AMERICA AT WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 213, 28 May 1918, Page 6

AMERICA AT WAR

A VISITOR'S MPRESSIONS NATIONAL SELF-DENIAL • CREAT INDUSTRIAL EFFORTA»!^ t - aff t i i™ pr^ion6 of the Part that Em" l' d \ m V n tlle *•"• wtb been ■„f L i I l atll ' a6s ?n«l Harris, who lias if! f rL f f om „ a busilless "sit to tho United States. Some of these impressions <V O , lp ?? S nvo to a reporter yesterday. Ulio ot the most significant aspects of the war as lar as the United States is concerned,;' said Mr. Nattraas, "is the unselfishness of the American war aims, as well &s tho unselfish manner in which the war is being conducted. In ,nite of tho iact that tho United States expects | not a penny m indemnities, nor a ■•qimro inch of territory; it is sacrificing its manhood and its huge resources without stint. 11ns self-sacrificing spirit is evident everywhere to a visitor. For example, it is impossible to get white bread or any pure wheat products at the hotels. J. his :s not duo to tho fact that there is any shortago of wheat. On the contrary the crop lias been unusually large, out tho sacrifice is made so that America s Allies may not suffer from tho shortage with which they are threatened. I It is the samo with meats, fats, and other ! products which tho Allies require. '

Feverish Activity. . "Strangely enough on the surface tbeTe is no cvidenco of war. The thentres are open and crowded, all places of amusement are well patronised, the population is calm, and business seems to bo going on as usual. A stranger would hardly dream that he was in a country at war. JJut this is only on the surface. Dig beneath this and you will find an amazing degree of industry and earnest pursuit of war efforts: munition factories working at full force day and night; shipbuilding on an enormous scale; mprecedented motor transport and development of airplano production. Training camps all over the country are turning out soldiers by., l tho hundred thousand. Jhe Transport Problem.

At the time I arrived in America Congress was investigating unfortunate delays in several of the war industries and complaining about slow production of snips and airplanes. The German offensive m the West broke out just then. The result was a speeding up in every industry, and the whole country settled down to its task in dead earnest. One of the reasons for the delay in America's plans is the huge size of the country and the great problem of transportation involved. No other Allied country was faced with such a serious problem. It must bo borne in mind that many of the products that must And their way to France must be transported to an Atlantic port over a distance often greater than three thousand miles before they can be ready for shipment across. • This pjoblem of transportation is a very serious one, much more serious .than it could bo in Fiance or England, because these countries are not troubled with such great distances. In an effort to eolvo this problem the Government has tak.w over all tho railroads and steamship lines, and has drafted the biggest captains of industry into war service. The result is that very aoon the problem of transportation will bo solved and there will be a great increaso in the flow of men, munitions, airplanes, and food to Europe.

Moral Effect. "One of the'biggest contributions America has made to the Allied side of the conflict is the proof of the moral superiority of the Allied cause. Before tho entranco of America, the German military party was able to hoodwink the ; German people iiito believing that they j were fighting a defensive war against the j selfish ambitions of the Allies. Bymak- ; ing the peop'o believe that the Sllied j aim was to destroy Germany, the Gcr-maiu-peoplc were encouraged to continue the struggle against tho democratic forces of the world. But when America entered the war on the' side of the Allies, asking nothing for herself and demanding only that tho world bo 'made safe for democracy/ it was no longer possible for the Junker party in Germany to deceivo the German masses. The result was that they exposed themselves frankly as out for the conquest of the world, and the rest of the world was able to see them as they actually were: a group of greedy, unscrupulous militarists drunk with ambition for world power. The issue was no longer doubtful: it was a clear case of democracy against reaction and medieval militarism.

/An Invention. "Besides her contribution in a moral sense,; America bus contributed palpably to the actual conduct of the war. At first there was considerable delay in the manufacture of war ivapons. There was much hostile' criticism, for example, because of the delay l in the production of rifles. The reason for the delay was that the Ordnance Department was trying to evolve a weapon moro - powerful and effective than the one now in use ill both the Allied and German armies. The delay has been justified by the invention of tjie marvellous Browning rifle, thousands of which are now being manufactured every day. The Browning rifle i-3 a sort of modified machine-gun. It can be aimed .either from the shoulder, like the ordinary rifle, -or t'»m the hip during a rush over the top. It fires in rapid succession, just like a machine-gun. and weighs only little more than the average rifle. The advantages of such a weapon are incalculable. Allied officers, who have examined it, regard it as the greatest invontion of the war. American inventive genius is expected to add other achievements to this one.

"Considering that America is 3000 miles from the-scene of the conflict, and that she has been in the war only a little over a year, there is every ground for great hopes in her achievements in the near future. 'America, like Britain, had no army to speak of, and she has had to build up a great fighting organisation out of practically nothing."