Show SUMMING UP YEAR A OF SLAUGHTER on the first of august the greatest and the most impressive peace propaganda this world has ever seen closed the first year of its activities one of our editorial writers remarks but he notes with many of his fellows the entire absence on this anniversary ot of any ank pacific note in the utterances coming from the spokesmen of the europ european I 1 can belligerents germany still possesses the determination to con quer to fight until her enemies are crusat russia must continue the war should it last for several years until the enemy is complo completely tely erli crusat slit En glands duty which we shall fulfill says the prime minister is to c continue ol 01 to the end in the course which we have chosen the french army we are taid Is absolutely confident of victory and the people behind the army to 0 a man are equally so from tile the other fighting nations come similar declarations of 0 the certainty of cn an eventual triumph and the settled determination to see the thing thru peace therefore seems to american observers further away than at any time since the war besan particularly ticul arly as most ot of them can see no jn immediate mediate prospect of decisive mill military action looking backward they see with the omaha wold he herald raid a drawn battle with the advantage on the soil of europe resting with germany and on the ea sea gild and in tile he colonies with great Drita britain ln As matters stand says the detroit free press there has been a year of the most desperate and costly campaigning in th tha I 1 history of the human race and the net result is practically a stalemate fot for both sides in this editors opinion the reasons for both optimism and pessimism pearly nearly balance k the optimistic view from the german standpoint has for its excuse a demonstrated ability to prevent invasion and to live successfully on an resources developed within the two empires a pessimistic view arises from realization of an apparent inability to break thru the encircling cordon from the V standpoint of the allies optimism considers the manner in which the germans have been isolated pessimism speaks of the powerlessness of the entente armies to make any material advance yet it if the war were to end now with warsaw in the hands of the forces and the russian army retreating from poland germany say several papers would be indisputably the victor in a full page editorial review ot of the main military phases of the first year mr air frank H estmond Sl monds s of the new york tribune comes to this conclusion of the tour four great campaigns of the war the first that of germany against france was a failure in that france was not disposed of mr air simonds explains its initial successes were due to the violation of the belgian frontier and when the french army had been re concentrated it outfought the german heavily defeated it but in its turn tailed failed to force the germans out of a large district of northern france which had been occupied in tile the dash from belgium in this campaign the british part was slight until the battles ot of manders flanders but here the british won wen a remarkable marcalle mar kalle triumph ag achs t g great ireae odds idida and saved the channel ports german failure was not due to bad generalship or incidental mistakes it was due to the amazing french rally and to the oie fact that what had been attempted was as beyond the capacity of germans secondly dussias Rus sias offensive against austria tailed failed because ot of the ability of et the germans to re reen enforce torce their ally and the superiority ot of german over russian troops tho the final russian disaster was due in large part to failure 0 ammunition of supplies and lack of heavy artillery ot of the allied offensive in the west this writer says the germans have simply dug themselves into northern france and are able to supply the men and ammunition to meet any offensive the greatness of the french losses and tile the concomitant failure of the british to get up men or teed feed their guns explain allied failure in this field and there is no present promise of a change german defense here has been as brilliantly successful as the operations ipe rations against russia of the fourth major campaign that against russia which included Macken sens drive thru galicia and the capture of warsaw on august 5 mr air simonds says that it demonstrates the enormous resources of germany in men and munitions the tolly folly of earlier predictions of approaching german elbau exhaustion stion and the comparative soundness of german confidence that victory for them is still possible or even likely and he concludes in its first year the great war has been napoleonic in character but no napoleon has appeared germany has displayed the same ability to meet europe that france displayed from 1792 to 1814 all prospect of early peace seems to have been disposed of by the absence of any really decisive result in any field only a tremendous russian disaster can now modi fy the general expectation that the war will continue for one or two years FiLi finally Lilly it is accurate to say that in the military operations in europe all the real advantage has lain with the germans they have failed in their greatest undertaking but they ahey have