are engaged in a death struggle." Such is the substance of much newspaper comment. The N. Y. World thinks that the note is illuminating because it points out that WE there are no belligerent rights except those that have been conceded by neutrals, whereas the nations at war have been assuming that neutral rights are held by sufferance and may be denied altogether. "Great Britain is now put upon notice," says the Washington Post, "that the United States expects its innocent and neutral commerce to pass to neutral countries unmolested, even through a cordon of British war ships; that the pretended blockade of neutral waters is unlawful and will Reparation for Sinking an 'HEN the German cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich came limping into the neutral harbor of Hampton Roads a few weeks ago she brought the news that among the fourteen vessels she had destroyed on the high seas was one American ship, the Wm. P. Frye, laden with a cargo of wheat for British ports. Our State Department has found in this event another occasion for a diplomatic note to Germany. This note took the form of an itemized bill of damages for the ship. Germany's prompt reply, tho justifying the action of the German captain under the rules of war in general, not be recognized, and that if American vessels are held assured payment for both ship and cargo through prizeup this country will demand full reparation." A New Outcry Against Exploits of UNSPARING condemnation of the sinking of the merchant ships Falaba and Aquila, with the majority of their passengers, by a German submarine, has characterized the comment of American newspapers. The loss of life of an American citizen on the Falaba has been made the subject of diplomatic investigation. But that is regarded as incidental. The outcry is against this kind of warfare. The fact that it was a German submarine is not the important matter, declares the Chicago Evening Post; "the thing that was done is the thing against which the feeling of this nation revolts, and revolts justly. . . . No conditions can justify the sinking of an unarmed, unprotected vessel carrying noncombatant passengers, without making every provision for the safety of innocent human lives involved in the act." The Brooklyn Eagle calls it "murder in cold blood"; the Philadelphia Ledger, "a crime against humanity." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch points out that press comments on this horror equal at least in vigor those printed concerning Belgium. That paper says: t "Poor Germany! Her leaders must be blind indeed not to see that the inevitable effect of the 'policy of ruthlessness' enforced against noncombatants and neutrals as well as combatants is alienating world sympathy. Nations can afford to be beaten in honorable warfare. Nations have, with the moral support of others, risen to greatness from the ashes of defeat. But no nation can afford to offend the moral sense and humane sentiment of mankind. No nation is strong enough to survive on might alone. Leaders of a nation who ignore 'decent respect for the opinions of mankind' lead it ultimately to disaster-to a day of reckoning when it appeals for sympathy and support in vain. "The German people, great in mind and heart, should grasp and understand this situation." Dr. Dernburg as spokesman in this country for the German attitude asserts that passengers on the ships that were sunk had ample warning against taking. passage on ships sailing into the war zone. The loss of life is regrettable but he is unable to understand the outcry in view of England's purpose to starve 70,000000 Germans, non-combatants and civilians, to death. The N. Y. Sun replies: "All war is terrible. A blockade that seeks to starve a nation is terrible, but it is an act of war. It furthers the purposes of war and tends to its speedy conclusion. The drowning of non-combatants is more horrible, for it is not war at all; it can have no utility in promoting the military aims of the combatants. It is not rational severity; it is mere cruelty." court proceedings because of a special treaty made a century ago with this nation. This quick closing of the incident has been welcomed by the American press as satisfactory; but Germany's citation and construction of international law is regarded as significant. Germany is endeavoring to speak to the world at large, suggests the Detroit Free Press, and to notify other governments that its arrangement with Washington is not to be considered a precedent for them. "Germany is somewhat inconsistent in offering to pay for the Frye and at the same time holding that her destruction is proper," observes the St. Louis Star. "Germany can not hold that it is wrong for England to capture neutral ships carrying contraband to enemy ports and at the same time hold that it is right for Germany to do so. If the sinking of the Frye was proper, then the present British prohibition of all trade with German ports is right, and we are not to be blamed for not going to war with Great Britain over it, as German papers would like to taunt us into