HOW AMERICA SAVED THE ALLIES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1896, 29 October 1918, Page 4

HOW AMERICA SAVED THE ALLIES.

"Amazing as it may seem,” say-, a writer in the September number of Stead's Magazine, “I have actually heard people grumbling at (he well-earned eulogies which were heaped upon the American soldiers who took so gallant a part in the lighting at Chateau Thierry! ‘We have done ail the hard work, the tierce Jighting, have borne the brunt of the day, and now the A.inerieans come along and skim off the cream!’ Imagine what stupid shortsightedness, what lack of true appreciation of the real position! All the same 1 have found Ibis feeling wider spread than .it ought to be, and it seems well, therefore,, to tell a few plain truths now (hat victory in the field is ours, and the prospect of final success appears distantly possible.” The author then goes on to show what the position of the Allies would have been had America decided to remain neutral. The German submarines would have been no less active, and to-day, instead of replacing sinkings by new vessels, the Allies wuuK be launching less than 50 per cent, of the ships needed to make good losses, American shipyards have enabled ns to catch up. and are well on the way to make good the serious deficit. In addition, 700,000 tuns of enemy ships, sheltering in American harbours, were at once made available for Allied use. During 1917, the Admiralty admitted the sinking of 0.020,000 tons by enemy action, and from January to the end of June this year the losses were 2,200,000, making a total loss of 8,800,000 tons. To replace these the utmost the British

yards had been able to turn out was 1,020,720 tons. Obviously, therefore, had it not been for America we would have been 7,000,000 to the bad, and the German boast of starving England into submission would not have been so wide of the mark. But, whilst the provision of ships was an absolutely necessary step towards the rescue of the Allies, there was little use in finding the tonnage if, at the same time, food supplies were not also provided. The following tale serves to illustrate the magnificent sol£-dcnial of the Americans better than pages of print. It is said that when ollicia! estimates, showing that the wheat crop of the United States last year was 7 per cent, below the average, leached Lord Rhondda, he closed his desk, with no one knows what visions of death and gloom, and with the simple comment: “The war is over, and wo are defeated.” Possibly that story is not true, but the news amply justified him in making that comment, for what wa.s the position? In 1914 the wheat crop of the States was 890,000.000 bushels, of which about 50,000,000 bushels were exported as grain or (lour. Thai is to say, less-than 10 per cent, of the crop wa.s sent overseas. If the crop was 7 per cent, down, obviously only ii per cent, was available for export alter domestic needs had been supplied. Pew people believed at that time that the people of America would voluntarily go without themselves in order that Englishmen, Frenchmen and Italians might be fed. Yet that is just what they did. They entered into a solemn league and covenant not to eat wheaten flour, with the result that America sent to the Allies 150,000,000 bushels after (he surplus available for export had been exhausted. The arrival of this wheat enabled the Allies to tide over the crisis whilst they themselves were making preparation to grow vast quantities of grain in their own newly ploughed lands. Many of I he American Stales abstained altogether from using flour for certain periods. Texas in two months saved enough this way to teed the entire American army in France for a whole month, ’this sell-den\ing ordinance, passed volunlardx by the people of the United States, brought the war home to all of them in a wa v we here in tranquil Australasia cannot realise. It also saved the Allied nations from starvation. The first thing President Wilson was asked to do when liis country ranged herself beside the Allies was to provide money to help to carry on the war. In (he first instance lids took the form of raising loans in America without security, to pay for Allied purchases there, and afterwards by purchasing stocks and shares. The position up to this had become so serious that Mr Lunar Law, Chancellor of the Exchequer, stated that if it had not been for the generous assistance ol America the Allies would have been gravely involved financially. For the keeper of the purse of (he wealthiest country in the Entente countries to make such an admission, should make us appreciate what the Americans did to save 1 lie financial situation for the Allies. Then again bad it not been for American reinforcements, one trembles to think of what might have been the position to-day. Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Panada, spoke' quite frankly on this point. He said, “The arrival of the United Slates troops treed the Allied commanders from the necessity of remaining on the defensive. The victories of the past week would have been impossible unless the American reserves had been available.” But for the arrival of over a million American Sammies in France, Marshall Foch would have had to remain inactive, would have had to leave the initiative with the enemy, who could have massed troops and delivered further blows where thev would.