Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-12
ELKS' BIG PARADE.
Continued from page )

and outraged at the reasonable utter
ances than are other Americans.
When America entered this war the
German staff sought to allay the fear
.of the Germans that America ; entrance
meant defeat for autocracy by making
four statements First they told their
people that the Americans were not a
military nation; they had no army and
could not train an army IN time 10 make
il effective in Europe. Second, that II It
were possible 10 train an army they
could not get the ships to transport them
TO Europe so that they could take part
IN battle Third, that if they could get
ships. their submarines would sink them,
and fourth. II some OF the ships should
tudc the submarines and land safely IN
france they would be so raw and un-
famed that they would he slaughtered
easily and would be able 10 make no real
resistance
"America's spirit Of patriotism in the
war and its growing power have shown
the falsity Of these prophecies. We have
raised the men: 2.001001 now under
arms and 10000 900 will he under arms
il needed We have secured the ships
ard we have accomplished the unparal-
leled achievement OF Transporting 900, :
OFO IDEn ~ AA44LG DCJAAS1 SAAC Asaf
has kept the road open to France. Not
withstanding The spirit which caused the
sending OF the submarines to the At
lantic coast, the conveys were not de
Iayed a mOmc.t.
"On the very day that submarines
were sighted on the Atlantic coast one
OF the largest conveys was ready to
steam across the water There were
some discussions as 10 whether 1t should
be DELAYED a few DAYS to discover the
whereabouts and the dangers of losses
that the submarines might IntiIct, but It
was decided not to wait a minute, but to
send on the soldiers The principal rea-
sons for sending them TO this side was
the relief that 1t would deter America
from its rapid transport OF troops across
We did not pause moment, but the
convoys went out and not d single soldier
on the transport on the way TO France
has been lost This has been due TO
the skill and provision and fidelity OF the
officers and men Of the American navy,
but not alone, for we have felt as JEFF
ferson expresses the idea IN the DecIara-
,ion of Independence, that greater than
human power has made this achievement
possible
Prizes awarded by the Atlantic City
Lodge TO the paraders went TO the fol-
lowing: Largest number of men in line
prize silk American flag, winner, jersey
CITY: second, New ! Ork Most patriotic
appearance in uniform, prize silk Ameri-
can flag, winner, Jersey City: second
Camden Lodge coming from the greatest
distance. number in line considered. prize
silk American flag winner. New Orleans;
second. Detroit Lodge having largest
number OF ladies In line prize silk Ancri-
can flag winner Brooklyn; second, Phila-
delphia Lodge having most attractive
float prize silver plaplaque, winner Phila-
delphia second, Camden.
WILMINGTON HAS 4 GOOD TIME.
The Wilmington men had one grand
time. There wasn't a Inishap or hitch Of
any sort and 'the fellows, arrived at the
Tennessee avenue terminal Of the electric
line On time TO the dot.
Waiting at the station was a bunch Of
Wiln1ingtonians already on the ground
Harry J. Stoeckle and his family, O r..
Fulmer John James, William Black.
Morris Grubb, Leonard Gr1Ibb Samuel
Jones, Mr. Lally, Herbert White, Leslie
Pyle, Harvey Diggan, James Davidson
Roland Ripperger and bunch Of others
Just as they alighted the Atlantic City
police patrol wagon, gay with Elks'
purple-and-white, bearing an Elk's head
and sporting an awesome legend Wei
come Elks" drew up.
What's that? No, Of course not. The
boys were neither being hdded nor warn
ed, because that wagon has been doing
duty as luggage hauler-an8 hasn't had
man in it except its crew since the con-
vention opened What's more, nobody
had had a chance to do anything but
drink ice-water on the way down.
When the line headed by the Harlan
Band marched up the avenue to head
quarters at the Absecon, it made such a
hit that everybody knew what was coming
10 Wilmington in the way of plaudits
when the real crowd got on the job in the
afternoon
Did they have a good time?
ASK en-