Welsh Journals

THE WELSH OUTLOOK MAY, 1917 NOTES OF THE MONTH The War The main event of last month was the practical completion of the ring of Germany's enemies. The United States -the only remaining great Power-has entered the struggle with a forceful decisiveness and a spon- taneous idealism that has moved the peoples of the Allied nations as no other happening in the long drama has done. Consequent on that event some of the remaining North and South American Repub- lics also declared war; and others have either broken off relations or appear to be on the point of doing so. There are days when it must be hard to be a thoughtful and home-loving German. Whatever he may think of the military prospects of his country-and for all the resounding successes of the Allied arms in France we are far enough from the end in the purely military conflict-he can hardly be blind to the tremendous indictment laid against Germany by the free action of most of the neutrals of the world. Decisions of this sort, taken with a gravity and deliberation unknown in the history of the world, and by peoples who have no material advantage to gain in the war, cannot be written off as the work of the malign influence of British gold. The new world and the old in full array against the Central Powers is no accident nor an event which could have happened for any less reason than that the Central Powers have challenged the nature of things. Civilisation has taken up the challenge and the end is no longer in doubt. The Allied Powers on whom the burden of the conflict has fallen and must still mainly fall, may well be grateful not only that their material resources have been reinforced, but that their motives for entering the war, and in the main, their conduct of the war itself, have been vindicated by the adhesion of almost the whole civilised world. The effects Many of these declarations, of course, can have little effect on the war itself. A certain amount of tonnage is made available-all of it most urgently needed. And the Allies now have freer access to great reserves of mineral wealth, worked by cheap labour, in China and elsewhere, which may ultimately be very impor- tant for the munitioning of Russia. But the first effect will certainly be the realisation in Germany that the main end for which she entered the war- the opportunity for military, industrial, and commer- cial dominion over wide tracts of the world-is already lost. The war was to be a quick step to riches and power. And now she must begin all over again in a world that has learned what sort of methods she is capable of employing and how ruthlessly she uses the welfare of others as a means to her own ends. Of the intervention of the United States, much more than this has to be said. The resources of that great nation, human and material, are of the very kind of which the Allies stand most urgently in need and America is preparing to place them wholly at the disposal of the Allies. Only a few weeks ago, we did not anticipate such an increment of our forces. We had reason to expect that America would confine herself to the task of safeguarding the Atlantic communications of the Allies. That is her first duty. There and in the provision of merchant ships, we most urgently need her help, and she is already giving what she can and making ready greater assistance for the near future. But she is also speeding up the production of muni- tions, facilitating the operations of Allied finance. and raising an Army on such a scale that we may hope to see an American Expeditionary Force taking some part in the terrific struggle in France before the summer is over. Already many American