Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-06
FRANCE IN DIRE
NEED OF U. S. AID
Parisians Indulge in Wild
Hope of Great Army to
: Come Soon
STRANGE IDEAS PREVAIL
Relief That Americans Will
Quickly Replace Worn-Out
Troops Is General
By HENRI BAZIN
ston Correspondent Of the Evening Ledger
o'"N France

staD IN France
A PARIS. June 20.
The arrival Of the first American divi-
.,op will be history by the time this story
.,s IN print. No single event in the annals
~ the war was ever awaited with more in
,orsitv and ardor, with more earnest we'll.
wishing. with so much desire, with so much
,ent.up enthusiasm that is straining at the
leash. eager to make dents of joy in the
atmosphere Of Paris
All over Paris there is talk and rumor
.,d bearsay and exaggeration about the
army OF the United States. The trim
cavalrymen who stand at attention about
,bs door Of General Pershing's headquar-
. ,srs are surrounded by admiring throngs
from dawn to darkness The members OF
,he staff, as they ride about Paris or walk
unon its streets, are pointed out and fol-
,nwed They are looked upon as the vnn-
guard Of civilizations final crusade against
syIl They are referred to as straight, tall
r,en" and the trim cut &C their uniforms is
fsyorably commented upon As for Cen
eral Pershng himself. he is looked upon as
a savior. His approximate hours of work
srs known, and always about the Crillon
wbere he resides, a crowd collects at S:45
a m, to see him enter his car Cor the Rue
Constantine The same story can he told
as 10 his return in the evening And all
large
pershing and his staff and the caValrymen
are something seen, something tangible that
could be touched with the hand.
HOPE AND EXPECTANCY
with this seeing and sensing. there is
great hope and expectancy, in a certain
roeasure unreasonable to be sure, and also
In certain sense lamentabe because of
illogical ideas prevailing among the masses,
that for instance. the territorials at the
front will very presently be relieved 'by
American troops.
No one has circulated the story. II has
h,st come from nowhere. 1t is, of course
known in French official circles as it Is
generally known in America, that the
United states is but a lusty infant in the
military sense, that much patient, hard
dscplinng preparation Is necessary ere
America can go up against the BCche in
fight But the people here cannot see it,
or, II they do, refuse to believe 1t possible.
There is therefore something to be feared
IN a certain disilusionment among the
millions who, in personal losses, know how
much of Frances army Is under the sod'
and who have not or will not learn to rea-
son that before a child or a nation learns
10 run it must learn to walk.
Much has been written in French news
papcrs on this subject, and much has been
said too upon the transportation problem.
But the masses read and forget figures
and in any event. do not take into calcula-
ton their meaning, nor the problems IN
volved, nor the ships essential nor do they
reason out the why They only know of
their own desoated hearthstones of their
wounded and mutilated. of the death of
their youth. of the fact that in the man
sense France is bled almost to the bone
and they have staked their all on the United
States as the one land in the wor whence
men and guns and equipment can come
coon, "bientot" in untold quantity.
HELP NEEDED NOW
They want these living and mamma te
things now; and. more's the pity. they need
them now. They need them to an eX'
tent beyond compare, save Germany's needs
toward her vicious ends. And as human
nature is but human nature, and, after all
men and women are but children who wan
a thing when they want it, the masses II
France are going to become, in some sense
disappointed through relative future face
to-face realization of the fact that all Amer
ica's good will and resources, all America Z
intense earnestness cannot be manufac
turd in few months into disciplined fight
Ing men who will fight to the last unde
orders. For there you are.
That's the real reason the United States
cannot place big army in the field quickly
You can teach a man to salute and how L
handle gun and all the rest of it in
Few weeks, but you cannot take a buncl
OF men fresh from desks, and factories ant
farms, and even Plattsburg training camp
and have them stand all unfinchingl.
the test of fire even to the death. 1t 1
not question of their courage or thei
Willingness. They require years dis