Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-05-04
= :
ON TO FRANCE.

The outstanding factors in the con.
ferences between American officials
and the ENJOYS from France and Great
Britain are the appeals by the French
men for soldiers from America and the
appeals by the British for ships to car
ry food.
Ship building and the use Of German
vessels which were seized in American
ports promise the solution Of the Brit
| ish problem. The United States has
turned to this task with all possible
energy.
But the time when American soldiers
will be sent France to fight beside
their British and French allies is also
of vital importance.
On one hand Is Theodore Roosevelt,
patriotic but impetuous, seeking auth
ority to lead an American legion to the
| trenches but admitting his lack OF
| the knowledge that Is essential to sue
I cess when once the battlefield is
reached.
On the other are some of the war de-
partment and army officials, who pro
pose a thorough training in America
for the expeditionary force preliminary
to departure for France.
one which seems to be practical and to
offer the best method for quick and eff.
| fective participation in the war by
America, is Field Marshal Joffre, idol
Of France and America, hero Of the
Marine and master of the business OF
fighting as fighting Is being done IN
Europe today.
He asks President Wilson to send an
army to France as early as possible, to
be trained behind the fighting lines by
French officers so they may learn the
European method of warfare at first
hand This plan, he believes, will re-
suit in placing the stars and stripes at
, the front sooner than they can be car
RED there under the war departments
plan. and with the prospect for effec'
tive fighting which Mr.. Roosevelt's pro-
posal does not promise.
The country and It's allies are to be
congratulated on President Wilson's de-
cision. announced in The Courier's dis
patches today, to follow Jqffre's advice
and send troops to France as soon as
ships are available to transport them.
Joffre knows the needs OF the allies
as to fighting men. He knows the ex-
tent of the carnage that has made the
Arras battlefield the bloodiest stretch
of country over which any stage of the
great war has ragged. His advice is
| worth considering by the authorities at
| Washington.
| For it is needless to deny that quick
action is vital now. The threat OF Rus
sian detection is causing more anxiety
| TO the officials of the United States and
the allied countries than the danger of
! May day strikes could possibly nave
brought the German ruler.
No news of fighting has penetrated
| from the Russian front for days. Sol
diers have been going home from the
! front to participate in the division OF
! the crown lands and the vast estates
| which have been seized since the revo
luton. The soldiers congress has
abolished the rule which compelled
men in the ranks to salute their officers
and with that rule has gone the officers
privilege Of having body servants.
The Russian soldier fought under the
old regime because the czar command
! ed, and then he fought indiherentiy
! Enjoying liberty for the first time, ne
finds himself land owner after lie
and heritage Of poverty and servility.
! What is more natural than that his new
found freedom should dictate refusal
to engage longer in war? Who is
there in the new government or in the
army to exercise the iron rule which
alone prevented unanimous desertlon
| before the car lost his sceptre!
There is reason to believe that Hin
denburg's reinforcements in the battle
of Arras have come largely from the
Russian front. Events which Russia's
upheaval and subsequent occurrences
may portend would permit him to bring
the whole OF the eastern army into
France.
Then indeed American soldiers
would be needed. and in vast num-
bers.
i Joffre's proposal has many facts to
commend 1t and it is we'll that the
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