Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18, 1918. AMERICA'S REPLY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14712, 18 September 1918, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 18, 1918. AMERICA'S REPLY.

With eommeuidlable .promptitude J'l'eaidfent Wilson has given his renly to t'hc vAustro-H-ungjVvinn' peace ' overtures. ■It id a flat refusal ,to open any discussion withr the r * ''enemy.'" 1 And 'the is supported with wonder fill ! unanimity by the "nation. There is a refreshing plainness about the American ; press comment quoted m. pxir telegrams to-day The United States is clearly out to. win, and nothing short of ad-, ministering a thrashing to the Bully -of Europe will satisfy it. ' Having taken seme time to make itself -fully persuaded' that it was right to enter the war, the American nation^, now that it is m it. is not going, ta allow itself „ to- be trickedf by tlie M-'iles '.of ' din-loniaciy' ' out i>f the attainment of a definite, decision. The Hun ? miisfc be defeated — America says so, and America,., with., millions of the best, fighting ..material ...available, to throw into the fray hag. the right to sa.y so. We like the plain declaration of one New York paper that they are out' to get the eneniy, dead or alive, and also the expression of another paper | that they are going to smash, the serpent's head, not taJk' to it. The.) fact of the matter is that it wanted some iitraight, tinambiguott^ statements such .is this to knock into the minds of the Prussian's tihe idea that America means' business,, andi if the' Allies can contrive ilia'ough tlieir propngaaida bureau to get these American replies circulated m the Central Empires, 1 the Austrian peace note • which caused them to be penned," will have served a- not-unprofit-able purpose. It will also be wonderfully heartening to our own soldiers to have it stated so definitely and emphatically that America, will stand firm for a complete victory. If there -is one thought that must hang like aj nightmare 'over .ott-r" gallant defenders it is this, that through the weakness and ineptitude- of politicians . at home their labors may. be m vain. Only- one doubt as to ultimate- victory assails the men ou the Western front. It is this : 'tihat can; armies may be attacked m the rear, not : by the enemy army, but by the premature peace / negotiations of the oi.vir populations they are defending. This' fear is manifest m niany letters from the firing line. Our boys have suffered such hardships' and seen so many of their' comrades sent :. West that" they cannot bear- the thought tliat so much toil 'has beett endured and so many precious lives lost, and' perhaps m the end! the politicians ,may "foozle" the whole business' / and-; give away, the fruits of, victory which have been so, hardly won. President Wilson's Note and' the expressions .-of- responsible leaders of opinion will give them new hope and-, encouragement. , The advent pf American ' intervention, and tih^e feouhdhess of American „.,views, views on , the aims to bo achieve'd'/'liisive given promise, of .'a.', glorious victory..- liieut. Obningsby Da\vson,/ m his book "O\)t to Win," describes the business-like .method ""with which America is setting about her task of beating the Kaiser. In a chapter desoribing "War as a Job," he', says : "With t'lio British war is a sport. With the' French" it. is a martyrdom; but with the Americans it is r a job.' '.We've got four years to do - this' job ; we've got' four years to this job/vasthe American ..soldiers chant. . ~'-^t.After all, smashing the . Pan-Germanic Combine is only another form of trust busting— trust busting witih aeroplanes and guns instead, of' with" . law aiid ledgers. .There is*. '-something almost terrifying! Sibout this quiet aollectedness — this. Pieipont Morgan touch of sphinxlike ' aloof hess from either malice pi- mercy.l Just a«^ America once said, *Baisiness is business,- and formed her world combines;, , collaring monopoliee arid allowing the individual to survive only by virtue of belonging to the fittest, so now she is saving, ,'War is war' — someUiing to be accomplished with as ■little' regard to landscapes as blasting a railroad across a continent.

. . . 'War is biißiness/ the Germans have said. The Americans, witit an ideal shining m their ' eyes, hav^ replied, 'Very well;', we didn't want to .fight you, but now thai' you have forced us, we-, will fight you on your own term's. We will make' war on you as a business, fQr we are business men. ; We will -Qrush- yon boldly, dispassionately, ■'without rancoi', \rjtliout, mercy, till we have pro rod to you' that 'war'.'ia not a profitable lu.wuess', but hell.'"..' That is the spir jt m which America answers 1-hc Xeutonio peace bvertures. And the words.' ai-e not merely^ "hot air," for America has justified her right to speak authoritatively by-- the splendid acihieveineiit of her army m the last .week— an' achievement, .which,, as .General .Maurice points out, has altered complexion of the campaign m the West, for it lias 1 given. 'Marshal 'Foch a.'new offensive front to operate on whenever, he desires. Not only are import|int German' communications menaced', but ■ the Ameri^ cans now, facing tlie.enemy on the Plains of ->W.oeuvre ;are actually within thirty miles of the bulk of Germany's iron supplies . and a . great part of 'her coal supplies. On the Alsace f i>onfc, a little further to the south-east they W within fifteen miles of the Rihine Tlie opening of an offensive .m Macedonia, which hw been attended '-'with consider-' able success, also serves to remind Gerlnany that though &be may be ready to baiter Belgium^ for a { peace favorable to hfi^self, tlie Allies are out to secure hwdom and repar'atiou not only for Belgium but 'for all the other smaller nations which have been despoiled by ■»yar. The of the Southern Fluvs hap been inbtuded m the' Allied 'Vav aims aa-.endorsed by Pres.!dent Wilson, and it is a good thing now to, have fie Serbian army, m cp : operation. with the French, striking, to emphasise tliat ■fact and driving Germany's allies back out of a. .region ■.■that" they liaye held too long. The blow now being struck from .Salonika-. is a very opportune reply to the Austrian peace proposals. It should show the enemy that the Allies are determined to loosen the grip which the Central Empires . have .-• upon-.- the Balkans and to effect a,, permanent ftettlpment m south-eastern Europe based upon tihe. freedom of the vaVbus national tuiits now mutilated, coerced and oppressed by the Dual Monarchy:: This can only be • effected, . it, would seem, by "bniisinc* the serpent's head," and there, is sufficient time left yet before winter sots m for Foch, Haig, Pershing and 1 all the rest of the Alljed generals to do a very considerable amount of bruising; '