The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-08-05
AN ARMY OF FAITH.
Americans Are Meeting the Expectations
of French.

OF french.
German journalists can see in the inn
mense enthusiasm of the French press
and people over the American soldiers
nothing but purpose TO hstter our
troops into a reckless sacrifice of their
lives. With Germans, the Yankee fight
ers are the dupes of the entente, to be
cajoled and led onward to their death for
cause which Is not theirs. To this view
the Germans are moved by their own es-
innate of the American nation and peo-
pie, as expressed in the propaganda upon
which they expended years OF time and
millions Of money They imagined that
they could cajole us into sacrificing our
selves for them. Their attempt failed.
And now they behold America advancing
in her might to the support Of France.
How can the German mind account for
the phenomenon except on the ground
that French propaganda has succeeded
when the German failedi They Judge
the whole world by themselves. The
truth is, of course, that the French have
never. with us, had any other propaganda
than that of their history as our saviors
in 1851, nor practiced any other art of
winning than that of their leadership in
art, in literature, in the world of beauty,
in liberal ideas and in the fact that the
classic torch of enlightenment,
passed down through Greece and Rome,
is held high in their hand to-day. In the
French welcome to the Americans, and
the noble words of appreciation for our
soldiers, there is no more than natural
gratitude and admiration.
We do not believe that our soldiers
viii be spoiled by the praise of their
French brethren, for they have the stress
and sacrifice of battle to steady their
heads The trenches and the roar and
fierce peril of terrible modern warfare
are pretty sure to take the vanity out of
any fighting man. But perhaps we who
remain at home are in danger Of losing
our heads little over some of this heart
felt French praise, Certainly the honors
the French are paying to our nation are
unexampled. When has an American
newspaper devoted the whole Of daily
issue, with the exception of two or three
columns of other news, to an event which
concerns a single foreign nationg Never,
perhaps; but we note with interest that
the issue of the Paris Figaro Of July 5 is
given up almost wholly TO the Franco
American celebrations of the preceding
day - to the ceremonies in connection
with the dedication of the Avenue du
President Wilson, the addresses delivered
on that occasion, an exchange OF official
kilograms, the address of President Will
son at Mount Vernon, and TO editorials
and special articles on various phases OF
the American Invasion" of France. And
what words of appreciation these articles
containl
Foremost among them is one by eros
claude on "The American Crusade" and
it is thrilling indeed by reason of the
dramatic picture which the writer is able
to present Of the arrival of a great con.
voy of American troops but few days
before. On destroyer which had been
sent out to meet one of these conveys
the writer awaits, at silent rendezvous
in the midst of the wide, wide sea, the
appearance of fleet, headed by the
steamship George Washington, which
bears, in single argosy, no fewer than
$4,000 American soldiers. We see the
great ships bearing down-l2,000 soldiers
on single vessel. This to the imagina-
tive French observer is the actual arrival
of nation which has risen en- masse
not to conquer, but to protect the world
against conquest. He sees in this armada
new crusade, not less holy than those
of the middle ages, and more eflicacious
Like the crusaders of old en- route to Je-
rusalem, the Americans are in France
not for themselves but for a cause; it il
the abdieation of the individual to the
sense of duty.
"From ocean to ocean the people of the
United States have enrolled themselves
in Christian Crusade for the deliver
ance of the Holy Places where civiliza'
ton was born and whence independence
has sprung. Their soldiers come in hosts
Young and sound, full of vigor and conf
den,e, offering to the cause of justice q
noble army with which all the past has
nothing to compare--a torrent of mer
streaming from amin exhaustible fountain
The warriors of the Right are born of q
race of emigrants without guile, whose
moral force matches the vigOr of theil
bodies; it is a race that has been moulded
and sifted by long warfare with the
elements and with the savage; ceaseles'
devotion to athletic sports has trained
and hardened its physique; pure IN his
morals, inspired by the highest senti
ment of family love, serious under arms