Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-08-08
By Frank H. simonds.
COPYRIGHT, 1918, New York Tribune.l

conditions which are more Favorable
And give more real cause for optimism
han any that nave existed in the past
~ months. We are entering the
nth year of the contest not with any
Prospect of peace now or even within
t3e period OF another year. but under
:;rculnstances stritingly recalling the
MS~eAion after the first battle of the
hIrne. The second, and we may be
ieye the final. blow of Germany has
seen ;,arried, If not broken. II we have
,ct brought tn. new Napoleonic edifice
IA the ruin of a Waterloo. there are
signs that the recent defeat may prove
~ some degree suggestive oil Leipsic.
The story OF the fourth year of the
stru sgle is measured by two major
eycuts: the collapse of Russia and the
coming of the United States. When
Che year opened we were. I'LL of us. still!
Hoping against hope that he Russian
operations in Gai!cia might prove the
first sign of u renaissance of Russian
t%uiiitary power. and that Russia might
tcpcat the achievement of the first
French republic and. in defending the
liberty of tie Slav world, contribute
NIGHTLY to the salvation of western
civilization.
But before the campaign had come
60 an end Russia had ceased to be q
military factor; treason n madness
hsd done their work n hence the
.Jistntcsration within was tn be rapid;
ENtt. Sssit!Istn troops, feIeiSeU from tHS
Fast. were TO carry peril to the very
edge OF Paris and threaten Sir Douglas
Haig's mighty force with the fate which
lad been prescribed for tho 'contemp-
able little army of Field Marshal Sir
John French in the opening days OF the
war.
The world. particularly the allied
world, was slow in perceiving what
we're TO be the consequences of the
Russian collapse. When the full Ger
man storm broke in March OF the pres
ert year it took the allies by surprise.
and brought an unready coalition with
n measurable distance OF one of the
great disasters of human history. But
when the March blow had fallen and
lls extent of the danger WAS perceived,
tt;en the war became a race W
America and Germany. Il race W
eur youn troops. hurried across a
submarine infested ocean. Il the last
Clover of German veterans thrown up-
on the allied lines in offensive after
offensive, seeking Il decision before
america came.
Lost Without America.
Az early as June o + 1917, when Nj
velle's Aisne offensive failed, it be-
ann clear that unless America came
to the rescue the war would be lost
u our allies and Germany would viii
IN the continent something recalling
Napoleon's success against Austria in
1899. Prussia in 1906 and against Rus
sta in 1907. But what was not per-
cetved at that time was that it was
going to ne II narrow question whether
France, Britain II Italy could hold
against our coming, and. blind to the
renl facts, our coming continued to ask
zeal facts, our allies continued to ask
bf US material and money rather than
men. until the bitter awakening of
March transformed the whole situa-
ton.
Ttn yc,,sc:,., ,.o1yp1y,finp ord Mtl,a q
sulting anarchy. which led to the de-
liberalization of the Russian army, in
fact produced a situation in which
France and Britain could win h war:
It produced q condition in which the
possibility OF u German success was
patent, at least To Germans and neu-
trails. 1t brought back the old prob
lesl. of 1914, and in the next IL months
there was to be repeated the German
effort OF the Marine campaign. From
August, 1917, Gvar the German prob
.etl and the German hope was to Or
gan;ze a new blow which should crush
france and Britain before America
could arrive. as Germany sought to
.rasla them in 1914 before Russian OPP
srnt;ons in the east should enan
.t%tentson.
In Il word, we went back suddenly to
The conditions of the opening days OF
the war. by the end OF last year Ger,
many was free to strike for Paris
Agnin; before the campaign OF 1915 was
We'll opened the peace Of -L4ito-
ysk and OF Bucharest had eliminated
Rtssia and Eumania, abolished the
eastern front. given to the Germans
the mastery OF h Baltic and Black
a placed the kaiSer's generals in
control OF the colossal Russian carcass
and removed from the eastern flank
,nf a completed Mittclcuropa the imme-
aiate OF Slavdom. The TeutOn
seemed to have won his age long bat