The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1918-01-17
OnIy Cloud on Horizon in Opinion
of Optimistic Leader of
Teut0n Forces.
ALLIES EXPECT TOO MUCH
people of England and France Think
United States Will Perform Mi
racles In the Very Near
Future.
By JOHN LLOYD BALDERSToN.

lance of the coming efforts of fully
aroused America came quickly to both
camps of belligerents when it was
known last spring, soon after the break
with Germany, that American troops
would be sent to Europe. But military
events of the past few months have I'M
lnensely enhanced the Importance OF
the role the United States will be
called upon to play.
Private advices received here from
Germany indicate that the anticipation
Of American force is the dominating
note in the present anxiety OF Ger
many's rulers to force peace at any
cost before the next campaign has
been fought out.
At the beginning of this years fight
ing, both Germany and the allies were
optimistic. Germany believed so
strongly that the unrestricted subma-
rine warfare would bring victory In
a few months that she did not hest
tate to drag in reluctant America
against her. The allies were almost
equally confident that the hammer
blows on the Somme could be followed
UP, this year, by decisive strokes that
would send the enemy armies scuttling
for the Rhine. Both sides were wrong.
Berlin Thinks Situation Good.
Aside from the shadow of the Amer
lean eagle that has fallen over Ger
many. the military situation at present
is regarded in the highest Berlin quar-
tiers as good. Information regarding
recent speeches at the supposedly Sc
cret sessions of the main committee
Of the reichstag, as well as accounts
of views recently expressed in private
by leading men of the empire, lndl-
cate that Germans would be more cock
sure than ever that they had won the
war. were it not for the treacherous
behavior Of the MISUNDERSTANDING
strafed Herr Wilson.
From q competent source here L have
obtained the gist of communication
recently privately made TO group OF
banking and manufacturing magnates
in Germany, as representing the opin-
ion of the general staff, which means
the Observation-Disclosures combina-
ton.
A little over a year ago, this German
summary remarked, the situation was
extremely gloomy. The great attack
on Verdun had failed; after swallow
ing up, the summary did not add, the
flower Of the German army. ROuma-
MIA had Just entered the war. The
French and British were dealing blows
on the Somme that caused grave I'M
easiness. Late in the autumn, Rouma-
MIA had been defeated by Falkenhayn
and Mackensen, and the danger in the
east removed, but the British attacks
towards Bapaume, in September, near
ly resulted in a disastrous break
through.
One Cloud on Horizon.
The present position, contrasted
with that Of last year, is painted in
bright cOlors. Thanks to the "bri-
liant and successful" retreat of Hin
denburg in the Somme area as the
winter drew towards an end, and to
the invention of new tactics which re-
moved the possibility of such defeats
as were narrowly averted on the
Somme, the present year is represented
as one of brilliant strategical success.
The great allied attacks, east Of Arras
in April and May, on the Aisne in
April, and in Flanders later in the
year, are declared to have failed. The
only France-British successes admitted
are the purely local" setbacks inflict-
ed on the Germans at Vimy, the Mes
sines ridge, and Verdun. Russia is
proclaimed out of action, and the west
ern allies incapable of undertaking
further offensives on the scale of these
which have failed; the only cloud on
the horizon, the summary concluded, is
the army of the United States, whose
strength and prowess are written down
cautiously as an unknown quantity"
That, in spite of what they believe
to be their improved position on the
west front, and the collapse Of Russian
resistance in the east, the Germans
should be more anxious for peace than
they were year ago, is due to the
German fear of what they may have
to face from across the Atlantic. So
much am informed is freely admitted
in the German capital, although the
German press has been ordered to
sneer at and belittle in every possible
way the new enemy. The process is
a familiar one. 1t is the same as that
employed towards England, while the
British armies were slowly and pain
fully being called out of the ground
and fashioned into shape. The sneers
stopped when the civilian levies struck
on the Somme, one month less than
two years after the war began.
Allies Expect Too Much.
But the American pressure on Ger
many is probably more seriously fear
ed because Of its financial and block
ade aspects than because of Washing
toms naval and military preparations.
A serious danger exists that the Brit
ish and French publics may come to
expect altogether too much from our
new armies. A feeling is growing up
here that in some miraculous way
America is going to do very startling
things in the very near future. That
hope is, Of course, baselesS.
The man in the street in London
gives vent to most extravagant figures
on the subject of the American army
He seems to feel that the hundreds OF
thousands of recruits he reads about
daily will fall upon the Germans in q