Evening star., 1915-03-23
Capt. Granville R. Fortescue
Spent Seven Months Along
Battle Lines.
PREDICTS PEACE SOON
THROUGH EXHAUSTION
Believes the United States Is in
Peril. and Should Prepare
for Its Defense.

President Roosevelt and who has been
on duty for the past seven months as
war correspondent for the London
Daily Telegraph with the Belgian and
French armies. returned to his home
in Washington today. for a brief stay.
with the opinion that the great war in
Europe Will result in what might be
called a compromise draw.
Capt. Fortescue's attention was
drawn today to the statements made
In speech yesterday afternoon in
London by Sir Edward Grey. in which
the English statesman declared. in eff
feet that the peace price" of the al
lies is the restoration of Belgium and
liberty for Europe" His attention
was also called to recent statements
by DR.. Won Bethma -Hollweg. In which
the German chancellor also discussed
possible peace terms. Capt. Fortes-
cues comment upon both statements
was that they have probably been
put out as "feelers," and in connection
Herewith he said:
Exhaustion May Bring Peace.
The whole thing seems to me In the
nature of a question of exhaustion of
either the allies or the Germans and
Austrians Or, again, the question of
the possible end of the war may be
solved by the fact that the loss of life
will be SO enormous with the coming
active operations this summer that the
civilian populations of the countries at
war will demand the cessation of hos
tilities.
You may be sure men of affairs at
the heads of the different countries un-
derstand the situation better than any
one else, and that they must now real
ize that no matter what they had
hoped to gain when they first went to
war. il they continue the present op-
erations it is certain that all the ma
tions involved will SO cripple them
selves that years and years will be re-
quired for recovery.
When the figures as to loss by death
OF thousands and thousands begin to
come in as the result of the scheduled
advances this summer by the armies
and 1t is seen that the results achieved
are comparatively so small. then there
will be a demand for compromise.
That is how the war will end, in my
opinion
Capt. Fortescue. in striking inter
view today with a reporter for The
Star, made plain many things of which
the cable dispatches recently have
given but inklings. because of the
censorship. His opinions are received
the military branches of the United
States government without reserve,
owing to his wide experience in this
war as we'll as in others and his op-
portunity for study and observation.
Il have been with the armies for
seven months" Capt Fortescue said
Il happened to be in Belgium at the
time the war began. I had written
upon previous occasions for the Lon
don Daily Telegraph The morning the
Germans first violated Belgian terri
tory l happened to get hold of the news
from an absolutely reliable source 1
was in Brussels.
War News by Telephone.
They had clamped the censorship
down on the telegraph and prevented
the sending of messages by that means,
but ] called up London on the long
distance telephone from Brussels and
got the news to them. That was how
the outside world heard of Germany's
first action.
Since then l have been around
good bit. with the Belgian, the French
and the German armies. and. of course
! saw the English at ostend. but I
haven't been with the Russians. and
haven't wanted to much. for the reason
that the Russians only take one to see
six-day y-old battlefields. I have been
under arrest too. a number of time s.
as some of the other respondents
have been, such as Richard Harding
Davis. John Reed and others.
Some or these experiences ave rath-
and keep him in solitary confinement
for four days for instance. and YOU
cannot communicate with your friends,
and. after all, YOU know, the impress
siveness of military detention gets on
your nerves. so to speak
Sees Peril for United States.
What ! have seen makes me believe
that the results to be achieved by the
rin
sibly justify the enormous loss of life
and destruction of property which has
already taken place and which will re-
suit should the war continue indef-
initely.
'.Wha, have seen also convinces me
that the United States is in d perilous
position. I am almost tempted to saw
that we are like rich. fat. middle
aged gentleman who would be a tempt
ing prize TO any bandit nation
Il think Representative Gardner was
entirely right in his demand for a
larger army. but ! would go even
farther than he does. and ask for uni
versal military service in this country
| "A service that would be sufficient
to instill not only the rudirnents of
military knowledse but a strong feel
ing Of patriotism, which the hetero.
geneous quality of Our present popula-
tiou demands.
/ Il would suggest having young men
+ CT from elpntcefl TO tWenIS-t~O
of age undergo SIX months training
during the summer months. under can
vas. supervised by the best officers at
/ the country's disposal.
I ''one of the great danger points for
/ the United states is the fact that IN
I this country We have overlooked the
necessity OF training officers and men
/ large bodies of troops. Our army
has had no experience with entraininy
/ and detrainng large bodies Of men
| The present war has shown these ma
neuvers OF supreme Importance Wit
ness the wonderful victories of Marshal
Won Hindenburg, Today the division
| and corps army commanders of the
| United States have had practically no
/ opportunity of handling their units on
| what might be called war tests
! As to the war over there I cannot
see how the dispositions of the armies
! on either the eastern or western fields
| of operations result in any battle
which would destroy sufficient numbers
| on one side or the other to make the
\ struggle decisive ~or bring about an
| immediate swing for peace. The de-
| mand for peace. in my opinion will
| come from outside of the armies
| from the civilian populations, as soon
as the spring and summer advances
| result in tho death Of thousands and
thousands of men about to be
! slauS htered."