Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-10-12

in Albania. These forces are trying to
collect along the railway leading to
Nish and Belgrade, and those which are
already along that line are iaIrng back
on Nish before the Franco-Serbian ad-
vance. 1t is highly probable tnat liiey
have managed to get much OF the roll
ling stock on the main line back, Into
Austria. and 1t may lie taken as certain
that they are damaging the railway line
as they fall back. ~ must tberefose
be some time before the Allied' forces
in Serbia and Bulgaria can establish
new front on the Danube and get into
touch with Rumana. When this hap
pens the strain upon exhausted Austria
will be greatly Increased So that the
outlook here for the Centrar Powers is
black, and what they Immediately re-
qure Is time to reconstitute the, Dnn-
ube front and get their scattered forces
together.
Czechs Need Aid rf
In Russia the position Is that. thanks
to the intervention of the Allied forces
which landed at Vladivostok. our posi-
tion as far as Lake Baikal is virtually
assured. Between Lake Baikal and the
Trails the Czecho- -Slovaks are supreme.
and they control the Trans-Siberian
Railway for some 400 miles west of the
Trails as far as Kazan and Samaria. In
termittent warfare Is being waged be-
tween the Czecho- -Slovak and the Boil
shevil< forces, in which the former have,
on the whole. held their own. but are IN
need OF assistance Between the lower
Vologda and the Caucasus the Cossacks,
who are anti-German and antt- B6fshe-
vik are in control. But the whole Of
. 10, Of Of ha
with the exception of Archangel and the
Murman coast. is in the hands either of
the Germans or of the Bolsheyikt SiTbe
Germans themselves dominate southern
Finland and Russia west of the line from
Reval to the Sea, of Azoy, and have con-
troll Of the Black Sea. But they have
already had to withdraw troops from
these areas. ,f' ~ : y.
As the position on the western front
grows more and more critical and the
need for protecting the Danube frontier
of Austria becomes more pressing the
chances of their being able to maintain
n sufficient force in Russia and Finland
to insure their dominion grows smaller.
1t follows, them that thetposition of
the Central Powers can never be more
unfavorable than , it is today, Their
military power on the western2Tront is
declining that of the Allies Is ncreas-
ing. Nothing ean be looked for from
Turkey. They are threatened with'''a
new danger on the Danube and they
cannot hope to better their position, In
Russia. An armstice means the ces-
sation of hostilitles. but carries with
it no obligation not to resume active.
warfare.
At. best it would allow Germany to
enter the peace Conference WITH Iyiorei
pawns in hand than she IL likely to have
at a later date; at worst II would give
her time to reform her fronts and rss
enter the struggle in better. posture The
bargain is so utterly one-sided thattk
Ia impossible TO believe that Prince May
can have believed it would be accented.
One can only guess at what lay behind
the offer, and at the present Junctire
guessing Is not advisable. As we have
seen in the case, Of Bulgaria, refusal
to agree to an armistice does not imply
refusal to continue negotiations. Presi-
dent Wilson has not shut the dboS "a ndI
II remains to be seen whether Oermanv
intends to keep II open