The Benson signal., 1916-12-09

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to cost much less than ground cap
tured after months of ceaseless attack.
The cost in lives has not entered
into the discussion here at all, though
the question of man-power is the catch
word of the day, and there is a rea-
son for it. Everyone in France knows
now that French troops are not or
dered out of the trenches until the op-
posing German trenches have been
wiped out by shell fire. When the Ger
mans cry '"This is not war, it is sIaugh-
ter" the French people simply rub
their palms in self-congratulation
They know they have the job of driv
ing the Germans out of France a jump
jump back ahead of their shell fire
they are content. They have reached
the cheerful state of mind where they
are willing to go on making shells in
larger and larger numbers for an in
definite period.
Verdun Front Secure.
Things may go ahead for a while
on other fronts, but there is hardly
a Frenchman living who thinks any
thing disastrous can happen again on
this front. am with them in that be-
lief, and so is everybody who knows
anything. about the present strength
of the French army in men and shells.
My confidence in the situation, gath
cred from contact with the French
people, is such that I am willing to
write this and confide it to the SLOW
going mails when the French advance
at Verdun is hardly more than under
way, and have no fear anything will
happen meanwhile to contradict it.
There is common-sense reason for
this, too. For the first time there is
an adequate supply of big new modern
artillery before Verdun. The Germans
nearly took Verdun because France
did not have a sufficient number of
heavy fieldpieces to protect it. 1t was
saved by the small .75-millimeter guns,
the same guns that turned the Ger
mans on the Marne, and the Germans
were stopped only when the French
succeeded in bringing up fortress guns
from the forts on the Italian frontier;
the French army was that badly off 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 at Verdun with
the old. Now the French have enough
new heavy artillery for both the
Somme and Verdun, so they are ad-
vancing at both spots.
Artillery the Big Factor.
1t takes time to make artillery, but
it takes longer yet to 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. It was Verdun that
stirred things up. Verdun stands for
many things, but in close-in military
and political circles in France it means
the point where France began to go
in for heavy artillery on big scale.
There are several different factions
in France just now claiming the credit
for Frances growing artillery superb
Ority, and without casting any dis
credit on the high command of the
army it is generally conceded that the
French parliament had an important
hand in it. 1t is balm, too, to the feel
ings Of French parliamentarians, for
they were certainly snubbed at the
beginning of the war, and they can
point out now with perfect propriety,
especially the senators, that they Or
dered and voted the funds for heavy
artillery when many military men in
high position were inclined to think
the thing was being overdone. The
credit for the new Verdun advance
at least that part not due to the SOL
diers and the brilliant French artil-
lerymen-will have to go to a sena-
tOrial committee that got busy months
ago, when it was not very much en-
couraged, and made the new supply
of big guns possible.
This whole matter is not talked
about much here; it is simply accept
ed. One no longer hears scornful re-
marks from military men about "med-
ding politicians" And the members
of parliament and all the civil side of
the government they represent are
wearing their regained prestige rather
modestly. But anyone who ever feared
a military dictatorship in France can
now definitely put that fear aside.
Grained Grape on France"
At this time last year the more
nervous Parisians were just beginning
to believe that the Germans would
never get to Paris. That had, in fact
been obvious since the battle of the
Marne. Nevertheless, they had more