Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1918-04-17
AMERICA SPELLS
GERMAN DEFEAT
Entry Into War Means Victory for
Allies, Says British
Writer.
CONTROL or FOOD WILL WIN
Now a Case in Which "the Dog Has
Begun to Bite the Pig" SAYS
Writer-Something Rotten
in Germany.

London.-How Americas entry into
the war has hurt Germany is the sub
/ ject of an interesting article in the
Birmingham Post by Edgar Wallace,
| author and military correspondent IL
/ Is now a case in which "the dog mas
begun to bite the pig" he says.
/ at is as we'll" Mr.. Wallace writes.
ito separate the causes Of the present
/ German offensives from the circum-
| 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 ac-
tive factor In the war, could not have
been employed: we know that the Itai-
ian has lost nearly 100000 men in the
course of the fighting of the last
month; but neither of these facts ex-
! plains the German offensive plan. For
example, the push against the Isonzo
was obviously uninfluenced by italian
| losses-because they had not occurred.
The push against Italy was and is part
of the great scheme which would GER
tainly have been carried out even IL
Russia had remained loyal to the alli-
ance.
"Reason Is America >"
"The reason is summed up in the
word America l do not particularly
refer to the forces which America will
put into the field. The German gem
eral staff, | am certain, has no par
ticular fear that sufficient American
troops will be put into the field next
year to secure decision against Ger
many. l doubt very much whether the
German is worrying at all about what
will happen in the field in the summer
of 1918 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 the winter.
ut is no secret that Germany had
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 BUSH
ness. and strictly in the way of BUSH
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 war, she called millions
/ 8 10 hos I'M Cfv.foe
| to meet the demands of war-and then
she sat down to take 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!' (if the picturesque vulgarity be
allowed).
"In the old nursery rhyme, when the
stick began to beat the dog, the dog
began to bite the pig. If 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 If 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 it
will be fairly bad The German crops
were poor-as were all the worlds.
Nobody but a perfectly insane per-
son or a statistician-who will believe
nythlng-imagines that the world
shortage Of food does not affect Ger
many. 1t does affect her very serious
| ly. 1t viii affect her worse this year
than 1t did last.
Food is going to decide this war
The fact that the German censor has
closed down all reference to food diff
ficulties and coal shortages is signiti-
cant The things that Germans do not
talk about are the things that matter.
If we are witnessing the beginning OF
series of offensives in the west and
the opening of a new campaign, that
campaign. as 1 have said before, is a
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 rations themselves.
eff my theory is sound and well
founded we should look to the collapse
of the war in June or July. 1 do not
say If the German does not break us
in the field between now and August.
He won't break us in the field or starve
US in our homes"
-~~~~~--~---o~~-~-~~---~