the campaign
to expel the Turkish army from the
Gallipoli Peninsula. The inspired
press bureau giving out details OF
the Suvla Bay success concluded by
saying that these facts must not lead
the public to suppose that the true
objective has been gained or thai
further serious and costly efforts will
not be required before a decisive vie
tory Is Won" No man understands
better than Lord KITCHENER the ditii
culties Of the Gallipoli enterprise. liz
knows the Oriental character, So II
Is 10 be feared that his position makes
him nm optimlst on the whole hating
dubious situation, though he may hay,
the stoutest faith in the ultimate tri
umph Of the Allies,