Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1918-06-06
Foch Will Economic.

What seems to be the general ex-
peetation is that l'och will hold on to
ms reserves. use them with extreme
p%afsimony and-since it is "a matter of
life and ~death-avoid using them more
rapidly than Hindenburg uses his. He
must come to the end of the campaign
win at least as many reserves in hand
as the German to avoid disaster; he
may hope to have Il slight superiority,
but not Il superiority warranting Il
major offensive in October, after he
and Hindenburg nave both lost from
.ooo,OO0 to 100000 in the struggles
that are bound 10 come.
Foch's problem, then. is not the
problem OF taking the offensive at the
close of the German attack. He cam
no hope, save in case of AN accident.
to have enough reserves left for this.
HIS problem is to hold the German
ih'S year, imposing as great casualties
as possible and losing as few men as
possible. that there may be Il cam
paisn of 1919.
We must get the conditions of this
Slsantlc battle clearly in mind. 1t is a
colossal Waterloo. with the French
generalissimo playing the British role
ana the Americans playing the role OF
the Prussians a century ago. The Ger
man has decided. as did Napoleon, to
RISK everything on q decisive battle be-
fore all his enemies are ready. He
''hS "oH iHIildi successes, as dlQ Ma
poleon. On a large scale his progress
to date suggests Ligny. but he has
still TO win the decisive phase and he
must win it this year.
Watching the ebb and flow of the
eatAe in the neNt weeks and months
we are bound to keep this essential
condition in mind. The German must
destroy the military q W of Britain
or OF France to win the war this year.
He may shift his attack to the French
and strike at Rheims instead of at
Amiens or at Calais. but he must dis
pose of II OF his enemies, and if he
rails then there is an end of any hope
OF wlnning a complete victory, of end
ing the war by Il western treaty of
Brest-Litovsk. He will have to nego-
tiate with he prospect of facing a
new American army next year If he
does not get peace by negotiation.
Allies Will Not Crack.
And this brings me to my third
point. Is there any change of a col
lapse of the French or British public
under pressure which may compel
and considerable evacuation of French
territory? l do not believe it, and
credible and material evidence coming
TO me from both France and Britain
seems to prove that neither country
Will break under any strain that is
now conceivable. For Britain to break
now if the kaiser reached the channel
would be the ruin of the empire and
the end of security at home, for with
the kaiser at Calais. London would be
Il closed port and the Straits OF Dover
commanded by German annon
AS for the French. their condition is
INFINITELY better than it was a year ago,
and so Tar they have suffered relatively
slight losses in the fighting of the cam
palgn. Nor We're their losses great last
year. 1t is upo the British that the
great strain has been put in the past
W years, but the strain has not suf-
feed to break them nor is there the
smallest reason for believing that they
VIII or can break now. when to fail
would be to surrender their position as
a great power and their own safety in
the British Isles.
We shall do well to recognize that the
British have suffered terribly in the
past two years, and that it is unwise
and unjust to expect of them what we
now expect of ourselves. War weari-
ness is a act in Britain, as it is in
France. We have seen signs and we
snail probably see more signs of the
strain in the next few months. But it
is a good time to read about what hap
pened i'm the north in 1864 of our own
civil war.
In a sense. the situation comes down
to this: The British and French alike
are putting in their last reserves.
Neither will have any considerable re-
serve when this present campaign is
over. They could not n would not
do this We're 1t not for the visible dem
'onstration that America is coming.
Their strength will enable them to hold
the line this ear with such minor aid
as we can supply. Blu it would not
enable them to face another campaign
II there were not from 1000, 900 to
l,50O.OOO OF American troops to count
on next year
But the 1000. 900 is an established and
calculable fact; this being so there is
not the smallest chance that French or
British publics will think of making
peace with the German, who has scored
material but not decisive successes this
year m will seek to get peace by
negotiation based upon his. present
holdings and without regard to Ameri-
n man power which is to intervene
next year. The French. having held the
until we arrive, will not be ready
to make peace on the basis OF 1914.
Alsace Lorraine will be the smallest
exact. The British will not make peace
while their enemy still sits at Calais
and threatens India.
Gsrmany's Hope in East.
Unless Germany can hold Russia and
the Balkans. with their Asiatic fringes.
She canno hope and does not hope to
escape the appropriate ruin which the
war promises for her. But none of the
allies can consent to the perpetuation
of German rule and domination in
Russia and along the Black sea with
out insuring future wars and preserv-
ing h precise Prussian peril VIE are
all fighting1tO abolish. This fact has
come home to the mass of the German
people. and explains in some slight de-
gree their present unity. Every class
of German subject knows that ruin is
inevitable unless there be conquests