The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-07-28
A YEAR OF WAR.

ICOntfnued from Page Oue-l
the past fateful twelve months. Ger
many believes she has changed the
whole future course of history.
Another early prophecy of Ger
many'S enemies which is now being
recalled with mirth was the one pro-
Tossing to see the certainty of a Ger
man revolution before the war had
gone very long. AS matter of fact,
the Franco-Prussian war did not
solidify the people of the empire as
much as this conflict has done. All
Germany is now a unit and has been
increasing in solidarity from the first
shot. Prussia has not dominated the
nation at all. The south German
powerful northern nucleus of the en-
pire. The Prussian regiments, in fact,
have not been the prize ones of the
war. Catholic Bavaria has been the
staunchest supporter of the Protestant
Hohenzollern.
civilian the Great
The kaiser will go down in history
as William the Great, if the events of
the first year of the war appeal as
wildly to the maginations of future
Germans as they do the generation
that is living through the present
world conflict.
This war was worth the fighting so
say the Germans, if only because it
has pricked the bubble of British
strength. England will never again
occupy her old place in the world.
The ancient spirit of the English,
which the world has long been accus-
toned to taking at its own valuation,
has been found to be no longer ex-
istent. England has lost the war for
the allies, in the opinion of German
militarists, and by doing so, has ir-
reparably stained her own prestige.
Germany's year of war in the west
has crippled France and shamed the
English. From the outset of the war,
Germans dPV010nR6
that gave them a superiority over their
enemies, and since then, no effort of
the French and British commanders
has been equal to the task of over
towering the numerically weaker
Teutons.
German Victories.
Only once has Germany been su-
perior in numbers to her western OPP
ponents. according to the claim of
Teutonic authorities. That was dur
ing the rush through Belgium and to
Paris.
Only once did the German fighting
machine miscalculate. That was be-
fore the gates of Paris. The retreat
from Paris will go down in German
history as a brilliant feat of arms
In the conflicts that followed the
battle of Aisne, the Germans COM
pletely outmanouvered their antagon-
lists. The French and English were
able to save Dunkirk and Calais but
their offensive plans were overturned
by the English. Everywhere in the
west the Germans have more than
held their own against superior num-
berS. The loss of the western border
of Alsace is the only defeat which the
Germans must acknowledge.
Won Before War-England.
From England: England's greatest
victory in this year-old war was won
before the war started
Forty or fifty years from now-the
Germans willing-when the British
desire to honor the heroes of the great
war, they doubtless will erect imposing
statues of Sir John French, Sir Doug
las Haig, Sir Ian Hamilton, Sir John
Jellicoe, Sir Frederick Sturdee and
Admiral John de RCbeck. They may
even include Lord Kitchener, although
If a popular vote were taken at the
present time, it is hardly likely the
verdict in Kitchener's favor would be
unanimous.
pire has somewhat less than three
quarters of a million troops in the
field; its allies have approximately ten
million.
But Not Doing Share.
The British front in the western
theater is about forty miles in length:
the lines of the other allies east and
west, including Serbia and Montene
gro, cover some 1900 miles AS the
ratio of troops employed is one to
one to forty, there appears to be some
justification for the complaints recent
ly made-quite unofficially, of course
both in France and Russia, that
England is not doing her share of
the work.
1t took John Bull ten months to
discover that what he needed most
was a general business manager.
Of course he has learned several
other lessons, among them; that it
doesn't pay to conceal the truth; that
the British people resent being treated