The Mena weekly star., 1917-09-20
WEARING DOWN |CERNANY'S POWER
periods of Comparative Quiet" Inc Killing That Never stops Goes RelentIessly On, Giving the En-
 emy No Rest.


 With the British Armies in Bel
 o;nm and France, Sept. i7.-There ynnst always be periods of "compar- alive quiet" when big spectacular oronsives are lacking on the great eohting fronts. The recent days have constituted one of these peri ods along the British lines in the Western theater, and to the outside world reading the eommander-in- chiefs laeonie There is nothing of importance to report, or brief ac- count of seemingly inconsequential raids, it may appear that hostilities virtually have ceased.
 But this conclusion IS far from right. for the grim business of war continues perpetually Hourly the hie British guns hurl their thou sands of tons of metal, carrying death and destruction into the Ger man defenses; day and night great sduadrons of aviators guide their machines over the German lines and dump their cargoes of high ex- plosives on important positions, and continually small bodies of British infantry are reaching out into the German trenches and snatehing back prisoners after playing havoc with bombs among the dugouts and mortar complacements.
 Wearing Down the Germans.
 The terrible toll of death being exacted from the enemy ranks by the artillerv and the continual drainage of their war supplies by the destruction caused by shells and bombs are having their effect
 The German wall of defense is still strong, but it is weaker than it was, and sooner or later must crum- ble if the allied methods of wearing down are continued. 1t needs no military expert to figure this out. Every Tommy along the line is aware of it.
 Persons far removed from the war zone perhaps do not consider mili- tary from an abstract viewpoint often enough. That is, they con ceive progress only when some city has fallen or an advance has been made over a great stretch of territory and thousands of prison CTS have been taken. Certainly these big operations appeal to the imagination, but in viewing them one should not overlook the inestim- able value of the grinding, killing process which never ceases.
 This process has been continued by the British steadily since the big offensive The artillery has kept up an almost uneeasing thunder along the whole front, and air raids and thrusts by infantry have been work ing great destruction in the enemy territory.
 Give Germans No Rest.
 Last nights infantry raids are ex- amples of the work being done, l much of which is never published to the world. English and Scottish regiments about midnight conduct ed three successful raids. East of Gavrelle several prisoners were talk en and large number of the enemy killed, five dugouts were bombed to pieces and two saps destroyed. A success was achieved south of Ar ras, several dugouts being demol- ished and a number of trench nor tar emplacements wrecked, besides other damage.
 The British air service still main tains supremacy and the raidins machines have been doing vast damage. One of the spectacular air incidents occurred yesterday when 8 British plane dispersed two thou- sand enemy infantry by turning it's machine gun on the men along one pf fbn bfphuraxvc