Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-08
FACTS AND COMMENT

Deeper and deeper the Germans push l their way into Russia, utterly regard less of all treaty obligations. Accord ing to the terms of the Brest- -Litovsk agreement, all hostilities were to cease and commercial relations were to be | resumed at once between Russia and ] the central powers. Now, however, on the ground that Russia is herself un- l able to restore order and take meas ures to assure the resumption of com l mercial intercourse, German troops | have established military rule in Kiev
 the capital of Ukraine, and have taken | the great fortress of Sebastopol to- l gether with the entire Russian Black Sea fleet. The rada, the parliament
 of Ukraine, has been placed under ar-
 rest for opposing this latest German 1 aggression. As matter of fact the Germans are bitterly disappointed in what Russia has been able to supply The stores of grain that all the world
 assumed were on hand, have long since | been consumed or destroyed. Owing 1 to the disorder throughout the country
 a year. ago. the peasants reaped no crops and this year they are not even 1 planting. It is this feature of the
 situation especially that angers Ger many. With the collapse of Russia. she had supposed that her own food tquestion was solved. Instead she finds on her eastern border a huge, seeth- 1 ing, discontented mass of peasants un-
 restrained by any competent govern ment and disinclined to raise crops with which to feed German soldiers. 1 Given time enough and Germany
 would undoubtedly bring order out of
 chaos and make Russia a wonderfully | productive region. As it is instead of
 a solution of their present difficult situation, the Germans are finding sthemselves confronted with another.
 problem.
 While the relation between Germany l and Holland are not so strained as
 was the case two weeks ago. the pos
 sibility of a rupture must still be
 reckoned with. Nobody knows better 1 than the Dutch government that Ger
 many only refrains from violating the neutrality of the Netherlands because 1 she believes it to her own interest not ] to do so. Holland neutral is a better 1 protection to Germany than Holland occupied, even if t~re were available
 men to do the occupying. Meanwhile new demands are constantly made of the Dutch, demands such that Hol-
 land cannot possibly fulfil and at the
 same time maintain her obligations
 as a neutral. For example Germany
 has recently demanded the use of Hol- land railway and canal systems for the transportation not only of civilian but also of war supplies, in the hope of thus freeing the Belgium lines for the use of troops. The Dutch look at the network of German railways terminating near their own border and manifestly designed to be linked up with the Dutch lines; they see the
 cruel fate of Belgium imposed on her
 for daring to reject the German terms, and they dare not refuse. Yet if Hol-
 land yields to all the German demands
 and becomes thereby an ally of the
 Kaiser, all her colonies are lost to
 her forever, becoming at once the spoil
 Of the power that controls the sea.
 There are a million square miles of
 these colonies and the population of 1 them far outnumbers the population
 of Holland itself. They include the
 marvellously rich islands of Borneo } and Java, Dutch Guiaea on the coast of South American and number of islands in the Caribbean Sea. The
 sympathies of the Dutch are undoubt- . edly on the side of the allies, but the , proximity of the Hun has all the while kept the little country in an agony of suspense As a last resort to save serself from invasion. she has her dikes, which have figured more than : once in her history. The Dutch say l ing: "A drowned land is better than lost land" well expresses the stern
 resolution of a strong and sturdy, na- tion.
 Day after day goes by and the re- neWal of the German attack below l Ypres is delayed There have been | 4,,so oJ-r 41 1{ t the river Lys between MeriviIle and Bethune, but these have broken down before they ever reached the British l lines. North of the river the Allies have rained shells on Mt. Kemmel making the hard-won position practi- ically useless to the enemy. Mean while they have maintained their owr lines to the north of it and have ever bettered their position somewhat. The Germans have paid enormously
 in lives for what ground they have g won, yet all this gain of territory is valueless if they do not obtain theil f object of cutting the British army from the French and pushing it back against the sea. They must fight the battle to a finish and that pretty soon. Not g only will they never be as strong as - they were on March Fist, when the g great struggle began, but every day . finds them steadily weakening as they
 ! try the allied positions here and there
 l in tEs desperate hope of finding z
 Iwaak spot. Whatever their chance O r victory today, it will be smaller to- c rnofrow. Nobody can imagine Hind
 enberg admitting his own defeat, hence
 there must be another attack and the1 another until the last reserve division f is gone. Then it will be Foch's turn
 |
 '4ehips and ships and still nor
 ships" is no longer a cry of despai but of exultation, as vessels after yes . sel slides down the ways and take y her place in the bridge of ships t - France. American shipyards launches
 vessels aggregating 900 tons il
 March and 240,000 tons in April, an $ we have only just begun. What tn e achievement means is seen when " is considered that Great Britain, mo ther of ships, built but 1890 ton
 in March, and hopes to produce 250,
 900 tons per month by mid-summel = In all the United Kingdom there ar n but 209 shipways, while the Unite J. States will soon have 730 and ever l. one busy. Steel for these ships is be
 ing produced in numberless mills a,
 over the country and so perfect is tn 4 work that the parts fit as. they woui 'I if made in a single yard. The fabri r. cated ship is n0 longer an experilner II and they will follow each other dow d the ways just as fast as the ste'
 mills can supply the material.
 All shipbuilding records were broke on May 5th, when the steel freighte l' Tuckahoe, 5,54S tons slid into th