Chapter IX: Fighting in the Caucasus (6)

Hitherto the remarks that I have found it necessary to make on the subject of recruiting have been mainly addressed to the House of Lords; but I have felt that the time had now come when I may with advantage avail myself of the courteous invitation of the Lord Mayor to appear among you, and in this historic Guildhall make another and a larger demand on the resources of British manhood. Enjoying as I do the privilege of a Freeman of this great City--(hear, hear!)--I can be sure that words uttered in the heart of London will be spread broadcast throughout the Empire. (Cheers.) Our thoughts naturally turn to the splendid efforts of the Oversea Dominions and India, who, from the earliest days of the war, have ranged themselves side by side with the Mother Country. The prepared armed forces of India were the first to take the field, closely followed by the gallant Canadians--(cheers)--who are now fighting alongside their British and French comrades in Flanders, and are there presenting a solid and impenetrable front against the enemy. In the Dardanelles the Australians and New Zealanders--(cheers)--combined with the same elements, have already accomplished a feat of arms of almost unexampled brilliancy, and are pushing the campaign to a successful conclusion. In each of these great Dominions new and large contingents are being prepared, while South Africa, not content with the successful conclusion of the arduous campaign in South-West Africa, is now offering large forces to engage the enemy in the main theatre of war. (Cheers.) Strengthened by the unflinching support of our fellow-citizens across the seas, we seek to develop our own military resources to their utmost limits, and this is the purpose which brings us together today.

Napoleon, when asked what were the three things necessary for a successful war, replied: "Money, money, money." Today we vary that phrase, and say: "Men, material, and money." As regards the supply of money for the war, the Government are negotiating a new loan, the marked success of which is greatly due to the very favorable response made by the City. To meet the need for material, the energetic manner in which the new Ministry of Munitions is coping with the many difficulties which confront the production of our great requirements affords abundant proof that this very important work is being dealt with in a highly satisfactory manner. (Cheers.) There still remains the vital need for men to fill the ranks of our Armies, and it is to emphasize this point and bring it home to the people of this country that I have come here this afternoon. When I took up the office that I hold, I did so as a soldier, not as a politician--(loud cheers)--and I warned my fellow countrymen that the war would be not only arduous, but long. (Hear, hear.) In one of my earliest statements made after the beginning of the war I said that I should require "More men, and still more, until the enemy is crushed." I repeat that statement today with even greater insistence. All the reasons which led me to think in August, 1914, that this war would be a prolonged one hold good at the present time. It is true we are in an immeasurably better situation now than ten months ago--(hear, hear)--but the position today is at least as serious as it was then. The thorough preparedness of Germany, due to her strenuous efforts, sustained at high pressure for some forty years, have issued in a military organization as complex in character as it is perfect in machinery. Never before has any nation been so elaborately organized for imposing her will upon the other nations of the world; and her vast resources of military strength are wielded by an autocracy which is peculiarly adapted for the conduct of war. It is true that Germany's long preparation has enabled her to utilize her whole resources from the very commencement of the war, while our policy is one of gradually increasing our effective forces. It might be said with truth that she must decrease, whilst we must increase.

It would be difficult to exaggerate the value of the response that has been made to my previous appeals, but I am here today to make another demand on the manhood of the country to come forward to its defence. I was from the first unwilling to ask for a supply of men in excess of the equipment available for them. I hold it to be most undesirable that soldiers, keen to take their place in the field, should be thus checked and possibly discouraged, or that the completion of this training should be hampered owing to lack of arms. We have now happily reached a period when it can be said that this drawback has been surmounted, and that the troops in training can be supplied with sufficient arms and material to turn them out as efficient soldiers.

When the great rush of recruiting occurred in August and September of last year, there was a natural difficulty in finding accommodation for the many thousands who answered to the call for men to complete the existing armed forces and the New Armies. Now, however, I am glad to say we have throughout the country provided accommodation calculated to be sufficient and suitable for our requirements. Further, there was in the early autumn a very natural difficulty in clothing and equipping the newly raised units. Now we are able to clothe and equip all recruits as they come in, and thus the call for men is no longer restricted by any limitations, such as the lack of material for training.

It is an axiom that the larger an army is, the greater is its need of an ever-swelling number of men of recruitable age to maintain it at its full strength; yet, at the very same time the supply of those very men is automatically decreasing. Nor must it be forgotten that the great demand which has arisen for the supply of munitions, equipment, etc., for the armed forces of this country and of our Allies also, as well as the economic and financial necessity of keeping up the production of manufactured goods, involves the retention of a large number of men in various trades and manufactures, many of whom would otherwise be available for the Colors. In respect of our great and increasing military requirements for men, I am glad to state how much we are indebted to the help given to the Recruiting Staff of the Regular Army and to the Territorial Associations throughout the country by the many Voluntary Recruiting Committees formed in all the counties and cities, and in many important boroughs for this purpose.

The public has watched with eager interest the growth and the rapidly acquired efficiency of the New Armies, whose dimensions have already reached a figure which only a short while ago would have been considered utterly unthinkable. (Cheers.) But there is a tendency, perhaps, to overlook the fact that these larger armies require still larger reserves, to make good the wastage at the front. And one cannot ignore the certainty that our requirements in this respect will be large, continuous, and persistent; for one feels that our gallant soldiers in the fighting line are beckoning, with an urgency at once imperious and pathetic, to those who remain at home to come out and play their part too. Recruiting meetings, recruiting marches, and the unwearied labors of the recruiting officers, committees, and individuals have borne good fruit, and I look forward with confidence to such labors being continued as energetically as hitherto.

