Evening star., 1917-11-04
By FRANK sIMONDs.

NEW YORK, November 3.-some time
within the next few days or weeks.
when the battle along the Tagliamento
has been decided. we are going to have
the greatest crisis in the whole of the
present war. For the last time the Ger
mans are going to seek to win behind
the lines the war that was lost for
them when their attack upon Verdun
failed in 1916. Once more. as last year
,after the Rumanian disaster. they will
endeavor to capitalize victory in a
Subsidiary field They will endeavof to
tSks advantage Ufaaistt aggression. in
cident to cotemporary German sue
cess. to harvest profits and escape the
penalties Of a war already lost.
Az far as the military decision in
this war is concerned, Germany cannot
escape decisive defeat II the war con-
tinues between armies. The resources
of France, Of the United States and of
Great Britain In men in money and in
all else are as certain to triumph in
the end as were the combined resources
Of the European nations which defeated
Louis XIV and destroyed Napoleon.
Knows Defeat Is Inevitable.
All this the German knows. He knew
II a year ago when he sought on the
morrow Of the Rumanian disaster, while
the world was still shaken by the trag-
edy and ignorant Of its real as con-
trasted with the apparent importance,
to procure a victorious peace under
cover of a success achieved through
treachery and in an unimportant field.
He knows 1t a thousand times better
now after the long agony Of local de-
feats on the western front this year.
The German can win the war now only
If the people behind the allied lines yield
to his manipulation and their own weari-
ness. The German can dominate the world
now only by intrigue and by treason. since
his chance to control it through his armies
has passed away.
In the crisis which is at hand the advice
Of America will play the decisive part. If
we speak in halting tones; II we fail to
demonstrate alike by word and deed that
we mean to fight this war to a decision
with all Of our resources, and all Of our
strength is not dedicated to this contest,
there will be an inconclusive peace. which
spells a German victory. The German as
sault upon civilization will win a measur-
able success. with consequences which no
man can calculate.
Means an Early Peace.
On the other hand. if, on the morrow
Of other victories. If. after successful
Italian campaign comparable to the Ru-
manian operation Of last year. Germany
finds herself still confronted alike by the
armies and the peoples Of the nations she
is fighting: if the German people discover
that there is no end to the war by any
success in subsidiary fields and that the
fatal pressure on the west continues un-
abated. then We shall see happen in Ger
many what happened in Napoleon's
France when the French people. while the
great emperor was still victorious, wearied
of a war that never ended and tired OF
victories which never brought peace.
II, when the Italian situation has
again settled down, the German peace
offensive that will be launched in every
allied nation is repulsed. the effect will
be precisely the same as that Of the
election of 1864 IN our own country.
Then, as now. the enemy relied upon
the people behind the lines to avert
decision in the field. From the armies
Of Grant and Sherman the south
appealed to the people Of the loyal
states. BY every device. by every ap-
peal to selhshness. to cowardice, to
weakness. it sought to procure be-
trayal by the civilian population of
AT mr.
election day. 1854, won the civil war.
and Appomattox was only an incident.