The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-25
Huns Strain Every Nerve to Win Before American
 Troops Arrive in Force
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 there was record destruction of enc my submarines. When it came to the increase in shipbuilding, the month of April was the record month since the ruthless submarine warfare com menced. For the first time the output exceeded the losses and that he said, was not a bad record for a govern ment whose faults were so freely ad- vertised.
 MT. Lloyd George said the subma- rine still was menace but that it no longer was a peril As a means of inflicting injury 1t was still form- dable, but as danger which can | cause the winning or the losing of the war, we can rule it out" HUNS REALIZE FAILURE '"The failure of thes ubmarine had been recognized by the Germans, and that accounted for the present offensive tn the west. The enemy had been driven into that offensive as last resort to se- cure victory.
 'Nevertheless,' said MT. Lloyd George, we must not underate the formidable character of that attack The collapse of Russia caused a yawning gap in the bridge which has not yet been spanned | by the coming of America, and until | the span is reconstructed by America. | Great Britain, France and Italy have | to defend the gap"
 | The premier said that on the eve of a great German attack those who knew best what the prospects were felt most | confident about the result. He said he felt | happier than at any time during the war
 over the prospects of making the most | effective use of the entire forces of the l alliance. He had tried repeatedly to achieve unity of command. and now that 1 had been accomplished. It was really | incredible that for months the govern | ment had to fight every inch of the way | to unity of direction against potent in | fluences. But unity now was a fact, and l it had aided nightly to the strength | of the allies The commander of the
 allied armies, General Foch was one of the most brilliant of war strategists.
 TRIBUTE TO FOCH | "He is a man of dynamic energy am profound knowledge and experience' '' said the premier, commanding the re- l spect, admiration, confidence and affec-
 tion of thN allied soldiers of every army
 The premier said he was glad to think | that the allies had as a head for the l forces for freedom a man of General | F'och's commanding genius
 1 For the Germans, as we'll as for us. | the next few weeks will be race be- | tween Hindenburg and President Will son" said MT. Lloyd George, and the
 Germans are straining every muscle to | reach the goal first on the eve of Ameri-
 can. help becoming available for the al l lies
 Tt is not time to organize cam
 raiers to harass men in charge of the
 destines of the nation. There ought e | be truce from all those maneuvers, | at any rate until this great offensive | is over. Everything must be done to l keep up the spirits and the moral de-
 termination and unity of the people as long as this struggle continues.
 l sAS we are approaching what may be | the decisive struggle of the war, it IS encouraging to know that we are enter | ing 1t with good heart and clear l conscience.
 Had I thought that by any safe or honorable means We could either have
 averted this struggle from the start or 1 brought it on to an earlier termina- ton, I should feel at this moment not 1 merely burdened down with anxiety Ibut weighted down with guilt.
 "I can honestly say that the govern
 ment has neglected no possible means | for finding out whether there was any 1 honorable outlet to this war--of it's horrors and tragedies.
 There are two types of extremists" | Mr. Lloyd George continued. "The ex-
 tremist who is crying for peace when | there is no peace. is not real friend i of peace, but an enemy of peace, He Is 1 an encouragement to the enemy and depresses his friends. Then there is | the war extremist, who regards every l thought of making peace as if it were | treason to the state. But the path of sanity and safety which a government ought to tread is between those two | extremes.
 l HThere are men who have paid too
 much heed to the speeches of states
 men of the central powers. To all ap-
 pearances they are reasonable speeches i and good many people in this and
 other countries have said Why don't
 you respond to these appeals?' 1 "We did answer and the moment we answered the response came from the
 German cannon. Why? It was not be- l cause the German and Austrian states
 men were deliberately deceiving us.
 That is not the charge. It was because l they did not in the least understand
 in those countries how they were used by their military chieftains.
 "When it served their purpose they were mere puppets When it suited the purpose of the military chioftains l they were allowed to let loose their pedCo CylihucfS, Whcii eue WlHu was favorable, in the direction of the al- lies. to poison the atmosphere. but there was other business to be done. and that was where the military chief tains came in.
 We are dealing with a ruthless
 prusxian despotism that is out for plunder. loot and pillagc. Treaties re- strain them just as little today as in the day of Belgium. They do not in tend to bring the war to m. end until their basket is as full as 1t can hold"
 NO PARTY ORGANIZATION
 The premier in concluding his speet h