THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT.
GERMAN OROWN PRINCE'S EFFORTS,
Mr. H. Warner Allen, special correspon- dent of the British Press with the French armies, in the course of an article wrote On January 23rd:-
It was during the famous Race towards the sea" in September, 1914, that the Gor- xons succeeded in establishing themselves at Sains Mihiel. Their initial success in reaching Saint Mihiej filled them with triumph, and their strategists counted at one on the Crown Princo's stay sweep ing round through the Argonne and join ing with the German army operating on the Meus: Events, however, bave proved how exaggerated were their hopes. They on, the direct railway line between Verdun and Nancy, and this was the utmost limit of their success. The Crown Prince has
IN THE VONGES.
STEADY FRENCH ADVANCE
CAUTIOUS GERLIANS.
THE HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, FRIDAY MARCH SED, 1915.
WAR" PROSPERITY.”
ITO LESSONS.
[BY T. WINBORNE SHELDRAKE, THE WELL- KNOWN ECONOMIST.)
Let us forget for a moment that we are Free Traders or Protectioniste and ex amino a fow facts,
Before the way we used to talk about the large class of unemployable men and sc- cepted as an axion that they must always. continue to exist as unemployable. Where
AIR SUPREMACY. TRUTH ABOUT THE FOKKER, "What's the latest from home ? Is it really true that the German airmen are, In the Vosges, writes Mr. H Warner getting the ulge upon our flyers" Allen, special correspondent of the British This is the topic of the moment out here Press with the French armies, there has says Reuter's representative at British been a slow but steady advance of the Headquarters, France) and the news- French lines. This advance is not very ap papers of the last few days pro- This artice will not here you with statis parent on the ordinary small-scale map, but vide a sufficient explanation of the reason tics; and I shall try hard not to write any on the ground itself one realises its import why. I take it that what Tommy in the thing to embitter the relation, between ein. trenches is asking, his relatives, ie, the ployer and employée cannot afford to ance and reality. In mountainous coun try, with hills as steep an the sides of a entire British public, will also be wonder narrel among ourselves with the enemy at house, swift progress is naturally imposing. And so although 1 deal, fairly fully gate, even if we wasted to do so,
with the subject in my last despatch, I But I wonder whether we all realise what mble, but the French have been steadily nibbling away at the German positions must pload the interest which has been un extraordinary object-lesson wae condi aroused as my excuse for retifening to itong are giving us of the short-sighted- and extending their hold on the debatable
I wou'd begin by giving, not on my own ness of partisan economics! ground between the lines.
In the mountain, thero is little night responsibility, but on the strength of what fighting. The ground is so difficult that in I have gathered from those hest qualified the darkness a man who attempts to leave the beaten track has every chance of tion in the opening paragraph, The Fokker |
to speak, a definito negative to the que has not been sprung upon our Royal Fly breaking his neck by falling over a rock or dashing his head against a pine trunk. The Germans have tried one or two nighting Corps as a surprise. Its existence has been known for months, It has been in for over a year tried in vain to break Attaoke, hoping to break through the service for many weeke, But this, it is are they now, through the French line between Saint barbed-wire defences by sheer weight of undoubtedly true to say, that the aviators Milie and Verdun, and has not succeeded umbers, but these experimenta havo pro who operate these machines have been dis and you will not ask me to believe that playing on increasing degree of confidence, all those broken walls and strays joined tha no doubt due to their perception of the qualities of their planes. These qualities
No, they have been absorbed into the in- are: (1) The advantage of very rapid dustrial life of the nation owing to sear climbing, (2) a speed of at least 100 miles city of latin To-day every man can ret an hour under reasonably favourable cona job of some kind, and we see that the. ditions, (3) a very effective type of gan nube of those who were unfit for any
thing was infinitely less than we thought, mounting, and (4) successful shooting.
