Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-06-11
UNDERSTANDING
THE ENGLISH
From the New York Tribune).

allies, and particularly Tor under
standing our British ally, than at
the present moment. Britain is
passing through a supreme crisis,
easily comprehensive for the few
Americans now alive who remem-
Der the moral crisis of 1864 in our
own Civil war, but difficult of APP
probation by a younger generation
now just beginning to feel itself at
war and reused by the emotions
and by the spirit which reused
Britain and France, alike, three
years ago.
There has been in this country
a full but not exaggerated apprais-
al of the contribution of France IL
the common cause. What France
did at the Marine, at Verdun and
since has commanded American
admiration and American sympa-
thy But in doing full justice to
French service in the past four
years, we have been and are in
danger of dealing a little less fair
ly with our British ally than the
French themselves are dealing
with her.
In the present moment it is of
utmost Importance to remember
what have been the sacrifices OF
Britain in the past two years. Since
the opening of the Battle of the
Somme, less than two years ago,
nearly two million British have
been killed, wounded and captured.
The casualty list of last year was
approximately a million, and the
costs of the present German Of
fensive to the British have already
passed the 100000 mark. Such a
tax upon the manhood of country,
such a drain upon its vital re-
sources, can hardly be expressed in
cold statistics.
In this period, too, there have
been for the British the same dis
appointments which there were for
the north in the years separating
Antietam from Cold Harbor. Pre-
cisely as the people of the north
saw, first with surprise and fin
ally with unmistakable depression,
the great armies which they had
raised, equipped, filled with the
best of their youth, failed to win
decision. exactly as the north. ell
tering the campaign of 1864 with
high hopes and utmost confidence,
saw Grants campaign from the
Rapidan to Cold Harbor fail of its
larger purpose, the British have
seen a larger army, containing a
vastly greater percentage of their
manhood, miss the decision which
they expected.
Britain is meeting her disappoinr-
ments as we of the north met ours
half a century ago-and the Civil
war was won by the political cam
paign of 1864, which ended in the
reelection of Lincoln and the dem
onstration that the mass of the
plain people of the north meant to
fight it out to victory. The same
spirit is unmistakable in England
now.
And in consequence, of all mo-
ments, this is the one in which it is
necessary that the British should
feel our sympathy and our conf
dence, not our criticism. OF this
the British are having enough at
home The sole value of criticism
now or at any other time must be
to eliminate apathy, to abolish in
competents and to arouse new eff
fOrt-and in all these respects the
British press and the British people
are performing their tasks to the
uttermost.
1t is for us, in America, newly
reused to the gravity of the present
crisis, with strength still mistaken.
still happily freed from the weight
of a blood tax measured by hun
dreds of thousands of lives, to see
to it that we contribute nothing 20
depressing and everything that is
possibleto heartening our allies, who
must still do work which we could
and should have performed had we
awakened to the demands of xIty
promptly. Only a German purpose
can be served now by criticism,
criticism of those who are doing
their best at frightful cost and I'M
der the most disheartening of all
cirCumstances-an unexpected de-
feat.
The alliance between Britain,
France and the United States is
not merely or primarily an arrange
ment of eXpediency limited in it's
life to the years of the war 1t is
already plain that If it serves the
immediate purpose it must serve an
even greater purpose by bringing
about a permanent association
founded upon mutual respect, COM
mon ideals and the enduring task of
defending our civilization against
German dangers which will not end
with the close of the war and may
be as acute as ever in a few years
after peace is restored.
Our men are on their way, but
they cannot arrive in time to take
over any considerable share of the
burden of this years campaign
The great cost of this German of
fensive has been borne by the Brit
ish. Aided by French devotion and
prOmptness, the British have for
the moment checked the rush, but
there is certain TO be a new food
and a new crisis. And it is for us,
who cannot much aid in checking
this, to demonstrate utterly to our
British ally our confidence, our
sympathy, our enduring and gem
erous understanding of what the eff
fort and the spirit are and how
terrific is the cost in the best lives
of a manhood already heavily take |.
All that we most care for in the
present and the future depends
upon the preservation of the aIli-
ance not merely of arms, but of
sympathy between the three great
peoples now engaged as allies in
Picardy and Flanders. And of these
three, We, who are the richest IN
men and treasure, are so far doing
the least Criticism from us now