The Washington herald., 1917-06-03
War a Draw Without US. Aid;
All Resources Needed to Win
3alderston Says Military Victory Impossible Be
fore Two Years-America Must Raise Troops
to Deal Final Blow to German AutocracY

Gerard; there is little chance that Ger
many can be starved out for two years;
but there is fallacious argument cur
rent that has doubtless reached the
United States, and may do much harm
In convincing the public that the war
cannot last long enough for American
help to be of much assistance.
! Admittedly, It is said. the German
people are suffering greater hardships
i now than are the British or French.
Since they cannot import food, their
situation must grow constantly worse.
1t is absurd. then. to talk about starv-
! Ing England out because the privations
Of the Germans viii go on getting worse
as the English feel the pinch Of hunger
more and more, and obviously the peo-
pie to succumb to starvation first. will
De the people who first began to starve.
Reasoning Ii Unsound.
/ This reasoning is quite unsound. Ger
many knew at the beginning of the war
that for SO Tong as the struggle might
last she would be unable to import mucr
| FOOD from the outside world. Her meas
ures from the start have been taken
with a view to enabling her people to
! hold out. She knows down to the last
bushel and the last pound just how much
grain and meat there Is in the country.
From the battle of the User. when the
war settled down to a struggle Of endur-
| ance, every possible measure has been
taken to increase food production There
has been no waste. The German authori-
ties today know. within the limits i'm
posed by the variability Of the harvests,
what rations they can dole out for the
rest of this year, IN 1918, and possibly
| even in 1913; and they have up their
sleeves one powerful trump card. They
can II really reduced to starvation
evacuate into the enemy lines the 15,
! 10000 inhabitants OF the conquered
territories, retaining only men who can
be forced to labor effectively, and the
produce of these lands, the food these
100000 would have eaten, can be con-
sumed BY Germans. while the burden of
/ feeding gigantic armies of refugees is
| cast upon the entente.
In England, on the other hand, the
| submarine menace to the food supplies
! was not taken seriously until this year.
Measures to put into cultivation meadows
and game preserves have only recently
been taken, and the recruiting of large
| part of the able-bodied farming popula-
4 ton makes the success of these belated
| efforts extremely problematical. Until
the harvest of 1913. Great Britain VIII
be entirely dependent upon shipping for
three-quarters OF her food.
! Germans Hope for "Pinch."
| The German hope is that the pinch
will begin to be felt so keenly this sum
| mer that ships must be diverted from
the munition ana transport services to
bring food for these islands, and to the
extent to which this is necessary the
operations in France and in other thea
/ ters of war will suffer: while 1t is not
| impossible, in the absence OF immediate
| and whole-hearted efforts by the United
States to raise more food as well as
build more ships, that even moro dis
sstrous results than this may be at
| tanned by the submarines.
| It was said early in the war that the
struggle was essentially a combat be-
tween an elephant and a whale. Some
months ago a wit pointed out that the
whale was now fighting on land. the
| elephant at sea 1t would be possible
today to carry the paradox still further,
land to say that the whale is winning
on his unaccustomed element. and SO
! is the elephant
! 1t is the first business of the United
States to deal with the NOSE pressing
danger, and to make certain that the
elephant does not triumph. And this for
no reasons Of sentiment, or Anglo-Saxon
| solidarity, or hands-across-the-sea rem
| iniscence. but because the defeat Of
Great Britain would involve the utter
ruin of the whole entente and most GER
| tainIy of the United States as we'll. It
i
/ OF the anti-German coalition temporar-
| lly beaten to the ground without Ger
/ many succeeding in conQuering the
world; but If it Is now given to the
| United States to decide the war by
throwing all her resources into the
scale, 1t no less remains true that the
British navy is the guardian Of the lib
critics Of US all. America would be Just
as helpless If the British navy were
starved into submission as II it were
sent to the bottom OF the sea.
To Wear Down Enemy.
The strategy of the allied armies this
year is to wear down the German troops
by ceaseless and relentless ofrensives
pushed as violently as possible Were it
possible to break through the German
| lines and destroy the enerny's armies. as
some optimists have believed possible, the
war could be won promptly. and the at
triton warfare of the submarine defeat
ed. But it is not possible; and profess
stonal optimfsts do their cause a very
poor service when they circulate rosy ac-
counts which tend to encourage belief in
the United States that the Germans can
not hold out beyond this autumn and that
| the presence of great American forces in
Europe will not be necessary.
The supreme command yesterday per-
mitted Col. Repington, the military ex-
pert of the London Times, to announce
that there are at present six million Ger
man soldiers, not counting Austrians,
Bulgars or Turks. OF these 4,5OO eco are
! on the fighting fronts, 10000 on the lines
Of communication in conquered territory,
and 100000 in the depots of the interior
OF Germany. 1t is true that the "combing
OUT process in German industry can ap-
parently go no further, but there are
$4,000 boys who reach military age every
year. Not only are the German armies
six millions strong, but they are stronger
today than ever before.
Much ado has been made in the press
because $4,000 German prisoners were
captured In the great French and British
offensives In France last month. In these
battles perhaps 20o,0O0 Germans were put
out of action. Since the close Of the bat
tie of the Sonrne last winter more than
10000 German boys have grown from
children into soldiers. It is such figures
as these that Americans should ponder,
not lyrical outburst about German rout"
and predictions that Hindenburg will be
| on his knees by August
Would Hold West Front.
German strategy is to hold out on land
and to win the war at sea- All hopes of
winning decisive victory on the west
N n