The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1917. AMERICA AND THE WAR.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVI, Issue 16229, 27 March 1917, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1917. AMERICA AND THE WAR.

American papers now to- land show that the breaking oft' of relations with Germany was. accepted everywhere as a necessity, and ; very generally witli relief, in the United States. , The New • York "Outlook" two effects of the breach that it had "restored the self-respect' 5 g£ hundr.eds of thousands of Americans, and brought the country to a state of unity. The nation seems to have yu'eoared at once in a mood of sober resolution to meet war if it should .come, arid the assurances of support and cooperation given to the Government by companies and organisations of every kind were surprising. The New York "Tribune'' describes the great industrial mobilisation which was. immediately set in motion by the National Council of Defence : "If five years ago any one connected with, the Government at Washington had stood up in a meeting of manufao turers arid labour men and suggested that 20,000 companies send to tlie national authorities reports of tiieir equipment for making products needed in time of war, and that the Government be given the right to commandeer whole, industries, and set them to 'work for the': nation, there would Have been' a storm of opposition and a general outcry of ' Socialism.' Yet we are told that all this has been authorised and that it is only the beginning. Out of hundreds of larger automobilemanufacturing concerns, provision is made so that less than a score would be making cars the day following a declaration of war. Arrangements, it is said, will soon be perfected so that in the event of a serious crisis the entire industrial life of the nation would be immediately transformed into a co-operative public service. Government orders and Government inspection are to be the rule in times of peace in order to ensure efficiency in the day of need. These and other plans of the National Council of Defence will mean probably the greatest change that has ever occurred in our history as a nation. Tlie war has brought about at a single stroke a' development of national consciousness the world over which years of aeitation for-. Governmental control could not have achieved.'.'

German Americans hastened to take out naturalisation papers and to pass resolutions stating 1 that, if the worst should come to the worst, they were American citizens first and foremost. If, after three years experience of German faith, their, professions were received with a certain doubt, ic was not admitted by the Ameri can journals, anxious for unity. As to the capacity of the United States for helping' the Allies in the event of hostilities with Garmany. and the form which its heir; should take to be most useful, views wide apart are expressed by the American journals. The Chicago "Evening l JNTews" declares that "the United States- of America is prepared for war neither commercially nor physically, since we have neither a merchant fleet to carry our commerce nor an army and navy to protect it. ' The more general tendency, however, has been to enlarg'e on resources, which, in tlie case of a war that would give time for anything- like their full development, would no doubt be crushThe German hone is that the war will be ended before tlie United States can bring- to bear any appreciable portion of its strength, and the powers which can be utilised without long* delay are of most importance to the Allies. The "Wall Street Journal" mentions some directions in which the intervention of America nuffht. bp of .priceless service. "Lloyd George once spoke of the 'silver 'millet* winning the war. Our financial arsenals are "filled with those bullets, gold-plated at that AVe can send tliem to tlie Alii us -"by tlie shipload as long as the war lasts .... America can take upon itself a larger part of the task of feeding the army and civilians of the Aliies. Where Germany is hungry, we have grain. Next spring wo can increase the acreage of cereals, potatoes, and foodstuffs in general. Governmental regulations may even be directed to that end. "We have more than 22,000,000 dairy cows, 40,000,000 head of cattle, 48,000,000 sheep, and 67,000,000 swine. These animals mean food, clothing, and leather. There are 2-5,000,000 horses and mules, ready for the battle front, or- the farm, or wherever their labour

' + n , 6e • ■ • War calls for copper, steel, coal, and many chemicals. la "the possession- of these military necessities we are the strongest and bestprepared nation of the world If the short-sighted Kaiser sees nothing but a, mobilisation of untrained men behind our little army, he makes his last and greatest mistake."

The "Springfield Republican 1 points out that tlie American Fleet; could add 40 ner cent, to the •Entente lead on the sea. Its prime duty would be to keep the food ships plying 1 between America and Great Britain, thouW-Ii protection ol America's owit coasts from submarines, by a fleet; which is particularly short of small quick patrol boats and aero-* planes for observation, might; for some time be an anxious task.-

So far there has been no seti battle on the 'French front, and the position is substantially unchanged'. The Germans are expected "to make a stand on a line* .three miles from St. Quentin* where the French are facing; them. Further south our allies have had successes, and material abandoned on the British fronts suggests that the enemy has beert more hurried than was. contem--plated in his ulans H;or the retreat. The withdrawal has not? been made without serious losses* alike of - men and of material. Iti is announced, that the German "dan.o-er zone" at sea has been extended to include the more northern part of the Aichansrel route, but, regardless of defined zones, the Germans have sunlc Ships where they could find thenuThe Zealand Shioping Company's steamer Kotorua, loaded with frozen meat and produce.-id the latest victim. Passengers had been landed first at Plymouth* and only one life was lost.

Terrorisation and baffled" hata supply the only possible exuln nations of the destruction wrought s by . the Germans in the districts now recovered from them in! .France. It is obvious from dascriptions cabled that nine tenths of this damage could have no lawful military; object. The -rmy which entered Belgium stiecially armed with ingenious devices for destroying houses, in defiance of the rules of war, is now destroying and polluting everything iri its backward march, still sustains iner the distinction made by Kipling between "Germans and human beinffs. - ' No deterrent appears possible, unless the French can spare aeroplanes tci bomb German cities as reprisals, as has' been done in one instanceBut the Power that sanctions snr-h' atrocities must be made in can- 0 Ha of future_ devilries. beyond itaj borders.

E-eports that the German soldiers, as their retreat reveals, have been underfed for months itf France, lend interest to a statement of 'ftie rations of the' German; armies- made by the "Cologne Gazette." The allowance—for soldiers, not officers—was fixed for January as follows:—Daily: 125 grammes (4oz) of rice oil vegetables; 300 grammes (10oy x of potatoes; 125 grammas ■ (4oz) of? fruit: 15 grammes (ioz) of coffee', •with 6 grammes of substitute ;■ 55 grammes (1 5-6oz) of butter fati or pork. Montly: 200 srramm.es .(6 2-3oz) of cheese; .02 litre (lesa %an an ounce) of svrup; and in very cold, weather, one-tenth litrd (between three and four oxmees, or tablesjioonfuls) of alcohol. Iti is a poor ration, and no meat 13 .included in A. Possibly ifc has not always been forthcoming.

Tlie final report of the five yeafsl old Dominions Trade Commission' "apo'ears at a bad time for public interest, when the, first need id [ not to r>erfect .tlie Empire but to ■preserve it. Tlie - one defect in' tie scope of tlie noted at tlie time of its inauguration, was tlie omission of any powers to deal with the fiscal question, but tliat has since been: remedied by the setting up and! satisfactory report of Lord Bdl-< I four of Burleigh's Committee.- | The proposals for n permanent' touring- Imperial Development: Board, faster shipping and cheaper cable services, are obvious] v of very .orpat importance.Toothing- can be better for tlie .Empire than increased intercourse between its parts. In tlie work of after-wm- construction' tli° reconimendntious of the Trade Com-> mission should supply most useful •g-uidance.