THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 86, 9 October 1915, Page 4

THE WAR

The spirit and phrasing of the British Labour Party's recruiting manifesto ar« admirable, and a most important admission is made, viz. : that the voluntary system^is on its last trial. Moreover, the test to be applied is defined with the utmost definiteness, for the nation is told by the Labour Party that if the voluntary system is to be vindicated at least 30,000 recruits .weekly must be raised in order to, maintain the efficiency of the armies necessary to win such a victory as will terminate German military tyranny. Add to the above the statement that the responsibility for securing victory (or defeat) rests on those of military age who have not responded to the call, and the reminder that "at no time in its history_ has the nation been faced with a crisis of such gravity," and it will be seen that the Labour Party has put the case tellingly. Feeling that the backwardness of suitable men is due not to lack of courage but to failure to appreciate the situation, the compilers of the manifesto point out to their comrades that a defeat or an inconclusive^ peace involves the loss of personal liberties, because it means a renewal within a few years of the present conflict with tyranny, and means the creation of a situation in which neither personal nor national freedom is at any time assured. We have gone thus far m recapitulating the points of the manifesto because, coming from the Labour Party, it is a vastly important and historical document. Possibly it will set the Syndicalist dogs barking, but it proves that the heart of the. Labour 'Party is sound. At this crisis, one wonders whether Mr. Ramsay Mac Donald's utterances at the outset of the war stillhold him down the side-track into which lie wandered. How well fitted he otherwise would have been, b"y talent and temperament, to lead this Labour recruiting campaign, the last charge of the voluntary system ! And how the good wishes of the Empire would have gone with him, as they do now to the Labour men who compiled this eloquent manifesto. • "An inconclusive peace!" This phrase in the Labour manifesto is a reminder that peace-at-any-price ideals are not dead, and that a compromise party is, in a subdued way, quite alive Such a •peace would be little better than defeat, and the alternative is — 30,000 volunteers weekly, otherwise compulsion. Unless we _ make a compromise peace (an idea which should be ruled out), and unless there is some sudden and as yet unforeseen internal collapse in Germany (as, for instance, a failure in ammunition supply), who will be bold enough to say that the beating of Germany will be' accomplished in less than another two years? And if the struggle is to be dragged out, as apparently it must, it becomes purely a war of attrition, in which every individual must render, in firing line or factory, his best effort. The alternative of an internal collapse in German ammunition supply has been mentioned. Since it w,as cabled that cotton had been placed on the contraband list, there has been ground for hoping that the enemy might run short of this vital element in the manufacture of propellant explosive, and that thereby his army might be put out [of action. But, on the other hand, it is possible that Britain is locking the stable door after the theft- of the horse. In the first year of war, despite the evidence of scientists and protests from all quarters, cotton was allowed to pour into Germany, even from Britain. Can that mistake be, in any limited space of time, undone? In the opinion of the Scientific American, the Entente's failure to declare cotton contraband was the greatest technical blunder of the war. Of course, there may have been a diplomatic reason The British Government may have wished to consider the feelings of America, and particularly of the cotton States. Recent cablegrams indicate that in our treatment of cotton, and of neutral cargoes generally, the British Foreign Office has by no means finished its argument with Washington. Given an adjustment with Germany, the Washington despatch-writers may turn with renewed energy to Britain. So there may be a diplomatic excuse for the "technical blunder," but its grave military effects, prejudicial to the Entente, seem to be beyond question. Concerning the attitude of the Kaiser's brother-in-law, King Constantine of Greece, in his breach with M. Venizelos, a German message coming via Copenhagen is very frank. It attributes this development to the Kaiser's intervention "at the last moment." Also, it shrexvdly recognises that the resignation, of a Premier is not always the same thing as his defeat ; and ' ' Constantine may be playing a dangerous part." But Constantine does not seen* to be minded, at present at any rate, to make it any more dangerous than he can help. His new Ministry seems to be a sort of gathering of elder statesmen, who will play for safety. According to The Times, Greece is about to issue a declaration of benevolent .neutrality to the Entente. King Constantine, says another message, " does not desire to obstruct the FrancoBritish force." "Desire" is hardly the word, bub it> comes in. effect to the same thing. It is now stated that M. Venizelos, when Premier, met the Entente disembarkation by registering "a protest which was not intended to impede the passage of the Allies, but to defend Greek sovereignty." Apparently, the King's new Government ie not doing any more. It is maintaining the passive attitude asked for in the French Minister's letter. There is still much doubt as to whether Germany and Austria intend to invade Servia or merely to demonstrate. The Paris story that Germany vainly suggested to the Sultan a purely Asiatic Empire— in order that Germany might play to Ferdinand's vanity with an offer of Constantinople — may not be reliable, but the sharp line that separates the reasonable aims of the Bulgars and the soaring ambition of Ferdinand as their imported ruler, is too well established to be denied. If Servia had proved as submissive as Turkey, and had surrendered Macedonia as Turke.^yielded the transMaritza territory, Fc^'inand might have been pleased ; but, unlike the Bulgars. fie would not have been satisfied. His ambition inspires him to ulterior desires ; Mid Germany in placing- to lik phonal acjurep. T-he other' dsy, it .was cabled

