New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-24
Brains of Allied Staff
Will Defeat Germany
Political and Military Cooperation Among Entente Nauo"'
as Against the SelfDefeatng Programme OF rnsh'fu'
ness and Gambling Followed by leutons
By J. L. GARVIN.
(By Cable TO The Tribune.)

London. Sept. 2S.7-In railway Ian
guage the Balkans will be the Grand
Junction Of the Allies, and II would not
be surprising if the connections be-
tween Berlin and Constantinople were
cut even before the end Of OCTOBER
The direct effect OF that fact on the
general situation will be in the long
run decisive. II is the more interest
ing 20 note that the coming position o,
the Allies will represent not only q
remembrance of resources but real
triumph of mind.
The enemy's war correspondent
complain that the French and British
in the west owe all they have achieved
20 mere brute-weight Of organization.
That plant from that quarter might
provoke all the imps Of satire If it were
true, but il is not. The Germans in
vented the machine war and patented
frightfulness. For the Germans to be
beaten in the use of sheer force would
be entirely in accordance with the logic
Of their own argument. They would
have digred pit for others and fallen
into it themselves. But no numbers
ard no material resources could have
saved the Allies had they remained
relatively stupid. Yoked with stupid
ity-as Schiller says in famous line
which is usually misquoted even in
Germany gods themselves fight
in vain.
Majority of Brains with Allies.
70 gauge the sequel of the war It
must be remembered that the Germans
have against them now not only ma
jority of troops and guns, but a ma
iority of brains. The fact is unques-
tionable. From a mad declaration Of
war to the dismissal OF Falkenhayn
after the fatal CANDLES of Nerdun and
TNn.ino, German proceedings, includ-
ing the whole self-defeating pro
gramme Of frightfulness, have repre-
scented a failure in the higher func-
tons of mind.
The Central Empires arc just now
testing the last hope. but We can al
ready forecast the result OF the tes'.
Hindenburg and Ludendorff the latter
often said TO have been the brain-car-
rier Of the combination from the firstl
arc expected 10 repeat the excellent
between Butcher and
Gneisenau. Fiery, indomrab old
Marshal Vorwarts was assurcd.r no
genius. but if Hindenburg had done
nothing to show that at the best he Is
more than a Butcher there is every
presumption that Lndendorff IS by no
means equal TO a Gneisenau. Even the
latter was by no means the master
figure Of his time among the soldiers
lower than Napoleon.
We Allies have always respected. as
VIC now respect, the elaborate profess
sional schooling o. our chief opponents,
but We honestly fail TO see that they
have shown any justification whatever
for the claim of supermansnlp with
which they began.
German Superiority a Delusion.
The Germans excel in certain apti-
tudes end certain directions. Like
other mortals, or perhaps more than
most, they pay for their qualities by
their faults. The theory that the Ger
mans possessed any inherent intellect
ual superiority was gross deluslon.
The British. French, Italian and Rus
sian peoples are full of talent and
vigor, and have always been fertile
even in genius. In every one of those
countries it has been easier for ability
without aristocratic rank or court
favor to work its way TO the top than
it has been in Germany under the
Kaiser's regime.
Old William ]. throughout his
successful reign. full of good judg-
ment, was always seeking for the best
men to do things. William II was
much buster trying to do things
himself The result is that, although
Germans at the best have no monopoly
Of efficiency, nor anything like it
apart from that high technical training
for war which their very want OF free
dom has made possible it is more
than doubtful whether the military.
diplomatic and political direction Of
their empire corresponds 10 the degree
Of ability which modern Germans have
thrown into science and business.
Allied Cooperation.
The Central Empires will owe their
defeat chiefly TO the fact that there is
against them now a prcponderancc OF
intelligence and a majority of brains.