The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-09-13
THE WAR

With a record of six thousand or
more men killed and of eight shousand
or ten thousand wounded, America is
at last in the war in effective force.
Side by side with our Allies and with
spirit and enthusiasm fully match
| ing their own, we are on the battle
line. What our boys have done in the
terrific fighting of the past thirty days
fully sustains the prestige of Ameri-
can arms under other tests, and it has
shown, not only to the German, but to
our Allies, the quality of American
pluck and hardihood. If the Germans
really believed that the Americans
would not fight he has now been cured
of delusion. The German soldier is
a man thoroughly drilled, definitely
commanded, driven to his task. The
American fights in another spirit be-
cause he is free. Training and leader
ship he willing accepts; but his spirit
is his own. He needs not to be driven.
81 have" says a German officer in a
captured letter, "seen nothing like the
American onrush." 1t may surprise
the German, but it does not surprise
those who have read the record of our
earlier wars, or those still living who
remember Shiloh, Antictam, Nashville,
Vicksburg, the march from Atlanta,
and the campaign of the Wilderness.
Verify, Americans will fight, and they
will keep on fighting until there is no
longer need to fight.
1t does not become US to lay special
emphasis upon what we have done in
this war, since what we have done is
as yet small in comparison with the
| achievements of those who have borne
the brunt of four years desperate
fighting. Yet we may not immodestly
point to two great and vital contribu-
tons to the vital strength ofShe pres
ent situation. We are on the ground
and at the front with very very con-
siderable forces and with more to
come. And it was through our insist
ence that cooperation of the Allied
armies was transmitted into a united
force under a single commanders
single commander most happily chos-
en-. Nor is the assumption unreason-
! able that to these contributions to
! fighting efficiency is due the success of
recent days. Without the help of
American troops and without the lead
ership of General Foch the second bat
tie of the Marine might have had an
other ending, and the backward move
ment of the German forces might new
er have been recorded. If it be true
| that to US is due much or something
for the movement which has made the
Allied offensive possible and success
full, we have cause to be grateful to
the fortune that has given us great
opportunity for service.
1t would be mistake to interpret
what has happened on the western
front as presaging an immediate enc
of the war. 1t is true that Germany
is in distress, but her armies are still
well supplied with men, food, the
means of fighting. Those in contro
are in desperate plight. They must
see the handwriting on the wall, but
they also know that their own for
tunes are dependent upon sustaining
for the time at least the spirit of the
German masses. Not one defeat, per
haps not several in succession, will
cause them to halt the war; Thei
dread is not more the enemy in from
than that which would rise behint
them if they should confess the truth
and attempt to accept its logic. W.
may expect from the Kaiser, not thu
surrender that optomists have predict
ed, but series of attempts by partia
concessions to win a German peace
If the spirit of the Allied people shall
match the spirit of those who have
done their fighting and the repeated
declarations of their leading states
men there will be no peace until al
end of the Prussian military system
is assured. Any peace that would con
cede to the Prussian the privilege Of
reinforcing his armies, with view tt
future enterprises, would be fatal. A
peace that would imply peace in real
ity must be based on understanding
and pledges guaranteed and assured
Germany must not in future as in re-
cent years be an armed camp.
No rational and humane man wishes
to seek a breakdown of the German
race. But the German race is one
thing and its Prussian mastership is
quite another. So long as the latter
survives the peace of the world will
be in hazard. Born in pride and nour.
ished in arrogance, it has become ar
abnormal and insatiate beast. A long
submerged people, disciplined to blind
obedience, is helpless under it, and il
is only from without that force may
come to destroy it. The pity of its all
is that in the necessary work of de.
struction myriads of innocents must
| he m ado tn share its fate