doing. "But the fact is, that neither the sinking of the Frye nor the British prohibition of trade by neutrals with Germany is right.... Germany's abandonment of the position she has held and her indorsement of the British position does not in the least change wrong to right. We still must make our voice heard in defense of the rights of neutrals." SPEC THE ALLIES ON THE OFFENSIVE EUROPE'S MILITARY EXPERTS ON THE IMMEDIATE 307 thus on the eastern front, the Kitchener armies, supporting the reinforced battalions under Joffre, will either rush on the German left in Belgium or execute a "conception" through Alsace which is involved in some mystery. In fact, assuming the accuracy of hints by the military expert of the Débats, to which the military expert of the Berlin Kreuz-Zeitung attaches importance, the new aspect of the war may result from a southern movement by the French and British instead of the northern drive about which so much has been written. This is one of the secrets of the war which has been very well kept. Every military expert in Europe seems to know that Germany holds her line in France and Belgium strongly. Two thirds of her army are still there, if we may believe the military expert of the Manchester Guardian, who has been most careful in his statements and whose predictions have often been verified. France, on the other hand, is said by some students of the war abroad to be holding her finest infantry to the south of Paris. The idea that she has abandoned all idea of a movement through Alsace is not so generally held by the experts now. PECIAL effort was made by the great general staff in Berlin to keep track of the movements of General Joffre and General Foch during the past weeks, according to a student of the situation who writes in the Paris Gaulois. German anxiety grew out of reports concerning a council of war in which not only French and British military magnates were supposed to take part, but at which members of the staff of the Grand Duke Nicholas gave their views. The gathering may never have taken place. If not, there was a careful comparison of views among the allies on the eve of that. campaign in which, for the first time, they will assume the offensive on every front. The offensive entails a much closer unity of action than has characterized the strategy of the entente powers hitherto. This unity is to be, as the Figaro says, the "conception" of the new phase. There will be no forward movement in the west until it has been timed accurately with a corresponding movement in the eastern theater. The general staff in Berlin will no longer find it so easy to entrain divisions and rush them from one frontier to the other because battles will be too nicely timed. The history of operations on land, the experts of the allies think, ought to present some novel features in consequence. The Germans suspect what is coming, the London Post reports, and their spies have been unusually active in France. Holding the Germans on Two Fronts at Once. HEORETICALLY the spring campaign will be simplicity itself, for the military experts of the allied press seem to be in an unusual state of agreement. Russia is to exert the severest armed pressure upon Hungary and Silesia, and she is nerved for that effort according to both the military expert of the London Times and the military expert of the Paris Temps. Austria will be of little use in the emergency, we are asked to believe, seeing that Italy will certainly have come in, or, through the threat of coming in, will balk plans to relieve Cracow. While Russia presses the foe GE How Germany Will Conduct Her War on Land. ERMANY ought to have a million freshly-trained troops by this time to throw into the fighting line in the west. British and French military experts, at any rate, admit the possibility. The Germans will be making a great effort in northern France within the next few weeks, we are warned by the experts of no less than three London dailies. The situation has changed so little since last autumn, to follow the expert of the Manchester Guardian on this point, that all the reasons impelling the Kaiser's armies to attack the allied line as far as the sea apply with equal force now. Germany may be hampered somewhat by her greater responsibility just now for the defense of Hungary; but, on the other hand, her position in Poland seems greatly strengthened. She has not captured Warsaw, A BRITISH VIEW OF "THE ENEMY TERRITORY" TO-DAY The black patch indicates the enemy territory from France to Poland. Austrian Galicia occupied by the Russians is shown and also the small slice of Als ice occupied by the French. The principal points where the Allies have driven the enemy back di ring the past month are indicated. -From the London Mail nor, for that matter, has she captured Paris yet; but the exigencies of a prolonged war render the capture of even a large city relatively less important than it was. The general staff in Berlin will think itself justified in sparing enough men from Poland to strengthen the army detailed for the defense of Hungary. The