It is scarcely relevant to the question of Then we know that from three to four the success of the Fokker, to say that we million able-bodied suca, the prime of aur possess a type of seroplane which forms manhood and pick of our face, Lave taken satisfactory response to it. The British up aring by land or sea. official communiqués for some weeks past have admitted a considerable measure of achievement by these German machines, This is the one fact which we have to con sider at the moment. En passant, I would point out that our communiqués probably form an imperfect record of the degree of damage which British airmen have inflict
in attaining a single objective of either
At strategical or tactical importance. Saint Mihiel the Germans and themselves Ence to face with the natural barrier of the Meuse, which bar all advance towards the west, and their triumph has now been re- duced to the empty satisfaction of main. taining themselves in what appears to be an impossible position.
Then, at
ved very costly to the enemy, and a produced no results worth mentioning. The French, on the other hand, in the day light drive back the German patrols, and after they have gained a few more hundred yards, set to work to protect their new advance with barbed-wire entanglements. Their last considerable succèse at this point took place last November, when, in the particular section I visited, they advanced The French trenches in this section are 600 yards without a casualty. extremely well kept, and have compara- nightfall, two battalions set to work to tively into mud. The general is a rigid establish ontanglementé round their posi disciplinarian, and he has a way of visit-bluns, and kept hard at it all night long ing with the greatest regularity every yard covered by a company which kept up of trench near the enciny. Sonictimes he steady fire on the German lines. The will call up the man responsible for a par- Germans replied with their rifles and wounded a few men, but the work went on. ticular section, and will say: "I gut, y foot we to-day in your trench. Don't let und the next morning another pieca of that occur again. A very few minutes later ground had been definitely reclaimed from fatigue parties are very busy removing the pollution of the invader, every trace of mud from the offending trench. The general made a rewurk that i have often haard before in various sections of the front. "It is surprising," he said Like fuss that the Germans kick up when they are being fired upon. Our men simply sit tight and stay quiet, while the Germans shout and scream as though we were taking an unfair advantage in hitting them at all." The case is the same with the German wounded, who as a rule are for less stoical than the French,
The precautions taken against asphyxiot. ng gas in this section are of a most com- plete character. Every man has his mask, and he is lound always to hare it with
hit, The calone in charge calls upon every man whom he passes in the trenches to show his mask, and woe betide the man who has forgotten it. As a matter of fact, on the heights of the Meuse there has been comparatively little danger from this form of German kultur." The men have been carefully trained in everything that should be done in such circumsances, and aru now, confident that they can success. fully meet any attack of this kind,,
Fighting in this district at present is very difficult, as the Meuse has flooded the low-lying lunds in the valley, and there is quite an expanse of marshy ground over which it is inipossible to pass.
TRE BAGHDAD RAILWAY The Hamburger Fremdenblatt gives some interesting particulars with regard to the present position of the Baghdad Railway. Work on those portions of the be which were being constructed before the war began has been completed. Be- tween Aleppo and Baghdad twa sections of the line have been completely finished, and are now in use, viz., the suction from Mostanie to Ras-el-Ain" (ahout 158 miles), and the section from Samarra (about ighty-eight miles). Between these sections les the stretch of line from Ras-ol-Ain to Mossul, and hence to Eamarra, about 388 miles long. In view of the difficulty at present of getting labour and material, it is not likely that work on this section esa bo begun until after the war. paper continues:--
It is the rarest thing to see a tramp,
Army.
We know that it takes an average of at least one and a half nen to keep one fighting man supplied with munitions, stores, clothes, accoutrements, ships to carry him, and so on, Let us put down the number so engaged at 5.000.000 units of Jabour, giBee some of them are women,
In other words, owing to the war, we hava abstracted from our normal is sur supply nearly 8.000.000 units
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As things stand today, the French holded upon the enemy flyers. The wording the slopes and summit of a hill that uns is always studiously guarded where there
is the least possible room for doubt as to In normal times we shall be safe in assum- up to an altitude of about 2,500ft They the completeness of the result. The terning that 85 per cent, of our trade is home KARIMOEN have extended their position as far as i
"was brought down " is only employed trade, and certainly not more than 15 per small "col" which runs from this hill to another summit, about another hundred when such a success is beyond question, cent, foreign and over-seng trade. feit higher. This second summit is still in German hands. From there the lines des out abruptly into a ravine. In this ravine the French have the upper hand, for they heve occupied a mound about halfway down it, which holds a commanding posi tion. Then the barbed wire entanglements again ascend a steep hillside, and trace out a semi-circular front which, at the
enemy.
