Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1918-10-25

ont of a full heart the lover OF lib
erty can pay tribute of admiration ana
affection to our American soldiers. In
London and in France no tribute is
needed. for their fame is in every
mans mouth. The leaders OF thought
have trumpeted their deeds from thc
housetops and our boys have come IN
10 their own. Not that the American
soldiers have much to say for them
selves, for they believe 1t Is not the
thing To talk about any battle or VIC
tory in which they had an important
part. We expected our soldiers 10 pe
loyal, open, brave, adventurous TO the
point of recklessness. gifted also with
certain forms OF picturesque profanity
In moments OF extreme indignation
but who expected to find the charac-
teristic Of reticence. simplicity ana re-
straint? Let us confess that our two
million American boys arrived in
France at a moment when the issue
was trembling in the balance. The|
British after four years or such hsht-
ing as no army ever endured were
worn and war weary. while France
had buried million four hundred
thousand soldiers. The Americans
were young, fresh. hard as nails. ana
there was no pack too heavy, no hours
too long. no machine gun nests too
dangerous. Between the first great AZ
within sight. as it were. OF the Eng
lish channel cities. and the battle OF
Chateau Thierry, when the Germans
were within some thirty-odd miles or
Paris. and with Zeiss glass could, as
they claimed. see the Eiffel Tower. the
Allied forces suffered casualties OF over
four hundred thousand, and the Ger
mans far more. And In that critical
moment the Americans struck the Hun
line. Their stroke was the stroke OF n
thunderbolt On the second day the
Hun column reeled, broke. fled north
ward you Americans came just IN
the nick Of time" said British ofhcer
to me in the hotel OF the French cap
ital. they saved Paris" Paris only?
more than Paris" was the answer
they also saved France. Ana
France only?" They helped us save
the Channel cities and England. i
hate to think of what would have nap
pencd but for the coming OF tn"
Americans. We were at the very end
of our resources: they saved not only
Il. ht,t
and the Christian religion" Who ut
tered those words? an American?
No, they were spoken by British Of
ficer. He spoke in the spirit Of justice
and generosity, even though he over
praised us. It was France and Great
Britain that bore the heat and burden
OF the day for three long and bloody
years. Evermore the chief glory OF
the victory goes to the brave men. liv-
ing and dead. French and British. who
fought. through 1914 and 1915 and
1916. before we unsheathed our sword
to protect the Belgian man who had
fallen among thieves
Our Army In France.
Today we have two million Ameri-
can boys in France. OF whom more
than u million six hundred thousand
are at the front or in reserve. We
sent three hundred and twenty thou
sand soldiers overseas during Septem-
Der. and we have transported six tons
OF food and equipment for each boys
support for one year. The backbone
Of the American EXpcditionary Force
Is the business organization in the
French coast American depots at st.
Razarre. Brest. Gievrcs. Bordeaux.
Marseilles. II took Los Angeles twen-
~ years to grow from few thousand
to half million. but in a few months
We built at Brest n magic city for a
hundred and fifty thousand men. Dur
ing the Spanish American War we
sent thirty thousand troops to Cuba.
but we landed fifty thousand American
troops within forty eight hours at
Brest. In the transportation and sup
ply departments OF France and Eng
land are three hundred thousand
Americans. leaving a million six hun
dred thousand for attack. On Sep
tember the supply department Is
sued one million four hundred and
seventy-nine thousand four hundred
and fifty-four rations. On that day
there were supplies in the military de-
pots for two million men for forty-five
days. with several conveys en- route
loaded with provisions. Think OF one
Of these magic cities. built by Ameri-
can engineers, with warehouses
stretching along the shore for four and
a half miles, In those warehouses are
stored in piles Of ten thousand tons
timed vegetables. meats, pork and
beans, thousands Of tons OF dried
prunes, dried peaches. prepared fruits,
coffee. tea, sugar, chocolate. Under
one great warehouse We saw scores OF
locomotives. The group Of workmen
in that one warehouse had set up nine
hundred locomotives and seven thou
sand eight hundred cars. We now have
in France orders for eQuipping the
railways with supplies already filed or
In process OF filing twenty-nine hum
dred American engines and fifty-six
thousand freight cars. II you will i'm
agine these five coast cities at the end
of your Ave fingers. all with lines that
meet at your wrist, at point named
Tours, the central supply city. and then
put the other wrist on Tours and let
the other Ave fingers spread out to-
ward Chaumont to the east, with the