The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1915. DURATION OF THE WAR.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIV, Issue 5, 9 December 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1915. DURATION OF THE WAR.

Before the present war broke out it was not an uncommon thing for writers, some at least with claims to be authorities on military and naval matters, to assert that if a great European war ever did break out, it must be of short duration. The chief reason assigned for this view was that as the perfection of the engines of destruction had reached such a point, a prolonged struggle must mean the annihilation of either side. But this prediction Inis been quite falsified and the end does not seem yet_ in view. There is the greatest need to press on vigorously and at any sacrifice to each individually do our share to break down the vile forces which are arrayed on the side of evil and oppression. In this great conflict there is so much that is different from any previous war the world has ever known. One writer in a leading southern journal aptly describes it as “practically a winding-up of the affairs of the old Europe, and the inauguration of a new. It is the crash and collision of forces, which have been gathering strength and impetus for a long time; and, mighty as are the destructive agencies brought into play, the enormous expansion of national resources I in recent years lias developed a mass of resisting power which will take a lot (if hammering and battering to break down.” That is the position, and undoubtedly armies of millions of iwen take a long time to defeat, and rdb.'not readily acknowledge themselves beaten. Germany is beaten—and badly so -Iml will not yet admit it, and is playing desperately tor the best draw possible. That is why such hollow mockeries as the erection of a statue to von Tirpitz and similar childlike follies are being perpetrated. Germany, clinging to her battere I policy of deception, still thinks to delude with cries ol victory when thou' is hut sore defeat.