April 12, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
LAND & WATER 
OLD SERJEANTS' INN, LONDON. W.C. 
Telephone HOLBORN 2828. 
THURSDAY, APRIL 12. 1917 
CONTENTS 
Devastation by the Huns. By Louis Raemakers 
Campaign of 1917. (Leader) 
Battle of Arras. By Hilaire Belloc 
The American Navy. By Arthur Pollen 
In the Spring of iqi;. Bv H. Bidou 
]\Iiliukoff. By E. S. Luboff 
Britain's ]\Ierchant Service. By An Engineer. 
The Filibasters. By Our Special Correspondent 
In a Munition Factory. By Phyllis Bottome 
Books to Read. By Lucian Oldershaw 
The Golden Triahg'le.- By Maurice Leblanc 
Domestic Economy 
Kit and Equipment 
PAGE 
I 
3 
4 
8 
10 
II 
13 
14 
16 
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18 
24 
xi. 
CAMPAIGN OF 1917 
EASTER is accepted tacitly as the great division 
in the British year. We have come to regard it 
as the boundary line between the weariness 
and torpor of winter and the radiance and 
activity of spring and summer. Although on Tuesday 
morning the landscape was shrouded in snow, reminding 
us of an old-fashioned Christmas Day rather than of 
earth's resurrection, yet when we turned to our morning 
papers and read of the big battle in France on a British 
front of fifty miles, we felt that the war was entering on 
new activity, and that the caihpaign of 1917 had begun 
in earnest. And it is a campaign in which practically 
all the peoples of the world are taking part. , Never has 
there- been such a gathering of the nations ; it needs no 
stretch of the imagination to apply to it the words of 
the Apocalypse "the battle of that great day of God 
Almighty," To borrow phrases from President Wilson, 
" the champions of the rights of mankind," are arrayed 
against a " Government which has thrown aside all 
considerations of humanity and right and is running 
amok." For this reason the present war has taken on a 
different guise from all others that have preceded it. 
No longer is it possible for any champion of liberty to 
stand aside. 
Now that America has joined the Allies, the general 
position improves. For many months past our Naval 
writer, Mr. Arthur Pollen, has shown that the very logic 
of events would compel the United States sooner or 
later to array herself on the side of freedom and right. 
There have been occasions when this seemed an im- 
possible eventuality, but in the face of adverse arguments ' 
Mr. Pollen adhered steadily to his opinion which time 
has fully justified. The first act of America is to free 
herself from the spies which President \\'ilson denounced 
in his famous speech, and to get quit of the enemy within 
the gate. "There is reason to believe that Mr. Wilson 
did not exaggerate when he stated that most of the 
German-Americans are-" as true and loyal Americans as 
if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance," 
but no unnecessary risks are to be taken, and already a 
number of wireless installations have been removed from 
private German residences. The first material help 
the United States will be able to render to the European 
Entente will be pecuniary ; Jier finances are being care- 
fully overhauled, and almost any day now we may hear 
that a magnificent loan at a low rate of interest has been 
offered to the friendly fighting nations. The wealth 
of America is stupendous; in normal times the mind could 
hardly grasp i^s potentiahties. The question of navy 
and army is a more complicated one, for America is 
even less prepared for a great war than was Britain in 
1914. But as quickly as events will allow, she will 
enter the battle arena, and being able to benefit by 
the experiences of this country, and having at her back 
gigantic resources, she may achieve great things in a 
shorter time than at the moment seems possible. 
To whatever quarter we turn, the prospect this Easter 
is infinitely brighter than a year ago. At home we are 
educated up to war, and willing to do whatever may 
be demanded of us to secure victory. It is to-day the 
fixed aim and object of all classes, and if we except a 
diminuti\e minority of feeble folk, none flinch from the 
truth that the way must still be hard before full and 
complete victory is attained. The revolution in Russia 
has had an extraordinary stimulating effect, in that it has 
shown what an immense work an Allied nation can success- 
fully undertake in the cause of liberty during the progress 
of the war. That this revolution should have been 
marred by no excesses, that it should have been carried 
through in a temperate and restrained spirit has deeply 
impressed the British nation. To understand the high 
courage that has been displayed by the' leaders of the 
Moderate Party, read the indictment of the tfaitor 
Sturmer, spoken in the Duma by M. Miliukoff, now 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, a translation of which we are 
enabled to publish to-day on another page. It is one of 
the most stirring speeches that have ever been delivered 
in a modern Parliament, and that it should have been 
uttered in Petrograd, while the Tsar still ruled, shows the 
strong forces that were at work to cfiect the revolution. 
The continuous bad weather delays military opera- 
tions : meanwhile, reorganisation proceeds. 
This extraordinarily long winter is to put the vitality 
of Europe to the most severe test, for the weather we 
have been experiencing in England is common to the 
Continent. There has probably never been a more 
backward season in' the memory of man, and certainly 
there has never been a year when a forward season has 
be^n more sincerely prayed for. The distress in the 
Central Empires is acute, and it is doubtful to v, hat 
extent they will be 'able id avoid actual starvation before 
the new crops come in. But we have also to bear in 
mind that the sternest economy in certain staples of 
food is also necessary with us, if this country is to escape 
the distress that now harasses the enemy populations. 
Germany gloats over the prospect of famine which she 
imagines her submarines will cause on these shores. 
There is a touch of comicality in her openly-expressed 
joy, seeing that so long as the British blockade was 
causing anxiety only to her, it was denounced as inhuman 
and barbaric, but now that she believes her U boats can 
by the ruthless destruction of all shipping, inflict an even 
worse fate on the British Islands, she glories in the 
warfare and regards it as a new triumph of Kultur. 
But if rigid economy is practised in wheat and meat — 
especially in wheat, wheaten flour, wheaten bread, etc. — 
there is no cause for uneasiness. This economy is not 
the duty of our neighboin% but the duty of ourselves. 
It is an economy that must begin at home, and the 
people may be reminded that never has there been a long 
fight for liberty without this necessity being imposed on 
those engaged in it. To speak bluntly, the population 
in this country has so far escaped very lightly from the 
penalties of war. In many respects they have displayed 
courage and resolution ; now they must show common 
sense and good management, and during the next three 
months every housewife in this land must regard herself 
as on active service, and mobilised to bring the evil devices 
of Germany to naught. If the food campaign be con- 
ducted in this spirit, there is nothing to fear, and that 
it will be so conducted is in our opinion an assured fact 
