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Press, Volume LIII, Issue 15917, 2 June 1917, Page 8

The visit of Mr Balfour to the United States will, wo beliove, have a very beneficial effect in bringing about a hotter understanding betwern tho two nations. AccoruTiig t-o an English paper the Americans could not understand why there was not more open rejoicing on our part upon tho decision of tho United States to join in tho war. About tho samo time, wo learn, our French Allies wcro puzzled because England was not beflaggod on account of our victories on tho Ancrc. Tho truth is the English are not as a nation given to demonstration. Thoy let themselves go on Mafeking night, and we believe they havo been ashamed of it over since. In regard to this war their attitude is ono of keen determination, looking towards the end. Meanwhile, they feel it is not worth whilo to put out flags ovor individual successes, or to be down-hearted when a check takes place. So far as America i s concerned, her decision was received throughout tho Empire with profound relief, and we have no hesitation in

saying that our joy and gratitude because America was coming out openly on the side of liberty and right, was as much for America's sake as for our own.

The news that two students of Columbia University have been arrest-

Ed on a charge of conspiring to induce men not to register, this "b:ing par t of an anti-conscription campaign, reminds us of tho persistent and far-sighted 'manner in which the Germans have sought to poison the wells of learning m the United States. Even before the war they had their agents at work instilling pacifist ideas into university | students, and these efforts wero doubled after war broko out. It must v C i;f b ° Ut - T, ypars ago tkat thQ Ed.tor ox Tho P e= s " receved some of .tho circulars of tie "Collegiate Antimihtansm League," which was formed among the students 0 f Harvard, Yale ; Columbia, Princeton, and other collego?, with the ai m incu'catinc "the .need of direct and forceful agitation against militarist tendencies and probanda. Wo noted at the time that he propagand a Hteratui- 0 boro somo j y German-looking names, such as Kar G. Kanrten, A. L. TVaclienber-, *.o:la Knchwey, and so on . Ap £ ly the seed thu s sown is now beginning to bear fruit.

There is no need to assumo that tho resolution b.v the Mayencc branch of tho Pan-German League, that "peace must not ho concluded until Britain is conquered, and the Kaiser has annexed tho whole British Empire," represents tho views of any considerable proportion of the German people. If It did, all estimates' as to tho length of the war would hare to be revised, mere is. however, good reason to belicvo that tho great majority of Germans would gladly welcome a peace that left them merely their own country. The Kaiser will d 0 well if he saves even that out of the wreck of his plans.

Against the Pan-German league's futile demand, which suggests many moro years of war, we may put Mr Balfour's assertion to the Canadian Club at Montreal that tho war "i s in its last phase." That may perhaps bo a little less optimistic than it sounds— the Secretary for Foreign Affairs did not venture to assign any definite period for tho "last phase," which might indeed last for a year or two. The American Administration, we are told, intend to act on tho assumption that tho struggle will last for another three years. Their attitude is an intimation to Germany that in tenacity of purpose the Anglo-Saxons across the Atlantic are in no way behind their British cousins. That is the way to victory. The war may be over much sooner than we da.ro hope—it may have ended beforp the close of the year, but, as Mr Alfred Noyes said lately, "that will only be the case if everyone o-oes ahead as though it were going to last five years."

"Look," said a wit, pointing to a man, obviously deaf, who was strnining eveiy nerve to hear a very dull speaker, "look at that fellow wasting his natural advantages!" The remark seems equally applicablo to the Swis3 who in the middle of a Avar in which tho mercantile shipping of the whole world is suffering heavy losses, are actually thinking of establishing a merchant fleet of their own. They are said to be so impressed by tho decrease in tonnage and tho probablo greater scarcity of it before the end of tho war that they feel they must, secure their own vessels for their oversea trade. The trifling difficulty presented by. tho fact that Switzerland has no sea coast, and therefore no ports, is to be surmounted, so rumour has it, by the Frenqh permitting the Swiss ships to make Bordeaux their, headquarters. The scheme sounds a little fantastic, but if it is true, as alleged, that Cailler, of chocolate fame, has the matter in hand, the report may have ground of truth. j

The American soldiers who have already crossed the Atlantic are probably by this" time being trained in France, whither, no doubt, all the fighting men of America's "first hundred thousand" will go. "When the French mission was in the States Marshal Joffre placed at the disposal of tire latest ally the great training camp at Chalons and offered to take upon himself the responsibility of seeing to the instruction of any Americans that were sent to the front. He laid stress upon the importance of the men going to France. It was not possible, he said, to train them effectively anywhere but in the theatre of war Naturally there was some curiosity on tho part of the Marshal's interviewers to learn how long the period of training would be, but on that point Joffre wag discreetly vague, though he said that, profiting by the experiences of Britain and Franco, the American troops would develop even faster than the "fine material" provided by. England.