Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-14
HEAVY WORK
AHEAD FOR US
Burden of Attack on America by
the Time Our Armies
Reach France
By GILBERT VIVIAN sELDEs
speciaI correspondence Evening Ledger

IA America that there might be more en-
thusiasm for the war II America didn't feel
that we had come In at the tail end. Nat
urally we Americans over here want TO feel
that our coming into the war is OF decisive
Importance. Perhaps that is why we par
ticipste In the general feeling OF anxiety
| and depression which has come over Europe
| In these last few weeks
We are dealing with things unprecedented.
| None OF us knows what the day may bring
| forth. But the general belief Of sober and
| well.informed men Is that the day VIII
bring nothing forth to shorten the war
not the day. nor the week, but the year.
| And here Is the message OF inspiration for
| America, II II needs n message.
| We did not come into the war one day
| too soon TO guarantee victory to insure
| pehoo, to compensate and console the Old
| World Of our Allies for the sacrifices they
| have made. Germany could never have
won in any case, but she could have stayed
defeat 30 long that the victory OF the
Allies would lose half It's SAVIOR. Read
what a rather liberal German paper has TO
say on war which does not end In de-
feat:
II Germany in this most terrible Of all
wars maintains herself against a tenfold
superiority, that will signify for her
future position such an enormous increase
of power that 1t will Of itself be of de-
cisive weight in the scales in the fu-
ture development of world-pollcy, whether
map or not.-Frankfurter Zeltung.
have read German papers long enough
to be able to translate. This passage
means simply that II Germany avoids the
kind Of defeat which will end Prussianlsm
Germany will be the ruling Power IN Cen
trail Europe. 1t means that the eleventh
unit the United States, alone can guaran-
tee that the power of Prussianism will be
defeated. We have in our hands the fu-
ture Of the world.
Our Help Welcomed
How does Europe feel about It? moan
the Europe of our Allies. l have inforrna-
ton only about Britain, France and Rus
sla, In Russia the radicals, who seem
slowly to be absorbing the Government,
believe that the United States is not demo-
cratic. They have overthrown the Roma
noffs, but the new order is bent on crushing
the capitalist system, the whole method of
wage-earning. 1t is socal-democratic and
we are not. In more than one instance
Russian extremists have expressed their
suspicion of America. They credit us with
having no Interior designs on foreign terri
tory or indemnity. But, after all, the
United States is a country Of capitalists,
according to them. They are as much be-
clouded by our millionaires as we used to
be by the English arstocracy.
France looks upon our entry into the war
with pure feelings of gratitude and cnthusi-
asm. She takes us for what we are, is not
oppressed by our moneys nor suspicious of
our Intentions She may want a proteCtO-
rate over Syria, but she wants other things
more--Alsace-Lorraine and peace. And she
knows that we will help her to get these
things.
And finally, Britain The Common
wealths, particularly Canada, Australia and
New Zealand rejoice in our presence. be-
cause they are fighting with motives as
pure as ours. / do not think that Ameri-
cans realize what a fund Of friendship they
have stored up in the Anzacs whose hab-
its OF life and methods Of thought are so
much like our own About ireland little
can be said, but all of IL is pleasant In
England there is division of opinion.
. First, there are the die-hards, the Old
Guard, the fraction OF one per cent which
clings to forgotten gods and can't see a
duke use n telephone without shudder
because his person is sacred. They are
utterly unimportant, but they write and
they speak and their words are known.
Some of them regret that a vulgar nation
like ours should have a share in their
war" At the opposite extreme there are
the radicals who are glad we are in be-
cause we will oppose British greed for a
new Empire" when the war is over They
are only little less insignificant than the
first group.
Between them lies the mass Of English
men, the people who have slowly learned
what the war means, who have gone out
TO fight against a power they could hardly
conceive, and who are glad that we have
given the seal of our blood to their faith.
They are looking to us to come in just
before their own resources are at an end
OF course, some people are bound to be
jealous of us. The war may last another
two years, hardly three. That means that
our armies will be in the field not more
than eighteen months, and at the end we
will feel that we have done no less than
our share TO win. We will be comparatively
fresh when It is all over. It doesn't seem
fair.
Parable of the Vineyard
The question came up long ago, and the
answer is in the vineyard. For we are
certainly the laborers who were called at
the eleventh hour, and when the time came
to receive our hire received as much as
those who had borne the burden and the
heat OF the day. After all, the French
alone have struggled through the entire
war, and they will go on until the end.
Britain did not come in with her full force
until the sixth and the ninth hours.
The enthusiasm OF the first days of our
war has passed away and 1t will squirt up
again at intervals, as 1t did when the an
nouncement was made that our destroyer
fleet was already participating in the war
which is to perpetuate "the chivalry Of the
seas" But widely speaking, there is no
question mere Oh BIuuBllB US uEfptiII
Our part is by no means easy. The last
phases OF the war are going to make terri
BILE calamites for us. gray days which will
try us TO the last degree Of our faith. We
have come into the brotherhood Of honor,
but we are still in our novitate. Before
we are finally in we will have 20 pass
through the brotherhood of blood to use
the phrase of the same American mentioned
above. Our first duty, we have been told
is to build ships, a duh business indeed
| Our second is to save food and so to save
| our Allies from starving-another effort
which will cost us little. We must remain
| for a time in the position of those whom Sir
| William Robertson called the rs per cent
upon whom the war depends But that stage
| Is short.
Our men are wanted In two places want
| ed desperately in the trenches, because
| the British line must shortly extend still
| further, and IN the air, where every man
counts. "Details excised by the censor }
/ The life OF an airman is counted not by
| days, but by hours. After ten hours OF
solo flying he is a trained aviator. After
| fifty hours Of hghting-hfty hours actually
| In combat or seeking combat-he is a
miracle Because fifty hours is the span