The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-04-01
PROMISES MADE
 GERMAN MASSES UNACCOMPLISHED

cry action there IS an opposite ana equal reaction" That law can be applied to nations no less truly than to natural objects. History furnishes us with innumerable illustrations of this fact. The pendulum of time swings unceasingly to and fro in its course while nations spring up and prosper and. having reached the limit of their growth. sink into leth. argy and decay. Ancient Egypt with all it's power and learning could not stay the hand of fate. Mighty Rome in all of her magnificence and splen- dor could only rise to fall Medieval Spain labored through all of her years of growth only to see her su. premacy of the seas pass on to other nations. Thus it appears that the laws of human existence are laid down no less unalterably in the life of nation than in our lives.
 With the opening of the spring offensive on the western front we may very reasonably assume that the pendulum has reached it's great est swing in the one direction and is now poised for the infnitesimal space of time which is necessary before 1t begins its backward course. The ultimate outcome of this great war seems to be making itself clear CT every day and, while it may drag on for several years, it Is not alto gether unreasonable to hope that the great drive now in progress may prove to be the turning point of the whole affair.
 For three years we have witnessed the greatest slaughter in the history of the world, and indications are that the coming summer will see more bloodshed than any previous time. The loss of life on both sides will undoubtedly be very great, and any gains that Germany shall make will be more than offset by the price SAO pays.
 From the occasional reports that leak out from Berlin and interior Germany one is led to believe that we may expect the German people to come to a realization of the hope. lessness of their task if the present offensive does not prove to be di- sastrous blow to the allies.
 Since the beginning of the war the German people have followed their military leaders to defeat after defeat, with blindness and faith almost inconceivable in any race of human beings. Every promise that has been given the people by the military leaders has failed in its fulfilment.
 At the beginning of the war Ger man militarjsts promised the people that the German army would eat Christmas dinner in Paris. Upon the failure of the army to gain that ob- jective the people were asked to wait until the next spring.
 With the coming of spring the German army made another attempt to break through into France before England could put her army in the field, but was compelled to make the famous retreat "to victory" which has thus far failed to materialize.
 Germany then frantically seized on the scheme of starving England into subjection with her submarine war fare and promised the people that 1t could be so easily accomplished within six months. The submarine warfare has now been going on for nearly fourteen months, and instead of starving England into subjection she has drawn in the insignificant little army" of the United States and is further removed from a vic. tory than she has been at any time since the war started.
 The papers and military leaders are now promising the people that if they will hold on little while longer" the allies will be compelled to make peace.
 The request that the people hold on a little while longer" seems to in- dicate that there is very grave fear that the people will not hold on much longer. Upon the failure of the German army to force peace upon the allies during the coming summer 1t is very reasonable to be- lieve that reaction among the peo- pie of Germany is inevitable. Just what form this reaction will assume is beyond our power to guess. but we see very. plainly what form it. or something not unlike it. has taken in Russia.
 Germany will undoubtedly make some gains on the western front, but her losses must surely be so great that she cannot expect to hold them and another retreat ito vic. tory" will prove disastrous beyond a doubt.
 Victor Anderson and Axel Raymond are out of town visitors registered