Life — February 7, 1918 — page 19: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

yt ty AY Civil War Veteran: py Gos! 1 MAY BE TOO OLD TO GO TO FRANCE, BUT THERE IS PLENTY TO DO AT HOME the draft and all our army organiza- tion was to put troops on the Western front in Europe. That is being done, not quite as it should be, but as it can be, with small losses of life, and on the whole with credit. The troops that land in France are not fit for the fighting line, but they are reserves, and the training over there is better and more rapid than here, and some of the correspondents now admit that the American troops that went early and have now reached the trenches are really soldiers and fit to fight! NE notices an increase of tolera tion as to opinions about the enc of the war. Several persons have con- fessed of late their expectation that it will end this year, and got away with- out injury from by-standers. Wall Street again has spasms of thinking the end is not far off. Austria seems more than usually tired of it, and gov- ernment there discloses what seem like apprehensions of uncomfortable effects to itself of extended starvation among its people, To be sure, Austria might quit with- out ending the war, but it would give Germany a sense of a big hole in her net, and the fish escaping. A mittel- Europa without a subservient Austria and Hungary would be severely bob- tailed, but the change of heart in Rus- sia must make the war seem to those countries more of a luxury than ever, and farther and farther beyond their present means, However, we are expected to regard all such signs and tokens as German- made deceptions, and to count on nothing but poison gas, ship-sinkings, bombs and hard knocks as heretofore. Especially we are told to expect a great German effort everywhere, by land and s¢a, as soon as weather permits or be- fore. That seems a reasonable expec- 219 tation, and is supported by what is known of the movements of German troops. Germany has nothing to wait for except increased dearth and les- sened man-power. If she can't make peace, the logic of the situation for her is to fight with all she has as soon as she can. The Kaiser is still flattering the German war-god with appreciative notice of his kind attentions, and the General Staff is moving the pieces as industriously as ever. Nevertheless, we will do well not to be too confident that the war will follow any set pro- gram. The cat may jump in a direc- tion not expected. HE intelligent and watchful San Francisco Argonaut is of opinion that something of interest to us may presently happen in Mexico. It has got word from someone who seems to know, that “Hell is going to pop in Mexico very soon.” It learns that we have fifteen thousand marines in the neighborhood of Tampico and that a full division of cavalry is being gath- ered in Texas. The Argonaut thinks that Carranza has permitted himself to be too hospitable to the Germans. It says he is to-day harboring German agents, and permitting Mexico to be- come a base for prospective German operations. It thinks something will come of it. These same views begin to intrude upon notice in the daily papers. Car- ranza is about done! Something is going to drop! Very well, any time. Our present ad- ministration is, in its personnel, very nearly the same that tackled Mexico before. But it has gained enormously in experience, has acquired the habit of doing things, and has released Mr. Bryan. That Mr. Wilson's basic atti- tude towards Mexico has changed is not likefy. That he has acquired a different notion as to how some things ought to be done is very probable. And what helpful folks to us the Germans are, to be sure! comicbooks.com