The Washington times., 1915-07-30
'AS SEEN IN ENGLAND
By ED l.. KEEN.

o LONDON, July 30.-England starts
. upon the second year Of the great
war with decided advantages over
her position OF twelve months ago.
She has command of the seas. She
has an army, trained and in training.
OF nearly 100000 men. Her "exps-
ditionarv force" IN France IL now
firmly intrenched In a position re-
garded as impregnable, even II the
prospects of making a successful gem
eral offensive movement are not i'm
mediate. Her airmen have establish
ed beyond question their superiority
In skill and daring over those Of the
enemy. She is building a great aerial
fleet. She has at last begun with all
the resources at her command. ma
terial and human. to manufacture o
preponderating quantity Of arms and
ammunition-of the right sort. She
has back of her a united nation and
united empire. s'.
The war found her unprepared
not only from the military stand
point. but politically. The liberal
government was, apparently. riding
for a fall. There had been all but
become more turbulent then ever. Sir
Edward Carson had established his
provisional government OF Ulster"
and revolution was in sight. India
was seething with sedition. Even
Canada had shown signs OF firing Of
the restraint OF mothers apron
strings. Industrial unrest was at its
height. Altogether things were In a
very bad way.
Now most Of these troubles have
disappeared. Some Of them remained
longer than others. It Is true. 1t has
been a year of readJustment. Lib
erals and conservatives. radicals and
tories. now sleep in the same bed.
So far as the Irish disaffection, upon
which the Kaiser counted so fondly-
thanks to the lack of understanding
on the part Of his emissaries-is con-
cerned. that vanished almost over
night. 1t was a short way from Tip
perary. Sir Edward Carson. whom
they were about to lock up in tho
Tower. Is now attorney general OF
Great Britain. and John Redmond
could be In the cabinet II he wanted
to. One hundred and twenty-five
thousand 1rishmen have Joined tho
Kings army. Nationalists and union
ists-76. 900 OF the former and $1,000 of
the latter-instead Of drenching Ire
land with each others blood are
fighting side by side under the Union
Jack.
responded at once with 80. 900 men to
whom she had been adding regularly
since. They-or rather what is left
of them-are serving In the trenches
along with Ghurkas from India.
Australians and New zealanders to-
men are engaged in the Dardanelles
In one OF the most valorous cam
paigns in the history of warfare.
The sporadic uprising in South AZ
rica has been suppressed. and the
great mass OF Beers against whom
war fifteen years ago. with General
Botha at their head, have conquered
German Southwest Africa for Eng
land. Labor and capital have Joined
their forces in the conflict.
There has been much talk OF con-
scrtption of late. both military and
Industrial. The leaders Of the nation
still believe England can win with
out either. and II the recent re-
sponse OF the manhood OF the coun-
But they are prepared for conscrip-
tion. II that should prove to be the
only solution. The national regis
ter scheme looks as II 1t were a step
in that direction. The machinery
for conscription is to be created.
but only to be utilized in the grav-
est emergency.
Although she has lost her cock
sureness. England has by no means
lost hope She realizes now that the
struggle may be long and desperate.
But the longer the better for her
and her allies In the end. Military
writer's: many Of them. say Ger
many has now reached the maxi
mum OF her efficiency. while Eng
land has only got a good start to-
ward that goal. With the boundless
resources OF the British empire still
to draw upon England believes ulti-
mate victory for the allies can only
be a question of time-if the spirit
that now dominates England con-
tinues.
II II Is to be a war Of exhaustion.
she says. then the odds are in favor
Of England and her allies.