Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1919-06-13

ahu tIlS aNtIdSc uISpOSlllOn
seems to have become afflicted with
species of unbearable itch. Moth
ing iUaS done properly. nothing is
being done properly: every achieve
ment is Quarreled with, and the men
most applauded are those whose
talk drips like some deadly, discol-
oring acid on the war record of
America.
A certain reaction was inevitable
and is perfectly Understandable. AZ
ter year and half of incessant
endcavor, with every life keyed up
to the highest possible pitch of SER
vice and sacrifice, taut nerves were
bound to go slack. With people
picking up old threads, and finding
them sadly tangled, degree of ir-
reliability was a foreSone conclu-
sion. But the thing has gone far
beyond the natural and is being ex-
aSgerated into an obsession. The
wells of public pride are being pois-
oned beyond cure; criticism has
changed into wholesale abuse; irri-
tation is taking on the tones of a
mean and scurrilous malignance.
| The common decencicS of patriot
ism command halt, reform, and
suggest stock taking in the interests
of honesty and fair play.
What was it we set out to do? 1t
was 10 whip the Germans. And Ue
did ii! At the time we entered the
struggle the Prussians were in posi-
lions of virtual dominance on every
front-insolent, assured, powerful
yet in eighteen months their ar
rogance was crushed to the dust,
their leaders in cowardly flight:
their ultImatums changed to pleas.
What is the quarrel? Is ii result
that was not wished? Is it the idea
that victory was won improperly,
and that the war should be fought
all over again in order that the
theories of fireside experts may be
vindicated?
1t was not alone that we did the
thing we set out to do, but in the
doing we established records of
energy, initiative and detcrmina-
ton that have no parallel in his
tory, The Allies had only faint
hope that we would be able TO aid
with man-power for many a month,
while the Germans themselves were
confident that they would have am
pie time to win the war before Am
erica could possibly prove factor
in the fighting. They stimulated
| their morale, civil as we'll as mill
tarN, by repeated assurances that
"the Yankees" could not raise an
army, that even if it were raised it
could not be trained properly; that
even if it were raised and trained
it could not be transported.
Almost within month after the
l.declaration of war the traditional
policy of the nation was reversed
by the enactment of the Selective
Service Act. a vast machinery of
registration was created that ran
without hitch, and on June 9Th
| over 100000 youths were regis
tered quickly and efficiently.
Ihlrty-twO encampments-vir
al cities, since each had to house
10000 men-were built in ninety
days, complete in every municipal
detail, feat declared impossible.
and which will stand for all time as
a building miracle.
In June, scarcely two months af-
ter the Presidents appearance be-
fore Congress, General Pershing and
his staff reached France, and on
July 3rd. the last of four groups of
transports landed American fight
ing men in the home of Lafayette
and ROchambcau.
Training camps for officers start
d in June, and in August there were
graduated 27,341 successful aSpir-
ants, ready TO assume the tasks of
leadership.
What was the situation in France?
Every proper port pre-empted,
every mile of railroad used TO its
uttermost capacity, supplies sufii-
cient for French forces only, and
an utter lack of proper housing IA
cilities for the Americans who were
to come. A tidewater port was the
best that we could get, great docks
Of the profession-the greatest
had to be built, our own railroad
lines had TO be constructors; there
were storage depots TO build, and
$4,000 foresters, equipped with the
latest American inventions in lum-
bering machinery, had to go into
the woodlands of France and cut
down the trees for barracks, rail-
IToad ties and construction timber.
Not in any degree was il the case
that our problem was merely to get
men to France. Not only did we
have TO get them there, but we also
had to build our own debarkation
facilities, our own transportation,
our own housing, and we had to de-
wise the stable mechanism that
would keep supplies of every kind
flowing steadily across 5000 miles
of water. And il mas dOneJ