Omaha daily bee., 1918-03-14
Crucial Year of World War
Two Reputable Reviewers With Some Ifs" Pick 1918
fOr Finnish
for Finish

How long will the war last? We have the
statement Of President Wilson that 1918 is
the crucial year of the war Several officers
at home expressed the belief that this year
will see the finish. Like confidence in an
early finish is expressed by Prof. George
>Trumbull Ladd of Yale university, discuss
ing Germany Not Far From Collapse" in
the New York Times, and by Frank H. Sim
monds, a reputable reviewer, in the March
Review OF Reviews. The conclusions of both
reviewers printed below carry several i'm
pressive "ifs" which should be regarded as
warning against overconhdence.
Professor Ladd sums up the situation in
these words
"Predction as to the date of the war; s
ending is still, of course, matter of great
uncertainty, and he who ventures upon the
role of prophet should do so with great
modesty. But, if the entente allies stand
firmly up to duty, there are abundant signs
that Germanys condition of desperation,
subjective and objective, is so great that a
peace acceptable to the allies, and dictated
by them, may be reasonably hoped for by
the close of 1918. Indeed, we believe that in
the face of stern resolve on the part of her
enemies, Germany and the Teutonic comb-
nation will, within twelvemonth, suffer a
complete collapse.
put tHiS ldltH Is depcHucHt upon IdltH VI
another sort; and this is the faith that we
and our allies will be faithful to their trust,
however much suffering and~self-denal such
fidelity may involve. Our more insidious
and threatening enemies are not the Ger
mans themselves. They are in a condition of
blind and rash fury; they are beginning to
recognize the fateful fact that the coveted
advantages for the attainment of which they
initiated the war are already lost.
"Our more dreadful enemies are the fol-
lowing three: First, government divided
against itself, refusing to cut red tape and
commit itself to the men who know, and
slow to part with servants who, however
we'll meaning, have proved themselves in
competent for their exacting tasks. Second,
the shortsighted selfshness Of those of every
form OF industry, in manufacturing, and
transportation, and employers of every sort
who are more interested in their own
profits than in bringing the war to a sue
cessful and speedy close. But, thirdly and
perhaps most of all, those faint hearted paci-
fists, whether they belong to the bolsheviki
crowd or to other associations, or even to
some religious denominations, who are ad-
vocating an unfinished work, just as it is ap-
preaching completion; or, above all, the
bribed pro-German crowd. who are doing
that countrys dirty work no less effectually
than they formerly did it by arson, bomb
throwing and bomb placing, and by diplo-
matte intrigue against US in foreign coun-
tries.
"For US, the lesson OF Germany's des perate
conditions, on the verge of collapse, is to
stiffen our resolve, strengthen our hands, in
spire our courage, and increase the urgency
and the extent OF our assault upon Germany,
Austria Hungary and Turkey: but, above all,
to see to the suppression of the enemies in
the midst of US, with view to making more
complete the victory, and more sure and last