The Washington herald., 1918-06-17
ALLIES REGAIN
FAITH IN U. S.
Doubts Caused by Delays
Vanish at Response to
Hun Drive.
By JOHN 1. BALDERsToN.

accurately expresses the feeling Of
the masses here. In these dark days,
darker than anybody on the other side
| OF the Atlantic can possibly imagine.
English men and women have their
eyes turned to the West, and In their
| eyes Is faith as well as hope.
Before the end Of March, an Ameri-
can uniform in London, while not a
rarity. attracted second glances from
passersby, excepting in the Belgravia
area near our headquarters. Since
then. little by little. the American in
vasion has spread over England. until
today throughout the country as well
| as In the capital. our men are every
where; birds Of passage, most Of
them. here few days and then across
the narrow seas. Only those who have
hved here during the war and passed
through its various stages can under
stand how inexpressibly comforting to
people who have given their all. have
lost husbands and sons. only to realize
that there is no more to give and
victory has not been won, is this sud
den thrush Of fresh, young men from
the untapped reservoir Of American
man power.
Eager English Questioning.
spondent in England is made difficult
by the eagerness OF every Englishman
to whom he goes or who comes TO
him. on whatever errand, to drop the
business in hand and ask questions
| about American man power. tonnage.
airplane Construction. have come to
expect. q hundred times q day, ques-
tions ingeniously framed whose scores
OF forms always conceal the same
thought: "When are your troops so-
! ing to begin really TO fight?" Such q
question. Americans who have been
| impatiently waiting for months for
battle bulletins may think, must i'm
ply impatience IL not disappointment.
II does not. Nothing has surprised
me more than the absence of criti-
cism. the full realization of our diff
culties, the willingness to make al
lowances. England does not fully un-
derstand what we are doing. but she
! believes In US.
When an American regiment march
ed through the streets OF London and
before the King at buckingham Pal
ace. was curious to know what the
rfsh man in the street. the soldier
on Weave. and the policeman, and the
housemaid and her mistress, thought
| OF our new army about which they
! had read so much but had never seen
So instead OF wstching the show from
post OF vantage. 1 lodged in and
out among the crowds along PicadiIfy
and listened to the voice Of the people
talking to itself.
Yankees on Parade.
What / heard surprised me the more.
because 1 did not think the parading
regiment made a showing calculated
to impress a crowd. The men were
in full campaign kit. which always
means ragged marching; they were
not graded for height, which spoils
the appearance OF troops on parade;
they were very tired, and, so far as
appearance and drill went, these aver
age and unpicked samples OF our citi-
zen armies could not hold a candle
to the immaculate, siX-foot GrenadIer
Guards, who swung along ahead with
the tip of each polished bayonet IN
perfect alignment. and performed evo-
lutions like pieces of oiled ma achinery
Not a word OF unfriendly criticism
did 1 hear. London crowds are not
demonstrative. but there were bursts
of muffled cheers all along the route.
Every hat was or as the regimental
flag passed; an honor seldom paid. |
in these blaSe days when the tfth
to the Union Jack. There were such |
comments everywhere as, What |
splendid fellows" mo show about |
them, but ready for business" Look. !
not smile! ! pity the Boches those /
men catch!' 1t seemed to me that |
Londoners looked on the parade, not |
as a spectacle of tired, raw troops |
marching. but as a symbol. an out |
ward manifestation of a spiritual fact
1t was the spirit and determination |
of America that they saw before !
them, promise translated into per- |
formance, and they saw with an in
ner eye. wounded Tommy and nuni- !
ton girl as well as statesman and |
great lady from Belgrave square. that !
made them oblivious to the faults |
which casual onlooker might dis |
cern. They saw correctly, because !
they had faith.
Enemy Used Our Boasts.
1t had not always been so. in Eu- |
rope, since we came into the wa. |
The enemy was prompt. last winter. |
to circulate Omnng our allies the Ill |
advised, uninformed and somewhat |
hysterical boasts made in Washington |
in the spring Of 1917 about what We
proposed to do within six months, |
! Of disappointment and doubt was in |
fused. and the violent attacks upon |
our warmakers made at home, in and |
out Of Congress. with the patriotic |
aim OF increasing our efforts, were
| used abroad, together with the over |
optimistic statements OF the year be-
| fore, to prove that the United States |
was bluffing and would never really |
fight. The airplane scandal and the |
shipping muddle were exploited, prin- |
cipally in France but to some extent |
in England.
This propaganda had considerable |
/ success for a time. In a Paris salon |
in March the conversation centered |
on American war aims. Surprise was |
expressed that Wilson had not more |
forcib.y impressed his views upon our
allies. You would do well to exer-
else your pressure now" smilingly i
said a polished neutral diplomat. "In |
five months, your allies will have |
found you out" And 1t was another !
of the same tribe who said to me on !
March Is. dreamily looking out OF
| the window across the Seine. Now
that the allies are beaten 1 sup Ise |
you Americans will not display the
| same interest In going on with the i
war"
All these miasmas have vanished. |
melted away before the rising sun.
When we put our forces under Foch. |
increased many fold our transport Of
men to France, really began ship |
building and Strengthening out our
aIrplane muddle, as the answer TO |
Ludendorffs break-through on the
Disc, England and France. who had
begun to doubt, were convinced. They |
believe in us now, and they have |