But we must go a step further, so as to attract and attach individuals who from shyness--(laughter)--or other causes--(renewed laughter)--have not yet yielded to their own patriotic impulses. The Government have asked Parliament to pass a Registration Bill, with the object of ascertaining how many men and women there are in the country between the ages of fifteen and sixty-five eligible for the national service, whether in the navy or army, or for the manufacture of munitions, or to fulfil other necessary services. When this registration is completed we shall anyhow be able to note the men between the ages of nineteen and forty not required for munition or other necessary industrial work and therefore available, if physically fit, for the fighting line. Steps will be taken to approach, with a view to enlistment, all possible candidates for the Army--unmarried men to be preferred before married men, as far as may be. (Loud cheers.) Of course, the work of completing the registration will extend over some weeks, and meanwhile it is of vital and paramount importance that as large a number of men as possible should press forward to enlist, so that the men's training may be complete when they are required for the field. I would urge all employers to help in this matter, by releasing all men qualified for service with the Colors and replacing them by men of unrecruitable age, or by women, as has already been found feasible in so many cases.

When the registration becomes operative I feel sure that the Corporation of the City of London will not be content with its earlier efforts, intensely valuable as they have been, but will use its great facilities to set an example of canvassing for the cause. This canvass should be addressed with stern emphasis to such unpatriotic employers as, according to returns, have restrained their men from enlisting.

What the numbers required are likely to be it is clearly inexpedient to shout abroad. (Hear, hear.) Our constant refusal to publish either these or any other figures likely to prove useful to the enemy needs neither explanation nor apology. It is often urged that if more information were given as to the work and whereabouts of various units, recruiting would be strongly stimulated. But this is the precise information which would be of the greatest value to the enemy, and it is agreeable to note that a German Prince in high command ruefully recorded the other day his complete ignorance as to our New Armies. (Laughter and cheers.)

But one set of figures, available for everybody, and indicating with sufficient particularity the needs of our forces in the field, is supplied by the casualty lists. With regard to these lists, however--serious and sad as they necessarily are--let two points be borne in mind, first, that a very large percentage of the casualties represents comparatively slight hurts, the sufferers from which in time return to the front; and, secondly, that, if the figures seem to run very high, the magnitude of the operations is thereby suggested. Indeed, these casualty lists, whose great length may now and again induce undue depression of spirits, are an instructive indication of the huge extent of the operations undertaken now reached by the British forces in the field.

American War Supplies

By George Wellington Porter

The subjoined article appraising the stimulation given to
the war industries of the United States by the European
conflict appeared originally in THE NEW YORK TIMES of July
18.

Within the last ten months contracts for war supplies estimated to exceed $1,000,000,000 have been placed in the United States.

When war was declared last August this country was suffering from acute industrial depression; many factories shut down, others operating on short time, and labor without employment. After the paralyzing effect of the news that war was declared had worn away, business men here realized the great opportunity about to be afforded them of furnishing war supplies which must soon be in demand. Their expectations were soon fulfilled, as almost immediately most of the Governments sent commissions to the United States. Some had orders to buy, while others were authorized to get prices and submit samples.

It was not long until mills and factories were being operated to capacity, turning out boots and shoes, blankets, sweaters, socks, underwear, &c. The manufacturers of these articles were merely required to secure additional help in order to increase their plants' production.

The situation was different in relation to filling orders for arms and ammunition. At first, as was natural, this business was placed with concerns engaged in the manufacture of these commodities. Shortly they were swamped with orders, and to be able to fill them plants were enlarged, new equipment added, and additional help employed.

More and more orders came pouring in, and, as the arms and munition houses were by this time up to and some over capacity, acceptance by them of further business was impossible. Here, then, was the opportunity for the manufacturers of rails, rivets, electrical and agricultural machinery, locomotives, &c., to secure their share of this enormous business being offered. The manner in which they arose to the occasion is striking testimony of the great resourcefulness, efficiency, ingenuity, and adaptability of the American manufacturer.

The question of labor was of minor importance, due primarily to the fact that many thousands of men were without employment and anxious to secure work, and secondarily for the reason that skilled labor was not an essential factor. Most of the work is done by machinery and in a short period of time a mechanic of ordinary intelligence will become proficient in running a machine. The necessary trained labor could be secured without difficulty. Numbers of highly trained employes at Government arsenals are now with private arms and ammunition concerns. The labor problem therefore was negligible. However, three serious difficulties had yet to be overcome by the manufacturers wishing to engage in this new line of business--the securing of new machinery, raw materials, and capital.

The larger concerns had machinery and apparatus on hand suitable to most of the work, but much new machinery was needed, especially for the manufacture of rifles, and needed in a hurry. Time is the essence of these war supplies contracts, and, as many manufacturers agreed to make early deliveries, it was up to them to secure this new machinery and have it installed without delay; otherwise they could not manufacture and make deliveries as agreed to.

In this event they would suffer the penalty for non-fulfillment, as stipulated in the bond given by them to the purchaser at the time of signing the contract. These bonds are known as "fulfillment bonds" and are issued by responsible surety companies, usually to the amount of 5 per cent. of the total contract price, on behalf of the vendors, guaranteeing their deliveries and fulfillment of the contract.

