The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-07-23
In Fifth Year Of Greatest Struggle In
the Time of Man, United
States Leads in
,-- Power.
MEN OF FIGHTING HEART
Yankees Win Not Consider the JOB
Completed Until the Allies
Have Won the
Victory.

rRv Fred s. Ferguson, United Press
Staff Correspondent
TCoovright 1918. by United Press.l
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE, July 1 (by maiD JAS the
world war enters it's fifth year, the
fighting forces of America hold the
balance of power in the greatest
struggle in the time Of man.
The fighting men of America have
been tried on the worlds most MIS-
toric battlefields, and have proven
that for bravery for stamina, for all
of the things that it takes to win
battles, they need bow to none.
The American in the field IS
man OF a fighting heart
He represents Americas balance
of power that will carry the democ-
racies of the world to victory over
German autocracy.
But how this power is admins
tered. how it is led, how it is equip
ped. how it is fed, how it is clothed,
how it is munitioned. how it is given
"eyesight" by airplanes that it shall
not fight in the dark. how it is
nursed when i'll and wounded-upon
these things depends the distance to
victory.
No Pause Till Victory.
1t may be near, or it may be far,
and Americans, Frenchmen, British
ers (and Germans) may know that
the American fighting man will not
consider his job done until the allied
cause is victorious. But the distance
is not to be measured by the resist
ance of the German alone. 1ncom-
fo1,lfu leadership
in any of the branches dealing with
the war, is going 10 mean a longer
path, and a path dyed with American
blood.
Representatives of Americas bal
ance of power are arriving in France
by hundreds hourly. AS this is writ
ten more than 100000 men have
landed. Every man brings the hour
of victory nearer, but the admins
tration. the leadership, must be be-
hind him.
| have been with the Americans
in every important action to date,
from the first raids in Lorraine to
the taking of Cantigny in Picardy
and the second battle of the Marine.
The men taking part in these actions
were from every corner OF the United
States. They ranged from newly en-
listed men to veterans.
But always there was the same
spirit, regardless OF the difficulty of
the task or the hardships involved:
cheerful obedience of orders, anxiety
to get at the job and complete it,
and certainty in execution and then
modest disclaimers Of having done
any more than was their duty, OF
more than any other American would
have done.
In Training.
During the early months of this
year, the Americans in France were
merely training. They could not be
figured as real fighting units in the
intricate game of trench warfare.
First, northwest Of Toul. then on the
Chemin Des Danes, then near Lune-
Vile, and later near Verdun and in
Alsace, American units appeared.
They were put in the line with the
French, and soldiers and officers
alike learned from their French in
structors the tactics of the new war
game 1t was an irksome JOB. Losses
W ere always unnecessarily heavy at
first. Then the Americans began to
learn. They learned how to take
cover during shell fire. They learned
when to keep quiet-in other words,
when it was to their advantage not
to shoot They became trained, re-
liable troops. When the gigantic
German offensive broke in March
some were put permanently into the
line in the Bacarat region and north
west of Toul in the place of French
divisions which were rushed away to
the big battle line. Others followed
ha 40 IN, pipardv tnnl
their place in the line which they
still hold, and which they extended
by the capture of Cantigny.
On the Marine as bright page as
is to be seen in American history
was written by the Americans who
stopped the German advance there.
ingly. They met the best divisions
the German high command could
throw against them. All were turned
back. Munition carriers, ambulance
men, supply men-in fact everyone
worked, or fought, day and night. 1t
was the extreme test of American
stamina to date, and was met glori-
ously. The best traditions Of Anne
! ca were more than fulfilled The
! German rush toward Paris was
stopped. The morale of the French
was raised to new heights at the
sight, and by the story, of these
Americans on the winding Marine. in
Slstng even in the face of the last
! extremity that the German should
not cross.
: Changed Course Of War.
Il America paid a price in lives of
, the best type Of men she has to offer
, in the cause of democracy in the
> tlghtlng on the Marine. But during
those i've days when a thin line of
Americans stood between the Ger