highest point, is in close contact with the The result of this complicated situation is that frequently French and Germans are face to face, with only a few hundred yards of air between them, though before they can come to a hand-to-hand tussle they have to climb a long way down into the ravins below, and up again en the other side. As a general rule it is wire to make a detour, to avoid the danger of bullets fired at so dose a range, but these ate days when the Germans are subdued, and one is pretty sure that they will not fire unless they are fired upon. ground, to pass over a particular section of the path which they would at any mo ment have swept with a mitrailleuse, day or two before they had received what the French called a correction serieuse (s sorious lesson), and had tested by experi- ence the effect of 6.000 shells thrown into their lines in a single day. The day we were there they had been given a holiday and they were extremely anxious not to break its tranquillity. Consequently they let our party pass without a shot being fired.
So it was that we were able, in small
A
**We should never allow any excitement of this king on the German side, soid a French officer as we were passing. Our sentries are ordered to fire on every man. they see, consequently the Germang ar very careful not to show themselves. They must have to walk miles to avoid the paths which are under our fire. Of course, they may have let us off this time, as the sun is rather in their eyes. It is surprising how difficult it is to see wher one is on a hillside and the sun is low and facing The you."
Was seen to descend" the description applied to many cases in which there is no sanguine expectation to conclude that real mischief has been inflicted. The fact in, that our air service is too confident in its own efficiency to want to oruratato its
claims
ARAKAN...
It is perfectly clear, therefore, that if THIKEMBANG no other factor had intervened to upset our calculations the deflection of these 8,000,000 units of labour must have resulted not in mere shortage of labour, not merely in- ability to keep up the export trads. but utter failure of production to cope with the home demand.
CASUALTIES, TWO FER CENT,. We established the serial initiative almost
Yet we know that homo trade is generally from the beginning of the war; we have brisk, and that though the export trade steadfastly maintained that initiative has diminished, it has only decreased throughout. I emphasise this fact at the in value about 26 per cent, compared with risk of repetition, because a clear appre-the phenomenal year 1913. ciation of it is so important to a correct understanding of the serial situation, The Fokker, as Mr. Tennant briefly explained A few days since, does Bil its work in a de- which the German airmen have been claim fensive rôle. Therefore, the " bags
any way stand for the pass ing do not
Second, wo have got rid of a great num ing of our air supremacy, but for the more successful resistance to our policy of censeber of useless occupations, less activity.
This brings ue to the interesting dis
WHY IT HAS HAPPENED, How do we account for this amazing result! The more one thinks of it the more amazing it seems,
First, we are working harder than we did before the war.
Third, we have found that women and
that custom had previously assigned to Sing custom the previous to my
Fourth, we have absorbed the so-called unemployable inte industrial life.
cuvery of how small is the increased toll which has been levied by the German air-men men, relatively regarded, as may be gathered when I say that, as the result
“Temporary expediente.” you say. of a little calculation I have made, I find
After the war when the boys come back, that the proportion of casualties which aro worth reporting at all in our air service we shall have to get rid of these people and do not represent more than two per centro-install the men who have fought for us."" of the number of flights, made in normal weather.
I quite agree that the fighting men have the first claim on us, but that it is inevit- able that we should go back to the old conditions. I cannot agree..
misdirected labour, inefficient labour, un-, employed labour, but there is no surplus,
One does not need to be gifted with any particular prophetic quality to forecast that the success of the Fokker aeroplane, There is no such thing as surplug labour which has herefore mainly rested on un-in this country. There is wasted labour, equal conditions, will before long be effectually countered, Losses we must al ways be prepared to face in fighting & determined and resourceful enemy, but, in the air, these will not ontinue to he loss due to inequality in the matter of the craft employed. We have a machine which is capable of meeting the Fokker on its own terms. The personal ascendency" of our airmen may be confidently trusted to do the rest
HOW THE MACHINE HAS BEEN OVER-ESTIMATED.