In the earlier stages of this war supply business the question of his ability to secure raw materials with which to manufacture arms and ammunition or picric acid--this latter being used to manufacture higher explosives--was of no great concern to the manufacturer taking an order; but as orders came pouring in from abroad for ever larger amounts of supplies it was clearly evident that the demand for raw materials would shortly equal, if not exceed, the supply thereof. This condition was soon brought about, and today is one to be most seriously reckoned with by the manufacturer before accepting a contract.

Some of the materials needed with which to manufacture the supplies are mild carbon steel for the barrels, bayonets, bolt, and locks; well-seasoned ash or maple, straight-grained, for the stocks; brass, iron, powder, antimony, benzol or phenol, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and caustic soda, &c. Of these various materials the most difficult to secure are those used in the manufacture of picric acid.

Today it is almost impossible to secure phenol, certainly in any considerable quantities, and it is almost as difficult to secure sulphuric acid and nitric acid. Germany has been the source of supply in the past for picric acid. Before the war it sold around 35 cents to 40 cents per pound, dry basis; recently it has sold at over $2 per pound for spot, that is immediate delivery, and is quoted at from $1.25 to $1.60 per pound for early future deliveries.

Antimony is becoming so scarce, never having been produced in any great quantity in this country, that in the new contracts being submitted for shrapnel shell it is stipulated that some other hardening ingredients may be substituted in the bullets, either totally or partly replacing the antimony.

Brass is essential to the manufacture of cartridges. The term "brass" is commonly understood to mean an alloy of copper and zinc.

Up to a short time ago electrolytic copper was selling at 20-1/2 cents a pound, lead at 7 cents a pound, commercial zinc at 29-1/2 cents a pound. Zinc ore, from which spelter is obtained, reached the price of $112 a ton. American spelter was nearly $500 a ton, compared with $110 a ton before the war. Spelter was almost unobtainable. In England the situation was acute, the metal there being quoted only nominally at around $550 a ton for immediate delivery.

Within the last few days prices have dropped materially, but how long they will remain at these lower levels it is impossible to predict. If the war continues for any length of time the demand for all these metals is certainly bound to increase, and this will automatically again send up prices.

The world's production of spelter in 1913 (the latest authentic figures obtainable) was 1,093,635 short tons. Of this the United States produced 346,676 tons, or 31.7 per cent.; Germany, 312,075 tons, or 28.6 per cent.; Belgium, 217,928 tons, or 19.9 per cent.; France and Spain, 78,289 tons; and Great Britain, 65,197 tons. The world's production of spelter in 1913 exceeded that of 1912 by 25,590 tons, or 2.2 per cent. The greatest increase was contributed by Germany, which exceeded its production of 1912 by 4.4 per cent. The United States made a gain of 2.3 per cent. The excess of the world's production over consumption in 1913 was only 27,316 tons.

As can be seen from the above figures, Germany has control of practically one-half, possibly now over one-half, of the world's production of spelter. Her position with respect to iron and coal is equally strong, the United States not included. In 1913 Germany's production of pig iron was 19,000 tons; Great Britain, 10,500 tons; France, 5,225 tons; Russia, 4,475 tons; Austria and Belgium, over 2,000 tons each; Italy, negligible. She has captured a large proportion of the coal resources of France as well. Her strength is her own plus that of conquered territory.

Before a contract for war supplies is let, more particularly with reference to contracts for arms and ammunition, the manufacturer is requested to "qualify." This means he must show his ability to "make good" on the contract he wishes to secure. If he is now or has been in the past successfully engaged in the manufacture of the particular article in question, this is usually sufficient; if it is out of his regular line, then he must prove to the satisfaction of the War Department or the purchasing agent, as the case may be, that he has the technical knowledge necessary for its production. In either event he must have an efficient organization, suitable plants, with proper equipment and men to operate same; also the necessary raw materials in hand or under option to purchase.

In most instances the manufacturer taking these war orders has been obliged to enlarge his plants, add new machinery and purchase raw materials so as to be able to handle the business. This meant the expenditure of large amounts of money on his part.

He did not have to depend, however, upon his own normal financial resources, as the contracts carry a substantial cash payment in advance, usually 25 per cent. of the total contract price. This advance payment is deposited in some New York bank simultaneously with the manufacturer's depositing a surety bond guaranteeing his deliveries, and upon the manufacturer executing an additional surety bond guaranteeing his responsibility he could draw down all or any part of the cash advance he might wish to use for his immediate needs.

Before issuing these bonds the surety companies make rigid examination as to the ability of the manufacturer to fulfill his contract. The commission charged for issuing these bonds is from 2-1/2 to 5 per cent. on the amount involved. The demand for bonds has been so great during the last six months that it has taxed to the limit the combined resources of all the surety companies in the country.

The remaining part of the contract price is usually guaranteed by bankers' irrevocable letters of credit or deposits made with New York banks, to be drawn against as the goods are delivered, f.o.b. the factory--that is, free on board the cars--or f.a.s. the seaboard--that is, free alongside ship--as the terms may provide.

