Progress of the War.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16212, 15 May 1918, Page 6

Progress of the War.

The news from tho West front is again very scanty, Sir I>ouglas Haig and the French communiques reporting nothing beyond somewhat lively artillery fire on different sectors, and normal aerial activity. M. Marcel Hutin, the eminent Frencli critic, states that the German Navy will take part in tho next phase of the offensive, basing his .statement apparently on information from Berlin. It has several times been pointed out during the last few weeks that this was a likely contingency, and it is apparent that the reports weri- based on something more than mere speculation, for the InterAlliod Naval Council at Paris, according to a recent message, considered' all eventualities of the immediate future, including a great sea fight, for which preparatory measures were taken. An item in to-day's news indicates that our forces in Palestine have not yet cut tho Hedjaz railway, the message stating that "Vorwaerts" admits that if the railway is cut Turkey will lose Arabia. Now that wo have forced the enemy back from tho head of the Dead Sea, and secured the crossings of the Jordan, it seems strange that it does not appear to liavo boon thought advisable to despatch a force to cut this line, more especially as tho operation would have such far-reaching effects on the campaign in this theatre. Apparently considerable Turkish forces are still afoot in the provincos of Hedjaz and Yemen, and despite General Allenby's successes, his advance on Aloppo may be presenting more difficulties than we have been led to bolieve by the cables relating to this campaign. In Mesopotamia Gonoral Marshal is pushing on in the direction of the Persian frontier, and a message today indicates that on this front no resistance is being encountered from tho Turkish forces. j

! Obviously it is untruo, as a "Daily Chronicle'' correspondent remarks, apropos of the Leipsic fair, that Gorman manufacturers are accumulating vast stocks for foreign markets after the war Tlio German manufacturer who is still in business has something elso to do than to stack up goods for which there is only a small present market, and for which there inay ho but a slightly larger one after the war. Practically tho only manufactures turned out in Germany for. three years, except absolute necessaries, liavo been "war material. Most of tho factories engaged before tho war on any of the highly specialised industries of Germany have been turned into munition works. Of the balanco, the scarcity of raw materials must have lessened considerably their rate of output.

When peace is doclarod, apd Germany turns to the task of picking up the shattered fragments of her trade, it will probably bo found that most of the machinery in use during tho war is woril out with incessant work, and' both it and tho machinery in factories that the war has rendered idle will, in many cases, be out of date. , Manufacturing Germany will be in poor condition to begin the economic war which it is practically certain will bo waged against her by the Entente, and, possibly, the United States.

[ Germany will also have to meet hostility of a very determined character in a quarter where it can inflict much harm upon her. Whatever doubt may exist as to the penalties which the victorious nations will inflict upon the creator of the war, there is none at all regarding the intended action of the British Seamen's and ' Firemen's Union. That powerful organisation is more determined than ever to apply a punitive boycott to Germany after the war. Its president, Mr Havolock Wilson, in a recent speech, in which he stated that 15,000 British seamen had been murdered by German pirates during the war, is reported as saying that British masters, officers, and seamen were in hearty unanimity in their determination aftor the war not to handle stuff in any way connected with Germany. "A year ago the limit for tho boycott was two years. Now, owing to the increased crimes, it had extended to 55 years," and it would bo enforced to the uttermost. Mr Wilson added that ho had proofs that commercial folk in Germany were very uneasy about it, because they knew that British sailors possessed the power and influenco to make good their threat. In all Germany's planning for afterwar trade, she will do well to keep in mind the menace of this boycott.

Prussian Jtinkcrdom was playing with lire when it threw out the other day the Electoral Reform Bill, which would have granted tho people equal franchise—"one man, one vote." The German nntion wants many things, but a large majority of it wants; beyond everything else, the stoppago of the war find 'enough food to eat. As a means to this end, it looked forward with anxious anticipation, to the passing of this largo measure of electoral reform, bv which the Imperial Chancellor had said he would stand or fall. Consequently its rejection provoked an outburst of deep anger. It was a victory for the Junlcor party which may -vet prove to be moro disastrous than a defeat.

Cables in tho Australian papers naturally contain fairly long references to the visit of a large body of "Anzaes" to New York at the beginning of the month. The "Anzaes," who appear to have been all Australians and had all seen service, were diverted to the United States to assist in the Liberty Loan campaign. They were under tho command of Colonel Fethers, D.5.0., of Melbourne, who was in charge of the last hundred men at Lone Pine at the time of the evacuation of Gallipoli. The men appear to have had a tremendons reception as they marched up Broadway, and the boiling enthusiasm of the public was reflected in the extraordinary warmth the newspaper references to them. It is, of course, impossible to say what effect their visit had upon the success of the loan, as they seem to have landed only two days before it closed. They no doubt helped to fan the public interest in the loan by visiting Wall street, where some of the officers spoke irt aid of the effort. But as a matter of fact the loan was already over-sub-scribed when they reached New York.

The amount of the loan, it will be .remembered, .was sis hundred millions

sterling. The campaign lasted just a month, and it speaks well for American patriotism that the total subscriptions exceeded eight hundred millions — some 34 per cent, more than was asked for. The number of subscribers is believed to have been more than.seventeen millions which, it is pointed out, means an average of one bond to almost every family in the States. As

we explained on a previous occasion, each State and county was allotted the quota of the loan which it was expected to raise, and in every case this quota was exceeded, San Francisco probably heading the list with an exoess of £1,600,000. It was, as indicated, a people's loan, because the large financial interests are said to have had to reserve their funds to meet the heavy income and excess profits taxes due to the Government in June.