Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-11-19
Medi|I Mccormick, Fresh From
Front, Says French Beg
Quick Aid, Lest None
Be Left to SuCC0r.

line.
Mr.. Mccormick said:
"The Germans are no. winning the
war.
Neither are we.
RUSS AT STANDSTILL.
"The war today presents staIemate
from which we are unable TO extricate
ourselves, because of the collapse OF
Russia and the unreadnesS of the
United States. There is practically no
hope that Russia can be i'll any sense
useful during the year 1918. From the
most responsible persons ! heard a
disheartening tale OF Russian inef-
hciency, corruption, incndiarism and
murder.
Teutons Are United.
Russia is so disordered that it can
not make war. Happily, in all prob
ability, neither can it make peace.
Germany might propose concessions
and indemnities in the west and to re-
coup itself in the east. What would
the European democracies do under
these circumstances The principal
public men with whom | talked were
not all agreed upon the answer to that
question.
Since the German high command
controls all the central powers from
the Bosphorus to the Baltic, they act
with greater energy, unity and skill
than their enemies. So they made Il
seemingly successful drive into Italy.
The real object of their political foray
into Venetia was partly to make CAM
outage on grand scale to conceal
their steady losses from Nerdun- to
.Passoheasaele and partly, to provoke
revolution in Italy. ~
Italians Under-Gunned. s.
"While / was in the now conquered
Italian territory d little while ago, the
Italian command expected an attack
in the neighborhood of Asiago. The
Italians were under -gunned, neither
had they enough ammunition. The
margin of sustenance in the country
is so narrow that it must affect the
morale of the population. But even
so, the Italians could not have been
driven back Sc far as they were if
two or three divisions, holding an al
most impregnable point, debauched by
the excellent spy system OF Germany,
had not thrown down their arms. The
Italians had defeated the Austrians.
1t was German divisions with artillery
from the eastern and western fronts
which restored the morale Of the Aus
tro-Hungarian troops and thems elves
led the successful thrust.
THE French and British have a
moderate preponderance in guns, and
man for man they Outright the Ger
mans.
Washington to Win War.
"All of the German class of next
year, boys of II, are in the army and
many of 16, whose tear-stained faces
among the prisoners wrench the
hearts of the Tommies and the poilus,
who show them shy, tender and
clumsy kindness. Plainly the re-
sources in men and material are run
ming low. While there are still ex-
ce!lent German divisions in Flanders.
there was an appreciable diminution
in the morale and the physical quality
of the German troops on the French
and British fronts during the 10 weeks
in which | was in Europe. Germany
everywhere had lost the offensive.
THE issue of the war will be de-
cided not on the 1sonzo or the Piave;
not on the Meuse or the Rhine, but in
and by the furnaces Of
America.
Need Engines of War.
This war must be won, if we are
to win it, by the manufacture i'll
America of thousands of engines OF
war. Men cannot win the war. The
splendid little American army which
already has crossed the seas rendered
a great service when the echo Of the
fyst American feet upon the soil OF
France carried to every home which
has sacrificed (and almost all French
homes have sacrihced) the promise
that strength and still more the in
dustrial genius of America would
bring succor to France.
"One of the greatest OF French
generals. perhaps the greatest, with
the burden If the long front upon his
said to me: Thank God
for your little army. 1t buoyed our
falling hopes, but its present growth
costs us material. Send us cannon
and ammunition now, and more OF
them, lest there be none Of US left
when you really get here
Let the Furnaces Toll.
I'VE cannot hope to have a vast
army in France next year. But Amer
ca, whose furnaces can forge as much
steel as the furnaces of all Europe,
can produce the annon-25,0OO can
non.
I'VE must have greater co-ordina-
ton of effort than we have now. We
must have more powerful direction.
greater unity Of effort, true war
council such as does not exist in
ashington--a council OF men, who,
Irrespective of faction and party,
-epresent in the greatest degree the
,nergy and the genius Of America. We
must bend all our energies to make
he great industrial effort in time. 1t