davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-27
Chancellor's Agreement to Principles Meets Lit
 tie Favor.
THOUGHT TO BE FOR
 HOME CONSUMPTION
Washington Officials Point Bow Latest German Declaration Fits Presi. dents Description of "Vagne
 and C0nfmsing.-
Associated Press Summary.) )

(AsSOclated Press Summary.)
 The German imperial chancellor again has told the Rechstag that a general peace is possible of discussion on the basis of the four essential principles laid down some time ago by President Wilson Almost in the same breath, however, the qualifica- tions were entwined amid his utter ances, leaving the suspicion that the central powers, if they are desirous of peace, still have their old ideals of victorious peace to the fore.
 Conditional upon the acceptance ev- en of the principles of President Will son, was the declaration by Chan cellor von Hertling that they must not onlv be proposed by the president but actually recognized by all states and people. In addition Count von Hertling said there was no court of arbitration in which Germany could place her trust.
 Attacks England.
 The old accusation that Great Brit ian's war aims are imperialistc was reiterated by the chancellor. As if endeavoring to divide the sentiment of the people of Great Britian, the spokesman for the German govern ; ment declared that the world is long, ing for peace, but that the govern ments of countries opposed to Germ any were inflnnling the passion for war. There are," he added dramat- ically, "other voices to be heard in England. It is hoped that these voices will multiply"
 As whole the chancellor's address was devoid of rancor, the speaker seemingly having as his purpose to paint picture to those at home, who are dissatified with the war in general and resumption of hostilities against Russia, of how generous Germany is inclined to be. To this end he went to the point of declaring that Germ any has no desire to retain conquered territory in Courland, Esthonia, Lith- uania and Livonia within her grasp. In fact, the broad assertion was made that Germanys present operations in | Russia were being carried on solely 1 to secure the fruits of the peace she f has signed with the Ukraine.
 Washington Thinks "Camouflage." .. Washington, Feb. 26.-Count von Hertllng'S speech Tn the re1chStag yes- terday, continuing dicusion of the war aims of the belhgerent powers, has not changed the situation in the opinion of high officials here.
 1 Instead of marking an advance to- wards world peace, it is regarded rather as deliberately calculated to strengthen the hands of the German militaristic party, by endeavoring to convince the German proletariat of the impracticable nature of President Wil- sons aims, as disclosed in his last ad- dress to congress on February H.. | There will be no immediate formal comment on this latest contribution to the debate on war aims and peace as- pirations. Experience has taught of ficials that important qualifications are to be found usually in the full text of the speeches of the spokes- men of the central powers.
 Attention was directed to President Wilson's former characterization of , the German chancellor's other utter-
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-27
The Weather
'vF$*e**A***s..ss.s...............,

CT excsnt rsas' Wednesday fair; warm-
 day, fa;r m northwest portion. Thurs
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-27
GERMAN RAIDER UNABLE TO GET
 TO HOME PORT

Amsterdam, Feb. 26.-According to the Kiel correspondent of the Col ogne Gazette, the raider Wolf arrlv- ed in Kiel harbor Sunday afternoon, and the town was befagged in hon. or of the occasion.
 The official German cOmmunl- cation announcing the arrival of the Wolf said that she had returned "home." A Berlin dispatch, printed in the Dusseldorfer Zeitung, said the cruiser had put in at an Austrian port, Pola.s in the Adriatic sea. hay ing been barred out of the North sea by watchfulness of the British war ships.
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-27

(COntinued on page five.l
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-27
Resistance Grows.

