New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-22

Landing at Bordeaux instead of havro ana
riding from there TO Paris one realizes, rs
never before. the extent to which France has
been a battle-ground. or Greasy ''eo"
Decisive Battles" five were fought IN DIS
tant antiquity; OF the remaining ten' iou'
occurred upon French soil. AT Chaiohs Az
tia, the scourgc Of God, was overwneifheo'
at Tours Charles Martel routed the forces OF
Islam; at Orleans Joan Of Arc defeated inc
English invaders; at Valmy France, pro-
claiming herself republic and defylng the
monarchics of Europe, entered upon that
career of victory which carried her armies
to Egypt and Moscow. BlenheIm, although
not upon French SOIL was fought on one
side by French soldiers, which is equally
true as to Waterloo
In several of these battles France was en-
listed for supreme causes. The dcstinies OF
Europe were at stake at Tours. and the de-
cision was that it was to be Christian, not
Mussulman.
France to-day is fighting no less sgniii-
cant battle. cannot agree with the VIC"
of Mr.. Russell in "Why Men Fight that the
utmost evil an enemy could inhict through
an unfavorable peace would be trihe com
pared to the evil which nations inflct upon
themselves by continuing to fight. II was
nobv said by Viviani at the Bar Association
luncheon that ain the history of the world
no progress can be initiated unless 1t is born
in pain, that human and eternal right can
stand only after immense hecatombs have
been slain around it," Civilization is at
stake, France is its defender, but she is
almost at the point of exhaustion, and is IN
instant need of all the aid can bring.
War Reactions
President Wilson recently said that we
have not awakened to realization OF the
fact that we are at war. War is evil only
to those whom it afflicts; many are not
touched by it one way or the other; many
it enriches. Paris gives out few war reac-
tions-once you become accustomed to the
nocturnal darkness, the absence of men oil
military age, the appearance Of soldiers VINO
are at home on brief furloughs or have
been discharged from hospitals, the general
employment of women, the mourning wnich
MANY of them wear. The shops seem almost
as brilliant and as we'll thronged as IN times
of peace, the theatres are well patronized
upon the three or four nights that they are
open. There are, it is true, no balls, no
evening parties, no full dress affairs, and
the restaurants close at p. M, but the
people at large act as though there were no
warm fact, just as we of the North did
during the Civil War. Those whom the war
has directly hit, and France has lost million
men, do not parade their sorrows or their
fortitudes.
The French are heartily grateful for
American aid and sympathy. They have
apotheosized our aviators and ambuanclers
and awarded many the Cross of War. They
keenly appreciate the work of our doctors
and nurses, which, from the standpoint OF
hygiene far surpasses, | am told, that of the
French, who still have the old-fashioned dis
trust of fresh air. Our surgeons have Ell
fected some astounding cures, especially IN
facial reservations, and in mechanic therapy
Americans seem to be ahead of other nations.
Outside the theatre of the war itself moth