Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-04
THE BROKEN SWITCH
No Seasoning Of Crandiose Speculation
Really Necessary to Enjoyment Of
10 N;ctorv Eeass

THE smash across the Drocourt- -Queant
= switch stimulates speculation to an
extent that may cause facts to be
obscured by hopes. Sufficient unto the
day is the victory thereof. Adjusting
our outlook on the war to this principle
is productive of pleasure without fore
shadowing any possible disillusionment.
1t is obvious, of course, to every one
that, given the present rate of Allied
progress, the Germans will skurry out
of France before winter sets in. The
conception is so gloriously overwhelm-
ing that it is enough to make even
habitually cocksure prophet timid. Any
mental picture of the imminent redemp-
tion of French soil must be painted
chiefly with hypothetical colors.
If the German hordes are really
blindly staggering under Foch's alternat
ing blows, if their plans for resistance on
previously prepared positions have been
utterly confounded f the progress of
freedoms armies is merely preliminary
to a vital military decision, it is almost
as easy to imagine the Huns across the
Rhine as across the Meuse.
They are destined to pass beyond both
rivers. "How soon?" is teasing ques-
tion. 1t is better.to leave it open.
Prior to August it was impossible to
forecast Foch's plans. Today they seem
easier to interpret, but this simplicity
may be merely superficial. By the same
token an attempt to read the mind of
Ludendorff, however one may detest him,
savors of presumption.
To reason thus conservatively is not to
espouse the irritating gospel of "the man
who is always taking the joy out of life"
Chariness of forecasts in the present in
stance clears the tracks for jubilation
founded on the firmest basis-that of vic
tory cleanly and brilliantly won. "The
future" said Paula Tanqueray, "is onlyi
the past entered by another gate" If
that is true we shall keep up the march
to the east. But existing facts are so
inspiring that the temptation to peer
under the curtain that hides coming
events might today be proftably resisted.
The history of the last week justifes the
assumption of a festal mood by all
liberty-loving patriots
Lens which has been in Hun hands
since 1914, Lens which exacted from
Britain tolls as bloody as any in her
annals, is tottering. Presumably, the
progress toward the city's suburbs from
the southwest gave the conquerors con-
troll of Levin, in the vicinity of which
lie the precious coal fields. The struggle
for them, which endured through weary
months of 1917 and before, ends with
celerity that is fairly startling. The
third great barrier, the Drocourt- -Queant
switch, between Bapaume and the Pitts
burgh of northeastern France, has been
occupied and crossed by English and
Colonial troops.
The northern end of the Hindenburg
line has been flanked and thousands of
prisoners bagged. The pressure which
the French and Americans are exerting
in the stored region of Coucy-Le-
Chateau-once a medieval show place
vying with Carcassonne-bites into the
high ground of the Cfemin- n-des- Danes
and foreshadows an imminent thrust TO
Laon. Success for this movement, cou-
pied with what has already been accom-
plished in the north. should make the
Hindenburg line negligible.
The reduction to impotence of this
much-vaunted barrier may perhaps mean
the fall of St. Quentin, La Fere, Cam
brai and even Lille. Long distance
prophecy need not be invoked to support
this vision of victory. If these events
are to happen this year they will almost
certainly occur very soon. The odds are
in favor of their consummation.
The redemption of these important
places is not dependent on an entirely
new movement, concerning which specu-
lation is futile. If the Allies win them
back they will simply be carrying an
existent and surprisingly fine victory to
its logical conclusion.
| The aftermath is involved in uncer-
tainty. Certain military experts picture
Hun retreat to the Meuse and the
Belgian frontier. The stuff that dreams
are made on, though tempting, is insub.
stantial. There is ample food for joy in
the contemporary victory feast. Foch
may vastly extend the menu before this
year closes. Meanwhile the sweets which
he has provided taste all the sweeter il
we strain not after the unknowable.