idea that German military energies are to be directed into a campaign against England primarily must be dismissed. The expert of the Guardian is convinced, as are most of his brethren in Europe, that France is in for a fierce struggle in the north. He writes: "Looking back on the campaign of last autumn which followed the Battle of the Marne, we now see that the chief cause of the failure of the French and British turning movements against the German right was the great superiority RAMSGATE NORTH SEA DOVER in Flanders or anywhere else this month is, they argue, sheer madness. The Kaiser's troops, we read in the Berlin Kreuz-Zeitung, will continue to hold East Flanders and the territory gained in France. Poland will not be wrested from the Germans by the Russians, who have been driven out of East Prussia and who can make only occasional irruptions there in the near future. The contempt for the Russian is based partly upon his inadequate military equipment, for the forces of the Grand ZEEBRUGGE KOSLUIS BRUGES DUNKIRK NIEUPORT of the railway within the German lines, which enabled the enemy to concentrate much more rapidly than the Allies could. Much has been written of late about the excellence of the French operations at the eastern end of the frontier, and one reason may be that here the French are much better served by their railways. Flanders, French and Belgian, is somewhat inconveniently situated between the French northern railway system, which is a little too far west for the purposes of the Allied operations against the German right flank, and the main trunk between France and Belgium, which is in the hands of the Germans. But on the eastern frontier the French system of defence had been carefully thought out and is excellently supported by the French railway system. That, no doubt, is one of the many reasons which led the Germans so persistently to put their main strength on the right wing. Moreover, they have there the advantages of more open country, which is favorable to rapid movement such as the German Staff delights in. These arguments in favor of a campaign against the western end of the Allied lines are as strong now as ever they have been, and it is quite possible that the new offensive will follow the same general directions as that of last autumn." CALAIS BOULOGNE ABBEVILLE THE RAIN BOMME DIXMUDE BERGUES YPRES STOMER CAMELLES ST POL о O VON BESZLER LILLE FOUR CORPS CROWN PRINCE OF WURTEMBROS BELGIUM LEGE LA BASSEE MAULDE ARRAS DOULLENS SAMBRE NAMUR EMPEROR WILLIAM'S HEADQUARTERS DINANT DÜSSELDORF PRUM. ÓLÖGNE BONN MIR: PILL EIFEL MI TRIER LUXEMBURO MONTMEDY GERMAN CROWN PRINCE ONE CORPS TWO RESERVE SAARLOUIS ANIN COBLENCE A IN ONNE ETAIN MARNE VEROUN MANTES CHY THIERRY STS MENEHOULD METZ PONT-A-HOUSSON SMINIEL O SESANNE BAR-LE-DUC LUNEVILLE ASSY NEUFCHATEAU CHARTRES ORLEANS FORTS- Has Germany Lost Her First Confidence in Her Army? N ONE important respect the comments of German military experts on the war by land have been modified. There is no longer a profound contempt for the military capacity of the British. The military expert of the Hamburger Nachrichten, like that of the Berlin Vossische Zeitung, concedes the high value of the new material in the British ranks. The period of training has been inadequate, they agree, but the fighting quality is there. The fine and soldierly qualities of the British troops are admitted by the expert of the Frankfurter Zeitung likewise; but he notes that the original expeditionary force was composed of tried professional soldiers, whereas the Kitchener armies are raw levies still. "Of the former there can hardly be any left, and as to the latter, how can they have been made fit for battle in such a short time?" These commentators on the situation reveal no suspicion at all that the German armies are anything but invincible. Certain London dailies are in the habit of quoting doleful extracts from Berlin newspapers, implying that the first confidence of the Germans has gone; but this idea is not confirmed by the comment of the military experts of the fatherland. They profess to be aware that large bodies of troops have been transferred from England to the continent, but all talk of 750,000 British on the firing line 10 20 BO 40 TROYES BARA CHAUMONTY VON BULOW REMIREMO COLMAR ISACH MANN MULHAUSEN ALTKIRCH Lint Neenahr Sinig Neuwied Cantabber Andernach KOBLENZ Ob Lahnstein PRINCE RUPRECHT BAVARIA "Chateau Salins Senkirchen Homburg) Sabruck JMETZ Airt Senent Lilliers Bethyn Ploud Lens Courcelles ALH Braige le Comte Cuze Soignie Pérnwelz Ramillins Jemeppe LIEGE Genaple Nivelles Gembloux NAMUR Meuse Huy berding Trois Poin Malmedy Sa Thula Maubeuge Anka Dinan Deville. Ouren Jemalla Kochem Velu Mping Coudry Le Cateau Arsnes Busign Couillon •Bittburg Binger Viaden Airaines, Roisd Hirson Peronne Guise Bernkastel Kreuznach (Kirhe AMIENS ATIN Chadings Mareuil Ribemont Harle Obersten Birkenfeld Craonha Dua Cormicy Clermont Liancourt Salsson Crepy-en Millersanlis Valas Collects Chantilly Bazancourt ORREIMS willers Varenne -CROWN PRINCE janville anville Tere-en Tardanais *Chateau Vienas brille en Argona Suippes VERDUN Pontoise Dammartin Ury Denis Thierry Charly aq Temple Trascour Chalonssur-Marne Vigneulles Thiaucourt Limours Dourdan SIDizier Vass Doulerant Barrais TOUL du Part Condrocour Joinnile Nemours sur Seine •Beaune-J Rolande Nogent NEU BRISSACH Courtenay Etampes Ferte Alai FONTAINEBLEAU Malesherbes Pithiviers Bellegrade Châteauneuf Jur-Loire English Miles Aube Pablis Tonnerre-Chatillon AUXER Montbard Dieuze EPINAL TON HEERINGHEN THE GERMAN WESTERN BATTLE LINE SIX MONTHS AGO AND NOW The upper sketch map indicates, the position of German troops last September. The lower one shows the comparatively slight changes all along the line at the present time. 1 SHOOTING A WAY THROUGH THE DARDANELLES Duke Nicholas, says the Berlin Post, have had no arms and no ammunition worthy of the name since the war began and they are not likely to get any for a long time. France is soon to be expelled from the little of Alsace she yet retains. British Impressions of German Optimism. WHILE German military experts modify their first ideas regarding the ease with which the foe can be disposed of, London military experts incline to warn their readers against the facile optimism with which the spring campaign is regarded by the allies. The immediate future in the western theater of the war is certain to strain severely the resources of France and Great Britain, admits the military expert of the London Times. He has no doubt of victory; but he is not sure that it will come this summer, because, to be decisive, the Germans must be driven from Belgium, and it remains to be seen how the Kitchener armies will endure such an effort. The military expert of the London Post takes pains also to set forth the factors that may tell against the allies. Germany may even hope that, before the effects of British pressure by sea and allied pressure by land are really felt by herself, France will be exhausted and Russia will sue for peace or at least welcome it: "This is the German hope; and in this belief Germany will fight on without any thought of making peace as long Some of the belligerents seem to think that it is the duty of a neutral to help them hold the other fellow down while they pound him.-Deseret Evening News. 309 as she occupies the North of France and Flanders. For that reason we must strain every nerve in the actual prosecution of the war on its military side. Not until they have got the enemy out of Flanders, France, and Poland, can the Allies afford to sit down for a little and light their pipes. That is why optimism on our side is misplaced and dangerous: let us always remember this, that Germany will consider herself victorious so long as she is able to fight her Battles on her enemy's territory. And here it must be confessed that progress is slow, and that France and Belgium suffer bitterly. Here in this country we are apt to be deceived because we are in the habit of judging success by the sea, whereas the Continental nations measure war by the land. We British have been much doubted on the Continent: intriguers everywhere are constantly saying that in time we shall tire of this business and abandon our Allies, and that our efforts are half-hearted and self-centered. In reply, we can only ask our friends to believe in our good faith a little longer. France is unconquered, and we believe unconquerable; her armies are better to-day than ever they were. As for Russia, the German General Staff can no longer affect to despise her armies; upon the contrary, they must feel a creeping of dread when they consider a Power which moves forward rather like the tides of the sea than the operations of a finite army. For Russia can never be exhausted. Although Poland has been devastated, the true Russia has not yet been touched, and while Germany fights with tremendous exhaustion of effort and material, the waves of the Russian armies move forward tirelessly and to infinitude." What would happen if Uncle Sam got his correspondence mixed and sent the Kaiser a note intended for Carranza?-Charleston News and Courier. SUSPENSE OF EUROPE OVER THE FATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE UNLESS the fleets of the allies have by this time made good their passage of the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmora, a situation of great difficulty will soon confront the three powers. The reverse, as the Manchester Guardian admits it to be, in what are called the "Narrows" of the Straits, entailing the loss of important British and French ships, had a bad political effect for the allies by confirming the arguments of those Balkan neutrals who think Germany will win. Even the most optimistic London daily now admits the crucial importance of opening the Bosphorus and giving the ships of the allies a right of way from Odessa to the Mediterranean. "The whole fortunes of the cam paign may depend upon it," writes the competent military expert of The Westminster Gazette (London). Englishmen are too prone to ask, notes the London Times, what connection there can be between the fronts in France