The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-07-04

without food, have become stale things
for the German populace. No victory
has come to the point where the war
will be Won and lost.
The allies have suffered all these
defeats, and today the morale and
spirit of her people is an hundred per
cent better than Germany's with all
her victories. And the allied fighting
forces are daily increasing while Ger.
many's are daily decreasing. Ameri-
can troops already in France no doubt
more than make up the total British
losses. 1t is estimated that the Ger.
man losses this spring will more than
offset the addition of their 1918 re-
cruits.
This is the hope for peace this year:
They will fail to crush the France
British army in the present offensive,
and Germany may. fearing the new
forces arriving rapidly from America,
offer such terms of peace as can be &C
cepted. There can be little doubt the
Austrian emperor's suggestion to
France about Alsace-Lorraine, made
soon after our entrance into the war,
was made with the advice and consent
of Germany.
1t was a feeler, made in the hopes
that France would quit fighting If she
could get back her lost provinces.
That France refused is to her ever
lasting glory. If Germany was ready
a year ago to give up Alsace-Lorraine
for peace, she is more ready for peace
now that her U-boat campaign has
failed and America is in the war. That
these provinces is one of the big is
sues there is no doubt, but it is by no
means the only issue. Lloyd George
once said there could be no peace IN
til Germany learned to pronounce
without stammering the word "restitu-
ton" She must also learn to speak
with emphasis the word "disarma-
ment."
AS Germany failed to crush the Brit.
ish army as it stood in Picardy and
Flanders on March 21st, the beginning
of the drive, she certainly cannot
crush it now, for across the channel
have come a host of fighting men. 1t
was announced in the British p%arlia-
ment the other day that never before
had SO many men crossed the channel
in so short a time. In addition there
have gone in behind the British,
French and American forces in vast
numbers.
Failing a German peace proposal
that can be accepted, England and
France will hold against the day when
Americas millions of fresh troops can
be sent against the warworn Germans.
And then the end.
Most remarkable. and in sharp O n
trast with reported conditions in Ger
many, is the attitude of the French
people. Many steps have been taken
for the conservation of food since
came to France, but there is no hun
ger. Everyone is we'll nourished. The
spirit of the people is miraculous. The
destruction of towns and cities, air
plane raids, long distance guns, hos
pitfalls filled with wounded-all these
have failed to crush the French spirit.
Never before has there been anything
like it.
l have talked with thousands of
them, men, women and children, and
l have heard none complain. There
has not been a strike nor a riot in
France during the war. There is the
utmost confidence as to ultimate re-
suits. No n thinks of anything but
final victory. 1t has not yet been my
privilege to interpret the spirit of the
British army or people, but we know
their history and traditions. We know
their logged determination to see this
thing through. What a cheering mes
sage was that of Lloyd George after
his return from a conference with
Pershing and the allied generals:
"Be of good cheer. We are all
right"
You folks at home daily receive the
news of the splendid courage of our
own boys. When the Germans cap
tured trenches held by United States
troops, u boys went back to the sec
ond trench, reformed, and recaptured
their trench at the point of the bay
onet. Today's dispatches contain this
from the Lorraine front:
After bombardment French and
American troops charged the Germans.
The boche evacuated. The Americans
penetrated as far AS the third German
trench and wrecked the shelters with
explosives at their ease"