The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-09-23
A MONUMENTAL. DEI.USION

That the Germans have been suffering from monumental delusion is evident from the reports that have been received in this country of German press notices stating that the army of maneuver which the allies had in reserve had been annihilated. This was given out in Germany about month before General Foch launched his brilliant blow against the enemy in the Marne salient and started them on their backward trip.
 The German military leaders have mis- calculated the part that America would play in this war altogether, either wlfuly to de- Jude their people, or because they themselves did not think that America could produce the wonderful fighting machine that is now wag ing such successful war against them. They have issued statennts saying that America was peace-at-any- price nation and would not take any very great part in the war; that the help she could get to France would be negligible because of the submarine and other opinions of the same calibre, all of them later proving to be wrong
 It does not seem possible that Germany with its secret service could be so ignorant of the possibilities of the United States at war It seems as though the military leaders choose to keep their subjects in a state of delusion about the United States in order to keep them fighting for some time to come.
 Events as they have happened on the western front give the lie to any such re- ports of victory as the German government published last spring They may have served their purpose, namely, to keep the people in a state of ignorance, but they certainly were far from the truth. But it probably accounts for the fact that the German public was greatly surprised when Foch's strategy brought such results about month after they had been informed that the allied army of re- serves had been exhausted. They had appar- ently left American troops out of their cal culations altogether.
 But this shows us danger. Not very long ago there was a rumor in certain parts of the country that the allies had captured 25O,OOO Germans. And because people liked to believe this, it took considerable refuting on the part of the newspapers to make the public realize that there was nothing whatso- ever in the report
 The American public is slightly gullible when it comes to things that they wish would We must guard against any such mistake as happen and would like to think were true the Germans made last spring. We must not think that all the strength of the German army has been destroyed just because they are now making the biggest retreat yet, and seem to be giving very little resistance. We do not want to be completely taken by SUIT prise by any evidences of strength and stay ing powers. that the enemy may exhibit in the future There must be no letup in the effort that the American public must put forth to win the war, for Germany may yet give the allies hard struggle before she is completely crushed. There may yet be two or more years of warfare and strife that will require considerable portion of our reso,lrc- es to bring to successful continuation. We must not let our desires and wishes blind us to facts as they are. There may be long, hard struggle ahead of us yet and we must not let our devotion to the cause lag for an instance. We must plan for the worst and then we will not be unready for any thing better
 Germany as a whole may be suffering from delusions, but this country can afford to have no false notions of what is to come We are in this war to finish, to win or die in the attempt
 HAVING stripped the invaded country of everything portable and edible, the German soldiers are now said to be systematically footing their own supply trains at every op- portunity. This practice is condemned by the military authorities, who, however, find themselves embarrassed when asked by the men to point out the moral ground upon which they base their objection to robbery. It was easier to teach the German to steal in the enemy country than it is to get them to draw the line
 A SIGN of the times is the action of