New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-17
PREDICT GERMAN
BREAK IN SPRING.
British Sure of Victory,
Writer Says - Somme
Drive a Gentle Tap"

When Colonel Roosevelt failed to
secure the Republican nomination ior
President England lost all interest IN
our campaign, according to Sydney
Brooks, an English writer, who arrived
Yesterday on the Orduna. Little IS SAID
or printed about the approaching cleo
ton. and the issues have not been dis
cussed at all.
an a recent conversation with Lloyd
George" said Mr.. Brooks, the MIN
lister of War expressed great interest
in Mr.. Hughes because OF his welsh
descent. "Mr. Lloyd George asked me
if / thought he had changed since ne
was Governor of New York. replied
that imagined that seven years on the
Supreme Court bench had no doubt
altered many of his political views.
"Mr. Lloyd George, I said, II you
had been seven years in the House OF
Lords, don't you think that you, TOO
would have changed? NO. replied the
Minister of War, vehemently, but l
think the House of Lords would have
changed considerably!
Mr.. Brooks said the British people
are solidly behind Lloyd George in his
stand concerning peace. The big push
on the Somme, he said, is merely a
-
"When I left England people were
still congratulsting themselves on MI
Llovd Georges Observation-Disclosures
der statement" said Brooks. What he
said every single Englishman was
thinking and feeling, and on TINS point
there is not even the shadow OF DIFF
ference between British views and the
views of all the Allied peoples and gov
ernments.
ANY outside suggestion OF peace
anv move toward mediation, at TINS
iuncture would SIMPLY infuriate the
national opinion OF all the Allies. Not
because they want the war TO go on,
but because il is a. plain as a plkestah
that if Germany could fix up peace
under present conditions it would be
greater victory for her than any she
has won, or now can ever "ln' on inc
field.
Germany Must BE Crushed
Even in France. smileless, suffering
France. the national spirit is implsca-
ble in its "reminiscences and more con-
fdent than ever of victory. ] was there
a little over three weeks ago. visiting
the British front, and talked WIN
Frenchmen and French women OF all
classes. There was only one mind1
among them: Germany must be and
will be crushed. =,
"And no one who has been, as.
have. up and down the length OF the
British front can doubt for moment
that the thing will be done. People
talk of our advance on the Somme as
the big push In reality IT is just
gentle tan to remind the Germans thst
we are waking up and beginning TO
take notice. IL is nothing whatever 70
what is coming. But even in this pre-
liminary canter the French and Brit
ish forces in the past three months
have captured some 10000 square
miles of territory and over 500 guns
and have put out OF action at least
100000 Of the enemy.
every one ! came across among the
heads Of the British army spoke OF II
not as a possibility, or even as prob
ability. but as an absolute military
certainty that next spring, II not pc
fore, we shall pierce the German lines
and get clean out into the open. The
men who could take Fricourt. Thiepval
and Combles infinitely stronger posi-
tions than any the Germans have yet
captured-can take anything.
"Meanwhile the present situation
suits US exactly. We have built up IN
France the most complete and the
smoothest working organization that
has ever. | suppose, been known in the
history of war. In two years we have
utterly wiped out the lead which Ger
many spent four decades in establish
ing. Our troops have the spirit and
habit Of victory. They go into every
fight expecting to win and conscious
OF that moral mastery which in itself
is three parts OF victory. In Sir
Douglas Haig we have found man
who impresses both the nation and the
armv as really knowing his job. The
confidence in him is sure, reasoned,
tested. and growing asset.
Flying Corps Supreme
"As for our flying men, one can only
begin TO realize their achievements by
personally visiting the front. When
was there saw only one German aero
Plane over the British lines, while along
the Somme | watched one observation
balloon after another 60 up just behind
our front until more than twenty
stretched in an unbroken line as far as
the eye could carry.
There they stayed. the easiest OF
marks, watching, noting, reporting. And
not single German aviator ventured
20 come near them, or 70 attempt TO
close even one of these eyes OF our
guns. On the Western front the Ger
mans are fighting blindfold.
But that is only half the tale. The
enemy is living on his capital Of man.
power, while we have not yet begun to
spend even half our income. We can
make good our losses for many years TO
come; he cannot. He has about ex-
hausted his second wind. while we are
Just getting comfortably into our
stride. There is not now g single mill
tary point in which the Germans to-day
retain the superiority with which they
began the war. There is hardly one in
which they have not been hammered
into a clear inferiority. Small wonder
that our men at the front are jubilant-