THE DAY OF RECKONING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16020, 11 September 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE DAY OF RECKONING.

The great financial weekly, the Statist» publishes a very confident article with regard ,to the limits of German resources. I. "There is a widespread delusion,'' it , says, : "respecting .the resources of Ger- . many which it is desirable.; to dispeL Newspaper writers and public speakers are . never tired of dwelling upon the wonderful resource that Germany has shown durk ing the- eleven mouths of the war. These ■•■ people ■"■haye never been prepared by the -, '.. classical education which they received to '' ',-■ Tindeßßtaxid national resources or national . staving rpower. It is not surprising, there. ; ;: . fore,,_ihat;»they are. dumfourided by the '"■ ■■'--■' :^^evid*mc^."^v^^^i's®®F, j^^^'"-*-* ye * ; *. ' eihansfed/'-,-"'.'-'-- ''•* '-•- " , » i »*--■" : ' 'VVW'ars -pTepare'd to" -- stake whatever reputation we possess on the assertion that the two central European Empires have not at the present six millions of men in the field, and never,will be able to bring that force to bear npon their opponents. If the reader will bear in mind r what is;happening here at- home he-will '■- - • share on*, disbelief. . :i:■*■_>•'-■. .-> *. ■: i --- ■'■ ""We -have«'been:-engaged in ,-the, war now for'elevennmontbs, and-yet we have ""* had to change cor GOTerniient, to create a new Department, and to transfer our ; most energetic public man from the Exche- • quer to this new Department so as to te ' able to supply; our army with sufficient ..;',;'--- " munitions of war. We have thrown our '* * whole economic organisation into disorder by withdrawing a couple of millions of n^.-from-peaceful;/pursuits, and enlisting them in the army ;'. and -yet we are asked ; '.. ' to beUeye-tiiat Germany /has withdrawn, riota couple' nnffions, but. five millions ofmen'pr over, from productive employ- : merits,"and that yet she"has ■ beaten • all her Adversaries in producing munition sup- > plies nnheard-of qnantiti.es. The thing "isabsolutely impracticable, and is as much . of a dream as any fantasy tbs.t haunts mid- ". night sleep * . " ; "What enables Germany to do what she '■'■■:' is doing in regard to men is that she ' has,.since her victory over France nearly "rhalf a century ago, been devoting herself unceasingly to preparation for this war. With that view she has built an. admirable system of strategic railways, and by lueans ' of. those railways she shifts troops from France to Poland and back again as circumstances compel her to strengthen the 'ione; position. or the other. "Bat-that kind of- thing may be done .;: >• ;". for months. cannot be persisted in very long. '"' .''. .^:' t *■",' -' ' f r •' When one hears of what is being done , by Gej-manyyone; should remember that a ."great*deal ■ of the ability,to-do so ;is de- * rived • from ; plundering Belgium and the -Occupied provinces of France. The re- • sources of Germany in real, simple truth, are by no means what , they are supposed to; be. They are very nearly exhausted. * was will be; seen so soon as .Russia is in .: i position to bring overwhelming forces f and to drive the Austrians and Germans - before them. '-But the real resources of the "■';. "two central; European Empires are very_ nearly exhausted already. :; " Germany" looks ' imposing -"now - because she. made vast preparations that are not v yet quite \ exhausted, because her people r are wonderfully patriotic and are fighting-well.. But the day of , reckoning is napidly approaching." ''^ :^ a : *r