New Britain herald., 1918-05-01
More Men Needed

lie war department proposes, con- Sress dlsposeS It is one thing to plan | an increase of our armed forces by 100000 men; it is quite another | thlng to obtain, equip train and trans port them to France. The army ap- propriation bill contemplates an ex- penditure of SS.00O, 100000 to main ! tain 1,600,00O men in the field and at nome for the tiscale year ending in Ju 1919. The strength of the present regular army. National Guard and i National army is about 1.528, 900, the 1 major part of which is still in this { country. It is the judgment of the ! general staff that 1 ,0000 900 more men i will be needed as soon as they can be : made vailabe Accordingly, the
 war departm ent will present additional i estimates to the military affairs com 1 mlttees at once, and congress, which. ] under the constitution, raises and | supports armies, making appropria 1 tions for two years and no more, will 1 be asked to authorize the addition of l another million men to the land forces. 1 It will be urged to do it without delay. Secretary Baker has returned from 1 the western front with a conviction 1 that the quicker the United States can organize greater armies and dispatch them to France the better-that not
 
 for reinforcing our allies inthat coun- try with armies equal in strength to those commanded by Field Marshal Haig. It may be necessary to call to
 the coors a total even greater than the 2,6O0,000 proposed by the war department. Whether the Germans prevail in their great offensive or not,
 the contribution of the United States
 to the support of it's allies in France
 will have to be more than the force
 already authorized by congress. If the Germans should succeed in driv-
 ing the British army in the north
 back toward the channel ports, or in
 breaking through the French army in the south and taking Amiens and it's supply railways for both armies, the war should go on. even if com plete disaster befell either wing of the allied army. The French and British might lose hundreds of thou l sands of men, but hundreds of thou l sands, probably not less than two millions, would remain to carry on 1 the defensive campaign against the ] time when the United States could l disembark great relieving armies at the port in France which has been taken over and which would be pro- tected and held by the allied forces l on shore and by the sea power of 1 Great Britain, France, and the United l States.
 On the other hand, if Germany | should be worsted in the great battle 1 now aging and should lost the initia- 1 tive, the war would also still go on. | for the Germans cannot afford to quit l the field while they have the ability 1 to wage war. An eminent French 1 general has predicted that if the Ger 1 mans are defeated in their offensive ] they will dig in and fight on for deadlock. This should be broken only 1 by a great counter offensive, but it l would not be launched by the Allies 1 until American endorsements assured 1 the success of a forward movement. It might be necessary to wait until 1 the summer of 1919 to strike the blow. Therefore, the government of the ! United States must plan for a long 1 war and prepare literally to smother l Germany with reserves.
 Let the Imperial government under stand the purpose of the United States 1 to use all it's resources and waste no time in mobilizing them to end the war, and Germany may decide some l day to throw her hands up and cry, 'Kamerad.' before her armies are l actually whipped in the field. Con- gross, then, should give early reallza- tion to the plans of the war depart ment to increase our armed forces. Amendments of the draft law to make available the entire man-poWer of the country must not hang fire. We can raise 10000, 900 men for war pur- noses abroad and at home. More than third of them may never be needed, but the moral effect of making the common enemy see that be can be oNerwh elmcd by American man-power is of transcendent importance, The day the Germans realize that they cannot win by military force and will eventually he beaten by military forcn, that day will mark the first sincere overture for peace, not on their own terms, but On the best terms they can get from tho indomitable Allies
 A million more men forthe American armies is at this time the urgent busi- ! bofOrC cOn0rCSS.