EXHAUSTING GERMAN RESOURCES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 61, 12 July 1915, Page 4

EXHAUSTING GERMAN RESOURCES.

: A writer in tlie Auckland Star. disi ensuing the possibility of Germany ! making overtures for peace, remarks that the success of the Germans in overrun ui.ig a groat part cl Eorop^

should not blind in fo the fact that

this is a war of resources. As the Americans say, “The longest pole gets

| the persimmons.” He also goes on I to show that America herself affords |an example in this respect. “During the lirst two years ot the Civil \\ar, in t!\at country, the -South won nearly all their great battles in the main I theatre ot : the war. At the end of, dune, 1863 (more than two years after the outbreak of the warn, the position was this: The Confederates under Tee j had invaded the North: Baltimore (and even Washington) was in the | greatest danger; in Philadelphia and | New York hasty measures were taken for the defence of those cities, and the hunks commenced to send thenspecie for safety into Canada. In Europe the success of the Southern j (Government was looked on as assured. But what followed? In the first daysj of July occurred, almost simultaneously, the surrender of \ieksburg with its entire garrison (giving the North the command of the Mississipi) and the defeat of Lee at Gettysburg, 1 which relieved the North from any further fear of invasion. Thereafter [ the South steadily lost ground. They fought as bravely and made as great sacrifices as ever but their resources had commenced to fail long before this. A rigorous blockade shut them | out from the world’s markets. Their) last man was in the ranks. 1 heir credit was shattered, and they could not obtain “the sinews of war” from! abroad. Germany is exactly in the| ' same position that the Southern Sta-j tes wore then. The South could not be starved out; they bad ample agri-

cult hit.! resources—were, in tact, an

agricultural people. Hut they could not obtain sufficient arms and ammunition, not to mention a thousand other tilings which are necessary for carrying on a successful war. The North, on the other hand, had boundless command of everything that was necessary for the efficiency and comfort of their troops. Their credit was good and they had ample internal resources. It may be noted that the South tried the same means to cripple her enemy that Germany is trying now; the sinking of her merchant vessels. Even submarines were tided, and in one instance successfully, but they relied mainly on the equipment (partly in England) of fast cruisers like the Alabama, which preyed on northern, commerce. But though these cruisers were successful in doing an immense amount of damage, they never for a moment caused the North to waver in her determination to light -''The enemy to the finish. It has been said that history repeats itself. The peculiar circumstances of the Southern States during the civil war have been repeated in the case of Germany, and we do not doubt that the parallel will complete itself in the final stages of the war. The Germans, after many

years of preparation, have made a hold bid for victory. But their stu-

pendous efforts have already gone a long way toward exhausting their resources and energies, and though they are certain to hold out desperately till the actual point of breaking strain is reached, and the final collapse is inevitable, and, in our opinion, cannot lie long delayed.”