The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-01-16
WAR ECHOES

Philadelphia Public Ledger: Like the proverbial row of bricks, the initial inn pulse of war given in August is spread ing in ever widening circles, until tne Western Hemisphere alone Is free Of act ual participation. Even the American shores have responded to the echoes or hostile guns. Yesterdays news dis- patches were full of hostilities. China IS said to have given cause of complaint to
 Japan Italy's fleet has sailed under scaled orders, and any hour may witness the long-expected breach of relations be- tween the Italians and the Turkish allies of the Kaiser. Roumania is reported 10 be ready at last to abandon its neutrality and join with the powers at war with the two German nations.
 IL is problematical whether the effect will be to hasten the end, or prolong the horrors of the struggle. German diplo- rracy has been so badly managed that even the few remaining neutral powers are more or less unfriendly, and even the papaoy has been estranged by the treatment accorded the Belgian cardinal. The determined naval attack being made on the forts guarding the entrance to the Dardanelles and the reported removal or the Ottoman capital at Asia Minor, pres- ages the forcing of the straits and the fall of Constantnople. The latter catas- trophe will practically seal the fate Of Turkish rule in Europe and fulfil the predictions made when the Young Turks made themselves the tool of German pol icy in the near east
 Cleveland Plain Dealer: When giant armies march and countermarch, they trample the growing crops, they trample the life from villages and farms. they wall, ioushshod over the furrowed fields and tho roads made smooth by labor. They trampie out the achievements of years of peace; they come as comes a scourge of locusts leaving the countryside desolate and bare.
 Ever ybody is conscious of that. But who stops to think of how hard these armies must be on shoes? Who, in est- mating the expense of putting hosts into the field, remembers to include that big item, or realize how big it is? For when the boys are marching, their tramp-tramp tramp invoives an incredible wear of shoe leather. The British army figures that a pair of boots will last soldier six weeks; and each pair of such boots cost s4 or more If this is an average rate-and it is at least figure to base averages upon-a three-year war would cost Europe $1,0OO, ,0OO, 900 for boots alone.
 A catle dispatch from Paris says the demand for army boots is now sO,ooO.Ooo pairs a year. An American shoe manu- facturer says this country can provide 90, 900 pairs year. This is fine for our shoe and leather industry; if we can produce for export 100000 pairs of boots a day, we shall have done some thing remarkable
 But that leaves 50,0O0,00O pairs of boots year to be provided for the armies of Europe by the rest of the world. And the world has to make it's own shoes too, while it is about this accomplishment. It looks as if some of the soldiers this win ter were doomed to be like those in the old pictures of Valley Forge-to have their feet wrapped in rags, and to leave bloody footprints in the snow. Argentina and Australia and Arizona and Siberia will have to slaughter Gargantuan herds of cattle this year-not only to feed the armies, but to keep the armies on their feet. In the trenches or on the road whether they advance or retreat-it is the "tramp-tramp-tr that can never be allowed to stop