The North Otago Times SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1917. A LONG WAR?

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13937, 21 July 1917, Page 4

The North Otago Times SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1917. A LONG WAR?

As a counterblast to tlie expressed opinion of the-optimists who are convinced flint the war will end (his year, we have.the studied conclusions of the military correspondent of The Times, who declares that although Ave are drawing near to the close of tlie third year of the struggle, there are no conclusive military reasons why the war should sooii end. Marshal JofiTe constantly pestered with the coalman question on this subject, referred one day to his chauffeur for the •answer to it. ~Jt is well, therefore, not to lose sight of stern realities. No .Great Power and no great army or navy, have been struck down on land or sea. Great losses of life, treasure, 'ships, and war material;have occurred, and the economic pressure is intense in most countries, but people will find the wherewithal to'nourish themselves,' fresh contingents of recruits are still found to fight, the bane of one new invention is usually succeeded by the antidote, while'so long as nations strike, off paper and accept each scrap as a thousand pounds, marks, franks, or roubles without demur, the financial liquidation is;.postponed.; till the, peace. If the Allies are I stronger than our enemies, and much, stronger potentially now that the New World is with us, j they, too have their difficulties and problems. The morale, so far as we know, of all the belligerent Powers' is still unshaken, and this situation will continue until 'tli-v affirmation oi; military superiority in the field by ( one. side or the other, or revolution; or the waste'of manhood, or .want bordering on sta'rvafi'on, or finally tremendous industrial upheavals, compel one' sick or the; other to lay down its arms. ; "Though 1 the still unused resource l ; of the, Allies are greatly superior to those of Germany and her dupes, and though it is inherently probable, on this account, that Ger-many-will be beaten," declared The -Times military correspondent,writing in the middle of May, "we have-not yet established in the ficul the Superiority of military Jorce. necessary for decisive victory, whiOio economic pressure upon the etiemy, though severe, affords no certain grounds'for-anticipat-ing 'tlie early .cessation of. hostili.-. conclusion-is .inevitable that,;tlie war •may"'continue""for longhand that'our business is to prepare for a long war, and to legislate forit/'->"Jt pointed out that the obstacle to the defeat of the enerav in the field is theliiilpre of the Allies to amass in theatre of war all the military resources which they possess, and, in the. case of Grea! Britain, to utilise t,o the lull the resources of her manhood. .< There are no-able-bodied civilians of mill'taty ; flgf). jn France,. and it is coiv" tendejd'-lKa't t]iei. , p ; shoukl:;bo new in England, pvoii if;the,Army lends .experts and skilled hauclsrto ; all the;-advantages; ;|hg;se^ge^th&^

ovcrCioniG the enemy, and the, war : is being prolphg'ed because th'o Al-, lies have: noT drawn for''this purpose upon their available manhood as Franco has done,'.. With about a million and a-half persons; gaged in munition works ,i n hot h countries, niul withnearJy the same output, France has' only 250,000 fit soldiers lent to tho .works and engaged upon munitions, while. Great Britain has 800,000 civilians of eighteen to forty-one similarly engaged. Very probably many 1 ; other trades and occupations, agriculture, for example, would i|iow even'greater, difference in th'p respective practices, all arising from the fact that in France there ire no civilians of military age except the unfit, whereas with Grlfat Britain there" are between three,and four million or nearer five millions, if men up to fifty years' of age arc included. The Times correspondent has always taken a gloomy outlook, but although it is felt that the war-may end this year, wclhave no solid grounds for our conclusion, In almost every war theatre the enemy lines are strongly liejd. The fortunes of the British forces in Mesopotamia and Palestine are greatly prejudiced by the failure of the Russians to mamtain\their'offensive in the Balkans, General Sarrnil has not, or cannot, move, though the position may improve when Greece redeems hfir promise to put ten divisions into the field within the next three \ months. Vt-ry little is known of the prospects of ,a decisive Wot being struck in the West. ,The German thrust on the Aisne followed, by the terrific smash at Nieuport demonstrates conclusively that the Western. Front is still held in strength by the enemy. The.revolutionary troops of Russia which are smashing through to Lemberg have changed the military outlook materially, but it has yet' to be shown that the Russians can maintain their offensive tactics. Un* questionably the road that leads to victory is rough ,and stony, and who can say that the goal is not yet a long way ahead. In the last terms, however, the result of the Avar depends upon the resolution of the belligerent peqples, and ,we are confident that in the eleventh hour, the British democracies will not fail in courage and in constancy, no matter how distant the goal and how stony the path.