London, Feb. 26.-A Petrograd dis patch to the Exchange Telegraph, dated Monday, says:
 Resistance to the German advance IS growing, and is shown by the re- ports of fighting which continues in the vicinity of Pskov. This town has changed hands several times. The herman attachments which first en- ttered Pskov were very small, but they
 nave since been reinforced.
 There is general belief that the Gernans are moving forward hastily
 because supplies of munitions with 4W'OOO,OOO rubles are concentrated in
 !ne neighborhood of Pskov. The Russians, however, are taking meas, ures to guard the railroad. and are Pskoy." Hs> Later advices say the coviets gre everywhere resisting the invading uefmans. At Narva the garrison and xorkmen have formed an army of le'oOO and gone to Keval. There are similar reports from Walk. Great ac- ~ly IS manifested at the Bolshevilsi
 .eaaquarters in Petrograd and arms
 anu ammunition are being distributed
Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-02-27
Strength in Size.

retrosrad. Feb. 26.-"Germany has .a .%lilaily refused to grant an armis- ts nse ana German attachments con s4a Saae 10 advance" says an official vsalelnent issued today. Resistance tho hus becomes the principal task of 'ne revolutionists."
 s.. ausslas greatest strength lies in ma. ma "ioe territory and the govern rets. tn. can and if need need be will e,ss sa,' Ii the threat against Petro- ,arsa ,aaa increases the government will '"oSe to Moscow or another city"
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
WE Were Hypnotized by the
W Hindenburg Line

The Hindenburg line has imposed it.
self upon the minds of the people of the
Western nations for more than a year
and half it seems to be as irrefragable
an obstacle as the Alps or the Atlantic,
but the truth is that Horne's exploit the
other day, the successes of the Germans
in March before St. Quentin and in May
on the Aisne clearly demonstrate that
lines can be taken, broken, swept aside
by we'll prepared and skilful attack.
Everything depends upon the condition
OF the men who hold the lines and the
skill Of those who attack them.
Now, it is idle to hazard any forecast
at the moment when we are entering the
critical period Of the campaign, and vet
1t seems to me that Foch has so far i'm
posed his will upon Ludendorff that anv
long pause at the Hndenburg line will
be impossible. The German has foo
nearly exhausted his reserves; we NAV
guess this from the number of prisoners
taken and equally from the fact that half
dozen times he has been surprised in the
act of retiring and compelled to turn
around and fight, losing men and guns
and using up his reserves.
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15

struction of the armies of his opponent,
and these armies can be destroyed only
by constant attack, not under conditions
imposed by the enemy, but under those
created by himself We may say that
Foch and Ludendorff were equally con-
fdent that the German armies could get
back to the Hinde nburg line, but while
Ludendorff sought TO get them back in
such condition tina { they might, with the
pose, pass to the offensive, Foch was
determined to infict upon the re-
treating troops such losses that they
would reach the Hindenburg line ex-
hausted and would be able to reach it
only because reserves were thrown in to
cover their withdrawal
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
TO Attempt a Stand May
n Mean Supreme Disaster

iiere IS the whole problem of the ball
ance of the campaign Of 1918. If I.u-
dendorff has exhausted his reserves in
getting his army back to the Hindenburg
line he can attempt to stand there onlv
at the FISK Of supreme disaster. And
the chances are ten to one that he will
not attempt to stand at the Hindenburg
line, but will go back to the frontier. for
a retirement to the frontier will give
nm shorter line, an easier line, to hold.
and therefore greater available free
reserve, provided only that he does not
use up this prospective reserve In saving
his retiring troops from the disaster
which Foch will try to prepare.
Laying aside all question Of territory
Of geographical circumstances, interest.
ing and appealing as these are, Foch has
preached and taught for a quarter of
century the strategy Of Napoleon. which
was to bring his foe to battle and do
stroy his armies. Bernhard and all the
German writer's are of the same school
lhe struggle is not struggle to Eber-
ate French towns or seize advantageous
positions. AS long as Foch remains in
command of the Allied forces all his
strategy will be directed toward the de-
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
putting Reserves Back Into
Il the Furnace

