Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-26
GOLD ALONE WILL NOT WIN
THE WAR

IT IS inevitable that criticism should
grow bolder as a keener appreciation
of the task to which the nation is dedi-
Gated sinks deeper and deeper into the
consciousness of the people. Enormous
grants Of money and credits to the Allies
induced at the beginning a feeling that
we could buy our way through, that the
extent of our sacrifice would be financial
that 1t would be a 3Ia per cent war, we
furnishing the capital and collecting our
interest at dates agreed on. Each billion
dollars is another nail in the Hohenzol.
lern coffin, was the popular thought. We
know now that there is as yet no corpse
ready for interment.
We have. as most Americans have a
supreme confidence in our ability ulti.
mately to pry the Huns hold loose, tear
out his teeth and send MIN whimpering
home. But we can't choke him with gold
dollars and we can't MAIN him with
harsh words. We've got to back our
ton. American industrial ability. Ameri-
can bulldog tenacity and American will
ingness for sacrifice in a great cause. on
those altars in Flanders we must put our
lives as well as our wealth, for neither
will be of much value to us unless we
win decisively this battle of the giants.
We have no sympathy, however, with
alarmists who spread the doctrine of Ger.
man invincibility and arouse the feeling
to break down the Kaisers military ma
chine. The Teutons have dug themselves
in and with wonderful skill and bravery
they hold their lines. But, as we pointed
out recently, since September, 1914, they
have shown no superiority in any field
against disciplined and organized troops
under anything like equal conditions. II
It will be difficult to drive them back to
the Rhine, it is even more demonstrably
true that the lines of the Allies can hold
interminably on the western front. We
have chance to break through; they
apparently have none.
German propaganda has impaired, If it
has not wrecked Russian efficiency. The
ground is laid for another stupendous Teu.
ton victory, one of those victories which
involve little fighting and are no evidence
whatever of German invincibility, but
which exert an enormous moral effect and
that there is no power which can with
stand the mailed fist The American pub
lie must be warned against such impress
sions, must be taught to understand that
we are to take the place of Russia and
wage the fight to a decision in the West,
where German skill is met by equal Skill
where she must fight for what she gets,
and where the master stroke forever ex-
ploding the myth Of German military
invincibility must be delivered.
We have four things to supply: money,
ships to keep supplies moving, airplanes
10 assure Allied dominance of the air
and troops to fight. The first we are
( providing, the second we are about to
provide, the third we shall deliver next
spring, and the fourth we have broken
ali the interpretations of modern democ-
racy to supply. Nor shall we fail in any
feature of this fourfold program We
may be about to pass through a German
E period of the war, one of those discour-
aging periods similar to that following
ChancelIorsville. but. IL so. 1t will be the
last Of such periods. Thereafter day will
begin to break.