lO 
Land & Water 
August 15, 19 1 8 
LAND&WATER 
5 Chancery Lane, London, IV.C.i. Tel. Holborm%i% 
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15. 1918 
Contents 
Japan to the Rescue of Russia , (Cartoon.) 
By Raemaekcrs <) 
Current Events ...... 10 
The War . . . . . . -By Hilaire Belloc 1 1 
Marshal Foch . . . . . . By Charles Dawbarn 15 
The Turkish CoxspiR.-vcY .. ByHenryMorgentliau 17 
Free Speech and the Sea . . By .Arthur Pollen jo 
COr Blunder about France .. By Winifred Stephens^ 21 
The Man of Decision . . . . By Douglas Jcrrokl 22 
A Transl.\tcr of Genius . . By J. C. Squire 24 
The Reader's Diary . . . . By Peter Bell 25 
-An Imperial Highway . . . . By J. M. C.ibson 26 
HousEHOLi) Notes .... 30 
Notes on Kit ...... '.2 
The New Offensive 
ON Thursday, August 8th, at half-past four 
o'clock in the morning, two of the Allied armies 
— the Fourth British, under Sir Henry Rawlinson, 
and the First French Army, under General 
' Debeny — attacked that sector in the line which 
runs from Ville, on the Ancre, to Braches, on the Avre, 
d stance of about twenty miles running in a direction slightly 
south-west. The surprise of the enemy in the centre, between 
the Somme and the brook called Luce, was complete, and the 
use of the new tanks completely broke the enemy's • line, so 
that before nightfall the advance units were at Framerville, 
nearly nine miles from their starting-place. But on the two 
wings there was serious resistance ; the slight advance 
made north of the Somme was lost before evening, and the 
French on the right had to fight for four hours before they 
could get across the Avre and use their tanks with effect. 
Nevertheless, the French right was extended before nightfall 
by some miles. The next day (Friday) the northern wing 
was disengaged b}- a new attack, in which American troops, 
recruited in the district of Chicago, largely assisted. .At 
the same time— that is,- on the afternoon of Friday — the 
Canadians and Australians occupied Lihons, and thus put 
out of use the railway supplying Montdidier ; and coinci- 
dently with this the right of the First French Army beyond 
Montdidier, which had not hitherto come into action, struck 
a sharp and unexpected blow, bringing it northwards. 
Before one o'clock on Saturday morning the French had 
cut the main road running eastwards out of Montdidier, 
and by noon on Saturday the town was captured, and a 
very wide advance eastwards of five miles was made by the 
French in the afternoon. During this day (Saturday), the 
third day of the battle, the front was more or less steadied 
from the Matz River right up to the Ancre, through the 
arrival of reserve enemy infantry and artillery; quite ten 
new divisions appeared upon the field. On Sunday, there- 
fore — the fourth day of the battle— the French still further 
developed their attack towards the right by throwing in 
the Third Army, under General Humbert, which struck for 
the wooded hills above Lassigny. Considerable progress was 
made in this advance on the first day, Sunda}' ; slower 
movement on Monday slightly increased the advantage, but 
did not reach the points on the further side of the range 
whence observation can be had over the roads supplying 
the enemy front. At the moment of going to press the 
struggle for these heights is still in progress. 
Will Wilson visit England .? 
It has been affirmed by one Harmsworth paper and denied bj' 
another that President Wilson was about to pay an official visit 
I- o this country. We do not care what foundation there was for 
the statement or what foundation there was for the denial. The 
only thing that concerns us — and this fact is indisputable — is 
that if President Wilson does not visit the British Isles 
within the next twelve months the British public will be 
very disappointed. We believe there is no precedent for 
an American President visiting a foreign country during 
his term of office ; though we believe that a President has 
been known to cross the three-mile limit and get out of 
American territorial waters. But precedents are not our 
concern. There is no precedent for this war. There is no 
precedent for American participation in this war. There is 
no jirecedent for Anglo-American co-operation in war. We 
believe that the temper of the American people^not a 
people patient of old dead forms — is at present rather in 
favour of breaking than of obser\'ing precedents. We .cannot 
conceive that, should Mr. Wilson decide that a visit to Europe 
would be desirable,, the slightest objection will be raised in 
the United States. Anyhow, that is the concern of the 
United States. All that we, on this side, can do is to say 
that if a visit is possible nothing could be more gratifying 
and encouraging to ourselves. Ever since America came 
into the war President Wilson has voiced the sentiments of 
the Alliance as no other statesman has done ; and the force 
and vitality of his speeches and his policy is attested by the 
references made to ihem not only in the speeches of our own 
politicians, but in those of our enemies. We in Great Britain 
have a particular reason for wishing his presence. We have 
welcomed American troops, and we have celebrated Inde- 
pendence 'Day. Our reception of an American President 
would finally demonstrate that we have at once forgotten 
the frictions and learned the lessons of old wars. 
Dope 
The Government ma}' be congratulated upon appointing a 
committee of thre'e to investigate what is called "The Dope 
Scandal," though it is unfortunate that it could not find time 
to pass legislation enabling the committee to take evidence on 
oath. Pending the investigation, we are not in a position 
to make definite statements with reference to the matter. 
The principal allegations made by the Select Committee, . 
and amplified by the Daily Chronicle, may be summarised 
as follows. Cellulose acetate is the main ingredient in 
dope for aeroplanes. It was made before the war by a 
French and by a Swiss copipany. In July, 1915, the War 
Office invited the Swiss company (which had been touting 
for orders in Germany) to tender, ignoring the French com- 
pany, which is stated to have made better stuff The Swiss 
company was the only firm that tendered. It "made 
promises which it did not fulfil, carried on building operations 
without consent, issued debentures without the knowledge of 
the Treasury . . . got relief from income-tax, from excess 
profits, and finally got the State to agree to repay all its 
capital expenditure, although that expenditure was not 
economical." In March, 1916, the British Cellulose and 
Chemical Manufacturing Company was registered. The 
directors included two Swiss Jews ; the capital was £4,000 
in 6d. shares, the holders including Vickers, Ltd., Sir Sam 
Hughes, Colonel Grant Morden, Captain E. Long (son of Mr. 
Walter Long), Berthold Kitzneger, Harry Isaacs, C. Mendel, 
Moss S. Meyers, the Prudential Trust Co. and — these are tl e 
heads of the Swiss company — two Dreyfuses. The Prudential 
Trust is a Canadian company, of which Colonel Morden and 
Colonel C. G. Bryan (of the Ministry of Tnformation) are 
directors. In March, 1918, a new company was formed, and 
the shareholders exchanged each of their sixpenny shares 
for I4i £ shares in the new company. Sir Trevor Dawson 
got £31,958 shares and Colonel Grant Morden £24,722 shares. 
Whilst this remarkable progress was being made by share- 
holders (it is stated) the company was supplying goods 
inferior to the French cellulose acetate (import of which was 
forbidden by the Government), with great delay, excessive 
capital expenditure, and excessive profits. The Govern- 
ment's committee has not power to take evidence on oath. 
But its inquiry will be unsatisfactory unless it is able to call 
for documents, and set reputable accountants to ^he task of 
studying the finances and the records of the companies involved. 
