The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1918-12-06

W
NOTHING could be more appropriate
than tho general Observance Of Britain
Day hyEtha people Of America. It Il
altogether fitting that 4 day should b.
set apart when homage can be paid
toaa people whose achievements IN
the recent great struggle to preserve
Christian civilization are in many res
poets without parallel in the history
vi The world.
The deathless valor and bull DOG
tenacity and the unconQuerable de
Termination to win displayed by the
British soldiers on battlefields scat
tered throughout the four corners OF
the world will challenge the admira
tipn. Of all mankind for generations
Hal GOMEZ A casualty list 'of more
ah1nE three millions is eloquent II
tragic evidence of the unyielding de.
yption ot britain In the great strug-
&leA The people Of that far flung
empire poured out without stint their
blood and their treasure with never
ascpanplaint. They accepted their
terrible losses as became true sons Of
asrace that has written the brightest
pages In All history. They had the
NlllEto win that adversely; that oceans
1f@hlood and billions Of money
expended could not shake. The NOR
ale Of the British soldier has never
been excelled. It is one thing to adj
minister a defeat but quite another
10 convince the beaten party Of that
facta British armies were defeated
time after time during the war but
they never admitted It. They were
A. strong, Is glorious, as undaunted
ihsthe gloom " defeat as they were
ii tie flush Of victory.
=. II would be impossible in the short
space of y newspaper editorial to re-
count the contributions that Britain
made IN this great Armageddon. II
there yas'a single factor, and that we
doubt that contributed to the winning
6f tho war, unquestionably that fact
6rfwass the British navy. From the
firing Of the first gun in August 1914
the enemy paid tribute to the Brit
NH navy without q parellel in history.
in ksb1 1e0teC Bntain's supremacy
lpQp the high seas. And even in the
darkest days or unrestricted submar-
Gswsrfare that supremacy was main
tthsd During the war the navy Of
Alest Britian transported more than
2z000D 200 men, some Of them brought
from the stAntipodes, with loss Of
6Aly four thousand. 1t carried the
bfeatest part of the foodstuffs that
kept starvation from the homes OF
devoted France; II transported the
munitions Of war necessary for ar
mics Of millions. Although denied
the opportunity to fight in the open
Because the enemy was too cowardly
to meet the challenge it more than
sustained the pfoduest traditions Of
the navy Of Drake and Nelson and the
other immortals whose achievements
onthe seas are the common heritage
D. III men Who speak the language
mi Shakespeare spake; the faith
ana morals Mid that Milton held
st N0teonly did England hold the seas
open Tor her own commerce and that
St9nSF Allies but her contribution to
the war on. land was little less than
3srysldds. Like the United States,
FGngiand had never maintained =
great Sstanding army. She depended
Ap0n volunteers in national emergen-
cies and when the war began her
ecoptemptible little army OF 1885,.
900 men, all that she had, was prompt
13sthruwn into the breach and helped
10 stay the tide Of the Prussian
hpFnss ut the first battle Of the
Marpe That little army was almost
Illuminated from Mons to the Marine.
II left. the bloodiest trail of sacri-
flcp eyen recorded by history" 1t
,coyered Anglo-Saxon arms with .
glory that shall abide throughout all
H6E regular army sleeping in the
soaEef blood stained France, an the
best; 81 her trained officers sacrificed
before the first onrush OF the Hun,
Britain resolutely set herself to the
task 81 raising 4 great civilian army.
And first and last the empire contri-
buted eight million armed men to
the cohflict. They came from Eng
land, from Wales, from Scotland in
almost the same proportion to popula-
tions Thousands came from Erin.
And then they came by the hundreds
of thousands from the loyal colonies
over the seas Canada and Australia
end New. Zealand and India and
South Africa We'd with each other
10 the measure Of their sacrifice for
the mother country. No such loyalty
deSotiQn. and disregard OF sacrifice
has ever been shown by the colonies