Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-05-10
ALLIES WAIT ON
j. s. To WIN WAR,
CHURCHILL SAYS
Am erican Man Power Must Turn
Tide Against the Germans,
British Minister Insists.
SEE NO PEACE TILL 1920


extent of the task which is before the
United States if the war against Ger
many Is to be won may be Icsscncd To
considerable extent by the frank state
mcnt made in London yesterday by
Winston Spencer Churchill, British Min
lister of Munitions.
Colonel Churchill plainly says II is
now the province OF the Allies on the
western front simply To hold" until
the Americans can get to France In suiil-
Gent numbers 10 turn the tide against the
Kaiser and his kind The British and the
French, he declares will not bc overcome,
They will maintain a firm front through
out the summer. using their deadly wcap-
ons upon the German masses and hlls-
banding their own strength. Meantime
our kith and kin from the United States
are coming to our aid ms fast as ships
can steam.
CoUNTER-oFTTNsIvE \ DREAM.
An effort has been made before to i'm
press the fact upon Washington that the
Allies are placing their last reliance for
victory upon tho man-power of the United
States Money aud food from this country
are essential. but men are vital Despite
all the arguments which have been adj
vanccd along this line, however. there
has persisted in some official quarters
the relief that somehow or other the war
would hc over this wear. that the Allies
needed only our material assistance 10
put quick end 10 the Boche and all hls
works
Among the moro earnest war workers III
the administration the hope was expressed
today hat the direct utteranccs Of Colonel
Churchill would not 90 UNDECIDED They
/ i, Il
like hope which undenlahlv existed here
that " Washington would awake some morn
ing to tnd the French and the British
had started countcr-oflcnslve more
furious than ANYTHING lIlndenburg and
Ludendortf have been able 10 APPROACH
and the Germans would be driven back
toward the Rhine beaten and done
ALLIES RELY on AMERICA
There no longer should bc any lingering
doubt regarding the role the Allies expect
the United States to play in the final
stages Of the war The confident faith in
the French and British have placed in the
| nitcd States since the first day war was
declared upon Germany has been one OF
the greatest compliments this country
ever has known. They were only too
eager To believe the wild stories which
spread from Washington and New
\ ork last April relative to what America
would do IN a few brief months And
this supreme faith Of the Allied peoples
should serve fully TO explain some Of the |
felt ON the other side 10y !
the failure of the | nItcd States to accom-
plsh more IN its first year OF war They !
us to do the thing 50 much better |
than they had done IT,
Colonel Churchill was one OF the few /
tar-seeIng enough 10 admit |
long before the mted states went into !
the war that the Allies could not hope for |
a decisive victory without the and of |
American troops This may have been /
partly accounted for by the fact that 50
much American blood courses through his |
VEINS, but beng a practical sort 81 man
rather than visionary or sentunentallst. !
he came quickly TO realize that the Ger .
man armies and those of the Entente were
too evenly matched 70 permit of any
thing but a deadlock in the west
UNABLE TO WIN WITHOUT u.
| was member OF the war correspon-
dent mess at the British front winter
before last. when We had the pleasure Of
Colonel Churchill at dinner
sat next u hIm and he discussed the war
situation in its every aspect with that
almost brutal frankntsS which al times
rharacterizes the British statesman
Events which have transplred since that
line and conditions which exist at the mo- /
ment make It permissible TO repeat what
o.onel Churchill sand to Us IN a bret
4fter-dlnner talk He had been serving
Is First Lord OF the Admiralty and told
some ROndTOus stories of the navy IN the
first days Of the war Then he came to the
situation on the western front, and il Is
1nly fair 10 say he startled all his hearers
~ suddenly eXclaming
"Gentlemen it is utterly Senseless for
rs to pretend that We can win tins war
unless America comes IN The British
and the French armies have not the weight
10 crush the Germans They cannot de
ieat us. ! know, but neither can We de
eat them without the added man-power
mat the United States could give US.
VICTORY ~ SIGHT
This true prohepcy was made, it must
be remembered, at time when the
Russian armies still were holding firm
and there was no thought Of the quick
IlstintegTation which Was to come to
hem II was also at q time when the
British and French armies were prepar-
ny through the winter for a grand Of
til'iFC III tit IbliIlR 81 ~ siIi piitI-
i've that was to sweep the Germans
back 70 their own borders, III the opinion
IF some Of the best military stragetists.
As Colonel Churchill saw the hopeless
leos Of that task when he spoke Of the
necessity Of America aid, 50 now ne
ecs ultimate victory 10 sight, with the
peeding Of American troops to Europe
is fast As ships can steam. 1t Is the only
way
Washington has been reluctant in com
ng to the conclusion that an Allied coun-
er-Offensve this summer Is entirely out
# the question Colonel Churchill's state
nent Of the fact that the French and the
British must husband their resources
throughout the coming campaign should
Iowever, be convincing.
ALLIES ON THE DEFENSIVE
The military experts have come to
ealize too, that the so-called stragctic
eserye army created by the supreme
ar council at Versailles, if it ever ex-
ted in fact, has not sufficient strength
} carry out an offensive by itself 1t
ems now that this army merely had
cen planned Perhaps it existed in skel-
ton form and remained to be filled In
the time the German offensive broke |
In any event, it should have been !