and Poland and the taking of the Dardanelles. "The answer is that the German battle line extends, tho not without breaks, from the Yser to the Tigris." The allies are striking where that line is most vulnerable, and the downfall of Constantinople will eliminate the Turk and provide Russia with that path to the sea for want of which she remains the crippled fighter of the war. Germany realizes the gravity of the fall of Constantinople and moves heaven and earth to prevent it. Determination of the Allies to See the Dardanelles Adventure Through. HOWEVER chagrined the allies may feel at the checks they sustained in the Dardanelles last month, their inspired organs dwell upon the certainty of success. Despatches in Paris dailies to the effect this "crisis," a dispute among the allies that may have a most serious effect upon the future of the campaign. In truth, were one to accept the reports in Berlin dailies, there would be reason to suspect that the allies, ever since undertaking to get through the Dardanelles, have been rent almost asunder by their own jealousies and bickerings, Russia dreading that she will not be allowed to hold Constantinople when they arrive and England fearing they will never arrive at all. The British public quite misconceived the gravity of the whole expedition, as military experts in London remind their readers. Even after the fleet has effected the passage of the Dardanelles, it would be folly, they add, to expect a triumphant progress across the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople itself. "The attempt to force the Dardanelles ranks among the greatest naval enterprises known to history," says the London Post. "The results of success will be immensely important, not less momentous the consequences of failure." The fall of Constantinople will be the beginning of the end of Germany as a military power, observes the London News. The Berlin general staff has devoted every energy to prevent such a catastrophe by providing adequate land forces on the spot. To expect speedy triumph for the allies in such a contest is sheer stupidity. It adds: THE "BROODING" EAGLE: "If some of these eggs don't hatch out soon, I shall begin to get annoyed!" -London John Bull war found so striking an illustration as in the Dardanelles adventure of the allies. German and Austrian dailies have been printing news supplied by the Turkish government in Constantinople itself. While London dailies contain rumors of the Sultan's flight into Asia, Berlin papers have him attending the mosque in his European capital. It is no longer possible, concedes the naval expert of the Berlin Lokalanzeiger, however, to refer to the operations of the allies in the straits as "bluff," altho some of its German contemporaries persist in doing so. This authority lays stress upon the difficulty of the land operations. If Great Britain and France possessed enough soldiers of trained capacity, he adds, they would long ago have undertaken a land campaign without forcing the Straits. Russia has proved incapable of effective assistance. He concludes: "Altogether, the task of achieving a serious military result is most difficult. There is no sign that even the conditions preliminary to such a result could be realized. It is highly probable that the allies considerably overestimated their own effectiveness by sea and underestimated the fighting strength of the fortifications in the Dardanelles, besides reckoning erroneously upon the help of Greece. It may be also that they underestimated the general firmness of Turkey and undertook the whole attack because the pressure of the Turkish army upon the Suez Canal caused anxiety, and in the hope that a serious attack would find Turkey weak and submissive." Anxiety of the British Over the Turkish Situation. ARCHANGEL ought to be open to Russian com "The agitation in Italy, which has resulted in numerous demonstrations and one serious riot, is likely to grow rather than fade as the operations in the Dardanelles move to their climax. Italy is intensely interested in the future of the Balkans, and the collapse of Turkey would hasten the crystallization of Italian opinion. We here should understand that Italy's policy will be decided simply and solely by her estimate of her interests. The sentimental argument for intervention, tho very loudly trumpeted, has a limited appeal. To southern Italy Trieste and Trentino are names only. In northern Italy, where they are names of power to some elements, the Socialists and the Clericals merce by the middle of this new month; but Russia will remain sealed as much as Germany herself if the allies do not get to Constantinople. Petrograd was told, says the Berlin Kreuz-Zeitung, that the task would be impossible without military aid, which the Czar agreed to find. There was some failure of cooperation between the land and sea forces, with the result that the losses of the allies, both in ships and men, have been very, heavy. France, at a critical moment, did not send troops from Africa, and there exists, at TER WAGON ALL ABOARD! -Minor in N. Y. World |