Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-21

| " pacifsts and publicists is that war VIII
soon become so terrible that it will end of
itself. Mr.. H. c. Wells once went in for
| that theory, and has recently repeated u
with modern variations on the subject of
tanks and supertanks. But the actual men
OF war, the military and the naval directors
| OF all Europe, are looking at this war and
wondering what on earth or sea will be the
results
The obvious effect Of the war has been
TO reverse the positions of the two strongest
nations. The war started with Germany In
possession of n tremendous army; Britain
played Off against II n perfect navy. At
the beginning each used its weapon offen-
svely Germany swept through Belgium
and France, and Britain made fairly
clean sweep of the high seas. Then came
process Of inversion
In spite of the great advances made by
Germany, in spite of her holding in France
and her conquestS in Rumana the fact
Is that Germany has been using her army
as shield, behind which she was con-
structing the most potent arm OF naval Of
fense ever invented--the submarine used as
a commerce destroyer And at the same
time, in spite of Dogger Bank and Jutland,
Great Britain has been using her navy
only az n shield behind which she was
building UP the greatest improvlsed army
of the worlds history
The final test is still to come. II remains
to be seen whether the naval power of 1914
can cope with the upstart naval power OF
1917; and 1t remains equally to be seen
whether the military power OF 1914 can
hold against the new military power WHICH
is like pretender to the throne.
"Britain's Past Is on the Sea"
History gave the advantage to Britain.
II must he said. When the Kaiser said,
our future Is on the seas" he admitted
that Britains past was on the seas, and
the tradition of centuries as seafarng fight
ing men is not an easy thing to pick up in
one generation. But Britain had, in addi-
ton, tradition of military valor if not
of military strength. Any one who troubles
to read Green's History of the English
People" will find that one Of the first battles
or the Hundred Years war took place on
the Sommc and the campaign about Ypres
was worked out centuries ago with con-
siderable success by the British. Whereas
Germany had only the land habit. with
hardly an inkling of the sea since the time
or the Hanseatic League which was purely
commercial
III Britain masters the submarine. the
advantage of the war will all be hers, be-
cause even II her army is beaten, it will be
an army not to be despised in future cal
culations If the submarine conduers then
new system of sea power begins and IL
Is impossible to think of predictions
But in Germany they are not banking on
the ultimate victory of the submarine. Just
at present much is said. but Germany does
not IN her heart, believe that the subma-
rlne can clear the seas of enemy warships
That means that, no matter how she Grip
pies Britain. Germany must remain so-
ct Tl.l
making against this in the next war?
The plan is the same as her military pIan
This war has shown the incalculable su-
perority of rail power over sea mower for
transport. Germany. with an inner circle of
railway connections. has been able to keen
her armies mobile to attack on every front
Britain has been compelled to ship over
seas. even to Salonica. with a terrible
wastage of time, of bottoms. even of men
So Whatever the Kaiser says, the military
in Germany believe that "our future is on
the rails" and they are playing the political
game for rail-connected military power
in Europe. They say that, obviously, in the
present condition of affairs, with strong
navies which hide from each other with
submarines and raiders, you cannot attack
IA nation by the sea, You must lie at your
enemy's back door if you want to climb into
his watermelon patch. IF we were at war
with Britain" they say, land did not care
to violate the neutrality of Belgium or Hol-
land or France, should be powerless TO
attack her, and she could not touch us. SO
we must extend our land power until IL
touches on the territory of all our possible
enemies Then we will build trenches all
around ourselves and be properly ready for
either attack of defense. AS for Britain
she doesn't seem so rotten as we said she
was, but If we are safe in the heart of Eu-
rope, she can do what she pleases."
Germany's Past Is on the Land
That is the compelling military reason
behind the Austro-German alliance which
the Hohenzollerns are pushing so steadily
The reckoning is that the combination of
these two empires would attract the smaller
nations until the German nations would
form hook right around the top of France
via Belgium and Holland and another
hook around the bottom of Russia via the
Balkans. Result: Germany would be in
actual contact with the two great Powers
of Europe, and by her system of trenches
and her method of military training she
could be safe against aggression and quite
in a position to attack.
This plan leaves Britain out of account
just as Germany left her out of account
in 1914. 1t also leaves out of account the
new spirit of Europe, which will not toler-
ate the presence of a military unit if 1t can
Britain has always been the balancing
power she backed up Prussia against
Napoleon as she backs the French against
Prussia, And in the future her backing
will be considerably more potent because
she will have a tremendous army organiza-
tion and the navy-unless the submarine
wins out in the end. And she will not have
to be in contact with her enemy provided
that enemy is Germany, because she will be
in contact with her ally on either side Of
Germany
The military and the naval castles are
worried about their futures. They are try
ing to work out schemes which will keep
them occupied, and it is quite possible that
they will succeed. But just as there will
be a sort of revolution in Britain when the
work of the 100000 soldiers is compared
with the work of the 400 900 men at sea. so
there will be a change in Germany when
the prospects of the U-boats are fulfilled
The German navy is not 'miltaristic"; It is
recruited, officers and men, from every
class II has no bureaucratic leaning and
although the German sailor has been COM
.pelled TO torpedo women and children. he Ia
not a machine slave. On the other hand
the British soldier is at the bottom of