Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-07-29
GERMANY's MAN POWER
IN RELATION TO WAR AIMS
Writer Says LudcndorH Must Ask
himself How Long Hunl;Iid
Can Pay Price.
HER DAYS ARE NUMBERED
Resources Are Limitcd-Enemy Has
Taken No Key Positions Yet, for
They Are In England and United
States.
BY FRANCIS GRIBBLE.

/ tion can DC taken Dy Suhclent Sacri-
| flee OF men.
| In order. however. that the precep,
may be of practical value to the high
command, four separate assumptions
are required.
The men must be available. They
must be men who will face tho music
Enough OF them must survive the
slaughtered to exploit the positions
when taken. The positions themselves
! must be key positions. the loss OF
which VIII paralyzc the cncmys pow :
! or OF resistance.
Unless those assumptions can be
made. two dangers are obviously pres
emit Either the battle may be lost
and the war with it: or. IL the battle
be won. the victory may have q very
calamitouS sequel.
Those are the considerations which
wt'have TO bear in mind when we ask
ourselves: can Germany pay tho price ?
The German concentration on the
western front is known to be very
strong. 1t is generally believed that
it is apprcciabiy stronger than ours.
Whether it is strong enough TO take
Paris and the channel ports is n ques-
ton on which lay opinion is worthless
and experts opinion nuctuatcs.
The view Of those best qualified to
judge appears TO be that the achieve
ruent is improbable. but cannot be
ruled out as impossible, and that the
objective cannot. in any case. be gained
without gigantic losses.
The further question remains, there
fore: even if Germany does pay the
price and does coupe! delivery or the
goods. is the price one which she can
AFFORD Or viii her case resembi1
:ha; OF a man who invests all his
money in the purchase of n plot OF
land and then finds that he had no
capital loft with which ITO work 1t. but
must part with It in order to meet
the demands Of his creditorsr
The answer TO the latter question
is almost certainly in the Affirmative.
The positions which the German army
is trying 20 take are very valuable
positions. but they are. in no proper
sense OF the word. keep positions, the
possession OF which by the enemy
would mako 1t impossible for the allies
to continue TO fight.
Those key positions are not In France
and FLANDERS, but In England and the
United states. There are the real bases
of our operations. unthreatened and un-
assailable by any German military ef-
fort There are 10 be found men In
far greater numbers and resources
transferable into military material In
far greater quantity thap in the whole
area occupied by the central empires.
i, follows. that, while the loss OF
none Of their threatened positions
would be fatal TO the allies. their losses,
"A like Of men and of material. Will Tor
a long time TO come be rep!aceable.
Can the same thing. or anything
npprox!mating TO 1t. be said OF the
German losses?
Ii not. then it is quite clear that
Germany is Offering a price which she
cannot afford for an advantage which
cannot. IN the nature OF the case.
amount TO n decision"
Let us consider what those losses
have been, and arc likely to Beg and
how they compare with the losses sus-
ta!ned In certain previous wars.
In the war against Austria in 1866
The number Of Prussians killed was
less than $500. In the Franco-Ger-
man war the number of Germans
killed was approximately 10000. In
the Russo-Japanesc War the japanese
casualties were $4,000 and the Rus
sian casualties were $4,000.
In the present war the German
losses nave been so neaFy lliaL VIC
publication OF casualty lists was sus-
pended twelve months ago. In May
1917, however, the German War Office
admitted net loss, killed, died of
sickness, prisoners and missing" OF
l625537. while the severely wounded"
men, that is to say. who are unlikely
TO return to the fighting line. number
ed 5T1.3S6, a total Of 2.l96.o23.
If we could bring the figures up to
1. y, al or -
notorious German practice of suppress
ing or delaying reports of losses. we
should probably find that at least A.
100000 men. and probably more, had
been put out OF action since August,
1914. That is to say that the Germans
have, for for years, been losing men at
the rate Of 100000 a year, while the
number of Germans At for military SER
vice who annually reach recruitable
age is about 100000. The case of Aus
tria is believed on good grounds, to
be worse.
Il is clear this process cannot con-
tinue indefinitely. 1t is .doubly clear
that it cannot do SO when we remem-
Der that the total population Of the
Central empires is only 145,O00.000.
whereas the population of the princi-
pal countries actively opposed to them.
without counting Japan or India or
occupied Serbia and Belgium is about
270.000,000. 1t is triply clear that 1T
cannot do so when we consider that the
Germans in attacking positions lose
more than their enemies who defend
them.
Nor is it likely that the Germans
will be able 10 make good their losses,
rs some have feared that they may do.
by enlisting Russians. Those Russians
who are still willing to fight want to
night against the Germans, and the
bulk Of the Russians have removed
themselves far out of the reach of Ger
man recruiting sergeants because they
do not want TO fight at all, or prefer
to fight among themselves. There is
nothing for Germany there.
Washington telegram repeats an
old rumor that the German census re-
turns were deliberately falsifed for
some years before the war. and that
The population OF Germany i'm 1914 was
not To,00G,0Oo bat 10000. 600. The
story Is almost certainly untrue. and