The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-08-29
Keeping The Rims on Tho Go.

optimism, victory Is absolutely
marked out as certain" "
There Is the situation IN a nut.
shell, says the Philadelphia In
quirer. Optimism In the shape
of hope, confidence and an abid-
ing determination to win is ex
ceedlngly desirable. An over
confidence that results IN the
slightest slackenlng up OF effort
would be dangerous, If not disas'
trous. For 1t IS upon the eXer-
else of all of our resources that
expectation of final triumph is
based.
Today, as there has been for a
month, there IS splendid move
ment against the German lines
Grad dually, mile by mile, the
Huns are being pressed back.
But 1t is not a rout. Thousands
of the enemy have been captured.
many more thousands have been
put out OF action. and vast quan.
titles Of ammunition have been
abandoned to the allies. But
armies have not been surrounded
and made captive. The German
lines yield, but are not shattered.
Not long ago the situation was
reversed. Then the British
forces and the French were fall
ing back, back, back before the
savage rush Of the invader. But
they did not break. Finally,
when General Foch was IN
position to bring up reserves
reserves made possible by the
influx of the Americans-he
checked the Germans advance,
then halted 1t, and the next turn.
ed upon it. And now it is the
Germans who. are retreatlng,
not the French and Brltlsh-re-
treating over the same ground
that they had captured.
1t Is easy to become over en-
thusiastlc. Magnlficently are
the Allies fighting and gaming
ground every day. But let no
one get 1t into his head that this
offensive Is or can be pressed to
a finish of the war this year.
Only IN the contingency of some
vast calamity to the German
forces can the Huns be taken be.
fore the snow flies, No military
expert Is looking for any such
good fortune. To the contrary,
all of the military plans point TO
a grand offensive n ext year.
General March, head of our own
Army Staff, states the facts.
There must be a huge army. We
must have between three and
one-half and four million Ameri-
can fighting men IN France by
June 30 next. Then, with the
collective forces of France and
Great Britain, we can go through
the German line at any point de-
clded upon by General Foch.
The existing movements have
various objects. One Is to safe
guard Paris and the Channel
ports. That has been accom-
Pushed. Another IS to disrupt
every German plan for offensive
work. That, too, has been ac
complished. The Hun is no
longer the aggressor. He has
lost the power of initiative. The
third Is to deprive him, as far as
possible, of the territory he has
occupied; to wrest from him
strategical points. If it can be
done, it Is proposed to drive him
behind the old Hidenburg line.
That Is work enough for this
campaign. Once In his old
trenches-hls formidable line of
breastworks-he could not Obe
disturbed during the winter. But
next sp ring he can be. We are
gathering the artillery (and, by
the way, we have guns that will
outrange any thing that the Ger
man Is known to possess we are
organizing fleets of airplanes,
and from the United States are
going troops at the rate of a
quarter a MILL on or so a month.
So al this grand offensive that
Foch Is conducting is preliminary
to what we may CON- IDENTITY antc
lpate to be the final blow next