Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-06
OUR MORAL INFLUENCE
VITALIZES FAITH

7 Asst week Lloyd George declared that
~ the British army, az at present con.
stituted, is invlncible. Hndenhurg, struG.
Cling desperately TO revive the dwindling
hopes Of the awakening German masses,
appears to concur in this Judgment, for
he virtually abandons all expectation Of
. successful military offensive in the
West by asserting that II the Teutonic
Hines can only hold the enemy back the
U-boats will ultimately wrest victory from
the fast.gathering omens Of defeat
Hndenburg seems to think that he can
,stiffen public opinion at home in the
meantime by vigorous offensive against
Rrussiloff, a favorite Teutonic trick being
10 mass fully-equlpped and veteran
troops against weak opposition in the
belief that victories in such circum.
stances the only sort ohtainabe, will
be effective In arousing public en-
thusiasm But evidence accumulates
that the German masses are no longer
fooled by such tactics Their eyes are
turned toward the impenetrahle lines Of
the Allies In the West, where German
genius has met its match and the flower
OF the army wears itself away in des-
perate, but Intellectual, attempts to turn
the tide. Nor is 1t by any means GER
rain that Brussiloff is unable to hold
his own. He had a winning way when
properly supplied with munitions earlier
in the war. II his vitalized armies have
half the enthusiasm and inspiration that
Napoleon breathed into the democratic
"rabble" of France, ne has now force
that no machine troops in the world can
withstand. The Russians have at last a
country to fight for. a country Of their
own.
venizelos, too, has swept political
heresy out OF Greece. He has won the
army, It appears, back TO realization
OF its duties There is still time, he has
shown, for Greece to recover her i'm.
mortal soul, which she lost when Con.
stantine abiured his solemn treaty with
Serbia and abandoned his ally to the
Bulgarian. At last, along the Salonica
line, the Allies are gathering strength.
The almost dominant influence Of the
United States in world thought is empha.
sized by these and other situations today.
Given the privilege Of asserting that
what he stood for the great Mother
OF Democracy also advocated, Veni-
Eelos had little trouble in bringing
Greece TO his way OF thinking. Eng
land, and even France, might wear
their tongues out in a vain effort to
show Russia her true course, but an Amer
icsn commission needed to do little more
than tell this nations purpose at Petro-
grad. These miracles are so because this
nation has never drawn its sword except
in defense Of freedom, nor in all our diplo.
matte history is there any record OF
selfish program selishly carried out at
the expense OF innocent people.
"A mans character is the best collateral
he can offer" declared the elder Morgan.
81 have lent a million on It without other
security" We have lived 10 see in the
last three months that in the great test.
ing Of peoples and nations. when they
are stripped for the death-struggle and
all their aims are naked, it is the nation
which has always played fair and square
that throws into the conflict not only the
enormous weight OF its own material re.
sources, but also an international infiu.
ence that is felt from Cape Horn to
Archangel and binds together all the
liberal nations OF the world in iron coall.
ton. Nations in general may distrust
each other. but none in its heart of
hearts distrusts the United States.
The war had its French period. and
then its British period. and now the
American period dawns. II our physical
enorts have half the effect that our moral
influence has already exercised. Hohen
kollernism is definitely doomed.