The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1917-11-15

from President Wilson and Allied
diplomacy calculated to deprive the
Pan-Germans of their efforts to con-
strue the Entente aims as 1mperialis-
tic speeches that will aid the liberals
in their movements to democratize
Germany, are as essential part of
the Allied war programme as the
concentration of, physical forces.
Can France hold out until Ameri-
can aid is at her size? This ques-
ton is whispered about still, but the
answer comes much more confidently
today than it did six months ago on
the visit of NJ Viviani and Marshal
Joffre when, it is no longer secret,
France was nearly at the end of the
rope. American eXpeditionary forces
and the knowledge of what the Unit
ed States is doing and getting ready
to do have had a stimulating effect
of incalculable importance.
Pleasant A. Stovall, American min
lister to Switzerland, who spent the
first week of September in Paris while
en- route home on furlough, told me
today that Paris had been transform
ed by the arrival of American troops.
The city, he was told by his diplomat
ic, friends there, had been depressed
and dispirited until the United States
entered the war. The hum of Amer
lean activity is music to the ears of
the French. Thousands of Ameri-
can soldiers are every day visible
reminder of millions to come. What
nation would give up under such cir
cumstances, especially with the in
delible memory of millions sacrificed
that France might prevail?
Mobilization of American Forces.
1t is a new France, stimulated by
American help, reinforced by the now
thoroughly trained British forces un-
der Field Marshal Haig. The Brit
ish have the ''kick" this year, as mil
itary parlance puts it., Next year the
Americans, fresh from their camps,
will have the "kick." The French
will breathe easier. The Germans
are expected to see during 1918 the
mobilization of a great American ar
my. The the spring of 1919 will
come the big offensive which should
decide the war. The war will not be
over by Christmas nor by next spring
as many Americans have enormously
surmised. Even the barest prelimi-
naries of negotiation incident to
reconciliation are not in sight. The
military men are planning their 1918
offensive with every confidence of un-
form support at home, in cabinets
and parliaments.
It is a long haul-at least another
year of fighting and probably two.
That is the conservative judgment
which I have found among officials.
They point to the words of no less
person that William Jennings Bry-
an. who said the quickest way to
peace was Ito win the war; Ofnc-
ials who predict long war, climax
in the spring of 1919, sincerely hope
their judgment is proved wrong and
that Germany will weaken before
that. But guessing on when Ger
many will weaken, due to internal
disorders, is the greatest of uncer-
tainties. The only certainty on
which the prevailing judgment is bas-
ed is that the United States and the
Allies will not weaken, but will Gu
mulatively become stronger until the
final blow is delivered. If Germany
sees the handwriting on the wall, the
war will stop before the end OF next
year. Otherwise, decision in 1919
can be said to be the objective of the
whole Allied campaign.-Special
Washington correspondence OF, the
New York Evening Post.