The Washington herald., 1918-08-03
Yes, Unconditional Surrender.

The second battle of the Marne has changed the
whole intellectual as well as military aspect of
the war.
The Foch counter offensive has thrust the probe
deeply into German psychology, and what do we
find? nation which is nearing the end of its
rope A military machine which is magnihcently
organized and in perfect running order, but which
lacks fue-lacks fuel because the supply has prac-
tically out A people desperately morbid
that in sheer defense against themselves they trust
blindly to, the pan-Germans and the Junkers to
lead them to that victory which they have been
schooled for generations to believe is theirs by d.
vino right.
But the past two weeks have contributed vivid
flash of lightning across the sky The truth stands
silhouetted against the empyrean, illuminating
to the civilized world it must be to the German
The truth is that Germany is not invincible;
that she is going to be beaten, and at distant
date; that the promise of victory in 1918 has def
nitely and finally receded from the horizon that
American troops, the meanest and toughest" fight
ers the Prussians have come across in many a day,
to be Of the largest armies in the field
spring; that the whole Teutonic cause is face to
face with its own bankruptcy.
The effect on the allied world is marked 1t is
seen in the Lloyd George speech of two days ago.
in which he spoke in clear terms to the German
people of the punishment that must grow harsher
and harsher if they prolong the in the sheer
insanity of their disappointment; it is in
America, where we find that the mighty conquer
ing German army, which only yesterday was threat
ening Paris and the Channel ports, and which
bossted that it would crush France and England
before America ready, is being rolled up by
the plain fact of superior generalship and the SUI
peror intellectual equipment we'll the superior
morale and finer fighting quality, of the French
British and American troops.
We can speak of German defeat now as some
thing than abstraction, something more
than vague hope Of indefinitely deferred future
We speak of German defeat as concrete tan
gible objective of tomorrow and the day after to-
morrow. We know now that the old defeatst sent-
ment about the German lines being "impregnable" :"
and the German armies being unbeatable, is flabby
bit of Stiffness. The enemys victories have been
won, so far the West front is concerned, by su-
perior numerical forces and by willingness to
spend human blood as no other nation would dream
Of doing. Now that numerical superiority has pass
ed, practically, and find that his sword is not
bit of finely. tempered STEEL, but is very second
rate indeed.
We are beginning to see the clear road to VIC
tory. We are beginning to feel that the last Ger
man blow has been struck, that his utmost force
has been spent; that hereafter he is doomed to the
defensive, which not only is the weakest point of
Prussisn strategy, but the weakest point of Prus-
sian psychology. The great German military ma
chine is in trouble the gasoline tank is empty and
its punch" is melting away in the face of new
foeman who is a real fighter.
1t is sophomore, of course, to think that the
present counter offensive is major operation 1t
isn't 1t merely points the way to the days when
the initiative will be entirely in the hands of Foch
1t shows that the battle of 1918 is no longer bat
tie for the defense of Paris and the Channel ports
1t marks the turn of the road