Banks here are beginning to purchase bank acceptances or bank-accepted bills of exchange, and in this manner payment is also being made to American manufacturers for goods sold to the Allies. For example, when a purchasing agent in Paris places an order for ammunition here he makes arrangements whereby the manufacturer will be authorized to draw on a New York banking institution at a stipulated maturity, and after acceptance of his drafts by such banking institution he could then negotiate these time drafts with his own banker--thus making them, less the discount, equivalent to cash--through whom they could be rediscounted by the Federal Reserve banks. These bank-accepted bills are discounted at a nominal rate of interest.

Before the war we were a debtor nation; today we are rapidly becoming, if we have not already become, a creditor nation. A year ago we were selling abroad only about as much goods as we were buying; now the balance of trade is greatly in our favor, due to the enormous export of foodstuffs and war supplies of all kinds. Monthly our exports are exceeding our imports by many millions of dollars. This indicates that foreign nations are going into debt to us.

At the time of writing this article foreign exchange was quoted as follows: London exchange, sterling, 4.76-1/2; Paris exchange, franc, 5.45-3/4. By paying down $4.76-1/2 in New York you can get L1 in London, which on a par gold basis is equivalent to $4.86 in London. By paying down 94-1/2 cents in New York you can get the equivalent to 100 cents in Paris.

We now come to another interesting phase of this war supply business, namely, how some persons thought these war orders could be secured and how they are actually being placed. Almost immediately after the declaration of war, most of the belligerent Governments dispatched "commissions" to the United States. Some had orders to buy, and others were authorized to get prices and submit samples. In an incredibly short period of time it became generally known that foreign Governments were shopping and buying in our markets. The knowledge of this fact brought about a condition unique in our business life.

Men in all walks of life, from porters, barbers, clerks in offices, to doctors, lawyers, real estate agents, merchants, Wall Street brokers and bankers, seemed suddenly imbued with the idea of securing or bringing about the placing of a war order. Self-appointed agents, middlemen and brokers sprang up over night like mushrooms, each and every one claiming he had an order or could get an order for war supplies; or, as the case might be, he personally knew some manufacturer, or he knew a friend who had a friend who knew a manufacturer, who in turn wished to secure a contract. An official in one of our large steel companies told me some weeks ago that among others who had called at his company's offices, asking prices on shrapnel, was an undertaker.

In most instances the lack of salesmanship experience, to say nothing of any knowledge of the business and how the particular articles are manufactured, was of no consequence to the self-appointed agent in his mad desire for business.

The lobbies of our New York hotels were filled with horsemen and would-be horsemen, some months ago, almost every State being represented as far west as California; also with manufacturers and manufacturers' agents, all eager to secure a "war contract," be it for horses, shrapnel, rifles, picric acid, guncotton, toluol, cartridges, boots, shoes, sweaters, blankets, machinery and materials, &c. The very atmosphere of Manhattan Island seems impregnated with "war contractitis." We breathe it, we think it, we see it, we talk it, on our way downtown, at our offices and places of business, at our clubs, on our way home at night, in our homes, and I have been told that some have even slept it, the disease taking the shape of a nightmare.

The day of the broker, if indeed he ever had one in this business, is passed. The original commissioners have been withdrawn, or those who have been kept here are now acting as inspectors and have been replaced by purchasing agents. The firm of J.P. Morgan & Co. has been acting as purchasing agent for the English Government for some months past, is now acting in like capacity for the French Government, and has also done considerable buying for the Russian Government.

In order properly to handle this vast volume of business, a separate department was created, known as the Export Department. Connected with this department are experts in all lines--men who are thoroughly familiar with the various Governments' requirements, who know what prices should be paid, who are in close touch with each market, and who understand fully the materials they are buying.

There are a few more concerns, among which are one or two banks, trust companies, and Wall Street houses, which also have formed separate organizations for the purpose of purchasing war supplies for the Allies. As all these concerns are in close touch with the manufacturers and will only deal directly with them, the brokers and middlemen have very little, if any, chance of doing business.

Magazinists of the World on the War

Condensed from the Leading Reviews

While the armies and generals of the belligerents are trying
to execute by force the policies of their respective
Governments, their publicists are not less busy in the work
of voicing the national aspirations. Moreover, such a
critical examination of the status of each armed Power, from
its own standpoint and in comparisons and contrasts with its
opponents, has never been conducted before the peoples of
the world. It is a time of national heart-searchings, both
among the warring nations and of neutrals whose destinies
are only less affected. Resumes of this great process as
reflected in the world's leading reviews appear below,
beginning with the British publications.

Germany's Long-Nourished Powers

That Germany has been preparing forty years for this war is flatly contradicted by J. Ellis Barker in his article entitled "The Secret of Germany's Strength," appearing in the Nineteenth Century and After for July.

Not forty years, but for 260 years, since Frederick William, the Great Elector, came to the Prussian throne, the slow-growing plants of German efficiency and thoroughness have steadily unfolded, Mr. Barker says, in the administrative, military, financial, and economic policy that make modern Germany. It was the Great Elector who "ruthlessly and tyrannously suppressed existing self-government in his possessions, and gave to his scattered and parochially minded subjects a strong sense of unity," thus clearing the way for his successors. Frederick William I. founded in the Prussia prepared by his grandfather "a perfectly organized modern State, a model administration, and created a perfectly equipped and ever ready army." Of him Mr. Barker says:

The German people are often praised for their thoroughness,
industry, frugality, and thrift. These qualities are not
natural to them. They received them from their rulers, and
especially from Frederick William the First. He was an
example to his people, and his son carried on the paternal
tradition. Both Kings acted not only with thoroughness,
industry, frugality, and economy, but they enforced these
qualities upon their subjects. Both punished idlers of every
rank of society, even of the most exalted. The regime of
Thorough prevailed under these Kings who ruled during
seventy-three years. These seventy-three years of hard
training gave to the Prussian people those sterling
qualities which are particularly their own, and by which
they can easily be distinguished from the easy-going South
Germans and Austrians who have not similarly been
disciplined.

