COMMENT

The grim situation on the western front demands men. The onsweeping hordes of the enemy can be stopped only by the bodies of men, the will power of men, the exalted spirit of men. The battle may be lost for lack of other things. It cannot be won without men. When the enemy is stopped, as he must and will be stopped, as he must be driven back whence he came, overwhelmed and crushed. That will require more men--men by companies, by battalions, by regiments, by divisions, by armies. The victory for humanity and righteousness will be won by man power, or it will not--But the converse is unthinkable.

Our plans must be revised, augmented, redrawn to a more gigantic scale. We have a million and a half men in service and in training. We are calling out eight hundred thousand more in the second draft. But even that will be not enough. We can do better. We can give more.

Let us have more men. Let us have more camps and cantonments. Let us begin to build them now and speed them to completion with all the boasted American energy and drive. It takes three months to build a cantonment. It takes from six to eight months to make men into soldiers ready to go overseas. We must make our plans now for next year.

On our present schedule we shall have something like two and a half million men in service and in training when the present year of the world's travail ends. We ought to have twice as many. The more men we give the quicker the task will be done. The more men we send, the more will come back safe and sound. The way to save American lives is to offer American lives with prodigal hands.

We should reconsider our plans now. We should double them now. We should begin to make ready as many more cantonments, as many more camps, as much more equipment and clothing, and supplies as we now have--and we should do it now.

The enemy is now making his supreme assault upon all that we believe and hold dear. The answer of America should be--More men now. --New York Independent.