Evening star., 1925-10-11
EDITED BY BURTON J. HENDRICK.
Copyright. 1925. by Doubleday. Page & Co.
AMERICAN AMBASSADOR,
London.
TO THE PRESIDENT.


TO THE PRESIDENT
London, August 10, 1915.
Dear Mr. President:
AS this amazing tragedy unfolds itself We
know only imperfectly what Is happening and
we can only guess what Is going to happen
But from what hear and can infer we had as
we'll prepare our minds and our plans for
long war yet If the Allies make peace that
leaves the German really victorious, they'll
have to fight again. perhaps with fewer Of
them united than now. They'd rather suffer
extinction now than later, and they'll not quit
till they obliged to quit or till they win.
hear that neither side win in France.
The report (private) here is that little while
ago the French, with half million men. tried
to break through the German line, that they ad-
vanced about miles and had lost more than
900, and that they then gave 1t up 1t is
said also that the Germans have expecta-
ton Of breaking through in France. II these
reports be true, and for the present at least
they seem true, the land war will be decided
in Turkey, in the Balkans in Russia, though
Russian defeat alone decide nothing. This
seems to mean a long struggle-through the
Winter and nobody knows how much longer.
England is alive to the peril. and she'll spend
her last shilling and Eventually send her last
She regards English civilization at
stake. And England is slow that she'll not
marshal all her strength till the other Allies
are exhausted. No end therefore, seems in
sight.
But following this war. as there followed all
preceding great wars. will be great changes In
the rules Of the game between belligerents.
Men used to say that the machines Of destruc-
ton would become so terrible as to make war
iu1DO would mel
ton. The in France is already that-the
only question Is, which side will be exterminat-
ed? The trench, the machine gun. the hand
mortar, the hand grenade and gas (yet in its
experimental stage) are killing men In such
numbers that neither the French nor the Ger
mans report the number-to say nothing Of
explosive shells from howitzers
Several British regiments now contain hardly
a man-private or off1cer-who first went out.
The gentle euphemism for this annihiation is
'wastage." Fighting above ground is obsolete
where both sides are Scientific" And
Inhalation is going on in France as fast any
theorist could WISH OF course, 1t takes time to
annihilate millions Of men, the army unit has
increased enormously. And the population
Of parts Of Poland is suffering annihilation, as
a part of the population Of northern France
and of Belgium did Starvation and the use
of gas will become conventionalized in future
wars whether 'legalfzed' or not. In TACT they
are already accepted weapons in this war. The
mistake made by those who predicted that the
horrors Of war with new engines would make
wars impossible not mistake about
initiating but about the shrinking Of men from
being annihilated. No such fear stops them.
In fact, it looks II war now means practical
determination.
X X
II the Belgians ever get into Germany or
the Germans ever get into England or Italy,
something very closely akin to determination
will follow Men were once Mortified by the use
Of the cross-bow In war, and at the use of
guns-all the old rules OF sword and pike war
were knocked out by these dishonorable new
weapons OF indiscriminate destruction. So the
art Of killing moves on toward a gas that
will annihilate army or devastate
province.
AS for our controversy with Great Britain.
this seems to me good a forecast as can
now be made: The blockade, as defended by