Progress of the War.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16217, 21 May 1918, Page 6

Progress of the War.

Tho lull on tho 'West front, judging by to-day's cable messages, is about to ■ give •wnj to another big German blow. ! Tho inclement weather which, according to rccent. reports, was the chief cause for the delay in the resumption of operations,' lias apparently given place to conditions eminently suitable ' for attacking, and now that tho Germans have completed their arrange- ' ments for another effort to break 1 through the Allied lines, it is unlikely that they will delay longer, as each day ( sees the Allies better prepared to with- i stand their assaults, and General Foch's ] reserves strengthened hv tho arrival of 1 American troops. Whether tlio next phase of tho offensive will take the form of fresh attacks above or below the Somme, in Flanders or against some fresh sector of the old line, is a matter 1 purely for conjecture, and in this re- ' spect the cable messages afford us but little information, giving no reliable information to guido tis in forming con- j elusions. The most satisfactory feature ( of tho situation on tho West front is 1 tho c-alni confidence of tho Generalis- ' simo, who whilst declining to discuss * bis plans, indicates that ho is quite confident of his ability to hold the g :nemy until the time is ripe for tho t

d 1 Allies to take tho offensive again and - resume the work brought temporarily f to nought by Russia's defection. A o message relating to tho Turkish activit ties in Persia suggests that a determined n effort is being made to reach tho line of the British advance on Mosul, but as n tho report comes from enemy sources, o it is impossible to estimate the position 0 with any degree of accuracy. Numerous ti reports relating to the situation in 1- Russia show tho appalling conditions r which have resulted from the betrayal - of our erstwhile ally by tho anarchical - mob led I>y the Lenin-Trotsky faction. 3 A paragraph appeared in yes--3 torday s issue, describing tho ! response made l>y tho town of j Guildford, in Surrey, to tho appeal of the great loan campaign which raged in London and throughout the provinces during the week, March ' 4th to 9th. The effort, which was f known as "Business Men's "Week,"' ) was initiated at a luncheon at the Ald- . wveh Club, when it was suggested that the towns and cities should oach be in- „ vitod to subscribe a munition of war proportioned to the size of its population. _ Tho idea was taken up, and a week's campaign was organised for tho 1 National War Savings Committee by . tho Aldwych Club. Towns of a ihou--1 sand inhabitants were asked to provide [ an aeroplane, costing £2500, towns ( with 2000 a tank at a cost of £5000, and so on. It proved one of the most popular and successful forms of raising money that had yet been imagined. Hundreds of little towns promised an aeroplane or a tank, sixty-seven each, agreed to find the money for a submarine (£100,000), and thirty-two undortook to raiso the prico of a destroyer (£150,000), twenty-two a monitor (£250,000), and twenty-two a cruiser G2400,000), while three cities, with a population of over a million, pledged themsolves each to subscribe onough to pay for a super-Dreadnought, costing two and a half millions. The money was to be raised by the sale of National War Bonds, bearing 5 per cent, interest. ♦ In I<ondon itself tho task of selling the war bonds during the week was carried on by six tanks, named respectively Egbert, Drake, Nolson, Old Bill, Iron Ration, and Julian. One of them stayed in tho City, another in Trafalgar square, and tho four others toured tho London boroughs. London, bo to speak, had "a little bit to wipe off." On tho occasion of tho previous tank campaign it had subscribed three and a half millions, about 10s a head, while Glasgow had subscribed at tho rate of £14 per head, and West Hartlepool £35 per head of tho population. It may bo said at onco that London did extremely well in its second effort, especially considering how much it has given to tho war in other directions. The Ellerman Li>u> invested a million, Harrods and other • otail firms promised their entire week s takings. Solfridgo's gave £30,000 to begin with, and Liberty's £10,000. * The most interesting incident of the -week at tho Trafalgar square tank was the arrival of an individual who desired his modest subscription, represented by a cheque for two millions, to be anonymous. There was intense excitement on the part of the crowd to soo what a two-million man looked like. Apparently the only undisturbed persons wero the investor and tho tank clerk, whose imperturbable calm was not in tho least affected by such a liugo investment. On tho samo day "Egbert," 'ho City tank, received a cheque from the London County and Westminster Bank for two millions, and cheques for a million cacli from three other banks, Barclay's, Parr's, and tho British Bank of Northern Commerce. But there were any number of smaller investors, and a noticeable feature of the crowds were the office girls who bought bonds for their sweethearts at the front— nest-eggs for the furnishing of the future nest. —a— The result of the week exceeded all expectations. The Chancellor of the Exchequer had expressed his hope that the amount raised would reach one hundred millions and his confidence that London's contribution would equal that of all the rest of the kingdom. Both hope and confidence were justified. The total amount invested in the six days was £138,870,240, and London's share came to more than I £75,000,000. In terms of the tasks allotted to the different towns and cities the money subscribed was sufficient to purchase , 7 Super-Dreadnoughts, 44 Light crufeers, t 9 Monitors, 1 41 Destroyers. ; 63 Submarines, . 4000 Aeroplanes, besides a number'of machine-guns (£BO - each) and anti-aircraft gunß (£IOOO 1 each). • • i As we have shown, London did all 1 that was asked of her with a good bit j to spare. Practically every town and i city in the country subscribed more ' than the amount it set out to raise. * Liverpool, for instance, which wis to j provide one guper-Dreadnought, sub- < scribed more than enough to buy five j such vessels. Manchester surpassed its i promised two-and-a-half millions by a 1 million and a half, Cardiff gave three [ and a half millions, Birmingham and t Bristol over two and a half millions 1 each, while. Sheffield, Leeds, and Brad- 1 ford wero well up in the two million : class. Some of the little towns did far c more than the big ones, in proportion to their population. Halstead, m j Essex, with a population of a Httle T over 7000, raised, instead of £15,000, t no less than £157,000, equal to £25 j per head. Sandwich's £31,000 and Saffron Walden's £<50,000 represented £10 , per head, and numbers of places m- ] vested thrice and many more twice as v much as they promised. * In announcing the result of the cam- ' s paign in the House of Commons, Mr Bonar Law mentioned that since Oc- e tober last, when the issuo of these war s bonds began, the amount sold had * reached an approximate total of £570.000,000. It was pointed out by t the Director of Publicity of the Na- c tional War Savings Committee that C though special efforts. were necessary t. from time to time it was the regular £ weekly purchaser of bonds or certifi- e cates who counted. "We want," he j] said, "people to start the saving habit, a to cut off all luxuries and all unneces- o

I sary expenditure. If a man cannot afford to buy more than a war certificate, and buys it, he is doing his bit. '