The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-03-24
WAR ECHOES

| Pittsburg Dispatch: The agreement which was assented to by Great Britain, Germany and Austria for the inspection of prison camps, proposes an honorable and beneficial duty for our government. But newspaper comment on 1t indicates a nisapprehension that immensely mag nifies it's importance.
 | Many of the comments indicate be- | lief which is founded on loose state ments in the dispatches, that this brings under the inspection of the United States representatives all the military prisoners in those countries. This seems l to be an error. The New York Sun states positively that the agreement provides only for. the inspection of noncombat- ,, ant prisoners, and also the making of efforts to provide for their release on exchange.
 This war has been peculiar for the imprisonment of other than soldiers. In previous wars, noncombatants, mer- chants or workmen, have been permitted to live, quietly in the opposing bel1ig- erent country so long as they kept themselves free from connection with military operations. But in this conflict
 
 men in Germany and Austria have been largely imprisoned on the suspicion, so far as any reason could be assigned, that they were liable to act as spies. It is this class that our representatives are to inspect and aid, if it is possible to arrange for their exchange. It is a standing principle that be- igerent nations care for its military prisoners is peculiarly it's own affair. That the nations have resolved to al leviate the conditions of its civil pris- oners is an encouraging sign and the selection of the United States as an agent in doing so, gives us a creditable task. But it is much less one than re- ports in this country would indicate. Baltimore News: The Dardanelles have been supposed to be as impregna- ble as Helgoland or Gibraltar. When the allies announced that they proposed to pass through this narrow passageway to the Marmora, the announcement was accompanied by a warning that an easy or cheap victory was not anticipated, but that the cost had been taken into account and England and France stood ready to pay it.
 Reports from the scene of action have
 
 terday's statement of the serious losses sustained by the attacking fleet little | light had been thrown on what had been accomplished. One day report rep resented the allies as not having got past the entrance of the Dardanelles; l the next they would be said to be in | position to Lombard the last of the de- lenses in the narrows. Assuming that the latest official announcement, con- taining the loss of three battleships, is lcorrcet, the fleet has now reached the vital point in it's undertaking. Once past | the forts defending the narrowest part of the straits, the way to Constanti- nople is practically open. But it is also
 made plain that this nut has not yet | been cracked
 | There have been a good many mis- l calculations during this war, and the | allies may have made another one But failure to take Constantinople, now that
 they have centered the eyes of the world
 upon the feat and have made the boast
 that they would capture the city at any cost, would be a backset the effects of
 which upon the Balkans and the general situation in the east 1t would be diff
 ficult to counteract. It may be taken for
 granted, therefore. that there will be no sailing away from the Dardanelles because of the sinking of few ships | There are times when vistory must be l had, however great a sacrifice is called
 Tor. This is such an occasion. It Is one of the critical stages of a war that is wasting blood and treasure at an un- precedented rate. We may look for the 1 allies to stand many staggering blows before they confess defeat