The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-19
z YRS. War YET
Russ Collapse, Unpreparedness
of e. s. PrOlong Struggle.
Medill Mccormick, Just From
West Front, Discusses War.

Chicago. Nov. 19.-Russia's collapse
and the unreadiness of the United
States make hopeless any thoughts of
peace before 1919, in the opinion of
Medil Mccormick, congreSsman-at-
large of Illinois, who has just returned
from a visit to most of the important
fronts of the European battle line. Mr..
Mccormick said:
THE Germans are not winning the
war.
Neither are we.
The war today presents stalemate
from which we are unable to eXtri-
of Russia and the unreadiness of the
United States.
Await Power of L. s.
Nowhere in Europe did I find an
informed soldier or public man who
believed that a military decision could
be achieved before 1919, when the
United States might be ready to add
effectively to the sum of pressure on
the central empires. Perhaps econo-
mic conditions or political events IN
Germany may induce peace before
that time, but altho Germany is sui
fering progressively more than her
western enemies, her autocratlc ma
chine and her economic reserves seem
altogether adequate to hold her to-
gether thru two more winters There
is practically no hope that Russia can
be in any sense useful during the year
1918 From the most responsible peo-
pie. 1 heard a disheartening tale OF
Russian inefficiency, corruption, IN
cendiarism and murder. Russia is SO
disordered that she cannot make war
Happily. in all probability, neither
can she make peace. Germany might
propose concessions and indemnities
in the west and to recoup herself in
the east. What would the European
democracies do under these clrcum-
stances? The principal public men
with whom l talked were not certain
and were not ali agreed upon the an
swer to that question. Some, who per-
sonally would oppose such terms, be-
lieve that European public opinion
would demand their acceptance, altho
that would involve an addition of So
600, 900 Poles. Lithuanians and Lii
vonians to the population of the Teu-
tonic empires. as well as the indus
trial resources and the great alluvial
plain of Poland. The German autoc-
racy would be fortified
Drive to Cover Defeat.
They made a seemingly successful
drive into Italy. If the German COM
mand hoped for a true military sue
cess, certainly they did not believe
that they would achieve it. The real
object of their political foray into
Venetia was partly to make camou-
=
steady losses from -Verdun to Pass.
chendaele and partly to provoke revo-
luton in Italy.
The French and British have
moderate prepCnderance in guns and
man for man they Outright the Ger
mans.
'.All of the German class of next
years boys of II are in the army and
many of 16 years Plainly the re-
sources in men and material are run
ming low. While there are still ex-
cellent German divisions in Flanders,
there was an appreciate diminutiorr
in the morale and the physical quail
ity of the German troops on the
French and British fronts during the
ten weeks in which I was in Europe.
Germany. everywhere had lost the Of
fensive.
$4,000 Cannon From Z. s.
Shipping, to be sure, is necessary
before anything else, because vessels
must carry to France the engines of
destruction, but above all, heavy guns
are necessar y-heavy guns with their
obvious compliments of aircraft and
rail transportation; $4,000 cannon to
be made in American factories and
shipped to France before March l,
1919 Time is the essence of victory
and great guns offer the only means
by which it can be won.
The issue of this war will be de-
cided not on the IsonZo or the Piave,
not on the Mouse or on the Rhine, but
in Washington, and by the furnaces of