You can talk about surplus labour when every child has good shoes, warm elither, and a much nourishing food as it can digest, a good home.. good bed, book toys, and opportunities for real education All the things, in fact, that the children of an Imperial race ought to have as their birthright.
When the children of Great Britain hava these things we can be pretty sure their elders will not be having a very bad time,
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Sometimes, however, one is suddenly.
And until they do get them there may The Fokker is not a new machine, nor brought back to a realisation of war. Between Aleppo and Konis (and thence Aeroplanes can be of but little assistance does it embody any novel characteristics bo unemployment, but there is no surplus
Constantinople) the tunnels on the line which is to run through the Amanus and
in this thickly-wooded country, yet from or hitherto untried perfections. It is just of labour. The unemployment is merely time to time a reconnaissance is attempt an ordinary monoplane rather heavily evidence that we have not succeeded in the Taurus ranges have not been finished.ed, despite the great difficulty of finding engined and consequently possessing great making the most of our greatest national The Amanus line, however, has been con- ground flat enough for landing. Then the speed and climbing power, while being asset-our own people. nected with the Baghtshe Tunnel (about valleys begin to ocho with the reports of well adapted for rapid mancurringt While single child is without boots obvi. the miles long) since June 1st, 1918, and anti-aircraft guns, and little puffs of everyone scquainted with the subject ously there is demand for boots; the the work is being so rapidly proceeded shrapnel break out all seross the sky. knows perfectly well, we have plenty of trouble is that we have all got into the with that on February 1st, 1918, the The aeroplane passes on its way serenely machines able to cope with it. We possess way of looking at the things from the stretch of railway from Islahte to Mamure and disappears behind a hill top, while machines at least as powerful, quite as wrong point of view. may be opened as a branch line, and it is the sound of the gung dies gradually fur- efficient and speedier, and the engines too.
The old economists always referred to expected that it will be in full working ther and further away. In this woodland These Fokkera and other machines of labour in the same way as they spoke of order by October 1st next is the main warfare, in which for the greater part of similar type are utilised simply as aerial raw material or cold-simply as an element line. After that it will only be necessary the time men are fighting an unseen foe, destroyers, and not for the primary legiin production. A capitalist built a factory to complete the Taurus section of the line men depend much upon their officers. Intimate purpose of the aeroplane, which is where he could get cheap power, cheap raw to link up the Syrian railway systems the section of which I am speaking they that of reconnaissance. Have we no de material, and cheap labour. Labous was with Constantinople. There are, however, have a general whose daring and gaiety stroyers capable of downing the German cheap because it was unabsorbed--ng other a number of tunnels to be constructed in have had no stall effect on all the soldiers reconnaitring planes 1 We have, as the roseon this area, and their total length will pro-who obey his orders. Recently he was visit
Huns would know to their cost. if they The entire conception is fundamentally bably be about eight or nine miles. This ing the first line when a German shell ventured over our lines, which they have wrong. The new generation bas to realise work can hardly be completed for two exploded in the trench only a few yards strict injunction not to do
a much higher ideal of duty on the part of years, and in the meantime the road is from where he was standing. There was a The majority of the British machines the State. The State has not done its part used in the places where the railway will poilu standing at the generale side, and at reported as having been brought down and ia full until everybody who wants work run by-and-by.