Instead of this he has had constantly
to put his reserves, strictly limited in
numbers, back into The furnace to save
the troops attacked by Foch in their re-
trement from utter ruin, You may il
lustrate the thing by simple figure. A
man with fixed income and small ac-
cumulatlon in the bank. laid away for
rainy day. is striving to live on his in
come, leaving his savings for the future.
But business becomes so bad that his
capital has TO be fed into the daily ex-
pense. 'and when the evil day comes he
Will find himself without any reserve in
the bank. Now, exactly this is what
Foch has sought and Ludendorff has en-
deavored to avoid
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15

periods since the retreat began He will
lose this advantage if he undertakes a
long stay in the Hndenburg line, and
when he does have to retire he will have
to run all the risks of the recent retire
ment, the chief of which is that he may
reach his next line in such shape that he
cannot there take the offensive.
In sum, and the point is capital. Lu-
dendorff cannot accept an absolute de-
fensive; to do this is to fly in the face of
all German and French military princi-
pies. He must retire, whether to the
Hlndenburg line, the line of the Scheldt
and the Meuse, the line of the Meuse or
that of the Rhine, until he gains suffi-
clent free reserve to enable him to strike
back. II his retreat to the Hindenburg
line has been as successful as he hoped.
as successful as was necessary, he will
shortly be able to employ his reserves and
we shall have German counter often
sive which Will, for the moment, pin
down the Allies and prevent further AL
he'd offensives for the few weeks that
remain Of the present campaign. We are
going to know about this in very short
time This offensive, too, may come any,
where between Nieuport and Belfort.
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
Tofre Avoided the ''Perma-
~ nent Offensive" Trap

IN this situation Joffre had two courses
open to him He might have sought to
regroup his armies and conduct an oper-
alton Of purely defensive nature from
the Somme to the Moselle, covering
Amiens, Rheims and Nancy But such
an operation would condemn him to
permanent defensive, and in the view Of
all modern strategy, which has returned
10 the Napoleonic conception. the defen-
isiye spells defeat You may possibly
hold your enemy for q certain period of
time. but you can never destroy him.
you viii have always to conform to his
will; and the whole purpose of war. of all
war and of modern war beyond all other
wars, is to destroy the armies Of YOUR
foe
Accordingly Joffre adopted the princi-
pie of wide, swinging retreat. fight
ing retreat behind which he undertook
to regroup his armies with the deliber
ate intent to regain the offensive when
this reorganization Was complete While
the defeated armies slowly retired from
the Belgian frontier into France he
created two new armies. those of Foch
and Ma11nomy, and when those armies
we're at last created he was ready. while
the enemy had by this time advanced into
a perilous position. Jotfre accordingly
retook the offensive. defeated the Ger
mans and compelled them to retire to
the Aisne. More than this. once the
Germans were at the Aisne and prepar-
ing to renew theif advances upoh Paris.
.)offro opened turning movement east
of Amiens which compelled the Ger
mans to abandon their own plans to
meet the new danger. The result was
that the campaign Of 1914 ended befors
Ypres. with the initiative stll escaping
the Germans. And they never fully re-
covered this initiative on the Western
front until the present year.
On the other hand. owing to the SUI
perior preparations Of tbs Germans.
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
\ II Depends Upon Whether
"A Ludendorf Can Hit Back

Now we are coming TO the great test
of the present year within brief time.
Ludendortf is substantially back on the
last line from which he can strike back
II he is to attempt TO stay in France
short of the Meuse and Scheldt line for
the rest of the year He may have been
so closely pursued, so heavily beaten
upon. that he will be unable to under
take counter blow at the Hindenburg
llne, accepting this as meaning the whole
German front from the sea to Switzer-
land. If this be the case then Foch will
have accomplished all that he sought 10
accomplish when he began the series of
attacks which opened with Rawinson's s
thrust along the Somme on August s.
The whole clash Of the rival strate-
gists for the past FIVE weeks has been
over the condition in which Ludendorff's
armies would arrive at the Hindenburp
line All the swift blows of Foch have
been directed at accomplishing two
things. at breaking down the resources
OF the Germans and at shaking their
morale In 1917 Wndenburg retired to
has new positions behind the Somme
battlefield with absolute freedom of
movement. The pursuit was not organ
lzed until the escape was accomplished.
He did not leave 5000 prisoners in draw
ing an army Of nearly million back
over front of hundred miles and to
depth Of twenty-five miles in various
places. He thus retained freedom Of
action, and when Haig attacked at Arras
and Nivele, north of scissors. the Ger
mans were able to beat both attacks down
by counter attacks. And the morale of
his troops was not affected, for they saw
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15

