The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 26. THE WORK AHEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 April 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, APRIL 26. THE WORK AHEAD.

Not so long ago Mr Arnold Bennett, a, well-known publicist, suggested that too optimistic Britishers might very well take the trouble to ascertain how the rest of the world regards the position, and by way of correcting the superabundant optimism of some of his friends he quoted from American journals that are and have always been quite sympathetic towards the Allies'. The New York Tribune, for instance, had predicted "an inevitable stalemate," and had gone on to say, "We are inarching towards a draw, hut a real draw,'' Mr Bennett quoted, again, from the New Republic, which had contradicted the assertion that the German peace proposals were a sign of weakness, contending that Germany was stronger than she had been since the previous May. Mr Bennett does not endorse this view. ''l am not ready to accept the threat of a stalemate," he says. "I think the New York newspapers are WTong, and, further! that they will aoon change their

tune. The Allied resources are now more than evsr greater than the German resources; the Allied resources have largely passed from potentialities to actualities—and the French have luc. finest generals the war has produced. I do not at all see the elements of a stalemate in the situation. To me the.assertion that 'the Central Powers are stronger now than at any time since last May' is contrary to the evidence and contrary.to common-sense. Some people still cannot imagine a thorough German defeat. I can imagine it, and I think it will co'me—perhaps slowly and little by little. But I am convinced that at the present moment the majority of us are regarding the future too simply. The immediate future.' will not bo simple. It can scarcely fail to be extremely and startljngly complicated. As a nation we are counting too much on the next great offensive. The next great offensive may, of course,, give U3 all thai we desire. But I doubt if it will, because war doesn't work that way. We cannot conoeivc the remaining course of the war, but we can be \cry sure of one thing, namely, that it will not be what wo are expecting it to be. Alarm', await us. Shocks await us. Delays and disappointments await us. Above all, the unanticipated awaits iw. Our faith in ourselves is bound to bo put to the strain. The fortitude of the timid and the small-hearted among us will be shaken at the first crisis, or, if not at the first, then at the. second. And there will be more than two crises. Destiny will reserve our most severe trials for the period just preceding the end. Then all the influences, some honest, some dishonest, in favor of a peace that is contrary to justice will be at their strongest. Our national ability to resist the-.e influences will depend, not on the oratory of statesmen or the exhortations of journalists, but on the- mental habits of individual citizens, If too many individuals have dropped into the comfortable but stupid habit of trusting to the complete success of a particular enterprise at a particular place in the war, then a disillusion would be -fatal to our determination. On the other hand,' if sufficient individual citizens have taught themselves to lean on the great general truth that, brains being about equal, superior numbers and superior weight must in the end tell decisively and smashingly against inferior numbers and inferior weight, then wo need not fear crises—whatever they'are. The mischief is that great general truths are often forgotten when in a commotion a lot of little lies and more half-truhs thrust themselves confusingly upon ■iib. In spite of all that experience has taught us, we shall never have boon nearer to losing this war than at the moment when we are nearest to winning it. The most acute danger for us will probably arise during the first two months of the next push, but it may spring up any day. The danger, whenever it comes, will proceed not from the enemy but from ourselves. The moral is obvious." These views are sound, and should act as a steadier to those who believe that the war is all over bar the shouting. We are making material progress on the Western front, but we have not seriously defeated uie enemy, whose counter-attacks at various sectors show that he has a tremendous lot of power and fight left. We have to beat him, absolutely thrash him, in the field. We cannot rely upon internal troubles, political or economic, or the pressure exercised by the Austrians and the. other enemy countries upon Germany ending the war. If the war terminated in that manner it would not be complete victory. The war must be continued until the German pernicious idea that war pays and that the end justifies the means, however foul and brutal, is effectively obliterated. The w prictt will be awful, but it has to be paid if the nations are to live in peace henceforth,