THE WAR

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 38, 14 August 1917, Page 6

THE WAR

Th^-mtist'' impoctant newer from 1 the -famtfl'to-day is that describing the Bu- ! manian ■ danger 5 and unfortunately it is [■bad. In the first place the Kymmnians have- lost the Marasesti junction,, which ia ahouit twelve miles north of Foraa-ni. Two railwa.ya traverse Moldavia Trom north tp south. 'The chief of them -enters Rumania from Bukovina and runs south to Bucharest, on the west' bank of fee Sereths'; and of this until Mackensen's recent success the Russians and I Rumanians held all that portion between ! the Bukosdna border and Focsani.- Tiie second railway is, roughly, parallel it, and ruiie from the northern extremity of . Moldavia through Jassy, near the eastern frontier, then through. Oiasna, .Berlad, and Tecucin into Wallachia. It 1 is connected with the western line by i.-.two linlcs, the Bascani Jassy line, and I'the ■ Marasesti-Tecucin line.

By no-otber- route, except in the extreme north, can rolling stock be passed from one .railway to the other; and' one of these links is now cut. Tile Itumanians can therefore operate west of ■the •western, railway only with. such, material «v am bo handled through •Jasßyi and although the detailed reports do.not phovvf what is happening in 'that quarter, it appears that the Jassy litilc is algD in gravo danger, Probably the ■dBMSCT'is not sa-much due to th«

tion as to the inability of the single link to handle the great traffic. With both lines open, circulation of transport is possible. With only one, especially as the long railways are in aJI probability still single tracks, the western line is almost useless. The reports about the King and . Queen having left Jassy may be taken as an indication that the military authorities propose to • retire upon • the de facto capital. With the railway behind them the Russians and Rumanians may be able to hold the line of the Sereth over its whole length; but except for the fact that it is a river line the position is not attractive. The communications in the rear are scanty.

The position in Rumania} to which the Germans seem for the time being to have transferred their chief effort, is far from clear. But it is evident that the enemy, in spite of reports to the contrary, is doing\ his utmost. Here, too, the defence'appears to be stubborn, and the front has been quite free of the disastrous voluntary retirements which disgraced some of the Russian armies in Galicia. It is one of the ironies of the Eastern difficulty that these retirements really led to the terrible danger now menacing the remainder of Rumania and the arniies fighting for it. Wallachia, the greater part of Rumania, was sacrificed through the traachery of the late Russian Government, and now the army of free Russia, after purging the nation of the traitors who formed its head, has through the work of traitors in the rank and file put in dire peril all that is left of its mutflajbed ally. The'armies in Russiaare singularly quiet, and the best that we can suppose is that efforts are being made to stiffen up the Russian forces for the day when better work can be done. TJie renewed invasion of Russia from Eastern Galicia is said 1 to have stung the delinqoent army into realisation of what it has allowed to happen. But the house is gone; and the thief has ffis loot in the stable doorway. • .

The latest reports about the embargo upon exports declared by the United States is very interesting. Neutral nations have declined, or a.t least failed, to supply the American Government with figures to prove that they were not supplying Germany i with forbidden goods. This omission has forced the State Department to realise the extent of the blockade-breaking work of Germany's neutral neighbours.. If a neutral has been doing so much trade'in . foodstuffs with Germany that it dare not admit the facts, then it evidently will" be able to relieve its own wants in a large measure by stopping that trade when its own imports are cut ; off. The State Department has been persuaded, it is now stated, to adopt a severe attitude. No^ doubt the embargo will bring more hardship to the neutral nations, but it j is not at all obvious that it will hurt them seriously just now, The new >harvests are coming in, and there is no reason why any country not at war should be unable to provide itself t in a very large measure, if not altogether, with foodstuffs'sufficient for its needs. Ger- y many, in spite of its war effort, has managed by 'economy and stinting and by stealing in every possible way to get along. A nation not at war cannot very well steal, but it can do more farming.