the explosion he threw up his hands and inferentially destroyed were, as a matter of can get it. Not that the State should itself The total length of the Baghdad Rail-staggered back against the wall of the fact, forced to descend, often making our trado certainly not, but it has not done its way from Haidar Pasha (opposite Con- trench. The general gtood firm and erest, own lines. by a wound inflicted on the part until it has exhausted every legiti tinople) to Konia and thence to Raghdad never moving a musele until, the danger pilot or observere very different mattermate means of encouraging wealth produc že 2,435 kilomètres (about 1,610 miles), over, he turned quietly to the soldier bo- from the senso of total destruction which tion and the sale of British goods abroad. mado up as follows:-
side him and said:" You should salute it is sought to imply. Kilomètres, the shells that salute your general tak
313
Continas vigilance is necessary in those mountains, for at any moment a German patrol may try to worm its way through to a point within rifle shot, hoping to pick off a sentry or some incautious soldier, The sentinels are always on the que vire, and at night are assisted by watchdogs. at the slightest sound that may come from which sleep in kennels beside their masthe enemy's side. As a rule such a sound
The realizable value of an acre of land ters. One of these dogs is famous for two is the cracking of a stick or a rustling of
may be amall, its potential wealth very things. In the first place he bites every dry leaves, followed, when an adventurous
great Drain it, manure it, get rid of the |French soldier who comes neay him, excent German is reaching the French lines, by
woods, cultivate it intensively, and make [his master, and in the second he sleeps the sound of a shaking wire, flooding the market and ruining manufac
arrangements for disposing of the produce, "Of this total mileage, the Fremdenblatt soundly at night and snores so loudly P In this fighting the hayonet has a man- turers. Not at all, Yon will be astonished
and it at once becomes of great value. adds; 1,083 miles are already in use and most of the French soldiers, whom he is fast advantage over the rifle, Riffé, mean to find what powers of absorption a well They make the mistake of not seeing the People are worrying about the unemploy when the Amanus branch is opened on supposed to gaard, declare that he is sb cartridges, and cartridges are heavy paid and prosperous people can develop difference between realisable value and ment problem to follow the war. They are February 1st this figure will be increased solutely useless. Hi, master, however. Moreover, in i broken country, many Compare the spending power of an Austra potential wealth. In time of war we ought wrong. They ought to be agitating to see
· to 1,117 miles, leaving only a compara mays that much accusations are libols. It cartridges are inevitably wasted. The lian or an American with the spending by all means to conserve our realisable that the Government is laying plans to ho p tively small distance still so be covered. is true that Mitraillour, sa ho y called, bayonet needa nothing but itsef, and when power of an Englishman.
values, but we ought to develop our poten-us dispose of British goods abroad, The rolling stock in use is of the best is rather short-tempered, and sometimes it has been driven into and scientifically But I am not relying solely on the Britial wealth at all times.
That is the policy which underlay Ger- quality, and is worthy of its German takes a small piece off a soldier a leg when withdrawn from a German body it is still tish market for the consumption of goods. And by potential wealth I mean, of many's success, and that is the policy we -manufacturers.
it is offered too temptingly; also, he ne useful og over,
The extraordinary development of young course, capacity to produce, means to ought to adopt -Daily Mail,
Haidar Pasha-Eski Shehir Eeki Shehir Karahiasse Karahisar Koaia.
109
-282
Konia-Kara Pounar
293
Kara Pounar Adana
77
Adana-Islabie
153
Islahio-Aleppo
142
Mosteris (Aleppo)-Mossul
633
Moasu-Baghdad
400
(1,510 miles)......2,435
Surely it is s strange proceeding nowa days to take the Hun at his own valuation and to judge him acccording to our own standard of honesty."
snores, and he sleeps. wall when there is no danger, but he is awake and growling
NO SELL BRITISH WOODS" ABROAD.
We shall need every penny we can earn to pay off the cost of the war. Are we going to be content to atoy capable, will ing people to remain unemployed or partly employed? Are we going to trust to the existing organisation to find the people work 1 bash,
If so, we shall drift back to the condition of a machine working at half-speevi, which, you will agree, is absolute waste
Someone will object that this will entail
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countries abroad and the awakening of desire for the products of Western civilisa tion among the Orientals teach us that the markets exist, that they will expand more rapidly than our output, and the only thing needed is a national policy to direct our efforts towards the most beneficial end.
People are obsessed with the idea that the wealth of the country is a definite sam, which can be conserved or consumed, but only added to by getting part of the wealth that belongs to some other nation,
transport, and the utilisation to the full of the bounties of Nature. We want a policy directed towards making the most of every advantago our country possesses labour as well as our capital, our geogra phical position as well as our soil
Our