Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-28


TN THIS war precedent after precedent
l. extraordinary has been created. Many
| have been horrible, and 1t Is to prevent
their repetition that liberty-loving men
are banded together to the death some
have been sublimely beautiful Here ana
| there an instance or date stands out
supreme. taking its place as living mem
ory forever in the hearts of those who
witnessed it. Such, l feel, will be the
classification of this July 4, 1917, in Paris.
For today to me above all the moving
things I witnessed and took part in there
looms white and large the fact that for
the first time i'm the worlds history the
| national holiday of one nation was feted
In another as if 1t was that others own;
and i'm the feting of the 141st anniversary
of American independence France and
the United States were truly welded, In
Paris the beautiful, under bright July
sun, before thousands of people in the
historic Court of Honor of the 1nvalides.
Drawn up in the vast square permeated
with the glories of ancient France stood
a battalion of the 237th Territorial In
fantry. "A gray-clad group of poilus well
past life's meridian. About them, stand
ing upon three sides of the court, stood
a battalion of the sixteenth Infantry, U.
S. A.. khaki.clad youthful, sunburned.
bright-eyed, typical of the energy perme.
ating their land across the sea, typical
of the great army of which they are the
vanguard, of the millions that will fight
the cause of right and the cause of
France in the near future. .
Before them in the center, group of
aged men in civilian clothes, les Inva-
lides: at their sides, chosen men in gray
md khaki. And all along their line
flags
Flags of the red, white and blue, some
in the stars and stripes of the United
States and others of France One was
grded at the top with a great lace PEN
nant One was faded and torn, and to
those who knew stained with the blood
of men. Two were pennants of major
general one in the stars and stripes, and
the other with the stars or his rank laid
upon a field of red. The others repre-
sented dates and events in the history of
France, taken for this occasion from
glass.covered cases to breathe once again
the air surrounding a great cause
Million and Half Spectators
All about the three tiers of galleries, to
| the north the SOUTH the east and the
| west, as well as standing within three
feet of the men in arms, stood thousands
and thousands of people, the greatest
number, it is said, that ever crowded this
historic spot And outside, across the
great espanade. blackenng the bridges
across the Seine, far beyond the Grand
and Petit Palais and to the Champs Ely
sees, stood a hundred times their num-
Der; while beyond still a hundred times
| more-fully one and half millions in
all. And one in every three carried an
| American flag, flags of all sizes and all
qualities, but each and all Stars and
| Stripes.
At 9 a. m. precisely, through the great
| doorway, amid blare Of buges, entered
| Major General John ]. Pershing with Gen.
| eral Dubail, military governor Of Paris,
| followed by Marshal Joffre and Generals
Foch, Duparge and Peltier, of the French
| army. Directly behind came Ambassador
Sharp, accompanied by his military and
naval attaches and members of his en-
bassy, and the chiefs of staff of General
Pershng and Marshal Joffre, followed by
| the American commission Of forty, Of
fcally appointed to receive the first
| American armed force from the United
| States, of which your correspondent had
the distinguished honor of being a mem.
| ber. To name these forty men would be
but to name those we'll known for their
love and devotion to France and her
cause before Americas entry into the
war The name of the chairman, Charles
| Prince of Boston, a lawyer Of interna
tional fame and resident of Paris for
twenty-four years, as we'll as the uncle
of Norman Prince, who gave the first
American aviator's life for France in this
war, will suffice as to the essentials OF
thirty eight of his associates.
In five minutes, amid blare of presi
Dental trumpets and the cheers of the
crowd, Raymond Poincare, President OF
France, and Paul Painleve, Minister OF
War, entered the court
Accompanied by General Pershing, Mar
shall Joffre and the French generals, the
President and Minister inspected the
American troops, who stood as men OF
marble in the July sun, every eye straight
ahead, every officers sword at right sa
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