Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-11

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ment. This year nTS&}kN -
the chief feature ssaS%AS&
has been the large #SSSN
number of Ameri- s6sHaAkh e M,
can soldiers who .......-....... .,.....a
have taken part
either as guests or entertainers in the
celebration.
/ am neither financier nor man
ufacturer nor meECh1ht' pul II re-
ouires little imagination to realize
how difficult our position would now
be were the boundlcss resources OF
America in money, material and food
stuffs denied to US. Nor am | a sailor;
but while the prevention ana replace
.ment of shipping losses are among
the cardinal factors which Will deciue
between victory or defeat, America
aid in hunting down the enemy pirates
and her energy in developing her
shipping industries are in themselves
alone worthy of every flag we have
flown on Independence Day.
Americas Military Aid
am a soldier. and it is therefore
of Americas military aid that l wish
TO speak We have had most en-
couraging reports lately of the rate at
which American soldiers are pouring
America has already sent some mil
lion of her sons across the Atlantic.
We know that many or these Ameri-
can soldiers are brigaded with our
own troops. generous loan to tide us
over our difficulties in finding men
to replace the heavy losses we have
suffered this year
Naturally. we are counting much
upon this help in the present time of
stress. but it is important that we
should not count too much, and that
we should take a sane view of what
IL possible; otherwise we shall be dis
appointed and be tempted to think un-
Justly that our ally has failed us.
First. as to numbers. There is a
great and important difference be
tween the total numbers of an army
and the numbers which can he aC-
lively employed in fighting the enemy.
The working of the bases which re-
ceive and issue all the mutlifarious
requirements of an army ahsorbs large
numbers of men. More still are
needed to maintain a regular flow Of
these requirements along the lines of
communications to the fighting front
Hospitals, schools of instruction and
training establishments of all kinds
make another large call, 50 that it
must not be imagined that the total
figures of the American strength in
the west represent, or nearly repre-
sent, the numbers which General Per.
shing can throw into battle
Fighting Strength Increasing
We know from General Pershing' s
8communiques that the actual fighting
strength of the American forces at the
front is steadily increasing and thar
American soldiers have taken part in
with glory to themselves and to the
chagrin of the enemy, who has from
the first day of the war. underestimated
the power of free people to create and
5 place armies in the field, hut our own
experience teaches us that this business
of fitting new armies to take their part
In battle is slow. Some of our new di-
visions did take a noble part in the
battle of Loos in September, 1915, but
It was not until July, 1916, at the first
battle of the Somme, that our new
armies, as a whole, received their real
baptism of fire.
America has, it Is true, had the ad-
vantage of being able to train her troops
behind the trenches held by the Allies
and could use her little regular army
to school aud give the advantages OF
Its experience to the new levies while
we, for the most part, had to put such
troops as we could collect in the early
days of the war straight into the front
Against this advantage must be set the
disadvantages of the far greater dis
tances from which Americas armies
have to come and the world shortage
of shipping.
Shipping is indeed the factor which
limits more than any other the develop
ment of Americas strength in France
for the time must come when all tn,
shipping which America can lay haud
on or can launch will be needed I,
carry across the Atlantic the ammunl
tion, material and food necessary for tn,
maintenance Of her armies in the fell
and drafts to replace the wastage 0
battle and of success.
Prime of American Manhood
For these reasons the development O
q Americas fighting strength cannot b
very rapid, and we must have patience
but this development is certain, and it
effect inevitable. America Is pickln
q for the field the prime of her manhood
At a time when all the other ma
fions engaged in the war have sent thei
youths and middle-aged men to the wa
we have just learned that America ha
picked out and sent back from Franc
some 100 young men of under twenty
one who. in their easerness 10 figh
had deceived the recruiters and foun
their way to the front. This is sis
nificant of the type of manhood in ii
american ranks We have for sewers
months been shipping boys of eightee
across the chanel. and Germany hs
for some time past had her youths
Nineteen under training. The effect
the Intervention of a fresh army con
posed of the picked manhood OF M
ton which is not suffering from Il
stsienes of four years Of effort mu
be decisive.
But we must realize that new armi'
are not made in a day. and understar
the special difficulties which Ameri'
has to overcome. The decision W
come N the sooner II We are not b
xuiieetwith false hopes and do not. ;
G 4 coreequence of an exaggerated est
lp,ats OF what America can do. slacks
cur own efforts.