Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-06-15

One wear ago on Thursday, Genera
John J Pershing and his staff of the Unltec
States Army arrived in Paris. They were
received with great acclaim and cordial
welcome Their presence was an earnest
that the United States of America had
taken up arms in behalf of the Allies, and
henccforth would fight side by side with
them in the campaign for the defeat and
thorough overthrow Of the worlds great
enemy.
Very modest and unpretentious was this
advent Of our advance guard in the per-
sons Of General Pershing and his staff
But while il made little display. il promis-
ed much And that promise was looked
upon with far more optimistic eyes on the
other side of the Atlantic Ocean than It
was here at home Our British and French
Allies regarded it as a most hopeful aug
ury. Here at home many pessimlStic
views were expressed.
During the year that has elapsed since
General Pcrshing and his staff were 50
warmly welcomed in Paris, We heard a
great deal here at homo about what our
country was not doing, rather than what
il was doing The administration was
criticised. especially The Navy Depart
ment and the War Department In
short time, however. the most dtspeptic
Of pcssimists were compelled 70 admit that
the Navy Department was doing great
work. The cordial and unsolicited praise Of
British journals and British public men
on the valuable cooperation Of our navy
with the navy of Great Britain shut the
Jaws OF the most bilious OF home pes
slmists
The War Department critics, however,
continued to revel in their pesSimism- The
War Department was inefficient, they
vociferously declared They seemed to think
We should have sent million armed men
across the ocean in less than no time,
entirely disrcCarding tho enormous work,
the careful preparation that had to be
provided for. and the essential necessity
for safeguarding every transport that
left our shores with men and materials
for the war fields IN France. They. as well
IS the rest Of the people, were kept IN
ignorance. for prudential reasons. VI the
detail OF what was being done. and this
ignorance was awaited of by the pessimsts
or their most caustie condemnations
They raved about slowness IN shipwork.
and after endeavors 10 start a scandal were
confounded by the truth as TO the amaz-
inC work that had been done and what was
being done al Hog Island and other great
shipbulding centres Then they fell back
upon the program Tor airshIp construction,
and for awhile rcveled in what seemed to
DC a scandal But now il seems that even
in this line Of hostile criticism they are
10 be confounded, At any rate. the investi-
CATION into this line of war preparations
is in able hands-ex-Justice Hughes being
in charge of that important work-and the
people are assured the truth will be made
known. And present indications are that
good work has been done IN this respect,
as in so many Others.
But II is only necessary 10 take cur
sory glance at the situation today to real
ize what We have done during the year
since General Pershing and his staff we're
so warmly welcomed Ii Paris We have
sent about 700, 900 fighting men to France.
IN addition 10 the hundreds OF engineers.
rcconstructionists, workers in the field IN
and of the wounded hospital units. and
agents in all other fields Of war work Nc
have seen our men placed IN the front
line OF battle, and the reports that have
been flashed across the ocean of the work
they are doing arc most inspiring Al !
ready they have received the praise Of /
veteran officers In the English and French /.
service as among the best soldiers that /
Europe ever saw" Already they have
made the Hun realize that this great
country of ours is in the world war in
earnest, and that we have soldiers who
know how to fight in a righteous cause,
and will fight until the end
so much for our first year in the great |
war. And as time goes on we will bee me
a more and more important factor We |
will be ''in at the finish THE utter de- !
struetion Of the brutal Hun enemy Of the
world