Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-02-26

An Amencan VINO mas 1uSt returned
from the United States and who thus
had opportunity of rafking with the
English authorities who boarded, aRo
long detained the ship he was on, told
that amongst English just now the i'm
preston is rife that Germany intends
an invasion of England proper.
The above named possibility is one
which has been much discussed in mill
tary circles, and, in general, the opinion
heard is, that such invasion would be
well nigh impossible, the difficulties of
transport ships needed would be too
difficult.
American Officers Opinion.
At such a moment, the opinion of an
ex-American army officer who has been
acting as military observer in Europe
/, and, who has recently been publishing
a series of letters reflecting the i'm
preston he gained are just now, of
/ quite special interest.
The writer opens up by reference to
remarks in his previous letter as fol
lows:
spoke of the degeneraey of the Eng
lish in arms Who was the wit who
said that the English army of today
consisted of Scotch soldiers, an Irish
general and a British paymaster2 Who
ever he was, if he added to the Scotch
few Canadians and Australians, would
have said all there was to say Of Eng
land s soldiery.
The little army that England had at
the beginning Of the war, 100000 men,
/ was as good as any; but it was corps
d elite. Those "mad men in petticoats, -
as the Germans called the Highland
regiments, died nobIy, and perhaps
saved Calais or Paris or both But they
are gone, all gone. The English officers,
all too few in the beginning, are now
dead or disabled. And if they died as
the fool dieth, it was splendid folly
so splendid that
:" Even the ranks of Tuscany
Could not fOrbear to cheer"
But the fact remains that they are
gone and that their places are now fill
ed with boys, splendid boys, but boys.
With the forethought and skill of the
devil, the Germans trained corps to pick
off officers, and the mreasoning cour.
age of the English officers helped on
/ the purpose Of the German sharpshoot-
ers.
Moral Stamina Less.
! What l have said about the English
masses don't apply to those English
aristocrats who have ruled abominably
/ but who know how to die magnificent
/ ly. ] was speaking then of the bow
/ shouldered knife grinder and hollow
] abnp4n1 I.
places in the English ranks that once
/ were filled by the bone of Yorkshire
and the muscular pith of Devon, men
whose moral stamina is even at greater
disparity with that of those one-time
yeoman, than the physical.
You say Russia is not beaten, and
you say truly. They can shear off a
Poland or two and yet leave Russia S
strength unimpaired. But the advant-
age to Germany that comes from her
/ success in the west Russian campaign
has been shown in the Balkans Bull
garia had to pick the winner and had
been waiting so as to be sure. The Ger
man doings in Poland and her victories
at Wilma and the rest showed to Bul-
/ garia who was TO win, or at least who
/ looked to be the winner, and then was
the time that Bulgaria must choose, and
she chose the Teuton IS side: and with n
belt of country from the Bosphorus to
| the Baltic, all He'll can t break through
Serbia is on the point of annihilation
and Greece is having a time to keep
her national identity.
A Territorial Block.
But whatever is the fate of Greece;
Turkey, Bulgaria Poland, Austria Hun
gary and the German empire will con
! stitute a territorial block that neither
Russia from the north nor Italy from
/ the south nor France and England from
| the west can seriously dent.
What success have the allies had at
the DardanelIes2 And remember all
this time that the allies have not sue
ceeded, the only aid that the Germans
/ were able to give the Turks was such
as could be given surreptitiously. With
the road open from the Kiel canal to
/ Constantinople by which the products
Of the mines and factories Of northern
France and Belgium and Germany can
be poured into the Ottoman s lap -
what can the Anglo-Frank contingent
hope to do on the Marmora1
Foresees Capture of Calais
I don't look to see decisive activity
on the western line until the Balkan
situation is settled and the Suez taken
by the Turko-Teptonie forces; then,
with the British Empire cut in two and
Russia bottled up north and south, Ger
many can give some time to Calais
In six months or a year. with the
help Of Japan and with war goods from
America Russia will be busy again,
but many things can be done in six
months or a year. It win be q huge task
] - L.n,l. Il. -...c.L 4. n.I..- = IL. Il