cleared their own frontiers and are now fighting in poland belgium and france their armies have shown no sign of exhaustion or loss of morale they have won victories victor iea which will forever be memorable but asks the new york evening sun has germany succeeded even in this first year of the war her two great objectives were to nullity france as an active toe foe and failing that to nullity nullify rua russia sla both of these attempts having collapsed where is tile the military success the temporary advantage of fighting in the country has been purchased at a cost so great in men and resources yes and in shattered hopes that it can only be regarded by the cool outsider as catastrophic in its editorial columns the new york times thus sums up tills this situation from a frankly antl anti german viewpoint after one year of war germony possesses belgium russian poland where her immense armies are battling aling mightily is nearly within her grasp and she occupies a part of some soma of the richest provinces in northeastern france where for many months since her retreat from the marne alaene she has cabied on trench warfare wart are chiefly defensive these are her spoils the twelvemonth achievements of the vast military forces she has for forty years been training for the conquest of europe germany has lost three million men approximately 5 per cent of her population she has lost her island colonies in the pacific her west aari can possessions her fortified outpost of Klao chow more than a million I 1 square miles of german territory and more than ten million people who acknowledged now ledged the german rule she has been driven from the seas the ships ot of her great rest merchant fleet have been destroyed or have sought refuge in her home waters or in neutral ports foreign trade has been annihilated save for some precarious exchanges thru tile the baltic sea and the little traffic she carries on furtively across the territory ot of neutral neighbors of her great and costly navy only submarines are at large and active all the rest has either been sent 10 the bottom by her enemies or because of tear fear of tile the enemy lie concealed at wilhelmshaven Wilhelm shaven ar kiel and her submarine boats gain for her no military advantage they merely harass the enemy without diminishing his fighting power these material losses could lic be made good continues the times but ger banys moral loss Is incomparably greater according to this editor the abhorrence with which germany has inspired her neighbors has made them resolve to conquer her ari andrut and put her mad rulers under restraint the allies will win we art told because they must because they would perish before bowing to the supremacy of prussia and their immense superiority in men in wealth in power powe r will determine tile the contest even it it it be j prolonged for years not quite so certain the springfield republican does not care to predict the outcome e ot of the war but remarks that so long as all the allied armies are intact so long iong as all the nations of tile the entente hold together and andare are willing to endure the loss and suffer iw ins of the war they have a chance to win it is on the he sea oat the allies have succeeded say several writers except tor for the british navy observes 1 the new york world germany today would be master of the world true there has been no decisive naval battle battie but the work hat has been no less decisive and we read further german commerce has disappeared from the ocean one by one her colonies have away and month by month her isolation is more complete the military consequences of thal th isolation will become more and more important as the war proceeds british and frence commerce continues because the germans can not command the sea the allies have 0 the manufacturing resources of the world to draw upon af more ore than a million soldiers have been landed in france under naval convoy without r tile the loss of a single transport british colonial troops are transported from every quarter of the globe as freely as in time of peace most arost of the splendid courage and devotion of the french people in this conflict would have been futile had not the british navy enabled the fench government to supply the equipment in which the army was so fatally beffi clent at the beginning of the war tho the german fleet has not been captured or destroyed this is not to be counted against britain according to the world since a fleet which Is so completely overmatched over matched that to invite battle is to invite destruction is practically nonexistent non existent in the minds of many americans especially those sympathizing strongly with one belligerent or the other the only hope for an early peace lies in a decisive if not crushing victory A or any other basis even if possible they would fear as being incon cluife and perhaps provocative of new wars these views have found able editorial expression in scores of newspapers new liew yet a writer in the new republic new york argues that when peace comes it is likely to be both conclusive and lasting to quote when one reflects upon the extravagant cost in men and munitions requisite to the shifting shit ting of the stubborn battle line in france fra nce by bl even ev 11 a hundred yards lie he will