The Washington herald., 1918-01-06
Britain Is Carrying On"
AS America Makes Ready
Burden of War Shifted from France to Eng
land, with Germans; All Together for First
Time, Prepared to Smash West Front.

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England. Germany. however, was
not compelled to draw troops from
the West for Italy, and, all rumours
to the contrary Notwithstanding, Hin
denburg has not at the time Of writ
ing sent single soldier from the
West to Italy. Italy was forced back
by the same Austrian divisions who
have all along held the Isonzo front.
assisted by six German divisions only,
out Of the 30 at the disposal Of Hin
denburg. So that. even without Rus
STA. Germany has gained strength In
the West by the total Of the allied
forces sent to Italy. In addition, the
3.ooo cannon captured In Italy must
be replaced by the allies. together
with incalculable war stores. Here
, Germany gains, for fher main cam
paign. by whatever material Is sub
traeted from the West to go to Italy.
and ,in addition Hindenburg viii be
dble to use most Of the italian booty
for his own purposes.
Then there Is Russia On the East
ern front the enemy has maintained
nomlnally 40 divisions, eighty Of them
many of these are skeleton forma-
tions. units resting after hammerings
received in the West. and bodies
formed of men older than those used
In France. But Hindenburg has in
the East many thousands Of cannon
and millions OF shells which win ap-
pear by spring In France. A high au-
thority here, who sought to dissipate
undue alarm, told me that reinforce
ments available from the East will In
crease the fighting power Of Germany
IN the West by one-fifth. That is a
very serious addition to the enemy's
strength. America, OF course, must
and will make 1t up, and more. But
until America has done 50. until our
troops are not only in France but
fighting In the line, the additional
burden must be shouldered by Eng
land. France can do no more.
Capscity Of England.
VIII England be able to meet the
crisis? know the British armies,
and. think. something of the pres
ent temper OF England, and have
no doubt that she will. But her
friends should appreciate what
terrible situation isNpefore her. Man
power in these islands was long
ago drained to the point where ex-
perts called a halt. More men for
the armies, they say. would mean
less munitions and less ships, and
would weaken the war effort of the
country instead OF increasing 1t.
There was no reason then to
doubt the experts; but now they
must be proved wrong. because
more men have to be found. So
England is finding the men; and
meantime she is performing the
miracle OF increasing her ship
building, increasing her output of
munitions. Women labor is to be
thanked for coming to the fore at
the crisis; 1t is hardly too much to
say now that but for the women of
England taking Jobs formerly
thought workable only by men, the
country could not face the present
situation and must go down to de-
feat.
II England went down now, we
should all go with her, and that
fact is the measure OF our indebt-
edness to British wom6n.
The submarine problem continues
serious. Ships are sunk faster than
they can be built here, and the is
sue OF the war in no small degree,
depends upon whether or not the
United States approximates to the
7 shipbuilding program laid down in
the summer. The best opinion here
Is on the whole optimistic; there is
not much danger that Germany can
win the war under the water. But
upon tonnage depends not only the
ieeding and munitioning of the peo-
pie and the armies of this country.
france and Italy, but also the rate
OF transport Of men and supplies
20 Fershing. And upon Pershing,
when England has successfulIv
tIaed over the coming crisis in the
west, depends the resunption of
the offensive and the crushing of
the German armies.
Factor of Food.
The great and enexpected effort
England is now called upon to Dnt
forth is made more difficult h., the
factor OF food. that now looms m This
! winter for the first time IN those isI-
ands. The queues of patiest women
waiting before the ships, sometimes
Valnly' hour after hour for a little tea
or sugar or margerine to take home
20 tneir families. long a familiar sight
IN 1ermany and Austria, France and
italy' can now be seen in London and
IN the great cities of the north.
a great scheme for compulsory
rauoning Of all the necessities OF Hfe
Is being worked out by Lord Rhonda
and Sir Arthur Yapp, the food dicta-
Tor, and will probably be put into
enect during the winter. In offIciaI
circles I find considerable disquiet as
to the food prospects, and as the en-
emy KNOWS quite well what the posi-
. uou Is in this country, there car be
no harm IN saying that quite openly.
~ Is TO America that the European
a.hes look for food enough to carry
them through the war, and Lord
Rhonda and his assistants are Iona
In their praises of Hoover, and OF the
American food economy campaign
which Is releasing so much, for Eu-
rope. II Germany breaks the food
blockade by gettiTi; access to the rich
districts Of South Russia, where the
wheat crops Of four years are stored,
The problem of food may become by
/ the end Of next year even more des-
perate for the allies than for the en-
emy.
land OF the bare necessities of life.
There Is enough flour and enough
meat here or in sight to tide things
over the next six months. The alarm
expressed in some quarters over the
attitude OF the working classes. es-
hectedly in the north of England. is
being proved unfounded There werc
critics who said that the people would
not stand food restrictions or ra-
tioning Of any kind, and pacifists who
banked on this to end the war. but
they were wrong. as they were when
they said the people would not stand