The Dickson County herald. (Dickson, Tenn.) 1907-1979, 1916-12-15

Gruuna thkEn II = RHN hpihte N MQNk<
/ 10 cost much Iexs sAan ground cap
tIred aatsF Aaohshs IL eeaseawsS Atses:k
The cast h liysa has nst entafat
Into the ilscnsslea here al aHl though
the question of lisan. power III Tile catch
word IL tie day. and there N q real
son for n. Everyone in France kss0ws
now that Preach troops are moe Or
deretl out Of the trenches until the e'p
posing German t'enchas have been
@sses. 60: BY ~ shell BE. MAea sAs Ger
mans cry '-Thls IL not war, It Is slau,yh'
ter" the Freneh people simply rae
their palms in self,congFAtnlatiCn,
They know they hare the Job u driv,
ing the Germans out Ut France q jump
at tine and II the Gernans viii
jump back ahead Of their shell fire
they are content. They have reached
the cheerful state Of mind where they
are willing 10 90 on making shells IN
larger aud larger Numbers for an In
definite period.
vsrdun Freas secure.
Things may so ahead for q while
on other frents. but these Is hardly
q FrenChman living who thinks any.
Thing diSastrous can happea again on
this front ! am with them In that be.
lief, and 20 IL everybody who knows
anything about the present straagth
Of the French army In men and shells.
My confidence In the situation. gath
cred from contact with the French
people. Is such that am willing TO
write this and confde & to tho slow.
going mails when the Preach advance
at verSiun Is hardly more than under
way, and I have no fear anything will
happen meanwhile to contradict H.
There Is a cummon.sense reason for
this. too, For the frst time there Ia
en- adequate supply OF big new modern
artillery before yeriua, The Germans
nearly took verdun because France
did not have a sufficient number Of
heavy feldpieccs to protect II. II was
saved by tho small .75millimeter guns.
the same guns tina; turned the Ger
mans on the Marne, and the Germans
were stopped only when the French
surcreded in bringing mp fortress guns
from the forts on the Italian frontier !;
the French army was that badly OF In
artillery, There was new artillery
enough for the Somme but not for
both the Somme and verdun, so they
advanced with the new on the Somme
and held the Germans az verdun with
the old. Now the French have enough
new heavy artillery for both the
somme and yerdun, SO they are ad.
vancirg at both spots.
Artillery the Big Factor.
II takes time to make artillery, but
II takes longer yet 20 remove fixed
ideas. and even the brilliant men who
have turned Frances military fortunes
could not foresee what the war would
be like at this stage and did not pro-
vide against the present necessity for
heavy fieldpieces, II was verdun that
stirred things up. Verdun stands for
many things, but In closc-in military
ind political circles In France II means
tie point where France began to 20
In for heavy artillery on big scale.
There are several different factions
In France just now claiming the credit
for Frances growing artillery superb
GRITTY, and without casting any dis.
credit on the high command OF the
army II IL generally conceded that the
French parliament had an important
hand in Il. II is balm, too, to the feel.
ings OF French parllamentarians. for
they were certainly snubbed ut the
beginning Of the war. and they can
point out now with perfect propriety,
especially the senators, that they or
dercd and voted the funds for heavy
artillery when many military men Ia
high position were inclined TO think
the thing was being overdonc. The
credit for the new yerdun advance
at least that part not due to the sol.
dlers and the brilliant French artii-
lerymen--will have to 60 to a sena-
toriai committee that got busy months
ago, when II was not very much en-.
Outraged, and made the new supply
of hig guns possible. ..u.., II. +,
This whole matter Ia not talked
about much here; 1t In simply accept
ed. One no longer hears scornful re-
marks from military men about med.
ding politicians" And the members
Of parliament and oil the civil side Of
the government they represent are
wearing their regained prestige rather
modesty. But anyone who ever feared
a military Dictatorship In France can
now definitely put that fear aside.
"Rained Grape on France"
At this time last year the more