In 1914 the German General Staff
was satisfied that they had beaten
Joffrc so heavily in the opening battles,
pursued his armies SO closely, that the
French commander had no reserve in the
bank. This was the object of German
strategy, and in the first days of Sep
tembcr, four years ago, they were sat
lsfied that they had attained their ob-
ject, and, accordingly, they risked every
thing at the Marne. But they were mis-
taken; Joffre had kept reserves, they
were available, and by putting them in
he won the Battle of the Marne and
saved France and the world from the
incalculabe consequences of German
supremacy
What is the situation in 1918? This
is the present question, the great oues-
ton. Has Ludendorff been able to pre-
serve mass of divisions sufficient now
to take the offensive and throw Foch
back, halt his advance until the few
brief weeks of the campaigning year are
gone? Has Foch, ever mindful Of the
great test that was to come, been able to
do two things, to harry the Germans
sufficiently to exhaust their available re-
serves in the attempt to prevent his
strokes from being fatal, and also to
keep sufficient reserves of his own to
continue the tactics he has been employ
ing for the past month with such great
success?
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15

the retreat as a piece of successful
strategy.
In the present case, however, Luden-
dorff has been less lucky. We may as
sumo that after the Second Marne he
knew that he must draw in his troops in
Picardy, whether to the line of the Canal
du Nord and the upper Somme or to the
Hindenburg line is immaterial, but his
own purpose was to effect the retirement
in his own time and way. We saw him
begin this in the first days of August
by drawing his troops back behind the
lar limited and local retreat in the Lys
salient. But the moment he began these
Withdrawals Foch was upon him with
tiger spring
What has happened since has been a
series of swift heavy blows delivered all
along the line, which have compelled the
German to halt and fight, to abandon his
plan of an orderly retreat to check an
enemy whose further advance would
bring disaster. Foch has overrun the
retiring forces before they could organ
ize their withdrawal, and the result has
been battles in which German infantry
fought without the aid of German artil-
iery and under the most unfavorable
conditions. We may gather how unfa-
vorable these conditions have been by
the fact that between August and Sep
tember s. that is. in the period OF a sim
gle month"; 10000 German prisoners
have been taken. But this is only de-
tail. Remember the main purpose of
Iudendorff was to get back to the Sc
lected line and to have there, when he
got back, strategic reserve, mass Of
manpuvre, an uneXpended balance of
fresh divisions--call the thing what you
will-which would enable him to do what
Jotfre did at the Marne, and Foch on the
same battlefield four years later, name
ly. take the offensive again
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
There Will Be No Slackenine
Il Of the Allied Offensive

We cannot measure the relative valne
of the moral and the military elements
and therefore we cannot know wbetber
Ludendorf will undertake the risk at ali
trusting to possible bad weather and
banking on every element of luck. 70
hang on to the Hindenburg line until the
end of the campaign. We cannot be ab-
solutely sure, although we have sound
reason for believing that there should be-
no counter offensive at the Hindenburg
line. If this should be possible then and
only then would this line be tenable for
the Germans from the military point of
view
On the other hand we may be sure.
and Foch has given US his word for it.
that every effort will be made to continue
the Allied offensive; and for this Foch
has the British Second Army of Plumer's
about Ypres, which has not been en-
gagged; the French army east Of Rheims.
which won the first and most important
stage of the Second Battle Of the Marne
and a very great number Of American
divisions, unquestionably concentrating
either in Champagne or Lorraine for
new blow at the proper moment. We
must look to the German fanks. to Elan,
ders and to Champagne, for the next
great stroke of Foch, when LudendorfF is
at last back in the Hindenburg line.
which will be within few days
Foch has now reached the point Luden-
dorff reached in July; to retain the Of
fensive now means to win the whole can
paign decisively, turn the Germans out
of Northern France and expose them to
The deadly perils Of still another retreat,
with all that this will mean to the or
ganization and spirit of the army and to
the morale of the civil populations no.
merely of Germany but of al the Allied
nations. \ further German retreat will
have unmistakable effects not alone in
Berlin, not merely in Paris and London.
but also in Vienna, Sofia and Constant
nople.
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
It Looks as Though the Hun
Il Will Have to Keep Running

