THE STRENGTH OF KNOWING

Not once since the United States entered the war has peace seemed a more distant object than today. Nor has victory ever seemed to require such titanic effort. Even the most optimistic man now knits his brow and wonders how it is all coming out. We knew last April that our task was to be a terrible one, that we were going against a mass of forces which had never before been brought together in such military perfection. We expected that we would meet the ebb-tide of war in many disappointments and a few failures, but few of us possessed sufficient prophetic skill to see that a situation like the present would result. Our enthusiasm would not permit such dark foresight and our trust in our ability made us think lightly of any disadvantage.

That trust has not been shaken one jot. That enthusiasm has not waned, although it has become tempered and sobered. It is not that a possible defeat is staring us in the face and that it is consequently good for our national morale. Such theories may be effective with an athletic team, but they do not apply to nations. Yet it is incontrovertible that an appreciation of the real gravity of a situation is a source of strength. To carry on a good fight one must know what the measure of his antagonist is. Now for the first time we do know what strength is pitted against us. Now for the first do we realize that an iron-ribbed Germany is waging war with few of those ribs even strained.

Such knowledge will not terrify us or make us clamor for early peace. Rather will it make us think, feel the edge of our sword, and go on to finish a task clearly proved necessary. No careless, light hearted American army will now enter battle. It will be a large body of serious, determined men, who will push on to the end. They will not flinch, nor will their spirit weaken because they actually know how hard is the work ahead of them. That American spirit is now meeting its supreme test, but it will take more than rod-driven Teutonism to overcome it.