The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1918-01-04

new armies. A feeling Is growing up
here that in some miraculous way
America is going to do very startling
things In the very near future. That
hope is, of course, baseless.
The man in the street in London
| gives vent 10 most extravagant figures
on the subject of the American army.
He seems TO feel that the hundreds of
thousands of recruits he reads about
daily will fall upon the Germans in a
few months. The danger undoubtedly
exists that when he finds that his ex-
| pectations are unfounded, his present
mood towards America will undergo
great change. Men here who know
the facts about what America is doing.
and what France and England are do
ing and have done, are alive to the
danger that extravagant hopes may
lead to reactions that will imperil the
good relations that are so greatly de-
| sired.
Secrecy Gives False Perspective.
On the other hand, the present sys-
tenn Of making everything public in
America regarding American war
preparations, and continuing to con-
| ceal the facts in France and England,
prevents Americans from learning the
truth about the achievements of their
allies. and by the time our troops are
fighting in France, may throw the
whole war into false perspective.
The difficulty Is due to the Ameri-
can habit Of trusting the people with
| the facts, or with most of them. Amer
leans are told how many men are train
| ing, and where; how many guns and
airplanes are being built; what the ma
| val program consists in; almost every
thing about the war excepting the ac-
tual sailings of troops for the front,
| and even those apparently become pub
lie property very quickly. What
Americans know about war prepara-
tons in the United States quickly cir
culates in Europe, in inflated form, be-
| cause here the widest rumors and
most optimistic reports are credited.
Here, on the contrary, from the be-
ginning of the war people have been
told nothing about their army or fleet
The man in the street has no idea how
many divisions Britain has in the field:
the very names of her twenty newest
battleShips, even the whereabouts of
the fleet, are unknown to him; the
whole war is being conducted in alb
solute secrecy. Deleted by Censor).
More Publicity Needed Abroad.
That such distorted view of the
war should become current Is obvious
ly most unfortunate and undesirable.
The cure would seem to lie in more
publicity in Britain and France, rath-
er than less in the United States; If
1t were possible to tell the world what
is being done here, in the same graphic
way that people are being informed
about the preparations in America, the
German STATS might get some valu-
able information, but the German peo-
pie certainly would be plunged in de-
spair.
If the United States Is able to place
In the battle line in France, when the
campaign gets fairly under way next
spring, one-CDeleted by Censor) the
number of British and French troops
that will be standing in the trenches,
allied military experts will be delight
ed. They do not expect so much help
In so short time.
\ The only precedent for the efforts
Of America to play part in the war in
France lies in the transport overseas,
In 1915, of Canadian and Australian
troops. The Canadians had one regi-
ment Of Boer war veterans, the Prin-
Dot In,
ter, but a Canadian division was not
able to take over a sector of its own
until April, 1915, eight months after
war began. The Australian and New
Zealand army corps reached Egypt, on
the way to the Dardanelles campaign,
about the same time that the first Ca
nadians disembarked in France.
1t is not thought possible here that
the United States can greatly better
the record of the British Dominions,
because the Dominion troops had the
advantage of the existing war machin-
cry in London, and were at first placed
under British STATS. The American
army is being compelled to improvise
its own machinery and it's own staff
out of a war establishment not more
than one-fifth as big as, and with far
less war experience than, the one exist
ing In London In 1914. (Deleted by
Censor).
Tactics Changed Since 1916.
When, In the distant future, the
American armies do charge upon the |
enemy, the science of war will bear lit |
tie resemblance to the 1915 and 1916
fighting which the phrase "over the |
top" conjures up to the average read |
er. A great bombardment, while lines |
Of men wait in trenches with fixed bay |
onets to charge upon the enemy at |
dawn; wild bayonet melee among |
spluttering machine-gun bullets; then
the feverish organization Of captured
trenches against counter-attack-this
xyo xrar I'm, tho old dave nf no Sornfua