While the Great Elector prepared the ground, and King Frederick William I. firmly laid the foundations, "Frederick the Great erected thereon the edifice of modern Germany." Mr. Barker adds:

Among the many pupils of Frederick the Great was Bismarck.
It is no exaggeration to say that the writings which
Frederick the Great addressed to posterity are the _arcana
imperii_ of modern Germany. Those who desire to learn the
secret of Germany's strength, wealth, and efficiency, should
therefore most carefully study the teachings of Frederick
the Great.

Frederick's "Political Testament" of 1752 addressed to his
successors begins with the significant words:

"The first duty of a citizen consists in serving his
country. I have tried to fulfil that duty in all the
different phases of my life."

Frederick William I. looked out for the education of his successors in his own militarist ideals. Instructing Major Borcke in 1751 on the tutoring of his grand-nephew, the Heir-Presumptive of Prussia, he wrote:

It is very important that he should love the Army. Therefore
he must be told at all occasions and by all whom he meets
that men of birth who are not soldiers are pitiful wretches.
He must be taken to see the troops drilling as often as he
likes. He ought to be shown the Cadets, and be given five or
six of them to drill. That should be an amusement for him,
not a duty. The great point is that he should become fond of
military affairs, and the worst that could happen would be
if he should become bored with them. He should be allowed to
talk to all, to cadets, soldiers, citizens and officers, to
increase his self-reliance.

A thorough monarchist, who noted that "when Sweden was turned into a republic it became weak," Frederick the Great preached a doctrine not different from that which inspires the speeches of Kaiser Wilhelm II. when he said in his "Political Testament" of 1752:

As Prussia is surrounded by powerful states my successors
must be prepared for frequent wars. The soldiers must be
given the highest positions in Prussia for the same reason
for which they received them in ancient Rome when that State
conquered the world. Honors and rewards stimulate and
encourage talent and praise arouses men to a generous
emulation. It encourages men to enter the army. It is
paradoxical to treat officers contemptuously and call theirs
an honored profession. The men who are the principal
supports of the State must be encouraged and be preferred to
the soft and insipid society men who can only grace an
ante-chamber.

Mr. Barker comments on the fact that in 1776, thirteen years after the ruinous Seven Years' War, Frederick the Great had accumulated financial resources sufficient to pay for another war lasting four years, and that he pursued the food policy of his fathers "which is still pursued by the Prusso-German Government." Moreover, he first exalted the German professor:

A hundred and fifty years ago Prussia was a land peopled by
boors. Now it is a land peopled by professors, scientists,
and artists. Frederick the Great was the first Prussian
monarch to realize that science and art increase the
strength and prestige of nations. Hence, he began
cultivating the sciences and arts, and his successors
followed his example. As science and art were found to be
sources of national power, they were as thoroughly promoted
as was the army itself, while in this country [England]
education remained amateurish. Men toyed with science and
the universities rather taught manners than efficiency.

The lesson of this centuries-old efficient governmental machine is a supreme one to democratic England, Mr. Barker thinks. Not that it is hopeless for a democracy to compete with a highly organized monarchy, for has not Switzerland shown that "a democracy may be efficient, business-like, provident, and ready for war?" England, on the other hand, has been a lover of luxury and ease. She must gird up her loins and fight or die. The Anglo-Saxon race is fighting for its existence, and delay is dangerous:

War is a one-man business. Every other consideration must be
subordinated to that of achieving victory. When the United
States fought for their life, they made President Lincoln
virtually a Dictator. The freest and most unruly democracy
allowed Habeas Corpus to be suspended and conscription to be
introduced, to save itself. Great emergencies call for great
measures. The War demands great sacrifices in every
direction. However, if it leads to England's modernization,
to the elimination of the weaknesses and vices of
Anglo-Saxon democracy, if it leads to the unification and
organization of the Empire, the purification of its
institutions, and the recreation of the race, the gain may
be greater than the loss, the colossal cost of the War
notwithstanding. The British Empire and the United States,
the Anglo-Saxon race in both hemispheres, have arrived at
the turning point in their history. The next few months will
confirm their greatness or mark the beginning of their fatal
decline.

"To Avenge"

Stern is the denunciation of W.S. Lilly, in the same issue of The Nineteenth Century and After, upon the atrocities recounted in an article on German atrocities in France by Professor Morgan, appearing in the next preceding number. Mr. Lilly quotes Thomas Carlyle's sarcastic words about the "blind loquacious prurience of indiscriminate Philanthropism" that commands no revenge for great injustice. He says:

Apart from the "fierce and monstrous gladness," with which
the German people have welcomed the hellish cruelty of their
soldiery, they must be held responsible for its crimes.
General von Bernhardi, indeed, assures them that "political
morality differs from individual morality because there is
no power above the State." And they have been given over to
a strong delusion to believe this lie. Above the State is
the Eternal Rule of Right and Wrong: above the State is the
Supreme Moral Governor of the Universe; yes, above the State
is God. Let us proclaim this august verity though in France
Atheism has been triumphant; in England Agnosticism is
fashionable; in Lutheran Germany--worst of all--evil has
been enthroned in the place of good, and "devils to adore
for deities" is the proper cult.

