New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-14

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: As time goes on it becomes more clear
that the war must terminate in one of three
ways:
/. A complete victory for Germany.
2. A partial victory for Germany.
3 A complete victory for the Allies.
How may a complete victory for Germany
be realized? If the drive through the Bal
kans is successful in linking up the Teuton
line with Turkey, the Allied campaign in the
Dardaneles will probably collapse, and Rus
STA may lose heart and make separate peace.
Germany will then be able possibly to attack
Great Britain in Egypt; she may conceivably
be able to seize and hold the Suez Canal; she
may ultimately be able TO reach and attack
India. In the west it may be possible for her,
when the Russians are no longer a factor, to
carry through a successful offensive against
Paris and the Channel ports, crush France,
and at her leisure achieve the invasion and
reduction of England. The final outcome of
such sweeping victory would be that Ger
many would control all Europe, all Africa, a
large part Of Asia, and would be mistress of
the seas to degree never attained by Great
Britain.
How may a partial victory for Germany be
realized? Through the complete exhaustion
OF both sides and the termination of the
in consequence If the Allies are ever so ex-
hausted that they are willing to make an IN
conclusive peace, it will not be after they
have succeeded in pushing the Germans back
into Germany. Should the exhaustion of
both sides bring the war to an end, IL will
be with Germany in possession of much terri
tory that was not hers at the beginning of the
war, with her prestige and her power meas
urably enhanced and her resources capable OF
being soon replenished and augmented.
How may a complete victory for the Allies
be realized? Only by driving the Germans
back into Germany and there wearing them
down and wearing them out until they are
compelled to accept the harsh terms that the
Allies have declared a determination TO i'm
pose. The razing Of the Krupp works, the
exile Of the Hohenzolerns, the execution of
the aged assassin Won Tirpitz, the surrender
Of the German feet and the seizure of the
Kiel Canal are all items that il is reasonable
to assume would be comprehended in any
terms that the Allies in the event of COM
plete victory would be willing to make.
with a partial victory may be dismissed as
impossible. They cannot achieve even par
tial victory until they have thrown the Ger
man armies back across the Rhine. Once
they have done that, their ultimate and COM
plete victory will be matter of time and
patience, and who can doubt that for such an
inevitable and desirable end France and Eng
land and Russia will have both time and pa
thence?
Now let us consider what this countrys po-
sition must be in the event of a complete vic
tory for the Germans. That they now regard
us unneutral even as hostile, we know.
When they have swept Great Britain from
the seas and are masters of Europe, Africa
and part of Asia, is 1t likely that they will
refrain from paying off score so easily set
tied as that with the United States? Is il
likely that William II will neglect the easy
opportunity to make himself Emperor of the
World, both in title and in fact? What fat
pickings the United States will offer TO a ma
ton omnpotent in arms, memorable in re-
venge, somewhat straitened in financial cir
cumstances and more arrogantly, insolently
conscious than ever that might makes right
and that they are the chosen people of their
God, The outlook for this country in the event
OF a complete victory for Germany would be so
dark that only such American citizens as
Munsterberg, Ridder, Viereck and Francke,
who might reasonably hope TO be appointed
governors OF the newly acquired provinces,
could derive comfort from contemplating it.
And in the event of partial victory for
Germany situation would not be much
better. Then we should confront the spec
tacle of nations still thirsting for one
others blood, frenetically occupying the
breathing space with preparations for a re-
newal Of the conflict and so far as they had