The regular army of Germany as it has been recruited each year has absorbed just over half of the eligible men of the nation. Military service therefore has by no means been universal, and there are several million men of military age who have never been utilized. Over two million of the latter have volunteered since August, only two hundred and thirty thousand of whom have as yet been accepted for training. In addition not all of the regular army has yet been brought into service. The German officers have, since the opening of the war, adapted themselves to changed conditions with unexpected flexibility. They immediately relaxed their ordinary overbearing manner and assumed a closer relationship with the private soldiers. They do not, as their enemies report, drive their men but they themselves lead to battle. They are idolized by the nation as a whole and by the army in particular. They do not address the soldiers of the rank and file in the second person singular, but in the more respectful second person plural. The Kaiser has already awarded thirty-eight thousand iron crosses. He takes the ground that he is nevertheless maintaining the standard of 1870. He says that the numbers now involved are so much larger and the demands in courage and endurance so much greater that thousands deserve to be decorated in the present conflict where hundreds won the honor in the Franco-Prussian war. I lunched today with Commander Gherardi, the Naval Attaché, in order to discuss with him what we had each seen of the war on the western front. He is making an important study of operations on the eastern battle-lines and has several times been to the front. Today I was told that although it was impossible to go into Belgium to observe operations, it was probable that I would soon be sent to Brussels with dispatches to the American Minister, Brand Whitlock. I have recently been introduced to many very interesting Germans, both diplomats and officers, and have obtained many valuable ideas. The reply I receive whenever I ask Germans what they want and expect to gain in this war, and what terms of peace they, at present, hope to secure, is almost invariably the same. They all say: "we will never give up Belgium; we mean to keep Poland; we would like to have Calais and hope eventually to get it, but...." They point out that they have so far constantly taken the offensive rôle, which must often fail in modern war, being by far the more difficult part to play. They declare with conviction that when once they take the defensive they can never be beaten back. They cite the fact that for the last three months they have on the Aisne in temporary positions maintained an unbroken front, despite the persistent efforts of the Allies to drive them back. They add that except Calais and Warsaw they now hold virtually everything they want, and to keep it permanently they need only to stand on the defensive.