The Washington herald., 1916-07-09
BRITISH NOT SHIRKING SHARE
IN WAR, ASSERTS BALDERSTON

done here makes II bitterly unfair to COM
pare the superhuman efforts of the Teu-
ton with the less remarkable but still un-
precedented labors of the British work.
man, and then call the latter a shirker.
Germans More Emcfent.
The real difference in efficiency, I think,
lies in superior organization and better
brain work at the top. The German busi-
ness organization in the last two decades
proves iInmeasurably superior TO the
British, as the British themselves were
the first to admit, and that superiority
has simply been maintained during he
two years of war.
Let the American consider his feelings
If he were asked to work three to four
hours overtime every day and sundays
as we'll. If all the safeguards and con-
cessions he had won from mis- employers
in struggles lasting years were abolished,
If his workshop was deluged with nom
union and unskiIled labor, male ana fe-
male, receiving the same wages as him
self, and II, on top OF all that, he were
ordered to work full time OH LABOR Day
Would ne not be angry if he accepted
all these hardships, grumbiing and pro-
testing perhaps but still yielding, and
was then called a shirker? Whitsun holi-
days, to the British working class, are
by tradition devoted to merry making {;
they mean to the toiler here moro than
Labor Day and the Fourth of July COM
bined in America. but he gave them up
without a murrnur this year, because
Lloyd George told him the army could
not wait for shells, guns, supplies.
Why when the British do fight bat
ties, do they always lose?"
In the first stages of the war. the Bri-
tish had only between 7O,0O0 and 10000
men in France, and shared the disasters
of the French, but at Ypres 10000 Bril-
tish regulars repulsed the attacks OF
nearly four times their number and held
their ground That battle for the mil
itary student, will always remain one of
the greatest feats in history, but 1t can
not be called a victory, because 1t did
not result in the destruction or retreat
OF the enemy's army. Ypres was fought
at the cost of the destruction OF the
British eXpeditionary force, the ''Old
Contemptibles, as their survivors are
called in memory of the probably
KluCk to walk over General French's
contemplate little army" The record
made by the first seven divisions" in
France was a glorious one.
But in the spring of 1915 the new armies
made up of amateurs under amateur Of
icers. appeared against the German vet
Grams, insufticiently supplied with suns.
shells and brains. The best that can be
said for them, up to the present, IS that
they fought brsvely. Their record at
Neuve Chapelle, Loos. Vimy. has not 0ecn
successful The great fasco at the Oar
danelles must be laid to the account Of
the strateSists, who wrongly gambled
that the Turks couldn't hght; no troops
in the world could have accomplished the
task set before Gen. Ian Hamilton
have no desire to gloss over British fa'I-
ures in France, but before taunts aIe
leveled against British troops and gen
erals, it is fair to wait until the finish
until the new armies have broken in
and trained to their work. and until they
have been given the artillery they ned
TO carry out successful movements
asainst proposed positions. Critics should
also remember that since the German
failure to break through in the fall Of
1914 the Germans have not attacked. on
a large scale. the British front All the
fighting done by the new British arni, S
has been on the offensive and the ex-
perienCe of this war shows it is three
times as hard to attack successfully an
entrenched enemy as to withstand his
attacks
/ believe the. new British armies could
have done what the French are doing at
Nerdun after a stay at the british
front. | know that there Is nothing Of
face a determined German offensive The
best tribute | can pay to the spirit Of
the British armies today is to say that
they are waiting and eager for tn, Word
to attack. apparently preferrfng to suf-
fer defeat rather than the taunts Eow
hurled a them from all over the world
and l cannot too often repeat that -hc
man who refuses to permit a prema ture
British assault is Joffre head Of The
a n the
Britain is betrayIng by her inacti'ity
Naval Movements Yelled.
Why doesn't the British navy destroy
the German feet?"
The British censorship, think mis-
takenly, makes it high crime and mis-
demeanor to describe the activities of
the British AMY. II it were possible to
explain whas the Germans know so we'll
where the separate squadrons of the feet
are stationed and what their duties are
l think universal admiration instead Of
criticism would be meted out to the navy
Having the seven seas to hold Britain's
aomirals see to it that no cruisers or
commerce raiders get out through the
northern exit of the North Sea which is
800 miles wide; they must prevent es-
cape through the English Channel; they
must protect the east coast of England
- Jill Ii dolOIi' Al dil lliIlbs Inelr dlsDO-
sition of force must be such that the
whole strength of the German battle feet,
which can choose the time and place to
strike cannot affect any one of these pur-
poses.
In the light of these facts. consider the
battle of Jutland. The whole German
feet came out, the battle cruiser SQUAD
ron in advance. First Beatty's battle
cruiser squadron got up and engaged
them; then a group of four battleshipe
with 15-inch guns under Admiral Thomas,
then Admiral Hoods three battle cruis-
ers, then Admiral Arbuthnot's armored
cruiser division, then the eleven fastest
super-dreadnoughts of Jellicoe's main
feet. Until the last named ships ar
rived the Germans had a great numsri-
cal superiority, because all of the SQUAD
rons named hurried up from different
bases. where they were stationed with
specific duties to perform in the event of
the Germans trying one Of three or four
tricks the success of anv one of which
might be fatal to the success of the en-
tente and the existence of the empire
The battle was not British victory:
the Germans inflicted as much or more
damage than their opponents and got
home again; but the public should con-
slider the tremendous handicap Jellicoe
faced in being CouDeI1a1 70 soattar III,