Evening journal., 1918-02-12
]. S. FOOD CONTROL
means HUN Defeat.

WuHltU uUU UUi uHl
LONDON. Feb. i2.-How America s
entry into the war has hurt Germany
l. the subject OF an interesting article
IN the Birmingham Post by Edgar Wal
lace. author and military correspond
snt. It Is now o case In which "the dos
has begun 10 bite the pig. he says.
III Is as WELL Mr.. Wallace
writes. "t0 separate the causes Of
the present German offensive from
the circumstance which have made
them possible. NNe know that the
stagnatlon Of the Russian front al
lows the Germans 20 employ troops
in the west, which. were the Russian
army an active factor In the war,
could not have been employed; we
know that the Italian have lost
nearly 10000 men In the course Of
the flghting last month but neither
OF these facts explains the German
offensive plan.
For example. the push against
tho Isonzo was obviously uninnu-
enccd BY italian losses-hecausc
they had not occurred. The push
against italy was. and Is, part OF
the great scheme which would GER
tainly have been carried out even
II Russia had remained loyal TO tie
Alliance.
"The reason Is summed up in the
word America / do not particular
~ refer 10 the forces which Amer
lea viii put into the field. The Ger
man General stan. ] am certain. has
no uartcular fear that sufficient
American troops will be put into
the field hext year 10 secure a deci-
sion against Germany. ! doubt very
much whether the German Is
worrying at all about what VIII
happen IN the leld In the summer
Of 1918. But he is tremendously
concerned what will happen In
Germany between May and August
fihat year unless he can break
the nghtlng spirit Of the Entente
during the forthcoming months OF
the winter.
1T Is no secret that Germany had
been drawing large supplies OF food
and necessary raw material from
America, via neutral countries.
America SUPPLIES these articles In the
way OF business. just as she sup
Piled Britain with material In the
way OF business, and strictly In the
wav OF business the neutral coun-
tries had been passing on their inn
ports 90 Germany. Our respect for
international law prevented our In
tcrforlng with trade as between neu-
tral and neutral, and the neutrals
made money. and the German got his
butter and bacon, his eggs and his
coffee. his cheese. and his cotton.
And so this jolly war might have
gone on whilst Germany's credit
abroad held-only America came in.
She declared war, she called mill
Hons OF mon, she reorganlzed her
industries 20 meet the demands Of
war-and then she sat down 20 take
a good look at the neutrals. And
they seemed unnecessarily bloatrd
They did their best 10 engage heil
sympathy. And they had little
bread and potato riots just 10 show
there was no deception, and So
ciallsts made perfectly dlsloya
speeches.
But America understood Sh
had been a neutral herself. Sh
had sat down not 20 invent q
elaborate system for the adequal
feeding OF neutrsls, because sh
was pretty sure that neutral
would invent a much more elah
orate system for getting NOR
than their whack. America sal
very simply. feed yourselves. yol
big stiffsr ~ the picturesque vul
garlty be allowed" D"
''In the old nursery rhyme, whel
the stick began 10 beat the dog, IN
dog began 10 bite the pig. II tn
neutral has no food 10 spare ant
cannot buy any In America. th'
German cannot buy food from th'
neutral. In fact, the dog has be
gun 10 bite the pig. The neutral'
have no right to complain. II m,
grocer will give me all the sugal
l require and ! sell 10 10 some lest
fortunate persons at profit, u Il
my lookout II the grocer ceases U
supply me and ! am left sugarles'
owing 20 my generosity.
and that Is the position OF th'
neutral. The position OF Germany
IS even clearer. So many millions
OF tons OF foodstuffs which came tc
her once in the dear dead days ar,
not coming any more. She Is thal
much shorter Of food. We do mol
know for certain the conditions oil
Germany's food reserves. Thai
there Is something rotten there w'
know from the curious attitude o'
Bulgaria.
"But II the German, with all th'
supplies he was securing from th'
neutral. was short In the spring o
1917. what will be his position IT
the spring Of 1918. when the new
American embargo becomes full'
operative? VIC think it VIII b'
fairly bad. The German crops wer'
poor as were all the worlds. Thorl
is a big shortage Of meat an'
slaughter cattle. and O doarih o.
fais-it is The Fat shortage and tn
oil shortage which are botherinl
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