General Staff has been reorganised, and its relation to the bureaus of the War Department has been more clearly defined, The two great supply divisions of the War Department, the Quartermaster's Department and the Ordnance Department, have been reorganised along the lines of a modern industrial establishment, and their activities have at length been properly coordinated. The War Industries Board, which developed out of certain sub-committees of the Council of National Defence, and is not attached to any executive department, is the agency by which the requirements of all the war branches are coordinated and their provision assured. Its function is to enable American industry to meet war demands, and to present these demands in such a way that they may be satisfied most effectively and economically, with due regard to their relative importance. The War Trade Board is in control of exports and imports. The Railway Administration, under a DirectorGeneral of Railroads, controls the operation of all the railroads of the country. The Shipping Board constructs vessels, through the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and directs the operation of the merchant marine. The War Labour Board is charged with the settlement of labour disputes, with the survey of the supply of labour, and with its training, distribution, and housing. The Food Administration encourages the production of food and economy in its use, and controls its distribution. It is especially charged with procuring food products to meet the requirements of the Allies. The Fuel Administration controls the production and distribution of fuel. Other boards or officers, such as the Aircraft Board, the Alien Property Custodian, and the Bureau of War Risk Insurance, have more specialised functions. It is generally believed in Washington that a relatively permanent war organisation has at last been effected; that it will enable the country to devote a constantly increasing proportion of its resources and energies to the prosecution of the war; and that there will now be a marked acceleration of all war activities. A governing principle of the Administration in its efforts to place the United States on a war basis has been the use of persuasion rather than of compulsion. The resort to conscription in raising an army was not a contravention of this principle, because Americans in general were amply persuaded that conscription was the better of the two possible methods. The Administration, and most thoughtful Americans as well, have realised that the United States, like Europe, is passing through a social and economic revolution. The support of Labour, which has on the whole been gained, is due to the fact that Labour has been consulted equally with all other interests in the preparation of war measures. The problem of securing its support has been the more difficult in the United States because much of it is unskilled, because of its heterogeneous character, and because rather less than fifteen per cent. of it is organised. The recent German offensive has forced Americans to realise the need for greater and more effective effort on their part. They begin to see that the country cannot carry on the war and at the same time continue the usual activities of normal times. They are becoming convinced, not only that it will be necessary to raise a much larger army than was at first contemplated, but that eventually a large part of the population will have to be enlisted in effective forms of war service. They have lost their belief that American genius could perform a series of miracles that would end the war cheaply and quickly. They no longer expect to exterminate the submarine in a month or two, or to cloud the skies of Germany with ten thousand, nay, a hundred thousand aeroplanes dropping death and destruction. They are not looking for a German revolution, and they know now that German soldiers will fight until they are killed. In short, they realise at last that, in this conflict of peoples, war consists mainly of two things-fighting and working-and that every one must do one or the other. WALDO G. LELAND. Art. 7. THE LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM: 1099–1291. 1. Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Seventeen vols. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1841-1906. 2. Les Colonies franques de Syrie aux XIIe et XIIIme Siècles. Par E. Rey. Paris: Picard, 1883. 3. Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzzüge. Von H. Prutz. Berlin: Siegfried, 1883. 4. Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani, 1097-1291, and AdditaVon R. Röhricht. mentum. Wagneriana, 1893-1904. Oeniponti: Lib. Acad. 5. Geschichte des Königreichs Jerusalem: 1100-1291. Von R. Röhricht. Innsbruck: Wagner, 1898. 6. Renaud de Châtillon, prince d'Antioche. Par G. Schlumberger. Paris: Plon, 1898. 