The Washington herald., 1918-07-21

Paris next I shall take a. day on and
hunt for him. There was no answer
possible, at the time. Today such a
statement would only excite ridicuIe
In any quarter in the French capital.
here. or. best OF all at the front.
1t is easy, looking back on the de-
pressing period that, being passed,
can now be discussed, to- see what
was wrong. The wild estimates. nat
uraliy looked on here as promises. OF
the early days were not fulfilled.
Airplane muddles, shipping niuddies.
artillery muddles, followed in the
United States; well-meaning attempts
were made here to prevent the people
from finding these things out. and, as
always happens when the truth Is sup
pressed. rumors went around In which
our troubles were nnagnified tenfold.
and the most pessinistic predictions
were based on the temporary break
down in American inland transporta-
ton last winter.
Keep English Bueked Up.
THE American troops are keeping
us all bucked up," British staff
officer who returned from the storm
center on the British front yester-
day answered me when l asked him
how the soldiers are feeling. They
have been with US now for many
weeks We were very critical at
first; now we have seen them fight,
on a small scale. II Is true, but we
have taken their measure. They are
as good as our Dominion men," No
compliment. from a British officer.
could be higher than that.
Another officer whom I have known
for years wen enough to be made
the recipient, last spring, Of his
doubts about US. which I then tried
to aIlay, happened TO be doing Iiaison
work with our men in the attack
on Cantigny last month. He came
back bubbling with enthusiasm. IF
| you could have heard the talk in
| our mess the night after the Boehe
| counter attacks were broken" he told
me, you would have had no more
doubts about what our people think
of the doughboys. There were no
| Americans in the room One man
after another spoke UP and said he
| thought Il impossible for raw troops
| to stand the drumfire to which your
men were subjected and then to re-
pulse attacks. Es
The first advance Is easy; Il Is the
sticking-it-afterwards that counts.
can tell you. too. that the story OF
your work at Cantigny went up and
j down our lines and was discussed
in every mess to the exclusion OF
every other topic You are our re-
| serves. our final reserves. and our in
terest in you is natural. Not only
| that, but on what we think of you
/ depends whether we fight with quiet
confidence or with something Hike de-
spair. So the little jobs you have
done at Cantigny and Chateau Thferry
and in the Woevre have bucked us
all up frightfulfy. and will help us
to go through with what we know we
must face this summer"
For Gods sake exploded a dis
tinguished public man with a handle
\ to his name two months ago, get
your people to stop sending Us these
I stories about the planes you are GO
ing to make, the men you are going
to send over here. the shells you are
/ going to turn out. the battles you are
going to fight. the ships you are go.
ing to build. The effect is appalling.
7 The word bluff is coupled with Amer
! lea hundred times more often now
than last year. One thing only will
impress us: the meeting on the battle
/ field Of your men and the Germans
! in real action"
Have Made Good.
| At the time I noted his remarks
and today 1 reminded him of them
! You have made good" he said
| You will hear no more grousine
| from England. We never under
stood each other very we'll WI
! distrust people over here who talk
much about what they are going
! to do. But you have done IL. Nc
big battles yet? Oh. they are a
mere detail. You will win them
/ We all know that now; indeed. the
Germans must know it, too"
One of the principal reasons why
high allied military authorities are
| confident that the German rush
/ will be stemmed this year and vic.
! tory ultimately won lies in the
brtga ding of American troops with
the decimated divisions of Haie
and Petain. The public. and es-