The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1917-06-08
WRITER Who HAS
VISITED WAR SCENES,

vINUEU wan CUCVcSs
r~v.rvthing Get Ready" He Says
viii Make the War Close This
Year-If United sStatss Suffers 1t.
seIf to Believe Like England Did at
F;rst that War Would be Short, 1t
Is Certain to Last Long.
Under the caption, "The Russian
situation and it's significance to
America" Stanley Washburn has an
article in April issue of Nation Geo
craphic Magazine that contains so
much that should appeal to the bet
ter Judgment and foresight of the
American people just now that the
liberty is taken Of reproducing for
the benefit of Sentinel readers some
IF what Mr.. Washburn writes. He
shows very ~conclusively what the
Russians did for the cause of the AL
lies in the earlier stages of the war,
how that country drew hordes of Ger
mans from the western front, which
act gave England and France time to
oct ready in 1915. He asserts that
t took 35 or 40 corps of German
troops from the west to bring Rus
sian disaster at that time, and how
the capture by the Russians Of 1885,
900 Austria-H Hungary troops almost
demoralized that country. He shows
the lines of German intrigue and how
the preponderant sentiment in Rus
STA had been thwarted by a few on
the inside playing into the hands Of
the German Kaiser.
Especially would The Sentinel en-
phasize what Mr.. Washburn says
about what it may cost the United
States to underestimate the enemy:
II have been in three countries at
the beginning of the war-England,
Russia and Roumania-and in each
of these countries the seeds of future
disaster, later paid for by the sacri-
fee of hundreds of thousands Of lives,
were sown in the belief among the
people that the struggle was to be Of
an approximately short duration, and
that it would be unnecessary to exert
the entire national effort to defeat
the enemy. l heard many English
men in the early days of the war ex-
press their hesitancy in enlisting for
a years training before going to the
front, because they believed the con-
fict would be over before they ever
could reach the fighting line.
"In the fall of 1914 the Russian
Minister of War had almost ceased
ordering ammunition, expressing the
opinion that the val would be owe
before the time Of delivery came,
while in December of that first year
me- of highest Importance in the
Russian Empire labored under the be-
lief that Austria, exhausted by her
early sacrifices, was on the point of
making an independent peace. Rou-
mania, in September of 1916, be-
lieved that the war was practically
over.
"The result Of this general miscon-
ception in England vas that the
mobilization of British resources did
not take place until the spring of
1915 and CONSUMPTION until 1915.
In Russia the truth was realized only
when the army "a out of supplies
early in 1915, when she paid for the
the great retreat, while sRoumania,
the sacrifice of thousands of lives in
lack of vision of her government by
as the world now knows, has lost
three-quarters Of her territory as a
price for her undue optimism as to
the German capacity to continue the
war.
Fallacious Arguments Heard Here.
'In 1917 we hear in America the
same fallacious arguments that ont
has heard for three years in Europe
namely, that Germany is at the enc
of her resources, and that it is not
worth while for individuals to enlist
as the chances are they will never
have the opportunity to leave Ameri'
can shores.
1.-The prevalence of this opinion is
in reality of the greatest assistance tt
the Germans, and by the widespread
belief in this we are actually making
the duration of the war infinitel!
longer. To those who believe thai
the German Government is about tt
break on account of the reverse or
the western front, l would call atten
ton to the extraordinary psychology
of the German people, which is Sc
different from that of all other coun
tries engaged in this war that com
parison is impossible.
at is difficult for Americans tt
realize the discipline and lack of in
tellectual initiative which exists IL
the German army and among tn'
German people.
Ever since he became Emperor
Wilhelm has been instilling his extra
ordinary beliefs into his army ant
into his people, until today we have
a psychology in the Tueton Empire
which will probably make 1t possible
for the military autocracy to continue
the war to a far greater length thar
would be conceivable in any othel
country in the world.
Why the German War Machine II
Strong.
"Much as l disapprove of the Ger
man point of view and of the spiri
which has been manifested by tn
Germans of nearly all classes in thu
war, l still remain of the opiniol
- A. r NOM