The resolution of the old Roman patriot that "Carthage must be destroyed" is quoted by this writer. He adds:

As stern a resolution is in the minds and on the lips of all
true lovers of their country and of mankind, be they English
or French, Russian, Italian, Japanese, and I do not hesitate
to add American. German militarism must be utterly destroyed
and the monstrous creation of blood and iron overthrown.
Such is the plainest dictate of the instinct of
self-preservation. It is also the plainest dictate of
justice. Germany must be paid that she has deserved. When
the triumphant Allies shall have made good their footing on
her soil, they will not indeed rival her exploits or
violating women and butchering children, of murdering
prisoners and wounded, of slaying unoffending and peaceful
peasants, of destroying shrines of religion and learning.
But they will assuredly shoot or hang such of the chief
perpetrators of these and the like atrocities as may fall
into their hands. They will strip her of ill-gained
territory. They will empty her arsenals and burn her war
workshops. They will impose a colossal indemnity which will
condemn her for long years to grinding poverty. They will
confiscate her fleet. They will remove the treasures of her
galleries and museums, and take toll of her libraries, to
make compensation for her pillage and incendiarism in
Belgium. The measure of punishment is always a matter of
difficulty. But surely anything less than this would be
wholly disproportionate to the rank offences of Germany. The
reckoning, the retribution, the retaliation to be just must
be most stern. The victorious Allies, who will be her
judges, will not be moved by "mealymouthed philanthropies."
"Justice shall strike and Mercy shall not hold her hands:
she shall strike sore strokes, and Pity shall not break the
blow."

The Pope, the Vatican, and Italy

In The Fortnightly Review for July E.J. Dillon is sweeping in his arraignment of the new Pope Benedict XV. and the Vatican, of the Pope because of his "neutrality in matters of public morality," and of the Vatican because of its hostility to the cause of Allies. Toward martyred Belgium and suffering France the Pope "has been generous in lip sympathy and promises of rewards in the life to come," Mr. Dillon says; but he has "found no word of blame for their executioners." Mr. Dillon personally offered Benedict XV. "some important information on the subject which seemed adequate to change his views or modify his action," but he "turned the conversation to other topics." In fairness he adds that "personally Benedict XV. had been careful to keep aloof from Buelow and his band," and has neither said nor done anything blameworthy with the sole exception of the interview and message which he was reported to have given "to an American-German champion of militarism at the instigation of his intimate counsellor, Monsignor Gerlach"--an interview, by the way, which the Pope has since expressly repudiated.

Monsignor Gerlach, Mr. Dillon says, is "one of the most compromising associates and dangerous mentors that any sovereign ever admitted to his privacy," and continues:

Years ago, the story runs, Gerlach made the acquaintance of
a worldly minded papal Nuntius in the fashionable salons of
gay Vienna, and, being men of similar tastes and
proclivities, the two enjoyed life together, eking out the
wherewithal for their costly amusements in speculations on
the Exchange. When the Nuntius returned to Rome, donned the
Cardinal's hat, and was appointed to the See of Albano as
Cardinal Agliardi, he bestowed a canonry on the boon
companion who had followed him to the eternal city. The
friendship continued unabated, and was further cemented by
the identity of their political opinions, which favored the
Triple Alliance. Gerlach became Agliardi's tout and
electioneering agent when that Cardinal set up as candidate
for the papacy on the death of Leo XIII. But as his chances
of election were slender, the pair worked together to defeat
Rampolla, who was hated and feared by Germany and Austria.
Their bitter opponent was Cardinal Richard, a witty French
prelate who labored might and main for Rampolla, and told me
some amusing stories about Agliardi. Some years ago
Gerlach's name emerged above the surface of private life in
Rome in connection with what the French term _un drame
passionel_, which led to violent scenes in public and to a
number of duels later on. That this man of violent
Pan-German sentiments should be the Pope's mentor and guide
through the labyrinth of international politics seems a
curious anachronism.

Although Cardinal della Chiesa, shortly before he became Benedict XV., was spoken of as the inheritor of Rampolla's Francophile leanings, it is "now conjectured that at the Conclave this legend secured from his not only the votes of the Teutonic Cardinals, who knew what his sentiments really were, but also those of the French and Belgians, who erroneously fancied that they knew," Dr. Dillon says. He does not hesitate to believe that the Pope is "at heart a staunch friend of Austria and a warm admirer of Germany, whom he looks upon as the embodiment of the principle of authority and conservatism." For the Vatican his words are more unsparing:

The Vatican, as distinguished from the Pope, was and is
systematically hostile to the Allies. Its press organs,
inspired by an astute and influential Italian ecclesiastic
named Tedeschini, by Koeppenberg, a rabid German convert,
and by the Calabrian Daffina, organized a formidable
campaign against the King's Government and their supposed
interventionist leanings. Its agents, including the priest
Boncampagni and the German Catholics Erzberger, Koeppenberg,
and others, were wont to meet in the Hotel de Russie to
arrange their daily plan of campaign, and when at last the
people rose up against Giolitti and his enormities, the
Vatican had its mob in readiness to make
counter-demonstrations, and was prevented from letting it
loose only by the superhuman efforts of decent Catholics and
orderly citizens. It is a fair thing to add that the
attitude of the Roman Catholic clergy throughout Italy has
with some few exceptions been consistently patriotic. Even
the bishops and archbishops of the provinces have deserved
well of their King and country, while their flocks have left
nothing to be desired on the score of loyalty and
patriotism.

