The Alaska citizen., 1917-05-28
AMERICAS BURDEN.

The opinion of American military ex- perts that on the United States will fall the burden of carrying on the war with Germany seems to be founded on excellent grounds. It is the result of a careful study of conditions abroad and not a haphazard piece of guess work
 For months it has been apparent that Russia has been steadily losing what organi- zation she had been able to effect during the carly months of the struggle. Internal trou- bles have grown in intensity and detracted from her ability to combat an outside foe It now seems doubtful whether she will ever take an active part in the fight again. Even if the disagreeing elements in the country are able to come to an agreement over the do mestlc situation and favor continuation of the war against Germany, which IS extreme ly probematical, it will take many weary months of reorganization, not only of armies, but of industries, before they can again take the field with anything resembling an eff cient fighting force The number of men that they are able to put in the field will have very little bearing on the matter since they will have to be reOrganzed from the very beginning. Her supplies of munitions and equipment have been allowed to fall away III the same manner that the armies have de moralized, and cannot be made to run smooth ly and to full capacity as the occasion de- mands i'll any short time. Russia is plainly a negligible factor at present.
 France has poured out the lives of her sons in the most prodigal fashion in her noble stand against the invader. It was her enormous sacrifice of lives and her drain ing of her resources that has enabled the allies to hold off the enemy. At the begin ming of the war, and for many months there after, it fell to her to hold off the German armies, while her ally, Great Britain, called for recruits that were slow in answering Recruits who, when obtained had to be given military training before they could be used In all history there is no finer page than that which is filled by the splendid spirit that the French have displayed all through the war But France today stands almost ex- hausted in man power Not much longer can she furnish the men necessary to keep the terrific struggle going
 Great Britain has overcome tremendous handicaps in the way of military unprepared- ness and thrown millions of men into the various theatres of war. But she cannot be expected to increase her contributions in this respect. Both she and France have been prodigal in their expenditures, as is shown by their staggering national debts It is only in their naval strength that they are unim- paired Italy has spent billions of dollars and she, too, must depend on America for financing.
 Plainly it is falling to the United States to take up not only the financial burden, but to furnish great part of the troops that will be required to produce the knockout blow that will make Germany take the count. We have the men, the industries to produce the equip ment and munitions, and the weath that is required to keep them all running. It is no small burden that we are shouldering, but it is no small nation that is doing the shoulder ing The United States can be depended on to not only ''tote" her part of the load but also to lend her allies helping hand