The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-08-08
Continued from page u

y
assistance rendered by the American
French, Italian and Japanese fleets
but the British feet is so incompar
ably greater and it's operations are o,
scale Of such greater magnitude
that | must digress especially upol
this point. Its importance and tn,
immensely Of its efforts in the wa,
should be realized.
1.-THE American naval commission
which came over recently saw 8
great deal Of the effort of the British
navy and was Immediately struck
with the vastness of the work which
is being done. l was especially anx
ious that steps to be taken to make
known not only here but in America
the gigantic character of the task we
are doing.
Unless the allies had been com.
pletely triumphant at sea from the
outset of the war no effort on the
land could have saved them. The
British fleet has been mainly respon.
sible for that complete triumph,
which could not have been secured
and maintained without gigantic ef.
forts in men and material. ANY dis
t-ribution of resources which would
impair in the least the effort would
be ruinous to the forces of the allies
Il would like to point out, in deal.
ing with the army and its growth,
that the maintainence of the navy
and the mercantile marine is the first
charge on the resources Of the coun-
try. Our military effort has been
subject to the demands Of these obi.
cations on our resources in men and
material, yet since August 1914, in.
Guiding those already with the colors,
Great Britain alone has raised for
the army and navy $3.50, 900 men, for
the most part voluntarily. The do.
ninions contributed 100000 and
India 1,25O,OOO.
III America were to call to the
colors the same number of men as
Great Britain in proportion to popu.
lation it would mean nearly 10000.
600 men.
What Russia's Defeat Meant
On the western front, after the
enemy had been relieved of all an.
prehension on the eastrn front be-
cause of the Brest-Litovsk peace, the
Germans brought all their best divi-
sions against us and our allies,
therefore, when the German often
slve began, March 81, the allies were
confronted by the flower of the Ger.
man army who had rested and made
preparations especially for the great
blow while the French and British
were tired by the prolonged offensive
on our part under the most exhaust.
ing conditions.
Considerable American forces had !,
been expected to reach the battle.
front by spring but as matter of
fact on the 21st Of March there was
only one American division in the
line although there were three or
feur division behind the line which
were brought up after the attack be.
gan.
THE weather conditions were the
most favorable that the enemy could
have chosen. Our united command
was not yet an accomplished fact, in
spite of all endavors to achieve It.
and each general was mainly con.
cerned over the perils of his own
front, so that when the blow came
the reserves of allied armies were
not available to meet 1t where it fell.
Those were the conditions under
which the long prepared and careful.
ly planned blow of the picked troops
OF Germany fell upon the British
army. The enemy's object was to OBJ
tain a military decision this year be-
fore the American army could come
up, first of all by severing the two
armies and then attacking the sepa- {
rated French and British forces.
cermany's .chance-and .EnsIand's
Supreme Effort
I'VE must understand the enemy a
plan in order to realize what the val. I
lae of the British army achieved t
II the two objects had been obtained a
the American forces could not have q
arrived in time to save the French I
army. That was the German calcu. t
lation. Let us not forget that in the 2