The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1918-01-10
POWERS FACING EACH OTHER
FOR FINAL EFFORT.
BOTH SIDES WILL DRAW BLOOD
Germans to Make Frenzied Effort tc
Beat Back the Inevitable End.
Allies May staeeer But the
Hun Is Whipped.
(By X. Walter)

London, Jan. THE report of Col
onel Houses mission has made an ex-
cellent impression in London. More
than any other statement it given an
idea of the businesslike arrangements
concluded at the Paris conference.
There had been certain amount of
pessimistic rumor owing to the short
duration of the conference, which was
denied by subsequent statement in
Paris and London and has now been
entirely swept aside by Colonel
Houses account of the systematic co.
ordination in all branches of allied
operations and supplies. 1t is now evil
dent that the short sitting of the con.
ference was due only to the strictly
business manner of its deliberations
and not to any limitations of the bust
ness it found itself able to tackle.
Matching Resources.
The recommendation that the fight
ing forces fthe United States should
be despatched to Europe with the
least possible delay is taken as official
assurance of policy which Washing
ton adopted from the beginning. 1t
will help to persuade curiosity as to
the number of Americans in France to
give way to the number of Americans
in France to give adequate to the mill
tary program. 1t is pretty generally
taken for granted, however, that the
American forces are not assembling
behind the French and British front
at the same speed with which Ger
many is piling up her reserves from
the surplus liberated by the Russian
debaole and it is anticipated that Ger
many will make an offensive greater
than any yet known, before the United
States is able to readjust the balance
of military power.
Germany Numbers Strongest.
Until the Germans began to bring
divisions from Russia this balance
mad grown to be in favor of the Allies
owing to the great increase in the
British strength. Today it is commonly
known that Germany can put a larg.
er number of men into the field than
are available on the side of the Allies.
For this reason it would not be sur
prising should a German offensive OBJ
tain some slight temporary success in
the capture of territory or its evacua-
ton by the Allies for the purpose of
taking up of positions already prepar-
ed for defense. There is no question
whatever of the Germans breaking
through or that they will not be made
to pay price for any gains or near
gains of ground just as disastrous as
that they paid at Verdun.
The British and French commands
are also quite wide awake as to the
possibility of turning desperate Ger
man offensive into an even greater
disaster for the enemy for desperate,
undoubtedly, will be the next great
military effort of Hindenburg because
it is evident that he cannot count
much longer upon public support for
many more such bloody sacrifices.
Situation is Serious.
1t is just as we'll for Americans to
realize the serious state of the mill
tary situation. Like the English, they
welcomed the Russian revolution with
a whole heart, little thinking of the
part they would have to play in con-
nection with that upheaval. In the
French revolution the French killed
each other; in the American revolu-
tion British and Americans killed
each other; but the Russian revolution
has already cost as many lives if ltal-
ians as of Russians; it is costing the
French and British lives today, and
tomorrow it will claim its American
sacrifices. This is part of the price of
democracy which it is hard to have
to pay. 1t is impossible to believe that
when the Russian people realize what
their conduct has involved they will
sell their democracy so cheaply to the
Germans, as. until about today, they
seemed about to do.
Look at the Map.
The German aim of Mitteleleuropa
has been extended to the colossal po-
litical objective of an extension of
Prussianism thousand miles to the
east as well as to the southeast She
hopes to dominate all the people of
the backward Russian races and add
many states rich in material and man
power to her other military yassals.
Probably she will everyday her hand
ard in the end be punished for her
political campaign in Russia as thor
ougl'ly as Napoleon suffered In his
military venture But however soon
the Russian peoples realize their dam
ger AMI face n. they cannot now re-
"a .tlt