The sun., 1918-07-12
FRANCE FAR FROM
HER UTMOST IN WAR
Fable Of Nation "Bled White"
DisprOved by Energy and
Ability Of Troops.
by GERALD CAMPBELL.
Special Cable Despatch 10 The SrS from the
London Times

London Times.
Copyright. 1915; all rights reserred
AT THE FRENCH FRONT. July 11.--Af-
ter four years. II you have anything to
10 with nghting men and the nursing
listers and the surgeons Of France, II Is
good to think of the great wave OF graf
itude and sympathy which will flow out
&c them from London and the rest OF
England on the day that marks the end
OF the fourth year of war
They SO wonderfully deserve SYM
pathy. not only for their courage and
devotion but for their marvellous pa
tience and endurance! A year or two
years ago irresponsible scribblers and
writer's began to announce that France
had been "bled white" and that foolish
phrase was repeated everywhere.
1t was thoroughly false. Terrible as
have been the losses to France, the idea
that the body of the nation is anemic
or exhausted by blood letting is ridicu-
lous. and for those who know wilful
perversion of the truth.
Never Better Than Now.
write as one whose business and
privilege it is to know something of the
organization over the whole front. from
the sea to Switzerland. and in my opin-
ion the armies of France never consti-
tuted a better or more effective fighting
| machine than to-day Any one from
Germany or outside who expects TO see
white faced France looking on from
| clutches while the more vigorous Anglo
| Saxon races finish the war Is badly mis-
| taken. France started in the war one
| day-or was II two--before England
| came in, and according to fable was
| hled white long before the Americans
came along.
But France caught her second wind
| long ago and means to be in at the fin
| ish.
But If fable is fable reality is 70
| heavy a burden that the quiet mind and
| upright carriage with which France
bears 1t is the marvel of the world. the
admiration OF her allies and the despair
of her enemies across the Rhine.
As VisuaIiEed to the French.
Even TO England It must be difficult
TO realize how heavy the burden IL and
| how closely II presses on the French
mind, To the Frenchman, even IL he is
never permitted to visit the battle front
definite idea is conveyed by the fact
that Lille. st. Quentin. Laon. scissors.
| Cambria and hundreds of other towns
! are in the hands OF the enemy, and
that they hold nearly all OF the coal
and iron fields OF France and part of the
! great French railway system that they
are able to shell Dunkirk and Calais at
will and that they may drop bombs on
Verdun. Amiens. Compiegne and Paris
| at Will. Rheims and Arras are dead
cities, and others on the cruel list are
almost hopelessly shattered. Scores and
scores OF once happy villages are burned
/ to the ground, with their unhappy resi-
dents dead or living miserably as pris-
| oners OF Germany.
| These are the realities the French are
facing, and they are facing them with
calm and perfect confidence that they
and their allies will eventually drive
the enemy back. II makes no difference
to them that shells fall in Paris by day
and by night. 1t would make no dit
ference, l am convinced, II the city wer,
! heavily bombarded, or even besieged.
France will go on fighting until the
struggle Is incontestably won. No Other
end will content her now. For foui
years there has existed between France
and her allies. particularly England and
| America, closer bonds than probably
ever held nations together Common
sufferings in times Of danger and mutua
help in hours OF terrible need hav,
sealed an undying spirit Of mutual graft
tude and respect.