New-York tribune., 1918-04-10
The Last Line


Yesterday for the first time, having
come Gull in the Storm" the British
Premier spoke freely of the battle.
No army was ever before transported
so quickly across the Channel, he said,
as that which was sent by the War
Cabinet to "releve the situation"
The situation referred to was created
by the failure Of the Fifth Army, under
General Cough, on whom Lloyd George
thinks it would be unfair to pass CEN
sure until all the circumstances of his
defeat are known.
Critical judgments may wait.
What of the British army that was
transported with such haste across the
Channel? Why did it have to be trans
ported in haste? Why was it not already
on the battlefront to meet the German
attack?
These questions come Immediately to
mind. They suggest one more Were
the English also waiting for the German
offensive to wake them up, and did the
war machine then begin to be speeded
up, American fashion?
The answer we believe is simple
In what was perhaps the great single
emergency Of the war SO far the British
War Cabinet made two momentous de-
cislons. namely:
(D To throw the last line of British
reserves against the German tide, and,
(2) Henceforth to trust the United
States to keep the Allied man power
good.
We are now the last line of reserves.
There is no other great SOURCE Of men.
True, the British Premier announces
that the English people will be called
upon to make further heroic sacrifices
The age of military service will be
raised to fifty, perhaps to fifty-fve, and
at the other end Of the scale it may be
lowered to eighteen
But although Great Brtan's man
power is not exhausted, it has been
heavily depleted If the battle continues,
the Premier says, as he expects it to do,
the drain upon the country's man power
will cause anxiety.
The real strain now passes from Eng
land to America-from the Old World
to the New, from age to youth.
We have man power to give almost
without limit. Sending 5,0ooOoo or
even 10000 900, men to the battle line is
an enterprise that involves technical
difficulties only
We are now sending men very fast.
Whether they should have been going
faster than they were going, or whether
the conditions now calling for them un-
der new plan of training and assimi-
lation are such as this country could not
have anticipated, we cannot say. Apollo
@ists for the conduct of the war. in then
anxiety to emphasize what is doing. seer
to minimize what was doing before
Two weeks ago David Lawrence, in
The Evening Post" would never ha, e
dreamed of saying that the war was be-
ing prosecuted in half-hearted manner,
hut now he says the fact is that "Wasn-
ington is better organized mentally for
war" than ever before, and that ON
stead of a alf-hearted effort based on
the theory that the war would be won By
the Allies" and chat peace was coming
shortly" there is the feeling that An
erica's utmost effort will be required
We should not say that the war had
been prosecuted in half hearted man
ner. We should say only that it had
been conducted in an inefficient manner.
Time was wasted.
But all Of that now belongs to an in
telectual past.
The important thing to keep in mind
is that when we suddenly increase our
exports Of man power we must decrease
at the same time our exports of supplies
and munitions until we get more ships.
The fate Of democracy is in ships-in
snips that are not yet built.
Are we doing the utmost there?
Before the German drive began we
were said to be doing our utmost in
every direction. Now we find that it
was not 50. We only thought we were
We do not know yet what our utmost is