7. Revue de l'Orient Latin. Eleven vols. Paris: Leroux, 1893-1908. And other works. No event of the war has been so dramatic, or has made such a powerful appeal to the imagination, as the liberation of Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, after a Moslem occupation of 673 years. While the name of Athens is full of meaning for the cultured alone, and many excellent citizens are not quite sure whether the Greeks or the Romans came first,' that of Jerusalem is known in every peasant's cottage of Christendom and represents the aspirations of an ancient race scattered all over the globe. But to us Anglo-Saxons the redemption of the Holy City has special significance, because a British general at the head of a force gathered from every part of the British Empire, and aided by our French and Italian allies, has repeated the achievement of Godfrey of Bouillon and the Crusaders, among them a brother of the King of England, and Edgar Atheling, the descendant of our Saxon line, in 1099, and has accomplished what an our lion-hearted monarch failed to do in 1192, and • Prince Edward in 1271. Thus the aspiration lemme Liberata,' go indegno i novo regno" (1. 23), from lands whose very ime of the Crusades. not a contravention of this principle, because Americans in general were amply persuaded that conscription was the better of the two possible methods. The Administration, and most thoughtful Americans as well, have realised that the United States, like Europe, is passing through a social and economic revolution. The support of Labour, which has on the whole been gained, is due to the fact that Labour has been consulted equally with all other interests in the preparation of war measures. The problem of securing its support has been the more difficult in the United States because much of it is unskilled, because of its heterogeneous character, and because rather less than fifteen per cent. of it is organised. The recent German offensive has forced Americans to realise the need for greater and more effective effort on their part. They begin to see that the country cannot carry on the war and at the same time continue the usual activities of normal times. They are becoming convinced, not only that it will be necessary to raise a much larger army than was at first contemplated, but that eventually a large part of the population will have to be enlisted in effective forms of war service. They have lost their belief that American genius could perform a series of miracles that would end the war cheaply and quickly. They no longer expect to exterminate the submarine in a month or two, or to cloud the skies of Germany with ten thousand, nay, a hundred thousand aeroplanes dropping death and destruction. They are not looking for a German revolution, and they know now that German soldiers will fight until they are killed. In short, they realise at last that, in this conflict of peoples, war consists mainly of two things-fighting and working-and that every one must do one or the other. WALDO G. LELAND CORRIGENDA. P. 98, line 10 from foot, for aud' read' and.' P. 104, lines 13-15, for the sentence 'Owing to . . . crop of 1915,' read as follows: Owing to the severity of the winter, however, the wheat crop, while larger than that of 1916, was a distinct disappointment and fell far short of the record crop of 1915.' Art. 7. THE LATIN KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM: 1099-1291. 1. Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Seventeen vols. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1841-1906. 2. Les Colonies franques de Syrie aux XIIme et XIIIme Siècles. Par E. Rey. Paris: Picard, 1883. 3. Kulturgeschichte der Kreuzzüge. Von H. Prutz. Berlin: Siegfried, 1883. 4. Regesta Regni Hierosolymitani, 1097-1291, and AdditaVon R. Röhricht. mentum. Wagneriana, 1893-1904. Oeniponti: Lib. Acad. 5. Geschichte des Königreichs Jerusalem: 1100-1291. Von R. Röhricht. Innsbruck: Wagner, 1898. 6. Renaud de Châtillon, prince d'Antioche. Par G. Schlumberger. Paris: Plon, 1898. 7. Revue de l'Orient Latin. Eleven vols. Paris: Leroux, 1893-1908. And other works. No event of the war has been so dramatic, or has made such a powerful appeal to the imagination, as the liberation of Jerusalem on December 9, 1917, after a Moslem occupation of 673 years. While the name of Athens is full of meaning for the cultured alone, and many excellent citizens are not quite sure whether the Greeks or the Romans came first,' that of Jerusalem is known in every peasant's cottage of Christendom and represents the aspirations of an ancient race scattered all over the globe. But to us Anglo-Saxons the redemption of the Holy City has special significance, because a British general at the head of a force gathered from every part of the British Empire, and aided by our French and Italian allies, has repeated the achievement of Godfrey of Bouillon and the Crusaders, among them a brother of the King of England, and Edgar Atheling, the descendant of our Saxon line, in 1099, and has accomplished what even our lion-hearted monarch failed to do in 1192, and our soldierly Prince Edward in 1271. Thus the aspiration of the poet of Gerusalemme Liberata,' "Sottrare i Cristiani al giogo indegno Fondando in Palestina un novo regno" (1. 23), has been realised by Britons from lands whose very existence was unknown at the time of the Crusades. |