The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-03-17
PLANS FOR VAST ALLIED OFFENSIVE

make a serious effort to meet the coun.
try's financial liabilities toward its own
people, and It Is therefore not difficult
to understand why the big business
interests Of Hamburg, Frankfort and
Berlin have for long been clamoring
for peace.
Ii, as expected, Germany wipes of
her liabilities and begins again with
clean sheet, she will obviously be In
position of economic superiority to
the entente countries while the latter
are struggling to devise ways and
means Of meeting their indebtedness.
Social problems will be no less grave.
OF all the entente countries, France
will have suffered most heavily in men
In relation to her population by the
time the war Is over. By the end Of
this year her dead or permanently
incapacitated may reach 5,O0O,OO and
England, Italy and Russia will suffer
after the same rate. At the same time,
Germany's losses will be found to be
superior, both relatively and absolute
ly, to those Of any other country In
the war.
Affects the United States.
This means that In every town and
village labor will be scarce. Emigra-
ton will be brought to q standstill
for at least this generation, and per-
haps for the next. The United States
will thus be directly affected, while it
Is certain that the development of
Canada will be set back for half a
century.
Proof that a great scarcity Of labor
is feared In Europe, and especially
France, is given by the measures al
ready prudently taken by the French
government for the Introduction of
coolie labor. This movement began
some months ago and will be inten-
sified this year. Already thousands of
Asiatics are employed for national
purposes, and even when millions of
Frenchmen are released from the col
ors 1t is anticipated that the employ
ment of colored men will have to be
continued to make big trade revival
possible.
Therefore, in the opinion of Euro
pean statesmen, America will be great
~ disappointed IL she expects the re-
leasing Of millions Of men at present
In the field to cause a stream of migra-
ton westward across the Atlantic ow-
ing to bad conditions In Europe.
The greatest and most pressing
question dealt with by the Rome con-
ference was, of course, that Of the
organization Of huge united offensive
strokes on the main fronts this year.
The moment for delivering these
simultaneous blows will be decided
upon by the commanders in chief, but
1t Is no secret that by next April the
millions Of men and women working
In munitiOn factories will have pro-
duced sufficiently enormous quantities
of guns and shells for the beginning
Of continuous offensive that will
break beyond repair the belt of iron
laid by the Germanic invaders across |
Europe. Had not entente statesmen
been sincerely convinced Of their stead |
lly increasing military superiority over
Germany they would not have shut |
the door on Germany's peace opening.
One Man In Chief Command.
Real unity of army command is an |
immediate probability In the entente
camp. 1t will very likely center in
'ne man, supported by q small inter.
staff.
In future entente offensives the
weight of attack will be more fairly
lpportioned to the big nations In ac-
,ordance with their resources In man
,ower than has been the case hither-
o. The British front is gradually
It will grow lot longer
'efore the war IL over. In fact, the
elative burden of united offensives
will be decided upon after consider
Ition Of population. number of COM
'atants, figure Of losses and length
4 front, In the case Of each entente
lation.
Regarding munitions, no longer will
ach country manufacture merely for Il
tself, with q view to various partial
ttacks fixed in advance. Henceforrn
he countries will decide: (D the
mount Of defensive material neces-
airy for the whole front; (2) the ma
erial necessary for offensives on the
7hole Of the different fronts; (3) the
uantity of raw material for NUM-