Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-10-31

anu lHS ICflltlca' ION ol new liles oi
thu basis of the lessons of the pres
ent campaign.
Meantime, Berlin I'M Vienna will
launch a Tremendous peace offensive
designed to separate the rulers OF the
various countries, that is, the leaders
from their people. They will make
V y conceivable verbal n sion.
selves and argue that only the imper-
ialistic ambitions OF their foes prevent
the making of peace. Such an often
stve will certainly have a great effect
in Germany; we shall have to be on
our guard to prevent It's making .ro-
gress In our own countries.
We may assume that tho peace Of
fensive will fail; we may assume that
the allied nations will stand firm :tnd
insist upon a complete surrender as
the only condition of peace. Then,
when spring comes, Germany will have
made her plans for another campaign;
she will retire TO her selected posi-
tons, leaving devastated districts be-
hind her, and strive to break our first
offensive blows as she broke those OF
Nivelle r Haig in 1917. All of her
still considerable will go in
to this first effort, and the German
leaders may calculate that they can
prolong the fighting for another hole
summer and see the campaign end
"eSsA WIN NlC ol lLoS M4lAllll LlC
w boundries, out Of Alsace-Lorraine
and behind the Rhine In such a sit
uation Germany may hope and will
nope that peace can be had without
surrender, with her position with re-
spect to Russia mistaken and with the
essential integrity of Austria assured.
This would be a far better ending to
the war than is now o%btainable. And
there is always the possibility, certain
to be counted upon by Germany, that
some allied nation would weary, that,
for example, the new election in Brit
ain might turn out a victory for pa
cifism.
No Middle Ground.
Short OF a military victory this
there will be a campaign of 1919 be-
cause the only conditions on which
we are willing to make peace with
Germany are conditions which the
mass of the Germans will not accept
until their capacity for military
resistance has been exhausted, and
that is far from the case at the pres
ent moment. Frederick the Great and
Louis XIV successfully defied Europe,
after terrible defeats and even in
vasions. Germany hopes now 20 make
peace on the basis of things as they
were in 1914, while keeping alive the
possibility Of profiting from the de-
SeiocIAo11 VI reuSSla. 6uI LnlS means
nothing more nor less than that Ger
many will consent to abandon now
what n feels that she cannot accom-
plish In h present war, and that
she will begin on the morrow of peace
to prepare a new attack upon civiliza-
ton. building on the same foundations
on which she built in the years before
the present struggle.
There is no middle ground for cop.
promise between the world and the
German; not to break his military
power or compel him to surrender is to
consent to the continued existence of
his military machinery. is to leave
open Tor the future all h old avenues
war and retained Silesia. Victory is
not and will not be geographical. Fred
erick the Great lost Berlin. but won his
war an dretained Silesia. Victory is
not comparative; 1t Is in the nature Of
things absolute. The destruction Of
the German. army, whether by defeat
on the battlefield or by even more ig-
nominious surrender in advance Of the
final blow.
Looked at calmly. our successes
since July 10 are only a degree more
Impressive than those of Ludendorff
before that date. We have not yet pro-
crossed Is far north Of the Linden
burg line as the German got south OF
1t in the spring. He took 100000 pris-
oners n $500 guns; we have taken
25O,OOO prisoners and $500 guns. He
has Belgium behind him and the lines
OF the Mouse. Ardennes and the Rhine.
He arrived within 40 miles of Paris;
we are not yet as near as that to Brus-
sells. He has lost a campaign. but we
nave lost the campaigns of 1915, 1916
and 1917. Bulgaria has quit him, but
Russia quit us. Turkey Is falling, but
Belgium. Serbia and Rumania fell and
still we endured.
hY0rry H. --.
timated and cannot be exaggerated in
Its Importance. The German may be
morally conquered. but there is yet no
sign OF 1t. He is fighting doggedly, de-
terminedly. n his defense Is not a
shade weaker than our defense between
March q and July is. He is fighting,
not with a growing consciousness Of
what absolute defeat means. He sees
ahsut him the ruins of Belgian and
French cities and provinces; he knows
that M same ruiz or the price Of the
ruin must be found in Germany. His
courage may depart or a wild and agon-
izeu determination to avert impending
national ruin may fire him to still more
(des ermined resistance.
about me q growing conviction
that the war Is over and that we are
sealing the asst phase Of the decisive
battle-that peace by Christmas, IL
assured.it may be so, but 1t is at least
- AsAesy tn0t We are seeing the end OF
one more campaign in which there has
been no ultimate decision. no breaking
Of the armed resistance and no, tanning
OF n will OF the opponent Fol my
sell. ! expect to see q campaign OF 1919;
l believe the German viii still be in,
arms and fighting desperately when:
next spring comes and that Il will take
all OF u best strength to break his
military power next rear in full and
TERRIBLE campaign. -
Negotiated peace 1. and viii remain