The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1918-12-08
s.. D. 5. MESSAGE TO.
WILSON
FROM LL0YD-GEORGE
Calls for 100000 Men
Per Month to Save
the Day.
NEED OF SOLDIERS
Response Was Typical of
America and the
Tide of Defeat
Was urned.
NEED OF SOLDIERS

Leeds, Dec y~~S~nd ycur ships
across and We will send the I20.OGo
men per month
President Wilson sent this cable
message TO Premier LIoyd-GeorEe
on March II, 1918. In response to
na urgent =. q. =. message from
the British premier laying bare the
terribly critical situation of the
allied armies. Al dawn that day
the Germans had launched their
xup~r-drive toward AmSens.
II was IJoyd-GeorGe himself
who In n speech here today dis
closed for the first time this ex-
change of eabirgrams with presi-
dent Wilson.
II was an inspiring narrative.
this hit of inside htstory OF the
nravext crisis for the allied cause
In the whole wmr-iuspirinE TO
Americans who heard IL. for IL was
new proof to them from the lips
of Britafn's first statesman of the
smashing. decisive part American
troops played In the grrnt war.
Need Of American Help
II shall never forget" said the pre-
nier. that morning March Ed. wher
/ sent cable TO President Wilson tell
ing him what the facts were and how
IL was essential that we should SCI
American help at the speediest possisis
rate inviting him to send 10000 in
fantry and machine gunners per month
to Europe II he did that we shosif
do our best To carry them. sent thai
telegram 30 Lord Reading ard the fol
lowing day came telegram from
President Wilson:
Send Your ships ACROSS and We
will serd the 120o 600 men
Then invited sir Joseph Mckay
the shipping controller. to Downins
street and said 70 him. Send every
ship you can
They were all engaged in essentta
to the bone. There was nothing tina
was not essential. We said. This Il
the time for taking risks
we ran risks with our food, W.
ran risks with. our essential war ma
terials. We said The thing to do Il
To get these men across AT all hazard,
america sent / 5000 men acros:
and on. OF that number l,iho.dA wer'
carried by the British mercantile ma
rine
THE good old ships of Britain. tn,
ships wN9rh have ravea tbs liberty -
the world many tigses-~saveS IL IN ths
DAYS of Queen Elizabeth. saved II II
tho days Of Louis XIV. saved II in thu
DAYS of Napoleon, saved IL IN the days
of Kaiser Wtlmelm II.
Huns Surer-Drtve-
1T is strange" continued the pre-
r,fer n change from DAce n her. 1915
a change from the DAYS when at tht
end of the year we made our halanc'
sheet and found Germany had acquired
more allied territory than she had hat
before a new ally had fallen. ard thai
another ally was totterinE to the fal
and that Germany was advancins
ruthlessly along from conquest to con
quest.
THAT was the story up to end OF De.
cember. 1915, what is the story to
day
Every German submarine is in :
British port today. The best battle
ships and cruisers and torpedo boats
OF Germany are now with lowered
Tags hinder the surveillance OF British
seamen In British harbors, and ths
British army which has fought so gal
lantly---which has fought with hero
ism which tho world has never matched
not az in the wars Of old when vol
had a great battle and then another
great battle three months afterwari
and In between marches and perhaps
sleSes and constant strain upon tbs
nerve upon the health, upon endurance
the Heart Of mentor four years tn,
victory That army after months a
lighting and OF suffering. that army II
today. at this hour marching acros.
the Rhine into Germany, into one q
the most famous cities of Germany"