The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1917-06-23

Both in their proximate and their
ultimate bearing upon the issue OF
the war the military events on the
western front are of transcendant i'm
portance, but from point OF view
which, while previously it has had
considerable attention, Is at present
almost wholly unappreciated save by
the stat, .,men and the high commands
of the nations most directly concerned
In tie conflict.
The great prize, the guerdon whose
gain or loss means permanent veal or
woe, is still iron. Germany may en-
ulute the squid and ink the. waters or
peace discussion with her latest, ana
amazingly successful, catchWord, mo
annexation and no indemnify" She
may try TO divert her persistent be-
segers with the new variant OF her
"mittle- Europa" ambitions, which Is
merely the old "Drang mach Osten" In
thin disguise. Commentators here and
a broad-yery many Of them very
acute-may permit themselves to be
blinded into arguments regarding an
Eexations and indemnities, and 10 be
misled ito bypaths Of speculation as
10 whether Germany should or should
not be- allowed, like the devil that pos
sessed the afflicted men OF the mir
ucle, TO forsake the victims she has
been torturing and enter unmolested
into others that shall afford her 4
highroad TO Bagdau. But neither Brit
ain, with its teeth locked on the BE!
gian front, nor France, biting IN stead
ily 10 Lorraine, is 10 be shaken off the
quarry or 10 be diverted to any scent
=, |, ;oL Tr hn u q c
of German supremacy. The war Is
makes the iron fields workable.
Little is being said about it, on
either side, for the present. They are
in death grips on the very edge OF
the prize. The reverberations OF the
guns on the western front thunder
now upon reserves Of iron ore that
are greater than all the ore to be found
in the remainder Of Europe; the battle
area comprises also the principal coat
field of France, and already the allies
have placed behind them a portion o.
the priceless coal area Of Belgium.
Here and along the road that must be
taken by the allies to permanent VIC
tory lies the destiny Of Europe. Hold
ing these areas, Germany remains for'
ever potential mistress Of the world;
DeTtll VI lNetll, SHc 10 ~ ANIL oHh
gcrous 10 her lneighbors' life and prop
erty-and 10 ourS-than a burglar de-.
prired Of his jimmy and his gun. Al
lowed TO retain the iron ore mines
she has worked for Two score years In
Lorraine and possessed OF the coal
lands she seized and occupies in Bel
GUM and France. continental Europe
becomes a pygmy-industrially and
combatively-besi the new Teutonic
colossus. Deprived Of them. Germany
shrinks to comparative nullity, quail
fed only for her native arts OF peace,
disarmed, innocuous for All time.
To those whose concern is With the
immediate consequences of the allied
advance. the coal area Of Belgium.
across the edge of which the first great
stride Of recovery is being made, pre-
sents a mingling of hope and drear
which nothing can determine positive
ly except actual occupation and view:
For more than two years the Ger
mans have held the whole territory
and have been free 10 work their will
upon it. Every evidence of that will
has demonstrated how German Skill.
industry and rapacity have combined
to loot the Belgium coal mines 10 the
limit of the last ounce Of man power
that could be spared from the actual
activities of warfare and could be
Conscripted from the ranks Of the con
Quered population. But coal mines
are vast gluttons Of toll. and they can
endure long sieges of the most ruth
less exploitation. With the worst in
tentions in the world, Germany cannot
have seriously depleted the reserves
which are Belgium's birthright and the
prop of her existence. So long as the
Germans occupy. the territory the