Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-07-05
PERSHING PRAISES
THE CHARACTER OF
AMERICAN TROOPS
DR., John R, Mott Jrp Tells Y
M, C, A, Men at War Confer
enCe of His Experiences
While in France

For an hour Tuesday morning 500
prominent business men of the south
east forgot the millions of dollars whose
investment is their daily care, forgot
all things personal and not pertinent to
what they were hearing, while DR.. John
r. Mott. general secretary of the Ma
tional War Work Council of the Young
Mems Tristan association, fresh from
his fifth wartime trip overseas, gave
q series of pictures of the world strug-
gle which, for intimacy and scope of
detail, have certaiL:y not been equalled
by any speaker in Atlanat
Dr. Mott had With min accurate maps
Of the territory in which American
troops are fighting. He read kilograms
whcih had reached him within the past
twelve hours, telling OF the gre 1T Amer
lean rout and of the cheering jart that
fifty American Y. NJ. c. a. men had
taken part IN il, one of them having
been decorated twice for exceptional
bravery.
But it was his personal experiences
which most enabled him to grip his au-
dience from start to finish, with no at
tempt at oratory, with nothing but an
even-voiced recital of the things he had
recently seen.
"Godmothers" for Dead
only few days ago. he said at one
point, Il stood in a French cemetery
and looked at long rows of new Amer
lean graves. The French women are
acting as 'godmothers' for the dead SAL
diers of the United States and the most
touching scene that l have ever known,
In all my months at the front in this
war, was that of French widow in an
American military graveyard, explain
ing to her six children how the boys that
lay buried there had died to help the
same cause which cost the life of the
children's father"
DR.. Mott paid high tribute to the mo-
rality and 5 obriety OF the American
forces abroad.
I'm my long swing about the arc" he
declared from an unnamed French port,
on past Switzerland, down to the toe
of Italy, l did not see a single drunken
American soldier or sailor"
DR.. OMIT said that the million mark
Of the American army in France will
positively be reached within the next
few days an that the two million mark
will probably come before the snow
breaks up"
General Pershing told me-" he added.
that he believed his army is the finest
in the worlds history, fro mthe stand
point of good conduct, high spirit and
unselfsh ideals. And General Edwards
told me that General Pershing was
right. and that the. cause of the mems
morale was the splendid traditions pass
ed down by American mothers"
Y. M G. A. Also for Navy
Mr.. Mott said that the American
navy is now bigger than the British
navy was when the United States en-
tered the war. He also stressed the
point that the Y. NJ. c. A. is as much
for the navy as for the army.
The speaker read a telegram received
from Italy Monday night, saying that
the fleeing Austrians are hungry and
discontinued, and that the prisoners
taken by the Italians are pitiful sights.
The telegram also told of the work of
the fifty American Y. NJ. c. A men
who, are heartening and helping the
Italian army.
DR.. Mott expressed great confidence
in sthe ultimate stand of Russia and
said that the division which suffered
heaviest in the recent fighting around
the Marine was a division of volunteers
from Russia.
He said that he had sometimes heard
it charged that the "Y. NJ c. A. work
is shell proof and he pointed to the
fact that 81 huts already have been
completely destroyed by enemy artil-
been recommended for decoration be-
cause of the way in which he remaiend
on duty % consecutive hours in a sec
tor that was being evacuated by the
British, helping Red Cross workers care
for the wounded and exposing himself
to the last to what seemed certain death
or capture. This was no unusual incl
dent, said DR.. Mott.
Dr. Mott, as an example of what
OIL n 10 A Il
said that one building at q port in
France has already ministered to more
than 100000 different men.
In closing DR.. Mott read kilograms
received Tuesday morning from France
and England, telling of the great
Fourth Of July celebrations which the
boys abroad are planning. 1t is not
unlikely, he said, that 100000 Ameri-
cans will compete in games and sports
under actual shell fire from German
guns.