The Cordova daily times., 1918-08-13
FOcA. THE MAN OF THE HOUR

True greatness, it has been said, Is only brought out by great crisis. The man of talent and genius often lies hidden and obscure while lesser men have their day, but let great danger threaten, let an extraordinary peril put the very existence ol nA- ton in jeopardy. then charlatans ""- tiring in meek and chastened silence leave the master mind q clear held for action. In no case is this truth verified more completely than in that of General Ferdinand FoCh. the com rnandcrin-chlrl ul all the allies forces on the western front. Known before the fall Of 1914 only in army circles a~ the director of the war college and -hrcwd tacticiau, h" loapcd, almost in a ~iu4lr hour. into public fam" a~ th" leading figure in rh" most decisive" battle of the present war, th" battl" of the Marnc.
 General Foch was born at Tarhcs on August 1, 1851. His father was secretary general of the prefecture, and had three sons, one of whom is d Jesuit. the other a lawyer at Tarbes, while the third of whom We speak, has just been elevated to the highest rank possible in the allies forces. At the Jesuit college of St. Etiennc young Foch was noted for his love of study and exemplary conduct. There he ac- Qured that same precision and method that have since made him famous. He was. as one of his early masters said. made for the Polytech. nique' the great school for mathe maIicians and strate9ists. But with his o'"thr"'tic4l talents he com hincI loN" for literary studies that was ,l"'o~' passion. History ospe- cially appealed 10 him and he early learned to carry himself in imagina- tion to the ancient battlefclds. whose glorious traditions he was SO capable of upholding. In Ih7&, after his first year at the PolytechniQue. he received 9 commission as suhlieutenant. and from then on he made his way by pointed to brigadicr, commander of artillery in the Fifth army corps. and director of tn" Ecolo de Guerre. In 1911 he was made general of division and in 1912 was sent to Cambridge to the British maneuvers as head ot the French military mission; when the war broke out he was in com mand of the Twentieth corps at Nan'E ;2y < A, ri
 Practically his entire course rom sub-licutcnant to general has been spent with the troops, and thus he has had ample opportunity to put into practice the strategy which his keen, precise mind had formulated. As di rector of the Ecole de Gucrrc his work vas not the cut and dried tactics Oi the book strategist; it was rather ar art. the product of a man who had found his work and loved it. With his passion for Clearness and accu racy, his missionary-like zeal. and his intense flaming patriotism, he had at complished wonders in his teaching His boundless energy infused into others similar fire. He worked hart himself and permitted no shirker' about him. In all his teaching hi aim was not to give his officers a SC rule of conduct for every emergency but rather the necessary mental di rection for reasoning out their prob lens for themselves. My pages" h' says, are beacon fires on the peak to guide the mariner in the storm
 General Foch is an ardent disciple of Napoleon Like the Little Cor poral, he believes that the victor i he that gets there with the mos men" Like him, too he is a firm