The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1915. WHEN WILL PEACE RETURN?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 260, 13 April 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1915. WHEN WILL PEACE RETURN?

Not a day passes but the question of the duration of the war is asked again and again. It is not as if there were any doubt of the result or any impatience off the apparently slow movements of the belligerents. Rather it is the voice of humanity that speaks, seek'ng some ray of hope that the horrible slaughter and stark brutalities, the numbing grip upon social progress, the hideous waste and creeping gloom, as well as the anxiety for relatives and friends at the front, will ere long be ,?et at rest, and peace will once more retell on earth. But the time is not yet, nor can any accurate forecast be made of even an approximate date. All we can do is to take careful note of the influences that may and probably will effect this gigantic struggle between the armed forces of the great nations of Europe, and even then the most carc- • ful calculations may fail to lift the veil of the future. The two main factors that should determine tho length of the war are the military and economic, but over all is the expressed determination of the Allies to see the business through once and for all. It is as well also to assume that so long as Germany has men, arms and ammunition she will fight to a finish, or at least till her financial resources are exhausted. Recent cables from the Western front certainly indicate that those in high command of the Allied forces are extremely sanguine, and they appear to assume that the end of the war is not so remote as it was thought a while back was the case, when a long war was considered to be inevitable. We are bound, however, to recognise the fact that what has proved to be a protracted deadlock in France and Flanders has yet to be broken; the Germans have to be cleared bag and baggage out of Belgium, r.hile Silesia and Westphalia will have to be occupied before there can be anv rational talk of beating the Germans. So far the Allies have on the western front been content to bar the way to German progress, and in so doing have driven back tho enemy appreciably, but the time is now at hand when a forward offensive move is to bo made, and it may be taken for granted that this will eventuate as soon as the fighting power of Britain, Franco 'and Belgium has been raised to the very maximum, and the supply of munitions j-r.eh as to provide for all needs. According to Mr. Hilaire Belloc, Germany is vulnerable at the four external corners of her Empire. She must hold on to Belgium, to East Prussia, to AlsaceLorraine and to Silesia. The giving up of. any of these four strategical positions would be fatal to her, while the

embarrassment of holding tho four is likely to prove her undoing. The Bhorfcening of the enemy's line will be the beginning of the end. So far as Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine are concerned the western front are now about to undertake. In East Prussia and Silesia the Russians have their sphere of action, take. InEast Prussia ani Silesia 'lie Russians, have their sphere of action and now that they have inflicted sui.li heavy losses on the enemy on the Vistula, and forced a way through the Carpathians, it should not be long before they invade Germany, especially as the apparently imminent Austrian collapse will leave the way open for an advance into Silesia. At the same time it would be a fatal mistake to under-estimate the power and tenacity of the Germans, wliose effort has, in a military sense, been magnificent, and to wear it down will require the utmost skill on the part of the Allies ere the net is drawn so tightly around the enemy that further resistance will be futile. The economic side of the question must also b» taken into account. How long can Germany stand the financial strain? The reply depends entirely upon tho heights of self-sacrifice and endurance to which the Germans will rise when they have to defend the soil of the Fatherland. There are highly important signs that the pressure of sea power is making itself felt with great severity in Germany, and the barbaric submarine campaign h in itself testimony of that pressure. The stringent regulations relative to bread and other foodstuffs may be only precautionary measures, but they bear all the impress of sheer necessity which will certainly be accentuated as the country is invaded by the Allies. Germany may, by discipline and self-regula-tion, develop a new and formidable species of resistance. This is a question of psychology quite as much ts material sources. There may be something in the contention that when the German people realise they have bem deceived will tell against the Kaiser, but that idea need not be considered, though the day will inevitably come when the Teutons will rebel against military autocracy and enforce their rights as a flee people. The opinion that is most deserving of consideration in connection with the duration of the war is that no forecast is possible until the terms of peace are known. The ultimate end of all war is peace, and the terms of peace are the fruit of war. We have it on the highest military authority that it is only by the putting forth of our vtmost efforts in men and munitions that the war will be the more speedily ended. All the permanent factors favor the Allies, but they will need to strike hard, and push forward with determination until their arduous task is accomplished. We iJI devoutly hope that the end may not be far off, but how far should not cause great concern, for at most it can be but a guess. A few months more or less will be as nothing compared with the necessity for the attainment of a certain peace for at least half a century.