The Washington herald., 1916-09-24


equipped; they have already put all their
men in the field, excepting boys who are
coming of age, while Russia has unlim-
tied human material left and England
has arranged matters so she can keep
! her field army OF eighty-six divisions or
100000. men at full strength to the end
of 1918, even II she loses 8, 40o,O 900 men be-
tween now and that time.
The Germans are not fools. and they
know all these facts as we'll as we do
| They must know that their position IL
hopeless, and that If they go on fighting
they will not only lose more men and
cripple themselves economically still
more, but increase the severity of our
terms. Therefore, they may at any time
decide to surrender and stop the war,
and 1t Is possible that the conflict may
end very soon and most improbable that
1t VIII be prolonged beyond next year"
Viewpoint of Germans,
So much for the viewpoint Of the allies.
Intelligent German critics look at the
Nsame facts in this light:
Germany can never be beaten. II our
allies are eventually crushed we will
night on VIGOROUSLY against a world of
enemies until they realize they can never
! break through into the fatherIand, and
then they will stop and conclude a reason
aole peace which is all We ask We
] a
present, although ZeppeIins and subma-
rlnes may cause our chief enemy, Eng
land, to change her tune before the war
ends. Talk by our enemies about our
hnance means nothing, for we are Sud-
plying ourselves with the materials Of
! war and so long as our own people ac-
cePt our paper there can be no trouble.
Iney VIII continue to do so regardless
OF questions OF gold reserves. becausA of
! the lofty spiritual patriotism which ami
mates US all, and which our cold-blooded
enemies will never understand. The same
spirit caused US to accept food privations.
"hen they occur, although things can
never again be as bad as they We're early
last spring. The new harvest is a good
one and the wise measure taken by the
government to insure that the food-pro-
ducng power of the land shall be utilized
. 10 the best advantage only began to bear
truit with this harvest. We shall now
nave enough OF everything, not too much
OF one staple and not enough Of another
as in the past. AS for cotton. copper and
certain chemicals, 1t is true that without
I these our enemies would be helpless. but
German science, which leads the world
has been able to find substitutes where
substitutes were needed, even to extract
nltrates from the air in quantities TO
supply all our needs. Our enemies should
realize that the discipline, organization
and efficiency which enable US always to
win our battles with anywhere near equal
lty OF force. are not confined to the mill
tary sphere, but apply in all branches
OF the national life These things are the
expression Of the German soul, and ma
| tions without such a soul cannot expect
! to reach our standards
Rely on Gunners' skill
Tt is true that our allies by next
year may be in sore straits, It Is
also true that the man power of our
enemies Is steadily rising, although
we are not so badly of as they think.
And undoubtedly. with all the world
10 draw upon. they will have mora
cannon and machine guns and shells.
II they have not got them now. They
can never initiate, however, the skill
OF our gunners. the brain power of
our general star, the heroism and
endurance Of our soldiers. II II be
said that even these things may be
overcome by fire superiority and su-
perior numbers, we reply that Ger
many is now fighting a defensive
war. and that the whole course Of
this war shows the army standing on
the defensive has an overwhelming
relative advantage over the attackers
The stand made at Verdun by the
French army. so inferior to our own
in every way, proves this, and con-
slider what the British and French are
doing on the Somme. where they have
already lost between three and four
hundred thousand men. gaining no
ground of any Importance. Our losses
are not one-third of theirs, and the
! longer they keep up such attacks
the better we shall be pleased.
Finally. even assuming that they force
US TO retire on the main fronts, they can
never enter Germany and defeat US. AS
We shorten our lines our positions will be
more strongly held. more difficult to
! break. And most important Of all in the
closing phases Of such a war as this will
I be the factor of morale. We admit that
the French have shown marvellous spirit,
we honor them for It, but their country
has been invaded. they have enormously
believed themselves to be fighting for
their national existence. to free their own
soil from a barbarous invader. Now sup
pose we retire, how can the same spirit
exist? How can a Frenchman or an
Engishman believe the lies about our
aggressive intentions any longer when he
knows that he himself is fighting not for
the safety Of his own country, but to
destroy US? In such an event our SOL
dters and all our people would rise to
heights Of sacrifice and patriotism hither-
to undreamed Of. while the morale of the
enemy would certainly decline.
Germany still Defiant.
The end of the war, therefore de-
pends on our enemies. The end may not
| be far on, because our enemies know the
facts as well as we do, must realize they
can never defeat US, and must know
that If they wickedly continue their
hopeless attempts they must reckon with
their deluded people afterward. Thev
may at any time decide to stop, give us
the guarantees we need to preven. such
a wanton attack being made on us again,
AMI restore peace to the world. 1t is
up to them"
have summed up the war situation
as both sides look at it. The points of
view represented are not those Of lin
goes and cranks in England and Ger
many. but of sober and responsible neo-
pie. Both sides half expect the end of
| the war to come within a few months
or by next spring at the latest, and the
fact that peace Tumors abound on both
sides of the trench lines probably ex
plains the widespread opinion in this
country that the end is not far off, Int
when the rival opinions are set down
side by side, as above, the fact stands
out with startling distinctness that the
reason each side thinks peace NAV come
f1 hnnauaa Oh III