New-York tribune., 1918-10-13
To Destroy Mill
tarisn, Destroy
the German
Army
Copyright, 1918,
New York Tribune Inc.


reasons. Then the German peace often.
sive surprised and routed u.s. A new
German peace offensive is in preparation
and there is the same peril.
Constant victory, the interminable re-
ports of the forecasts of captured Ger
mans the large scale map, the catalogue
of captured positions, all these build I'd
an optimism, natural, within limits use
full, but dangerous when it gives rise to
unbounded confidence in speedy and
complete collapse of the enemy. It took
the Leipsic campaign of 1873, the Name
campaign of 1914 and the Waterloo cam
paign of 1915 to rid Europe of the Ma
! poleonic peril and to destroy the Ma
poleonic legend If we have won the
Leipsic campaign this summer we have
done nothing more. We have not ad.
vanced a foot in Germany; we are still
demanding that the German make peace
on the basis of what we expect to do, not
what we have done and not what he be-
lieves we can do. Our victory is still
limited, our terms absolute.
In sum, on the military side no Allied
success up to the present hour supplies
any conclusive or impressive evidence
that the German army can be decsively
beaten this year or that it will sur
render rather than bear the cost in blood
OF another campaign. On the political
side the peace conditions, which we are
agreed must be imposed upon Germany.
are such that the Germans may not I'M
probably prefer to risk all the sacrifices
and burdens of another year in the hope
of escaping our present terms, satisfied
! that even if they lose that campaign they
can hardly face much sitter terms. On
the moral side we know little, but two
years ago, when we were counting upon
moral collapse Of the German, our own
morale broke down in Russia and italy
and was severely shaken in France and
IN Britain as result Of the German
peace offensive
All through this war there has been
nothing more striking than the utter
failure of the people of the two contend
ing groups to grasp in any degree the
actual state of mind of the enemy. We
have been wrong just as often as the
German. We have again and again
been convinced that German masses
were eager for a surrender peace, we
have been convinced that a starving
Germany was on the point Of throwing
off its rulers and embracing democracy
and peace, and at the critical moment
we have found that we had calculated
on our hopes rather than with regard
to the facts.
To-day the German people may be
willing to surrender, they may compel
their generals and their statesmen to
abandon the struggle and pay the price
IF surrender. They may, on the other
hand, be in the mood Of France after
Sedan, when the people rose to the de-
fence of the nation. Until the German
army is decisively beaten we shall not
be assured of peace, and the German
army IS much further from decisive de-
1eat than was French military power
after the opening disasters of 1870. We
nave never yet failed to blunder when
we based our military and political cal
culatlons upon what we believed to be
the German state of mind and the Ger
man situation materially, and all our
past mistakes have led to disastrous dis
appointments.
The issue between the Germans and
ourselves is one that cannot be settled
by compromise Either he or we must
surrender, and for either surrender
means the abandonment of national
faith. Bernhard said nearly decade
ago that the issue of The next war tor
Germany would be world power or
DOWNFALL Time has not changed the
issues, nor can the German now escape
downfall by any other means than arms.
Therefore it seems wisest to believe that
he Will fight on until he can fight no
more. conscious that his fate then will
be but little worse than it would be
should he surrender now
AS | close this article. on Monday
October z, the world is discussing the
latest German peace offensive. But noth-
ing when has yet been disclosed with
respect to this offensive modifes the
views expressed above and in carrier
articles. Germany is seeking TO acquire
immunity for the past and preserve her
army and the Plussian tradition for
the future. She proposes not surrender
but compromise. She is willing to bar
gain, but the very proposal to bargain
indicates that she does not believe that
surrender is necessary.
BY the campaign of 1913 we have
brought Germany to the point Of resign
ing her plan to impose her terms oil
victorious peace upon conquered world.
| see nothing now TO suggest that shorl