New-York tribune., 1916-07-24

was delivering the goods at pro-
digious rate.
b. agreement with our Allies, the
beginning of the last month of the
second year of war was our appointed
time. We were ready.
Then the British army showed It's
quality. Its fearful artillery had torn
away the face of the German positions
on the chalk plateau north of the
Somme. Two can play at big batteries.
We did worse 70 the Germans on our
sectors Of attack than they had done
TO the French at Verdun. That was 4
particular cause of satisfaction. But
that was not enough.
When our massed guns and volcanic
eruption of she'll had done their ut-
most, we had still very difficult coun-
trv TO assail. Every swell and knoll
and dip of the chalk downs was 4
fortress. In the hollows, barbed wire
was here and there uncut. The Ger
man dug-outs were thirty and even
sixty feet deep, and these caves had
been packed with machine guns where
explosives could not reach them. Our
infantry stormed through zones swept
by continuous streams of machine gun
fire. Nothing but death could stop our
foe no men were ever braver and no
army in this war is now more compe-
tent at its job. In hand-to-hand fight
ing with any weapon the flower of the
German army could not withstand our
fellows.
Germans No Longer Superior.
There was no longer any question
Of German military superiority Our
staff work was good this time The
planning Of our higher command was
good. And these men of ours, two
years ago. were for the most part un-
trained citizens, undergraduates. ar
tisans, clerks, tradesmen, farm-la-
borers. Now. battalion for battalion.
they were fit and ready to face any
unit of the German army. That story
will continue on the same terms or bet
ter.
On our right the French under the
brilliant management of General Foch
have done admirable things. They
know well that our task has been stiff
er. and our Allies approve us. It is
naturally the approval that we most
care for. IL is good TO be Briton
in France to-day. Among ourselves,
the malase about the British army.
while we were in the last STAGES Of our
making as military power. has disap-
peared The thing has taken two years
70 do. Honestly. We do not think that
any nation could have done it much
sooner when nearly everything had to
be built from the ground.
The push is. OF course, meant to be
deliberate and slow, but the Allies
are on a sure road. The main object
is not TO gain ground. Gradual prog
ress in that way must come of itself.
But we have no interest in shortening
the enemy's lines. Any extensive re-
tirement on their part would be prema-
ture for our purposes. II is better TO
reduce and diminish them on the ex-
orbitant fronts they will try to hold.
Their reluctance to retire is one Of
the things that should help us in the
end
When the all-round push began we
were bound to learn more of the truth
about the enemys reserves. His re-
serves are running rather lower than
our cooler estimates had reckoned. A
good deal of inferior stuff is now
being pressed into his ranks. But at
no threatened point East or West has
the enemy yet been able to bring up
any weight of men and guns to cause
doubt in the minds of the Allied COM
manders as TO the soundness of the
process they have adopted in concert.
Another and perhaps even more sig