The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1918-01-25
AMERICA SPELLS
GERMAN DEFEAT
Entry Into War Means Victory for
Allies, Says British
Writer.
CONTROL Of FOOD WILL WIN
Now q Case in Which "the Dog Has
Begun to Bite the Pig" Says
Understanding Rotten
in Germany.

London.-TIow Americas entry irto
the war has hurt Germany is the sub.
jet of an interesting article In the
birmingham Post by Edgar Wallace.
author and military correspondent. It
is now a case in which "the dog has
begun to bite the pig" he snys.
ut is as WE'LL" Mr.. Wallace writes,
ITO separate the causes of the present
German offensives from the clrcum-
stances which have made them pos
sible. We know that the stagnation
Of the Russian front allows the Ger
mans to employ In the west troops
which, were the Russian army an &c
tive factcv Il the war, could not have
been employed; we know that the ital-
ian has lost nearly 100000 men in the
course Of the fighting Of the last
month; but neither Of these facts x
plains the German offensive plan. For
example, the push against the Isonzo
was obviously uninfluenccd by Italian
losses-because they had not occurred.
The push against Italy vas and Is part
Of the great scheme which would GER
tainly have been carried out even 1t
Russia had remained loyal to the nlli-
ance.
treason ls America ;"
"The reason is summed up In the
word America I do not particularly
refer to the forces which America will
put into the field. The German gen.
eral staff. I am certain. has no par
ticular fear that sufficient American
troops will be put into the field next
year to secure a decision against Ger
many. / doubt very much whether the
German is worrying ut all about what
will happen In the field in the summer
Of 1913. But he is tremendously con-
cerned over what will happen in Ger
many between May and August of that
year unless he can break the fighting
spirit OF the entente during the forth
coming months Of tho winter.
1T is no secret that Germany Lad
been drawing large supplies Of food
and necessary raw material from
America. via neutral countries. Amer
lea supplied these articles In the way
Of business. just as she supplied Brit.
ain with material in the way Of busl-
ness. and strictly in the way of busl-
ness the neutral countries had been
passing on their imports to Germany.
"And so this jolly war might have
gone on whilst Germany's credit
abroad held-only America came In.
She declared val, she called millions
of men, she recognized her industries
to meet the demands of war-and then
she sat down to take a good look at the
neutrals. And they seemed unneces-
sarily bloated. They did their best to
engage her sympathy. And they had
little bread and potato riots just to
show there was no deception.
"But America understood. She said
very simply. Feed yourselves. you big
%stiffs!' III the picturesque vulgarity be
allowcd).
I'm the old nursery rhyme, when the
stick began to beat the dog. the dog
began to bite the pig. II the neutral
has no food to spare and cannot buy
any In America. the German cannot buy
food from the neutral. In fact, the dog
has begun to bite the pig. The neu-
trails have no right to complain.
:. Something Rotten In Germany.
$50 many millions Of tons of food
stuffs which came to Germany once In
the dear dead days are not coming any
more. She Is that much shorter OF
food. We do not know for certain the
conditions of Germany's food reserves.
That there Is something rotten there
we know from the curious attitude OF
Bulgaria.
"But IL the German, with all the sup
plies he was securing from the neutral.
was short in the spring Of 1917. what
will be his position in the spring Of
1918, when the new American embargo
becomes fully operative? We think 1t
will be fairly bad. The German crops
were poor-as were all the worlds.
Nobody but a perfectly insane per-
o or q stntistician-who will believe
nnything-imagines that the world
shortage of food does not affect Ger.
many. 1t does affect her very serious
IL. It will affect her worse this year
than It did last.
FOOD Is going to decide this war.
The fact that the German censor has
closed down oil reference to food diff
icultics md coal shortages Is slgnIf-
can't. The things that Germans do not
talk about are the things that matter.
II VIC ore witnessing the beginning OF
a series Of orensivcs In the west and
the opening Of a new campaign. that
campaign. as ! have sold before, Is q
hunger offensive. and the plan dates
from that day when America decided
that It was a good idea to ration the
neutrals, but they would have to find
the rntlOns themselves.
"If my theory Is sound aud we'll
founded we should look to the collapse
Of the war in June or July. / do not
say II the German does not break ~