search ln in vain for substantial grounds for his belief in the definite triumph of one party or the other what kind of pence peace europe shall have lies on the knees of 0 the gods hut but almost certai certainly it la ja not the kind of peace any one either belligerent or neutral would prescribe an ali inconclusive peace then the whole agonizing work will have to bo be done over so roost most of use say and yet it la Is not the tha verdict of history that complete victories are conduct condu cli le to peace nor that drawn conflicts are provocative of further war the campaigns of napoleon and the franco prussian war are cited lacking nothing in conclusiveness but without any pacifying tendencies and tile the inconclusive struggles between england and the united states in 1812 and more recently between russia and japan seem to 11 have ave left no seeds ot of future strife it all depends according to tills this writer on whether a war T leaves a taste for easy victory in ill the or an abiding sense of shame in the conquered and after establishing a historic backing for tills this declaration he concludes however the present w wl may en eno it will leave no r cation gloating over easy victory nor will tile the present war print disgrace upon the mind of any nation all the chroniclers of the world can transmit to posterity only a tithe of the tales of heroism from any one of the warring nations after the war the nations that have fared worst will at any rate have the consolation of the record of a gallant fight and the nations nearest approximating the state of victors will accord generous re recognition cognition of tile the bravery of their foes the formal terms of 0 peace may leave open the door to future strife but the underlying spirit of the peoples something vastly more significant in the long run is not circumscribed by written conventions what it if the coming peace shall ie be inconclusive all the more probability that it will be a lasting peace peace 0 being seen so eo far off predictions as to the permanent changes to bo be wrought by the war are few and vague the growth of democracy the abandonment of aggressive militarism are dimly by the new york jurnal journal of commerce the new york times sees a tree free de germany arising from the defeat of the empire it also notes the rebirth of france and russia the awaken awakening tn of england and the sudden national self consciousness of the british colonies friends of germany in this country see in her hoped for victory the discrediting crediting of british na and the spread throughout the world of the german ideals of efficiency and organization and the omaha world herald which would equally regret the crushing of german effi lency and of the french and english ideala of freedom and individuality wishes an indecisive termination of the war for it Is only so that each of the great groups of antagonists maya may preserve for themselves and the world that which is best of their own and gain from their opponents that in which they hey are now lacking german efficiency tinctured with english and french ideals might not prove quite so efficient the ideals adjusted to the n of efficiency might not pierce the heavens quite so high but the combination would represent a higher degree of civilization than any country than our own country has yet attained inconclusive peace will teach to all the antagonists tile the futility of war and will set them to studying and assimilating simi lating the strength on which the other fed that enabled it to s strive so nobly and to endure so much turriff turning g from these hopes and visions of the future to a practical discussion of the military lessons of tilts this ye arof warfare we read in the new york evening post the striking tact fact stands out that the old king of warfare is only to be found on the eastern front on the west and in the dardanelles Darda nelles there is the new trench warfare deadly bernd all belief bellef but the logical outcome of r the trench fighting off CC lees and grants armies in 1864 65 it has yet to be demonstrated that either side can overcome this simple device when coupled with barbed wire entangle ments and break thru save at a cost of human lives which no nation can afford to pay As for the newer weapons of war the zeppelins zeppelina Zepp elins have tailed failed completely 11 up p to date while as a scouting mach ine rather than an offensive weapon the jias proved of enormous valt paluel iii surprise attacks ot of aeroplanes aero planes has about ended as an adjunct to range finding it has become invaluable and it is tile the cause of a new science of concealing batteries from observation I 1 from above just as the trench warfare has developed bomb and liand hand grenade throwing and machines modeled in part after devices in use in the middle ages As for the artillery the earlier performances for mances of the austrian 42 er gun have not been equaled of late tho ho it was in action at and lemberg according to german rei ei ports beyond this and the r rapid betterment of the aeroplane gun notably in germany there Is no startling change to record of the use of cavalry as a separate arm there has been very little the greatest triumph from the technical point of view has been scored of course by the submarine As |