New-York tribune., 1918-02-25
America Stiffens Allies
In Great Russian Crisis C
| riumph Of German Mitarists in East Has Solid6ed
British Labor as Never Before Behind War
Aims of the Entente

dent that on the last lap America will
carry them to victory
NO nation ever enjoyed greater con
fldence, no nation ever carried greater
responsibility, unless it be Germany,
IN the eyes of her Allies. The British
are not easily ratified. When things
seem brightest, the British "grouch''
most; when the whirligig of fortune
swings against them, they utter few
complaints.
The British workman grumbles over
tne shortage of meat, the difficulty of
obtaining margarine and tea, and the
Hgh prices of most foods and drinks.
but he is real patriot and will sticx
it out.
Because the masses of the country
debate war aims, this must not he in.
terpreted as sign of weakening. Even
a. TINS late hour there is a difference
OF opinon as to peace aims, but there
is not the slightest divergence in views
on the main issue.
Every British workman is agreed
that mllltarism must go. And when
inc German mlitarists ride rouphshod Il
over Russia they succeed better than
The Allied statesmen do in solidifviny
the masses Of Great Britain, France
and Italy.
There will be no JOY ride in the
west. There is going to be fierce fight
lhg' with terrible losses and momen-
tary periods of anxiety and some dis
appointments, but when the bloody
struggle has worn itself out the Allied
peoples are confident the advantage
will be on their side.
In place of a few German divisions
marching from town to town in Rus
Sla and gathering in guns, munitions
ana stores, whole army corps will be
thrown into the titanic struggle in the
West
viii the German mlitarists cniov
the confidence of the masses after thev
make the great gamble in the West?
belore midsummer there should be a
pretty conclusive answer. On land and
sea ana IN the air great struggles for
supremacy seem imminent. Already
for this.
Whether there will be simultaneous
attacks by land and sea is something
known only to the directors of the mill
lary strategy OF the belligerents, but
recent reconnaissance raids indicate
that activity on the sea is one of the
early possibilities.
That Germany has been rushing u
boat construction this winter, and that
TINS sprnS sne will strive desperately
to sink British food ships and Ameri-
can transports. is equally certain.
This spring Germany will gamble for
high stakes. Says "Student of the
War i'll "The Manchester Guardian":
For us it has been somewhat of a
depressing week, what with the news
from Russia and the foghorns blow
ing away on the Western front. but
there is much to encourage us, and we
must keep the good courage that is
one of our national assets.
"Ihe chief surprise of this war has
been the unsuspected intellectual nim-
hleness of the Germans Never was q
governing class less tied down to mill
tary dogma, except that of the moral
beauty of coercion, than the German.
BY comparison our politicians are staid
and sober people, much given to re-
lteration; the Germans, on the other
hand, have boxed the whole political
compass.
"They began the war as conquering
lmperlalis.s; they became pacifsts Of
various shades; they were quite fierce
democrats at the beginning of the Rus
slan revolution, and now they are cham
plons OF law and order.
There is lesson for us in this DO
htlcal camouflage. The Germans have
overreached themselves this week, if
only our dlplomatists play their hands
properly, and not for the first time in
the war 1t is on the diplomatists now
rather than on the soldiers that the
chief brunt of the struggle in the East
must fAll.