The Penn's Grove record., 1919-02-07
AMERICA REMEMBERS FRANCE
President Wilson'S Address To French
Deputies

calls with happy illusions to u revo-
utionary wal with Great Britain and
should be read by all who will have a
better understanding of u past n
present relations with those countries.
He spoke in English and but few
understood it. Then it was reclted by
interpreters in French and the depu-
ties and servitors went wild with
their enthusiasm.
President Wilson spoke as follows:
Il am keenly aware of the unusual
and distinguished honor you are pay
ing me by permitting me to meet you
in this place and to address you from
this historic platform.
FEELS SENSE OF COMRADESHIP
.Iadeed. Sir. as day has followed
day and week has followed week in
this hospitable land of France, | have
felt the els Of comradeship ever be-
come more and more intimate, and 1t
has seemed to NE the making OF his
sorH Wis becoming ~Singularly clear.
We knew before this val began that
France and America were united in
affections. We know the occasions
which drew the two nations together
N those years, which now seems so
lar wa when the world was first
beginning 10 thrill with the impulse
of human liberty. when the soldiers Of
France came to help the struggling
little republic Of America to get ON It's
feet and proclaim one Of the first VIC
tories Of freedom.
We had never forgotten that, but
We did not see the full meaning OF 1t.
\ hundred years and more went by,
and the spindles were slowly weaving
the web of history. We did not see
It to be complete, the whole of the de-
sign to be made plain.
Nov. look what happened! In
that far off day when France came to
the assistance of America, America
was fighting Great Britain. And now
she is linking as closely to Great
Britain as she is to France. We see
now how these apparently diverglng
lines of history are coming together.
The nations which once stood in battle
array against one another are now
shoulder to shoulder, fighting a COM
nor enemy.
st was a long time before we saw
that, and in the last four years some
thing has happened that is unprece-
dented in the history of mankind. 1t
is nothing less than this-that bodies
of men on both sides of the sea and
in all parts of the world have come to
realize their comradeship in freedom.
ALLIED NATIONS HELPED
France, in the meantime, as we
have SO often said, stood at the from
tier of freedom. Her lines lay along
the very lines that divided the home
OF freedom from the home of military
despotism. Here a the immediate
peril. Hers was the constant dread.
Hers was the most pressing necessity
of preparation; and she had constantly
to ask herself this question, If the
blow falls, who will come to our as
sistance ?"
And the question was answered In
the most unexpected way. Her allies
came to her assistance, but many more
than her allies.
1.-THE free people of the world came
to her assistance.
"And in this way America paid her
debt of gratitude to France by send
ing sons to fight upon the soil OF
France. She did more. She assisted
in drawing the forces of the world to-
gether in order that France might
never again feel her isolation; in order
that France might never feel that
hers was a lonely peril and would
never again have to ask the question
who would come to her assistance.
"For the alternative is a terrible al
tentative for France. | do not need
to point out to you that east of you In
Europe the future is full of question.
Beyond the Rhine, across Germany,
across Poland, across Russia, across
Asia there are questions unanswered,
and they may be for the present I'M
answerable.
"France still stands at the frontier.
France still stands in the presence of
those threatening and unanswered
misunderstanding because I'M
answered; stands waiting for the So
luton of matters which touch her di-
rectly and intimately and constantly,
and if she must stand alone, what
must she do? She must put upon her
people a constant burden of taxation.
She must undergo sacrifice that may
become in~tolerable.
"And not only she, but the other
nations of the world must do the like.
They must be ready for any terrible
incident of injustice. The thing is
not inconceivable.
WAR WAS AVOIDABLE
81 visited the other day a portion of
the devastated region of France. l
saw the noble city of Rheims in ruins,
and | could not help saying to myself:
Here is where the blow fell because
the rulers of the world did not see
sooner how to prevent it.
The rulers of the world have been
thinking of the relations of govern
ments and forgetting the relations of
the people. They have been thinking
of the manoeuvres of international
dealings, when what I.ey ought to
have been thinking of was the for
tunes of men and women and the
safety of home, and the are that they
should take that their people should
be happy because they were safe.
"They know that the only way to do