The states-graphic. (Brownsville, Tenn.) 1???-1984, 1917-01-19

ders. Both sides have tried it. Both
sides failed meserably. The thousands
upon thousand who fell upon either
side in those battles has proven that
theoretical military science does not
know, everything and that tens ofthou-
sands must pay with their lives for the
lesson learned by commanders.
The ground in upper Flanders is
not adaptable for bringing up of hea-
Wy artillery. And it was therefore
that the allies selected Amiens as the
''hub" for their Somme offensive
most promising because of the excel
lent roads radiating fanlike to the
front which they sought to break.
Leaving that sector out, which both
sides by common consent and common
experience bitter and costly, seem to
be agreed is not promising offensive
operating ground, the Germans are lay
ing out and building a series of posi-
tions on other portions of the front
transcending everything have ever
seen on the Somme line during that
great battle.
The trenches on the west front, Of
which there is sometimes a maze of
200 miles to single army division
have in the past largely been haphaz.
ardly constructed so far as the clay
of the land" was concerned. They were
dug wherever the exegency of the mo-
ment made necessary.
There was not as much regard for
the strategical topograph y the
ground as perhaps might have been,
and that is often admitted now in Ger
man military circles. To get under
ground" was the chief thing, and to
do that without going farther back
from the trenches lost, was the next
constellation. The second and often
the third lines were within range Of
the big guns, which would be hammer
ing away there while the massed light
and heavy artillery were drumming the
first position. And still the English
and French made but ten-mile dent
in five months battle.
Expecting that all resources Of
Great Britain and France-in intelli.
gence and material, in men and guns
"a larger army than any yet seen or
any battle field, will be thrown against
the west front in the spring with a
shock that may shake the German EN-.
Dere, Germany has entered upon a
campaign of preparedness" such as
only can be limited at.
Germany's offer of the "olive branch
was made the day after / left Berlin
1t would me babe, as some of the high
est officials: told me, tout of humani-
tartan motives" at a moment when
Germany felt that she could Justly
and appropriately make move fol-
peace without its being seized as a
sign of weakness"
1t had been talked of and urged, es.
pecially by the socialistic and liberia
political circles for some time. 1t was
held that the proper moment had moi
arrived. That moment was held t.
have come when Bucharest fell into
the hands of the Germans, Austro.
Hungarians and Bulgarians.
Strategically strengthened in the
I flank of Russia, economically reenforc.
ed by stores captured, Germany de.
cided to offer peace.
A close friend of lmperiap Chancel
Tor Bethmann-Hollwegg told me thai
Germany would suggest peace in the
hope that the terrible battle in the
spring with its awful loss of life
might be averted" This man, one Of
the leading parliamentarians in Ger.
many, said:
Germany does not want any of the
responsibility in history for that aw
full battle to come. holding as it does
that it will be useless sacrifice of hun
dreds of thousands of human beings.
Therefore, Germany will make 1
move, the sincerity of which can quick
ly be tested by the other side, in tn,
hope that 1t may, but hardly in tn,
Expectation that it will avert this bat