AMERICAN ENERGY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 3 (Supplement)

AMERICAN ENERGY.

Further consideration of tlie effect of the l imed States throwing in tlieir lot. with the Allies fig iting against the ogro oi German militarism more clearly reveals the immensity of its influence. Not only is Anierir.i evidently deterinined to i»o represented oil the field of buttle, hut she has already shown that she i- aMe in otiier ways to render help of incalculable value to the peoples who have hitherto .borne the hrunt of tlie war. line heard a great deal before the war of the industry and energy cf commercial Germany, but one heard even more of the efficiency and "hustle" of the people of the Tinted States. Already the Allies are being given chance to appreciate those lcmarkable American qualities.. During tlie first lew muni lis the war situation has been shadowed over by the disturbing news from Russia, and, perhaps, we have r.ot clearly seen the wonderful achieve, nunts of America. Yet it may well lie. as one observer puts it ; that American genius and energy will provide the counterpoise to the disappointment Russia has given us. If, he says, what America has done in two months —for the declaration of war was signed only on April (5th —is any indication of what she will do in tlie future, the Allies' confidence in victory is fully justified. The Allies, when America declared war, needed—in the order of their urgency —money, ships, food and men. Already America has loaned the Allies £189,000,000, of which 100 millions have gone to Britain. She has raised a loan of £400,000,f)00 (enormously over-sub-scribed). and she >s ready to raise another £000.000,000 as soon as it is wanted. She has turned her colossal industrial organisation to shipbuilding, and she announces that in addition to wooden merchantmen, she will complete three million tons of steel shipping in eighteen months—more thar. enough to balance the loss caused by submarines. She has already put into commission a considerable proportion of the 90 German and Austrian merchantmen she seized in April. She is building great numbers of submarine chasers. Her splendid destroyer flotillas are already guarding the sea routes and co-operat-ing with til.- British in European witeis. She has taken control of her foodstuffs, and is bending her organising power to the task of forcing economy on licr 100 million people, and so saving every possible ton of food for the Allies. Slic has adopted conscription, lias registered nearly ten million eligible men, and promises to have a section of them in camp by September j Ist. A division of her regular army already is en route for France. Most important of all, she has promised the All its tens of thousands of aeroplanes and aviators, which will begin to enter the war zone in ever-increasing numbers very shcrt'y. In a hundrec ways she is rendering invaluable assistance. The same near-sighted German who once spoke of Britain's ''contemptible litnle army*' treated America's entry into the war with derision; but the day is coming, with a rapidity not far short of marvellous, when the discomfiture of the German, wno saw th-3 British shopkcecprs grow into a great military power, will be fully equalled by Ins fecimngs as lie regards a belligerent and implacable America. But, apart from the enormous value of her financial aid, and of what she is doing through the medium of her great shipping and industrial activities, there is another contingent consequence of America's active participation in the war that does not immediately leap to th.e eye. It is a boon for which those who come after us, rather than we our. selves, will have cause to be grateful:

' When the Kaiser and his bloodthirsty new are hounded out of Germany, tho unholy lust for war upon which their systematised action was founded will aUo, according to the desire- and hope of masses of the community, finally disappear. Consequently, there will bo a general reduction of the costly armaments hitherto to a large extent maintained by drafts upon the scanty purses of the wage-earner. Given such a condition of things, the money annually paid would in time cover even tho fabulous sums that have vanished it smoke or. many battle fields. Great Britain, Russia, France, and Italy might reasonably be expected to join in : ueii i pact of |>eace. Prospect of realisation of the niillenium is made infinitely nearer and clearer by the accession of the United States to tho family party. Finally breaking her long-estab-lished national policy of avoiding war by isolation from European quarrels, America, entering the circle, brings with her her imperative adhesion to ti.o pr.nciple of settling international difficulties by otlier means than recourse to arias."