Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-12-09
PRESS COMMENT.
WHAT ENGLAND HAS DONE.
PHILADELPHIA North American.

many in a few months would have con-
| quered Europe and doomed democracy;
yet even now the magnitude of her effort
and It's heavy cost are imperfectly under
| stood.
The mere statistics of the achievement
| are staggering. What France asked in
the beginning was the protection Of British
sea power and the military aid of I5O, 900
| troops. Let us compare the results with
| this initial program.
OF no single factor can it be truly said
| that it "won the war" but that the British
| fleet was the supreme force in destroying
kaiserlsm is incontestable. Il guarded
| the French and British coasts, made Sc
cure the transport of troops and sup
| plies, protected the sea-borne commerce
which alone gave the allied nations strength
TO wage the long unequal fight. 1t drove
| the German fleet into hiding and made its
every foray costly defeat. II swept
German merchantmen from the seas and
| condemned the empire 10 the slow
| strangulation of q blockade. OF five naval
| battles IT was victorious in four, by steady
| pressure for the four years 1T reduced the
| murdcrous submarine to final impotence:
1t alone made possible the transporting
| OF America S armies to the battlefront,
and at the end its command drew the
abJect surrender
During the four years Britain's naval
personnel grew from l45,O 900 men TO
406, 900 The tonnage Increased from
$500 600 to & 800, ,000-in the very stress
of conflict the country built a new fleet
second in size In the world. Patrols and
other auxiliary vessels number $500.
In single month the vessels of the fleet
have sailed "a total distance of 900, 900
miles, and IN a like period the auxiliaries
have made as high as 5000 900 miles
lndcr guard of the fleet there were trans
ported u 100000 troops with losses
from enemy action oi 400
But IN sea power Great Britain had |
merely to develop a supremacy already |
decisive; history viii ask rather how much |
oi sincerity and effort she put into other |
helds, Whist the financial burden OF =
war Is americans have learned something; |
they viii appreciate what II has meant to
Britain. with two-hfths Of our population
to carry war expenditures which this year
reached So 600 600 day and increased
the national debt from 81 000, 200 900 to
S25 000OO,0o0
Al the beginning Of tho war the regular
army had 536, 600 men, including re-
serves, with 250,000 militiamen enlisted
Tor home defense only Kitchener called
for 100000 men and got them in two
weeks. Within two months ,000 600
had been enlisted. hv June 1915, the |
number had been doubled When service
Ras made compulsory, in MAY, 1916, |
more than 5,000,00O Brltons were in |
army training as volunteers, a record
never approached in history Last spring |
very citizen between the ages Of Is years
md 80 was made liable for service. When |
he armistioe was signed the empire had
TO the cause Of freedom S.
$4,000 men, all but 100000 Of them
1cing actual combatants. OF these India
furnished 500, 900 and the her overseas
iominions 100000 The quota Of Great
Scotland and Wales =
eas ~ per cent; and those countries suf-
cred Sc per cent OF the casualties,
British forces were engaged during the 5
var on nineteen distinct fronts, in Bel '
mum, France, Italy the Dardanelles. the t
Balkans, Egypt, Palestine, Persia, Meso- {
,otamIa east, west and southwest Africa. | r
hina, the Pacific islands, Arabic. western | /
Russia, northern Russia. Transcaucasia e
nd Siberia. While Britain's strategists !
tcre often criticised, it is worth noting
hat two oonlmanders-Fench and Haig L
earned her 10 vlctoryNon the western |
ront, while the Germans and French |
ach changed their leadership three times.
This was war OF machinery as we'll as
II men, what was Britain's record here7 +
'he entered the war with 100000 rifles. | T
100 machine guns, few score airplanes. \
Tneager supply OF artillery and virtually I
zone OF the high explosive ammunition 7
hat Germany had in mountainous supply. !
n August, 1914, she had three ordnance (
actories, and during the following sum- ,
ner her gunners were limited TO four T
ounds a day.
In March 1917, she had l49 national :
rdnaucc and ammunition plants, and :
early 1000 factones under government |
ontrol IN the third wear of the war ,
hc was making in thirteen DAYS as many ,
-inch smells as she produced In the first !
ear Of the war: as many howitzer shells !
five days: as many heavy shells in | 7
Ncnty-folu nours. Comparing the third =
car with the FIRST her output of heavy =
lnnon had been multiplied q times; Of | I
acmne guns 50 times; OF rife ammunition \
) times; Of artillery ammunition 20 p
mes. TINS year she manufactured more | =
Tpanes IN a week tnan she did in all Of | =
9l4, and more IN three months than she | Z
ID IN 1916. Throughout the war Britain r
applied her Allies with 90, 600, 600 tons Of u
lal, and France alone with one-third of | =
le British output of shell steel 7
II was the great British merchant | r,
anne, with British shlpbWlding, that | u
ept the free nations and their ARMIES | r.
IpplIed, despite the destruction Of L
jllIons Of tons OF shipping by the sub | r
arne. In keeping the hfe-blood Of II
,mmcrcc flowing II 600 British seanen | :,
ST their hives What British Y omen have r.
me for the war makes a marvellous chap "a
r in the record Last January St5. 900 u
them were making munitions 20 per
mt oi the machine work on shells being
,nc by them More thar 5000 served -
ar the battlefront IN France. 700 -
IRE IN auxiliary military service, and -
$50, 900 in war industries II was -
rgely due 10 women that O00, 600 adj :.
tional acres Of land were put under =
luyatIon and they had thajr share in =
ritain's burden of caring for 800 900 !.
fugecs from Belgium and France ::
But II is in the lists Of casualties that /.
G tale of BrtaIn's sacrifice is told y
resident Wilson has gone 10 Europe TO :,
gist that each nation shall be prepared To :.
'ay the price for peace" What has I.
1taln paid? (,
During the seventeen months 10 the +
ID nf l9l 5 she lost in killed. wounded I,
III missing, 5.JO,0OO men IN 1916 the /.
! ran to $50 900, in 1917 to 500 900; =
IS year above | 900, 0u0 During last | :,
inc alone her losses were 1fl 900 The =
iicIal figures for the whole war show /.
- ,665 men killed and more than 3, ,OO0,- =
Il S.cttpapI cHta.rg tnpa fh.,a ..rar.. | -