Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1921-09-27
THE VERDICT HISTORY
is PREPARING.

The verdict of history, as to how
the World War was won, and to
whom and what agencies credit
should be awarded, is rapidly pre-
pairing. And it is becoming more
evident daily that this verdict will
not be entirely to our liking.
1t will have been noted by read
ers of public addresses and docu-
ments that our former too boastful
claims have been greatly tempered.
There is rarely heard today the
once familiar boast that 1--WE won
the war" We are beginning to al
low some credit to French genius
which really guided, perhaps Great
ed, victory-and to the vast efforts
put forth by the allied European ma
tions.
But European students of and ac-
tors in the great conflict have al
ready arrived at pretty definite and
harmonious views on the subject.
While these students of war do not
throw our claims out of court, they
no longer attempt to soothe US or
f3atter US by graciously accepting
our contribution to victory at our
own high valuation.
Stephens Lausanne, himself close
student of the war, has an article
in The Outlook of September Z,
which is entitled Germany Was De-
feated When America Declared War,
Says General Buat." Lausanne is
editor of ale Martin" one of the
greatest of the French newspapers.
This title is itself misleading, for
Lauranne seems to have two inter.
pretations of the words Of the IA
nous French military expert. He
seems to take the following language
Of the General's-Tt was not in No
vember, 1918, when Armistice was
signed, that Germany was defeated;
it was in April, 1917, when America
declared war"-as giving US credit
for the decisive coup, even if no blow,
save a moral one, had been struck
by US up to that time. But this is
hardly what Buat means, and Lau-
zanne is aware of this, later on. We
quote a passage from his article:
III ny people have asked this ques-
tic.?-
q, nat would have happened in the
spr: of 1918 to Hindenburg if, in
stea.; of wearing out the German
forces in the exhaustible attacks, he
had ~'aited quietly behind his for
mid; Ne lines of defense satisfying
hin. self in warding off the blows?"
To this Hindenburg has replied in
his "MmmOries:"
"The German army would have
died of exhaustion before the enc
my" to which General Buat, in his
book, replies as follows:
THE German army would have
been beaten all the same, because
during the series of attacks which
we ad fOreseen, and whose execu-
ton was to have been extremely
rapid, nothing could have saved the
Germ IN reserve. Our job would
perh: ps have been harder, but the
American army, which was there
NUM- rous, ardent, admirably equip
ped would have enabled US to accom-.
plish it successfully. The sue
cess of the -zRar would most probably
only have been decided in the spring
of 1919. But it would not have been
changed. and the German army would
have suffered the same disaster il
suffered in the summer of 1918"
History is beginning to record our
part in the winning of the war as
not the work of the armies in France,
not the vast supplies of food and
munitions of war, great as these
contributions were-but as the moral
shoe: to Germany of President Will
son's enunciation of the great prin-
GIRLS for which humanity was con-
teriing. Those principles were and
remLin invincible. What was needed
was their proclamation by some
present-day high authority, and their
prompt recognition by the masses of
mankind. The proclaiming of these
principles, along with the ideal that
peace should be merciful to the peo-
pies misled by Prussionism, sattered
the morale of Germany and Austria.
That is our great contribution to-
ward the winning of the war.
And it is because this contribution
vas made by and through Woodrow
WIIstu that all the miserable dicker-
Eng and evasions and betrayals Of