General News.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 31 August 1918, Page 4

General News.

GERMAN MAN-POWER. It is believed in Paris that Dr.. Kallmann's implied assertion that Germany cannot expect a victory by arms is not unconnected with the fact that the German Government has begun to realise that it is almost at the end of its tether as ragards men. In 1916 .the Germans were able to increase the output of munitions by civil mobilisation, which also released a certain number of men for tho firing-line, and the. same year a certain number of other civilian workers were obtained from Poland. In 1917 a further supply of man-power was obtained from the 1919 class, the greater proportion of whom were sent to the Russian front to relieve the trained men who came back to the Western front. This year, however, Colonel Thomasson points out in the "Petit Journal," Germany could not repeat this effort with the 1920 class, which was called up in February, as there were no more men on the Russian front who could be usefully replaced. To some extent, however, this has been counter-balanced by the return from Russia of some 150,000 Germans who had been held there as prisoners of war, but many of these, as was admitted in the Reichstag recently, are suspected of being infected with Bolshei vism and are difficult to mix with the other effectives. Colonel Thomasson estimates that during tho current year Germany may find at most another i 500,000 to 600,000 men from depots in the interior, of whom he asserts 400,000 i will be youths of the 1919 class and the rest returned prisoners and cured I wounded. This does not mean, he • says, that the Germans will not be abl# ' to make a very powerful effort within the next few months, but he argues that it will not be long before the shortage of men must make itself felt as cruelly among the Germans as the present shortage of food. NEGROES AT THE FRONT. Under arms to-day in the American 'Army as 186,000 negroes. If the manpower of the United States is wholly put into the field, on the same scale as in Europe, 900,000 black soldiers will appear in France and Flanders. What sort of fighting stock can be expected to come of a savage and slave ancestry? Every student of the American Civil War knows the answer. Some of the best troops in that terrible struggle : were blacks. Since then the traditions of the negro soldier have been worthily maintained by the famous 9th and 10th Blaek Regiments of Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Regiments of Infantry. From the selected stock that survived : the most terrible ordeal of the slavcI raiding days on the African coast, a | negro race has sprung with a physical ; stamina apparently more hardy than ' the white. This is indicated by the rccords of medical examination for the National Army. Among tho first 2,500,000 men between 21 and 31 years of age who were summoned for exarnii nation, 25 out of every 100 whites were I passed as physically perfect, 32 out of every 100 negroes. It is not in the ranks alone that the negro fighter is found. There are 650 commissioned officers, all men of college education, among them, commanding coloured troops, and fresh promotions are frequently made. And, in addition, 225 negroes are serving as doctors and dentists, which implies that they hold diplomas from colleges. A military expert has written concerning the historic four negro regiments of the American Army: "They are notably steady under fire, patient to endure hardship, cheerful and good-natured at all times; and they can fight." One of the first experiences of the negro troops in France resulted in two negro privates on sentry duty winning the coveted Croix de Guerre.