The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-02-09
FULL. STRENGTHEN
AMERICA NEEDED
Victory Possible Only if United
States Puts Everything
Into Fight.
ADMITTED IN HIGH QUARTERS
Authorities Agree That Combined
Might Of Entente Allies Is Not
Sufficient to Defeat the
Enemy.
BY JOHN LLOYD BALpER6ToN.

BY JOHN LLOYD BALpERSToN.
Copyright. 1917. by the Mcclure Newspa-
per SyndicateD
Iondon.-UuleSs the American PEG
pie put their backs into This war, the
German autocracy will not be beaten.
The combined might of Great Britain,
France, Russia and Italy is not sutit-
cicnt to defeat the enemy or even 70
take from him All AZ his gains and re
establish the balanc" Of power - IL eX-
listed in 1914. Whether the war is to be
won. or is TO end in q draw and Il Vir-
tual German victory, is II problem the
answer to which must be sought in The
United States.
Al this is privately admitted in high
quarters. After all tn" bloody S"cr.-
fees the housings and lie claims that
have been INDUCED in au.in@ the last
thrrr wears. these thiu-s cannot h..
openly stated to jir uCul les ~ thc en-
trnta hy their statesmen. (;u- they
ought to be known TO Americans.
When American officials ute" ~e|.4-a
warnings t. TIN i#.rI.r, tioy &"r NOT In-
dul-iug IT. orator. cEr--.nr%r"d frr taa
purpose Of cnrmTa-.Er recruiting Or
arou~ing public sentiment: they are
rclHaG tn sober truth. or Mart of II.
It's communicated ty The rrrrn>rutu-
lives Of the allies.
The urttor cannot be accused of sui
denly taking up possimi~tic atitW"
to increase the war efforts of his conn
trvmen. For more than two years !!
have presented diSDaSSionate views "t
he war situation, diScountjn- the
claims of both sides and repeatedly
stating the impoSsihility of military
victory either for Germany or the en-
tente unless some new factors entered
into the situation.
Two New Factors.
Two new factors have appeared. the
submarine anarchy and the beiliser-
cncy of the United States.
The submarine is biting deep into the
economic life of the world: it presents
Germany with a chance, not apparent
before, to win the war outright and
dictate terms of peace to PROSTATE enc
mics even more ruthless than those
which were to have been enforced af-
ter the capture Of Paris in September,
1914
The United States IS n potential
force; not. like the submarine, an ac-
iual power at the present moment. II
the United States did nothing, Ger
many would win the war. If the Unit
"a States supplied money. and som"
shps and some food. the war might
end in a draw. Americas effort neutral
ling the submarine and restoring the
deadlock as 1t existed before last Feb
ruary. If. and only if. the United States
puts everything into the fight with all
possible speed. her intervention will
outweigh the submarine IN the balance
and win the war.
II is only by viSualiZing the world
situation as a whole, examined in the
light of reason and not in the rosy
Lucs of PATRIOTISM or sentiment, that
the nature of the task can be mad'
clear. TO do this the investigator
must know something about tn" mill
tary resources of the two Alliances
how many troops they have in the flFld
and what reserves are backing UP the
r0mbatants, and he must know rs well
the figures of lost tonnage. the rate at
which ships sunk are being replaced.
and the facts about the food prospects.
Then. by co-relating the factors iilil-
tary, economic and naval, and not tor-
getting the moral factors he can form
some Judgment as to the prospects oil
the war. The writer is not in the con
fidence of any high commands: nut the
broad truths about the armies, the sub
marines, and the food shortage are
we'll known in informed circles. even
though they cannot be discussed IN the
press. In n newspaper dispatch gener-
aIizations can be made. but the fact
rpon which they are based cannot be
mt forward. | can only say that ali
the statements in this story rest upon
what | believe to be accurate lnforlna-
ton.
Lenuth of War important Question.
The most important question for
Americans Mt present is the length OF
the war, because upon this point de-
ponds the question of effective Ameri-
can cooperation. There is very llttie
possibility that Germany can be
beaten in the field in decisive fashion
within two years. This is an opinion
widespread among military men, TO
which almost any man Conversant with
the approximate field strength of both
alliances would heartily subscribe.
To say this is not TO say that the
war will last two years. If the United
States will promptly raise and equip an
army of millions, 1t Will be possible to
put great numbers of troops on the
western front next spring and summer,
and to have an army in Europe at the
beginning of the sixth campaigning sea-
son. in 1919. capable Of winning the
war. This being true, the Germans
may capitulate before that time; but
they will only do so if convinced that
America is willing and able to strike
the final blow.
On the other hand. the entente can
not last through the two years which
may be necessary TO destroy the Ger