Evening journal., 1916-11-17

We know now that the new British
army at the Somme began badly, al
ways having in mind the military
facts. The machinery that had been
created out Of nothing did not work
smoothly, easily. successfully. There
were terrible losses and fresh mis-
takes. The advance did not sweep
forward; It was held up; the drive
became at once a pound ng, and i,
was weeks before the Br fish progress
on the map began TO compare with
the French.
And yet the fact that we can also
see now is that every failure in the
FIRST days became a thing Of the past
promptly. In the opening days the ar
tillery and the infantry were not co
ordinated the British had by tn s
time manufactured guns as good as
the Germans. as good as the French,
but not in a day or a month was II
possible to find enough trained men
to operate them. Infantry officers
who had never been infantry officers
until a brief time before could not by
insp ration learn the scientific side Of
the task they could die like sold ers.
but the sc ence of living like soldiers.
was less easy to acquire
Yet If one could measure the
ach 'evement Of the British army by
those elaborate and confusing curves
that delight the statisticians, no one
could mistake the upturn OF the Inc.
Each attack cost a little less, was
done little more efIic emily and with
a gan in speed. The British army
disclosed itself from July to Novem-
Der engaged n learning a task which
It no longer underestimate or affect
ed contempt for.
And behind the army the nation
was learning It's lesson. Who shall
say that It was not the army which
taught the people behind The army?
The French long ago forecast that
when the British had a nat onal army,
when there was un versal service
with all that it implied, then all the
obstacles and difficulties would van
ish
The war surpr sed British democ-
racy as war would surprise us. IL
found Z unprepared and without men
of prominence who could adjust them
selves to the situation and the new
cond tons The statesmen did not
face the realities of the war; the peo-
pie could not scover them, and there
was, at the outset, no large number
of men at the front whose testimony
could illum nate the darkness.
But that period has passed. In the
=
a million British have heen Killed.
wounded and captured, and very few
have been captured at the Somme. In
that period there has been not the
smallest suggestion of wear ness of
the task or doubt as to the end, nor
has there been any change in the
steady upward march toward absolute
m litary efficiency.
1t may be another year before the
British army will find itself as com
pletely as the French or the German
But France had to send to the rear
half of its commanders who bean
the war France, with It's traditions
Of national service and It's generals
trained TO modern war went from de-
feat to defeat in the opening weeks
OF the war. With all their advantage
i'm train 'ng and preparation the Ger
mans have not won the war, and are
not winning il.
The French Premier said the other
day that France had never made a re-
quest Of her British ally that had not
! been honored and more than honored
The severest critics OF British mill
tary weaknesses among the French
have never hesitated to recognize that
without British fleets and British
material support France would have
been defeated. Every effort on the
part of the Germans to SOW discord
between the two all has failed in
France.
We in America who realize what II
{ has cost Britain in her best blood
what il has cost her in treasure. IN
suffering. because she was not ready
have been uu'ck to emphasize each
detail OF the cost and OF the tenn
/ poraTy failure, that there might be
no survival in this country OF the
easv optimism Of the British that re-
/ fused to hear Lord Roberts. We have
always with us a Bryan. talking OF
/ the million men that would rush To
arms the moment war came TO Amer
lea.