Buelow's mission to Italy and his relations with Giolitti, the defeated abettor of Austria in the business preceding Italy's declaration of war, when they encountered the statecraft of Sonnino and Salandra, are given in this version of Buelow's playing of his "trump card":

Although the die was cast and Italy's decision taken, he had
the Austrian concessions greatly amplified, and he offered
them, _not to the King's Government_, but to Giolitti, his
secret ally, who was not in office, but was known to be the
Dictator of Italy. And Giolitti accepted them on the
condition, to be fulfilled after the Cabinet's fall, that
the territory would be further enlarged and consigned to
Italy before the end of the war. The increase of prestige
which this concession would bestow on the tribune was to be
his reward for co-operation with the German Ambassador.
Giolitti having thus approved the offer, undertook to have
it ratified by Parliament, _in spite of the engagements
which the Cabinet had already entered into with the Allied
Powers_. In this sense he spoke to the King, wrote a letter
designed for the nation, and obtained the public adhesion of
a majority of the Chamber which was not then sitting.
Thereupon the Cabinet resigned and left the destinies of
Italy in the hands of the King and the nation. On the part
of the Cabinet this was a brilliant tactical move and a
further proof of the praiseworthy moral courage which it had
displayed throughout the crisis. Indeed, the firmness,
perseverance, and dignified disregard of mild invective and
more deliberate criticism manifested by Sonnino and
Salandra, entitle these Ministers to the lasting gratitude
of their country. For it should be borne in mind that they
had against them not only the Senate, the Chamber, a section
of the Press, the "cream" of the aristocracy, the puny sons
and daughters of the leaders of the Risorgimento, but also,
strange to say, the majority of Italian diplomatists in the
capitals of the Great Powers, one of whom actually fell ill
at the thought that Italy was about to fight shoulder to
shoulder with the State to which he was accredited. It would
be interesting to psychologists to learn how this
diplomatist and one or two of his colleagues felt when a few
days later they were serenaded by enthusiastic crowds whom
they were constrained to address.

Are the Allies Winning?

In a Doubting Thomas article headed "Are We Winning?" the anonymous "Outis" in The Fortnightly Review concludes that "the Allies are winning, but very slowly. If their conquest is to be assured, Great Britain's task is to mobilize every soldier and every workman, in order to prove that whoever may fail, she at least does not intend to desist until the final triumph is won." Moreover, the conquest must be in the West "if anywhere," and he looks somewhat askance at the Dardanelles adventure:

A good many competent authorities have disliked the idea of
the Dardanelles expedition, on the strength of a general
principle applicable to all military operations. It is said
that in every war there is one distinct objective, and that
that should never be neglected for any subsidiary
operations. Thus, in the present instance, our main effort
is to drive the Germans out of France and Belgium, and then
to attack them in their own territory. Anything which
interferes with this or throws it, however temporarily, into
the background, is held to be unwise, because it leads to
the most dangerous of results in warfare--the dissipation of
forces, which, if united, would win the desired success, but
if disunited will probably fail. Thus we are told that we
must not fritter away our energies in enterprises which,
however important in themselves, are not comparable with the
one unique preoccupation of our minds--the conquest of
Germany in Europe.

Selling Arms to the Allies

Horace White has no two opinions in his article in The North American Review for July as to the wisdom and justice of the practice of American manufacturers in selling munitions which the Allies are using to kill their Germanic enemies. Mr. White expresses it as the belief of the great majority of people in the United States that Germany's war is without sufficient cause, and that when she invaded Belgium she "made herself the outlaw of the nations--a country whom no agreements can bind." Therefore he can see why no limit should ever be put to the world's expenditure for armaments "while one incorrigible outlaw is at large." He adds:

It is the opinion of most Americans that the most
incorrigible and dangerous outlaw and armed maniac now
existing is Germany, and that the first and indispensable
step toward a restriction of armaments and a quiet world is
to throttle and disarm her, and that no price is too great
to pay for such a consummation. Any result of the present
war which falls short of this will be the preliminary to a
new armament and another war on a wider scale than the
present one, since the United States will make preparations
for the next one and most probably take part in it.

Hence proceeds Mr. White's justification for this neutral nation's supplying the Allies with arms:

Germany, by bursting her way through Belgium, was enabled to
seize eighty to ninety per cent. of the coal and iron
resources of France and the greater part of her apparatus
for the production of arms. She holds also the entire
resources of Belgium, both of raw material and finished
product. The foul blow by which she possessed herself of
these indispensable treasures had two consequences which she
did not look for--the active hostility of England and the
moral indignation of all other nations. In helping France to
make good the loss which she sustained through such perfidy
the American people think that they are doing God's service,
and their only regret is that they cannot do more of it. If
they had foreseen the present conditions they would have
enlarged their gun factories and powder mills to meet the
emergency more promptly.

