The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-06-19

MILK co.
been held inviolate by those of US on
i this side, who hourly and daily were
giving the best that was in US to bring
about the salvation of each new situa-
ton as it arose. There was never a
censorship more faithfully imposed
| upon us by ourselves and even in the
| darkest days there was nothing in our
appeals to this industry calculated to
give comfort to the enemy.
That the position of the Allies was
never anything but grave and their
life depended upon their ability to
maintain supply of petroleum, was
palpable to any observer of the war.
One has only to roll back the map Of
France to understand what the cap
ture of Amiens meant. The mailed
arm of the enemy encircled the great
! productive coal regions upon which
! ordinarily would have rested Frances
hope of continuing in the war. To
| transport sufficient coal across the
channel for the Allies requirements
! in Europe was physical impossibility
and the one vital alternative was Pc
F., troleum-and that American petrol
cum. In the end the fuel which came
to the Allies from across the sea
I, proved superior as military auxili-
| airy, to the fuel which the German en-
pire had within its grasp.
Other portentious factors which
might decide the issue such as the
one mentioned, were obvious enough,
but the most pessimistic and down.
hearted commentators upon the OUT
come could scarcely have portrayed a
darker picture than those which some
, times formed in the minds of the men
who knew the whole truth. They sep
arated after conferences extending in
to late at night. discouraged and with
heavy hearts. but always with the
feeling that the faith of those on the
fighting lines that we would do our
part someway and somehow never
wavered. 1t was this feeling that we
were holding part of the line that
inspired US with the spirit which filled
the armies and which won the war
In the addresses at the gathering in
New York scarcely two months ago
the representatives of the foreign gov
ernments made public closeup view
of some of those desperate conditions
, which existed at different times when
the Kaiser seemed to have the great
prize Of the world domination all but
within his grasp. We who have read
of it will not soon forget Monsieur
, Consul General CASTOR Lievert's
graphic description of the immortal
battle of Verdun, of the slow but ir-
resistible progress Of the great Ger
man guns closer and even closer to
that fortress. Of destruction one by
one of the railways upon which de-
pended the daily existence of that gar
rison. ut was only" said the Consul
General, thanks to the possibility of
orr high command to send to Verdun
all that was necessary for the defense
by motor lorry. that the tremendous
and long battle was won by the French
army and that the first big blow Of
the war after the Marine was dealt
against the Germans. Those motor
lorries could only move, thanks to the
essence which was set to us from the
United States at the time when you
were so-called 'neutrals."
Consul General Liebert further told
that the monthly consumption of es-
sence during the war bv the French
armies had been about $4,000 tons
month and that out of these $4,000
tons, 10000 came from the United
States But all this could not have
been DONE" he said. ''if we had not
found in this country the deep svmpa-
thy that existed all over the United
States and which manifested itself
from the very beginning of the great
conflict" Speaking Of the later
months of 1917 and the early part of
last year when many people thought
that the fortunes of the Allies were at
their lowest ebb, Monsieur Liebert told
us that at one time the stock Of es-
sence available in France had fallen
to $4,000 tons. hardly three weeks
consumption. Listen to his words:
by sending to France between Sep
TENDER 25th, 1917. and the end of Jan
uary, 1918. over 100000 tons of essence
this industry contributed in most eff
fcient manner in providing at the CEN
tiers Of supply of the Allied armies the
quantities of essence which were in
dispensable to keeping on the terrible
struggle of March, 1918, and to carry
promptly the allied troops in motor
lorries toward the fighting line. Dur
ing those days Of tremendous fighting
the quantities Of essence utilized by
the Allied armies in France were as
much as 1000 tons day."
This amount is about equivalent to
the number Of gallons Of both gasoline
and kerosene that is handled by all
the oil companies at Minot, in an en-
tire year. J.
Gentlemen, Consul General Liebert
spoke with extreme gravity for he re-