The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1916. THE OUTLOOK.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 42, 16 September 1916, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1916. THE OUTLOOK.

lii its issue of July 30th, America's greatest daily newspaper, the New York Times, publishes a ' remarkable article entitled "Two Years of the Superman," in which it shows that after two years of the War of Frightfulness which the Empire of Efficiency began in August 1911, it is clear that arrogance, egotism, cruelty and tyranny cannot conquer the world. "A year ago " it says, "Efficiency was driving the Russians pell-meJI before it, held the "Western ' Allies helpless, was about to begin the destruction .of Serbia and the working of British disaster in the Ottoman Empire. Only at sea and in Africa were the Allies dominant. To-day Efficiency and Frightfulness are surrounded and beleaguered ; they have no longer any chance of resuming their offensive, and their only hope now is to resist so stubbornly that the result wil! be a draw—a peace of exhaustion, a time of recuperation, and the whole tiling to be fought out again when the wounds are healed." How far from lieing supermen, invulnerable, invincible or—what is more to the point—infallible, the Now York Times shows the Germans to have proved themselves by the; happenings of the past two years,' and how inefficiency could have doneno worse, while the old-fashioned, hit-and-miss, go-as-you-please mental ' processes which were to lie superseded by infallibility never stumbled upon such blunders as the Germans have made regarding Russia, France,' England—and the world at large. | Germany's system of Frightfulness, the Times goes on to say, is not alone a system of atrocities;, it is not, limited to the slaughter of women' and children by Zeppelins, subma-, lines, and individual enterprise. ft is Lhe system of warfare by which you continually appall your opponent ; it destroys his nerve by its unexpectedness and its violence. That, at least is the foolish German theory. "Frightfulness (said the Germans) like Efficiency, is infallible. All you have to do is to keep it up, and the inferior race is sure to get into a panic. It was pari, of the war of Frightfulness, therefore, to launch Ireland at England's back, to attack the Sue/. Canal, to set India, and Egypt afire at a moment when England was expecting nothing but an attempt to attack Paris again. So, suddenly, Frightf.ulness attacked England's nerves by bursting into Serbia when such an attack was least expected. Serbia had twice defeated Austria, but she could not defeat Austria, Germany, and Bulgaria combined, and the destruction of Serbia followed the destruction of Belg'um. But •the Suez Canal did not fall, nor did

England's nerves flutter. She was aroused, instead, and gave Kitchener the d,000,000 men he had asked for. Strange to say, this was the effeci of Erightfulness everywhere. Infallible Efficiency fortold that an attack on a fishing village, a Zeppelin raid over London, the sinking of a liner, the shooting of an Fjiglisli nurse, must shatter England's nerves. Instead, it filled the slow Englishman with fury, and he entered the army by the million. To-day there are hundreds of thousands of Englishmen in the .•irin.es that are pounding Efficiency to pieces on the So.nine who ivould not be there il it had not been for Efficiency's master-

pieces- Scarborough, the Lusitania. the Zeppelins, Louvain, Edith Cavell. But the principle of Erightfulness is that it is infallible and that all that is necessary is to keep it. up long enough ; so Erightfulness goes on ; to-. day it sinks a hospital ship in the Mediterranean, to-morrow it Captain Fryatt, and more English-. men crowd to the recruiting offices." | Nothing much more scathing than; the words quoted could have been! written, but they depict truly what is and has been. Liberty, menaced :n| 1914, in desperate danger in 1915, holds to her long-endangered faith in J 1910 and sees in the future the salvation of that faith. Holding this view the Times concludes: "Some things are plain enough already. The old things are not so easily destructible. The two-headed god is a false god. Fallible Efficiency, Erightfulness unfeared, constitute together no Superman at whose coming the world must fall on its face. This is not the god that was to come; we must look for another. A year ago Efficiency made another of its blunders; it counted Russia out of the war, and was taken by surprise when Brusiloff's avalanche fell upon it this year and when Nicholas ripped his knife through the Turkish Empire. Erightfulness has done its work, but not. the work it was so infallibly to do;j it frightened nobody, but it added, incalculably to the -tern resolution of the world that this new monster must not succeed where _ Genghis Khan and Tamerlane had failed. So. with no pretence to a godlike Efficiency, and without retaliating upon Erightfulness, the nations that fight for Liberty went doggedly to work tc save her, and, though the war maylast long yet, it is evident that they will save her. It was not so evident, except to faith, a year ago to-day. The old battle is ending, or ; will end, in the old way. There is no place in the world for the rule of the twoheaded god. Men and nations will not submit to live other than in their own way. The challenge that was thrown down to Liberty on August 1, 1914, was like the challenge that C-os-sler threw down to the Swiss—'Bow down to my hat.' No, it was an older challenge. The challenge of the ■Superman was never given so insolent Iv as on that Ist of August except on one. occasion. That was when \pollvon, 'striding across the way, said: 'By this 1 perceive that thou art one of my subjects; for all that countrv is mine, and 1 am the Prince and the God of it. How it is then that thou hast run away from thy King? Were it not that J hope thou mavst do me more service, I would strike thee now at one blow to the ground.' And the reception of this challenge was that which has been made by the spirit of man whenever it has been given since: 'I fought till my sword did cleave to my hand; and when thev were joined together, as il the sword grew out of my arm; and when the blood run through my fingers then 1 fought with the most courage.' So the defenders of Liberty are receiving that challenge today and though the blood run through their fingers, they will not g ive up the sword until Apollyon Falls."