Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 134, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1917 — THE GERMAN BALANCE SHEET. [ARTICLE]

THE GERMAN BALANCE SHEET.

New York Times. Some crumbs of comfort, perhaps half a loaf, the Germans will find in the somewhat higher total of British ships destroyed by submarines during the past week. Unrestricted submarine warfare was their last throw, the Germans said when it was begun. The weekly totals were at first large, then there was a falling off, and another rise in the figures was followed by totals lower than any announced since Feb. 1. Now there hranother slight rise, which will give some encouragement to the Germans. They will learn, however, that, notwithstanding the ravages of the U-boats, the number of arrivals at and sailings from British ports goes on undiminished, that the supply of foodstuffs in Britain is adequate, and that no apprehension is felt for the future. That they will not believe. Let us look at the other side of the account. The German armies have' suffered serious reverses on the western front. Messings was a disaster for them. The Austrians were severely punished and driven back in the Italians, who won a good deal of ground. Now there is a lull on both fronts, but that has been noted in the orderly succession of events hitherto. First the Germans are driven from their trenches with heavy losses; they attempt to regain their positions and are repulsed with still heavier losses. Then comes a time of quiet while the British and French forces are bringing up their guns and materials for a new attack. The attack is delivered and the Germans are further driven back. That has been the history of operation for more than a year. —— In the field of diplomacy and intrigue the Germans have suffered even more reverses. They made a mighty effort to reduce Russia to a state of inncouous desuetude by persuading the radicals and socialists at Petrograd to make a separate peace. They came perilously near to success, but the effort miscarried, the real Russian people have asserted themselves Kerensky has displayed marvelous energy in reorganizing Russia for war, the radicals and the self-ap-pointed leaders of the proletariat have abated their impudent intentions. German intrigue has been more than offset by the president’s note and by the labors of the Root commission. Germany sees herself forced to keep a large number of troops on the eastern front, while it is rather more than possible that she may have to do a good deal of actual fighting there before many months have passed. What may prove to be even a greater blow has been delivered in Athens, where the .Allies have compelled the abdication of Constantine, the false, pro-German king. That is a disastrous upsetting of imperial plans long ago laid, much depended upon, and hitherto fruitful. The new king is yet an uncertain quantity, but if it is his purpose, as he is said to have declared himself the other day, to continue the royal policies and follow in the footsteps of his father, he may find that his pledge will have a much more literal fulfillment than he had intended. There is every reason to believe that Venizelos will now bd the controlling power in Greece, and he is the enemy of Germany. With Germany’s immediate allies things are not going well. Turkey is doing nothing, Bulgaria is merely holding her own and with many signs of weariness. But in Austria there is actual trouble. An astonishing symptom of the difficulties there is the position taken by the Frankfurter Zeitung, which argues that the ten million Germans living in Austria cannot be good Austrians and Good Germans at the same time, that they must become politically and geographically actual Germans; that Austrian Poland should be restored to the new Polish kingdom, Germany,, of course, retaining her part of the old spoils. Discussion of the annexation of a chief part of an ally’s territory is something new in modern warfare. The poles in Austria-Hungary are showing dangerous signs of discontent, also. They are the first parliamentary group to vote as a body against a war budget. There is talk of bribing the Polish and Slav leaders with ministerial posts in order to secure from them support which would make it possible for a ministry to carry on the business of the government. Now comes stories of threatened

disaster of German crops, not very promising at, the best. ~A period of drought and almost unprecedented drying heat threatens to produce a crop failure that would be a calamity for Germany. On very short rations already, the German people depend upon the promise of the new crop to keep up their flagging spirits. Another menace confronts them. They have been receiving large volumes of food-stuffs from neighboring neutral countries to which we have hitherto exported freely. President Wilson, using the powers conferred upon him in the espionage act, will appoint a board to control all our exports, and it will be the first duty of that board to prevent the exporting of many foodstuffs that might go to Germany or might serve to keep up the public stock of food in neutral countries sending their

own products to Germany. That is only one of the consequences of the entry of the United States into the war. Very nearly ten million Americans have been enrolled for war service, more than three million Americans have subscribed to the Liberty Loan, which was sometihng like 50 per cent oversubscribed. These figures and the activity in war preparations which stirs the American people from one ocean to the other are evil portents for Germany. The weekly totals of submarine destruction will have to mount much higher before they will in any c measureable degree offset the reverses Germany has suffered in the last few. months in the field of arms, in her relations with other countries and with her own allies, and in her internal conditions, where the untoward course of events is reflected in the continued fall of the German mark. ' Canned berries are bird proof.