The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-10-28
BY Nixola Greeley Smith.

When will Won write Of the last
hundred thousand. the men who will
win the war;" | asked Major Ian Hay
Beth Gan Hay to his readers). whose
book, The First Hundred Thousand"
told the story of England's early of-
fort Major Beth. who has just been
ct the front in France and has visited
Pershing's headquarters and the Amer
lean navy, reached New York Saturday
for lecture tour
The tall. dark-eyed young officer
gave an expressive shrug of khaki
shoulders, then answered my, question
in the cool. matter of fact way that
soldiers have
The length of the war depends on
the weather You know. Hais's men
are fighting now in mud up to their
knees. l was at the front less than
month ago and | know the land in
the neighborhood OF Ypres very well.
The British are making enormous
progress. We took 5000 prisoners in
one month. And the Germans arr, be-
ginning TO fear for the trip Of Belgian
coast which, of course. Is necessary to
their submarine operations When we
the worst will be over for the Cr-hoats
won't be able to operate except from
Germany, which will be difficult and
unsatisfactory.
There are two ways of measuring
success in war Major Beth contn-
ued. one is by the gain of territory
the other is by the number OF the en-
envy you kill on a front of four hum
dred miles there is nothing to be
gained By taking q few miles here and
there. hut there is much to be gained
by killing Germans. And we are Ger
tainly killing Germans" he exclaimed
IN light. pleasant, drawing room
voice that made his declara ton doubly
grim.
believe the Germans will put out
some very attractiv peace terms pret-
ty soon--and that 1t will take some
strength of mind for the allies to re-
fuse hem" he added. But they will
be refused. Your president has been
very firm In defining the American
stand. and | don't believe the British
will consent to make peace with the
Hohenzollerns On the whole" Major
Seth said, the war will hardly be
over before the middle of next year
Il have been at the American head
quarters, YOU know, and talked with
General Pershing. The preparatio
Tor your troops are marvelously eff
cient and on a gigantic scale. The
hospital accommodations are vast hut
as Yet your hospitals are unoccupied.
As soon as YOU have any wounded the
Germans will begin bombing them,
I Drnt Ait,,y h,,,,
is one of their pleasant practices.
Formerly the Red Cross flag was a
protection. Now, to the Germans II
Is target. The French and the
Americans get along IN the most mar
Nellous way. They communicate with
each other in a curious poiyglot jargon.
The French have been wonderfully en-
conraged by Americas entrance in the
war
There has been talk about the de-
lection Of the French" | said.
The French are an unbeatable ma.
ton Cnheatable," repeated their ad
miring ally. Last spring the French
We're very much discoura ged but they
have rallied wonderfully. You see the
Russian revolution brought the col
lapse of the allied plan. The rIan
was TO launch a great offensive on
both fronts and push the Germans
back east and west simultaneously
ihen Russia went TO pieces and the
double offensive was shattered
dream. Germans. released from the
Russian front. poured into the western
trenches. But let them come. The
more they send. the more we will have
10 kill
The allies have an incontestihle SUI
periority of artillery today and Ger
man losses are disproportionately
greater than ours. Infantry advance
under what we call a creeping bar
rage, is wonderful thing. The bar
rage is a moving curtain of fire. a
Niagara of shells that move towards
the enemy trenches twenty yards
ahead of the infantry. Every four
minutes the creeping barrage advances
Ito yards. The artillery is timed au-
fomatically for this advance. So the
advance itself is not so difficult It's
after You have taken the enemy
trenches and the Germans begin irving
10 she'll You out that trouble begins.
But here too, our superiority of artfl-
iery gives us an advantage and we
smash away at the German guns till
we have disabled them.
The British hold 100 miles. the
French 300 miles. of the line TODAY"
Major Beth continued. but on the
british line the troops face $500 Ger
mans to the mile. on the French line
there are only about 200 Germans to
the mile. stories of French and
British friction, of French and Amor
lean friction--fnr one hears that too
are pure German propa ganda."
Can you tell me of your visit to the
American fleet or to General Pershing's
headquarters I asked.
Major Beth hesitated n moment. II
was quite evident that many incidents