II there is acute danger for the Ger
mans in merely undertaking to hold the
Hlndenburg line, and no one can fail to
perceive that there ia such danger, then
LudendorR Is just as certain to clear out
Of the line as was Joffre to give up the
line of the Somme and the Disc in Au-
gust, 1914, and go back behind the Marne
to enable his reserves to reorganize Lu-
dendortf has got something of a start
upon his pursuers in the past week. The
last few days have seen no such close
lighting. no such captures, as did other
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
IT he Essential Thing Is to
Il Destroy Armies

1t is in this light we must view all
that has happened since July 18. The
retreat Of the Germans, important for
the French and British as it released
valuable and necessary lines of commu-
nication and greatly improved the gen
eral physical situation of the Allies, was
of relatively minor Importance in the
larger sense, unless its consequence
should be the decentralization of the Ger
man army and the elimination of all
chance that when it had effected a re-
tirement it could pass to the offensive
and not merely regain the initiative, but
force it's pursuers to conform to it's will
for the balance of the year
The essential thing in all war is 40,
the occupation of territory, save as the
occupation of that territory forces your
enemy to fight under unfavorable condi-
tions, and, thus fighting, to meet utter
defeat We all of US look at the map
and see there, as it may happen causes
for hope or for fear. Yet it is not on
the map that Foch or Ludendorff seeks
the answer to his questions. The whole
object of both strategies, for both Ger
man and French stats are wholly per
meated with the Napoleonic view Of war
is 70 destroy the armies before them.
consequence we have now to face
this situation: Ludendorff has made a
long and desperate retreat, not with the
idea of reaching the Hindenburg line
and, once behind it, of halting and check
ing his pursuers in that line Only the
advent of bad weather would make any
such tactics possible What he has
sought has been to retire to new posi-
ton and while retiring to regroup his
forces for the express purpose Of attack
when the right moment came, just as
Joffre sought to retreat from the from
tier to the Marnc, solely to reorganize
his forces and strike back
New-York tribune., 1918-09-15
60 Far, So Good; But the
~ War Isn't Won Yet

We have to guard against extreme op-
timisman keep clearly in mind the essen
tlal facts of the situation. Our problem
this year was to prevent the Germans
from wlnn1 g the Continental phase a
the war by victories in France and over
the French and British before the Amer
can troops arrived in effective numbers.
We had accomplished this when we de.
feated Ludendorff at the Marine. Since
then we have taken back substantially all
the ground gained by the Germans since
March u and won enormous local SUE
cessss, measured by prisoners and guns
taken
So far, so good; but We have moi
broken the armies Of the German, and
until we have accomplished this we shall
not have achieved our military VIC
tory, even though Ludendorff retires to
the frontier or behind the Meuse ali
Scheldt. The condition of the army, not
the amount Of the territory evacuated Is
what counts and viii count. We shall
get measure Of that condition within
lew days, when we see whether he has
the necessary reserves to attempt coun'
ter offensive at the Hindenburg line, as
foch counter attacked at the Marne
This is the next test and It is at hand
if Ludendortf Lacks these reserves ne
must retire or risk disaster; in either
case our profit viii be unmistakabe, ou'
we have already exceeded that minimum
which was matter Of life or death, VIC
tory or defeat, for oar strategy TO achieve
this year.
We shall know surely before 0ct'-
ber just how badly we have beaten the
Germans in recent weeks; we may kno"
sooner, but the measure will be In Ms
capacity to react; If he can't react ns
must retreat-he cannot defend the hip'
denburg line by standing still behind il
because he cannot, having adopted sucD
tactics, be sufficiently strong from Ypre'
to Verdun to meet an attack or sere'
of attacks launched by Foch at points o.
his own choice and at the time the frenr'
commander fixes for himself. Ludendcrh
demonstrated this on March q, on Apr
g, on May u. Horne reaffirmed it befeH
Cambrai and Douai week ago.
"Of all Mistakes" Marshal Foch on''
told his pupils in the Ecole de GaeFn
"only inaction is disgraceful.' fa'
admonition serves as landmark now