A German writer in the New York _Times_ of May 30, Mr. Vom
Bruck, says: "If the German nation is wiped out with the
help of American arms and ammunition no man of the white
race in the United States would be able to think of such a
catastrophe without horror and remorse." All of the
contending nations say that they are fighting for existence,
which means that if they do not win in the end they will be
wiped out. With such an alternative staring us in the face
very few tears would be shed by Americans, of any color, if
both the Hohenzollerns and the Hapsburgs, with all their
belongings, should be wiped off the face of the earth.

War and Non-Resistance

The pacifist "mollycoddle," as Theodore Roosevelt dubbed him in his San Francisco Exposition speech, finds expression in these words of Bertrand Russell in the August number of the Atlantic Monthly:

All these three motives for armaments--cowardice, love of
dominion, and lust for blood--are no longer ineradicable in
civilized human nature. All are diminishing under the
influence of modern social organization. All might be
reduced to a degree which would make them almost innocuous,
if early education and current moral standards were directed
to that end. Passive resistance, if it were adopted
deliberately by the will of a whole nation, with the same
measure of courage and discipline which is now displayed in
war, might achieve a far more perfect protection for what is
good in national life than armies and navies can ever
achieve, without demanding the carnage and waste and welter
of brutality involved in modern war.

But it is hardly to be expected, Mr. Russell reluctantly concludes, that progress will come in this way, because "the imaginative effort required is too great." He adds:

It is much more likely that it will come, like the reign of
law within the state, by the establishment of a central
government of the world, able and willing to secure
obedience by force, because the great majority of men will
recognize that obedience is better than the present
international anarchy.

A central government of this kind would command assent not
as a partisan, but as the representative of the interests of
the whole. Very soon resistance to it would be seen to be
hopeless and wars would cease. Force directed by a neutral
authority is not open to the same abuse or likely to cause
the same long-drawn conflicts as force exercised by
quarreling nations, each of which is the judge in its own
cause. Although I firmly believe that the adoption of
passive instead of active resistance would be good if a
nation could be convinced of its goodness, yet it is rather
to the ultimate creation of a strong central authority that
I should look for the ending of war. But war will end only
after a great labor has been performed in altering men's
moral ideals, directing them to the good of all mankind, and
not only of the separate nations into which men happen to
have been born.

"Good Natured Germany"

The leading article in the June issue of the Sueddeutsche Monatshefte (Munich) is by Dr. George Grupp, one of Germany's most able scholars, and is entitled, "Never Can Germany be Overcome if She be United." Dr. Grupp finds evidences for this assertion all through history, and quotes some of the earliest commentators and historians to this effect:

As early as 1487 Felix Fabri, a Dominican of Ulm wrote: "Si
Germani essent ubique concordes, totum orbem domarent." (If
the Germans were united they would conquer the whole world.)

The sentence is an echo of the fiery address which one
Aeneas Silvius, later to become pope, delivered to the
German princes after the fall of Constantinople, and from
which Felix Fabri himself gives a quotation....

To Germany alone the Greeks looked for any considerable
help. An evidence of this is the beautiful and often quoted
remark of the Athenian Laonikos Chalkokondylas: "If the
Germans were united and the princes would obey, they would
be unconquerable and the strongest of all mortals."

We encounter similar statements very frequently, both
earlier and later, from the Roman courtier Dietrich von
Nieheim and from the humanists, from the Alsatian Wimpheling
and Sebastian Brant, from the Swabian Nauclerus and the
Frank Pirckheimer. "What could Germany be," they cry, "if
she would only make use of her own strength, exploit her own
resources for herself! No people on earth could offer her
resistance!"

Dr. Grupp claims that Germany's lack of unity has resulted only from her rule of goodwill toward all, within her borders as well as without.

It never occurred to the Germans as to other peoples to
disturb the peaceful development of their neighbors. They
allowed mighty powers to build themselves up unmolested and
to rise above Germany's head. In their internal affairs they
observed the same principle of justice; no line, no class,
no province, no grant succeeded in obtaining so oppressive
an ascendancy, that other lines and classes, other provinces
and grants were simply annihilated. The unfortunate
consequence was lack of unity.

Nowhere were or are there so many cultural centres, so many
different movements, tendencies, parties. This great
multifariousness of the German life was recognized and
admired by others. But this very multifariousness had its
darker side, the fatal, much deplored lack of unity.

Through the centuries, Dr. Grupp claims, Germany has been altogether too good-natured, allowing other nations to all but bleed her to death.

In her peaceable disharmony Germany has dreamed along
carelessly and good-naturedly for centuries until the abrupt
awakening when she saw a yawning abyss opened up at her
feet. Good-naturedly she has allowed herself to be plundered
and faithfully she has fought other nations' battles. As
early as the 15th century the humanists remarked the fact
that alien states gladly took German soldiers into their
service, and later on it was worse than that. Foreign
countries gladly waged their wars on German territory. Here
was decided for the most part the fate of the Spanish
world-empire, here France and England battled for supremacy.
The Seven Years' War was not only a question of Schleswig;
it was a question of whether North America and even far-away
India should be French or English.

Now the condition is suddenly reversed; the Germans are
fighting for themselves, and the fact arouses the limitless
rage of their opponents. Let us console ourselves with the
fact that even in the Middle Ages it was said: "Teutonici
nullius amici," in spite of their peaceableness.

Italy's Defection