that Germany had offered Ferdinand westward expension, at Servia's expense, right to the Adriatic; this, in spite of the fact that such an expansion is- entirely opposed to Austria's Balkan policy. Germany would just as willingly offer expansion northward into Rumania, or eastward to Constantinople j to involve Bulgaria she would offer Ferdinand anything. The Entente, however, has never been able to encourage Bulgaria, to hope for anything more than expansion over those areas where the populace ie mainly Bulgar in origin or sympathies.. The recognition of this nationality principle is all that the Bulgars want; but Ferdinand covets more. To_a character of his type, the suggestion" that Greece should find expansion oversea in Asiatic Turkey, while Bulgaria merely gains Bulgar Macedonia and Kavala, is invidious and distasteful. The argument that the Turkish coast of Asia Minor is largely peopled by Greeks, while- the Bulgars are entirely confined to the Balkan Peninsula, would, in Ferdinand's vFew, count for little. Hie aims are not national, but imperialistic. The natural irredentism of the Bulgars, resembling that of Italy with regard to the North Adriatic coast, falls far short of the covetous designs of Bulgaria's Tsar. The French are literally blazing a track through the German centre in the Champagne, and it now seems that they cannot fail to cut the lateral railway which is their immediate objective. Later news tends to increase rather than minimise the importance of the capture of Tahure (not La Hure), and the Germans have been cleared out of Souain, which is on the line of advance to Sommepy. In the east, the Germans are delivering a desperate blow at Dvinsk. The Petrograd correspondent of _ The Times adds to the stream of evidence indicating Russia's artillery revival and technical improvement. Germany alleges that the British used intoxicating gases in the La Bassee-Lens battle, but the fact is that little has been heard, in the recent fighting, of the effective use of poisonous' gas on either side. Some time ago Sir Hiram Maxim stated somewhat cryptically that he had invented an expedient that would greatly assist the British soldiers in France; and some details of this expedient have since appeared. It will be remembered that the Russians were the first to announce a discovery that poisonous gas can be averted by burning petroleum in front of the trench against which the heavy wind-borne gas is sweeping. The petroleum, it was added, created a volume of heated air that carried the poisonous gas upward and dispersed it. Sir Hiram Maxim's idea appears to be similar in its action on the gas; but Sir Hiram does not wait for the wind-carried destroyer. He explodes, on its path of advance, an incendiary bomb, which acts as the petroleum fire does. Whether the Anglo-French protection is incepdiary bombs or respirators, it appears to have, been effective, for the reports of German counter-attacks say little or nothing of poisonous gas. One notable feature is that, after a big advance, the AngloFrench Allies have to reckon, with not merely the enemy beyond their lines, but^ within them, isolated hostile posts fortified with machine-guns and sometimes cemented and armoured. Thus, internal sieges are in progress at the same time as counter-attacks are repelled. One siege of an isolated German post lasted a week.