The Mena weekly star., 1919-01-23
THE RIVER RHINE
MUST BE BARRIER.
uarsbal Foch Declares, With Ger
wany Beaten, Further Aggression
Must Be Prevented-Greatest
Praise for American Troops.

Treves. Jan. 15.-It is the convic-
.,on of Marshal Foch that the Rhine
-nst be the barrier between Germany
.,a France. He expressed this clear
= today when he received American
.swspaper correspondent. The mar
shal is here in connection with the
neeting concerning the extension of
the German armistice.
Marshal Foch pointed out the diff
.,,lties that had been overcome and
said that peace must be commensur-
ote with the price of victory Ger
.onv now was beaten, he added, but
w-itb her resources, especially in men,
regeneration in comparatively short
time was quite possible, and it was
now the duty of the allies to prevent
further aggression.
Marshal Foch praised the work of
the American troops and said that
General Pershing had asked that the
American forces be concentrated for
an attack i'm one sector. The allied
generalissimo admitted that the Ar
Come Meuse front where the Ameri-
cans began their offensive on Sep
tsmher 26. was a "sector hard to
tackle." The marshal said he had
told General Pershing:
@Your men have the devils own
nunch. They will get away with all
that. Go to it." !,
aThe American attack succeeded"
.be marshal continued, land here we
are ON the Rhine"
.sThe armistice was not concluded
too soon and the allies got all they
asked for from Germany without
continuing the fighting. The allies,
the marshal said, were prepared for
another offensive stroke which would
have forced the Germans to give up
This was to have been made in Lor-
raine on November IA, with six Amer
lean and twenty French divisions.
"This is, for me-" Marshal Foch
began. "a happy opportunity to tell
Won all the good things / think of the
American army and Of the part it
played on our side. Your soldiers
were superb, They came to us young,
enthusiastic, and carried forward by
a vigorous idealism and they marched
to battle with admirable gallantry.
yes, they were superb. There Is
no other word. When they appeared
our armies were fatigued by three
years Of relentless struggles and the
mantle of war laid heavily upon them.
We were magnifeently eOmforted by
the virility of your Americans.
'.The youth of the United States
brought a renewal Of the hope that
fastened victory. Not only was this
moral fact of the highest Importance,
but you also brought enormous ma
terial aid and the wealth whicr you
placed at our disposal contributed 70
the final success. Nobody among us
will ever forget what America did.
"And you know what happened on
the field of battle since the month of
July-frst on the Marine, then in the
region of Verdun. General Pershing
wished as far as possible to have his
army concentrated in an American
sector. The Argonne and the heights
Of the Mouse were sector hard to
tackle. There were considerable OBJ
stacles there.
Eve have no idea of attacking Ger
many or of recommending the war.
Democracies such as ours never at
tack They ask but to live in peace
and to grow in peace, but who can say
that Germany-where democracies
are so recent and perhaps very super
fciai-will not quickly recover from
its defeat?
England has the channel to cross.
America is far away. France must
always be in position to safeguard
the general interests of mankind.
These interests are at stake on the
Rhine 1t is there that we must
prepare to guard against the painful
surprises Of the future.
THE armistice is signed but peace
is not yet concluded. So long as the
status of Europe has not been settled,
let us watch; let us watch together,
so that we lose not the fruits of our
common victory. Let US remain
united 40 xua .yora IN hattla "