Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-05-09

sometimes discouraged fellow country
| mon, knew what n tonic there would be
for wcarincss and depression In tho
| presence of evon n few thousand Ameri-
| cnn boys-cnough to march through
the stroots with high sot chins, and hrm,
| resilient step: enough to carry tho nag.
the flag OF the Stars and strspss. and
to be thes visible proof and promise OF
| American participation.
While other men were thinking I'm
material terms, Joffre was thinking in
| spiritual terms. He knew tho morale
| of France, OF Great Britain. OF Italy
would bs stimulated tho minute tho
| news was flashed that American sol.
diers were on European soil. lie knew
the morale of the enemy would be
| shaken tho minute Berlin learned that
It's confident prediction concerning the
| inpossibiity of American soldiers
reaching France had been disproved.
| This was the burden of his plea To
| Secretary Baker, with whom he tnlked
| freely because the secretary Of war was
| ono of the fow men I'm Washington Of
| fetal life who understood French. II
4 was the thing which he stressed when
he talked to the president.
| Joffre Impressed by Wilson.
| Joffre later expressed TO me hiH sur
prise To ind that President Wilson had
such a perfect mastery of the military
| situation. lie had expected TO meet
scholar. statesman. and an ideallsti
| he had not expected to meet n practical
strateeist, fully conversant with all the
| military movements. and using accu-
| ratoly and freely the lingo OF field ana
camp.
1 Ia fA fFary ftfIa
whether Il would be feasible 20 send
In advance OF his army. the general VINO
was to command American troops IN
| France. the president said at once that
| II could he arranged" said Johrs IN
| substance.
Then the president asked me, com
| tinued Jonre. what my judgment was
| as 10 the type Of military leader VINO
should go over ahead Of the main body
| Of American troops, and whether ne
| should not I've chosen rather because OF
| his fitness 20 train troops for actual
| warfare than because of his mastery 81
military strategy"
| The rnarshnI's answer 10 the president
| was that iu order to meet the situauoh
| fully the general chosen 70 send over
| nrst should combine the qualities or .
canabie trainer of~oldierT and n genius
| for strategy. IL was the umfahai
| urgent advice TO this effect which led 10
| the decision to recall Gen. PershinE
from the Mexican border. and 70 send
him TO France. Events justified the
decision. Gen. pershing measured VI
60 the standard Jofrre had set.
asena Men. Wen Arm Them"
when the president and the secretary
~ war had fallen In with the desire ~
Ioffre for the earliest possible dispatch
| Of American troops 90 France. the oh
| lection was heard that II was useless TO
| send troops until we were In a position
| 10 munition them amply.
Every munition plant In the United
/ states had been running ~ full speed
/ since 1915 turning out munitions for
/ France. Great Britain and Russia. II
was rnanifeatly impossible that they
/ could Immediately auppiy with artillery
| and shells the additional millions Of men
| America was TO put in tho Held New
| factories would have to be built. and IN
| an incredibly short space Of time this
| was done.
| Meanwhile" said IoTre. we can
equip your soldiers from the large sup
| rlies We have" He waH wise enough.
since we were now allies. 70 propose
| that pooling Of supplies whlch In the
1 end made tho exercise of the united
strength Of the allies so much more ef-
/ fective.
| "FeT months our troops had 10 depend
upon the French for shells critics Of
| the war administration have said.
| II In an absurd criticism at "A time
| when the allies were depending upon as
/ for troops and we were turning out
/ vast quantities of munitions.
Each Gave what IL Had.
| All of Va gave them what we had most
| of to give. and what we could give most
| promptly and usefully. That was the
understanding reached In those Wash
| ington conferences. America began Civ
| Ing men at once, and France gave shells.
| But America was making shells for
| France, and had been for two years.
| and she began at once making shells
and every other needed munition~ for
| herself.
Our allies had no criticism 10 offer
| with all they had been taking in muni-
tions. and at the same time TO provide
| everything necessary for "a new army
| of 1000. 900 men.
Joffre heard people say Ships will win
the war" or Coal will win the war
| or Food VIII win the war" He recog-
niZed the Importance of all the neces-
sary agencies. But he was too good
soldier to beiieXe that anything could
win the war except fighting men.
And he was wise enough, too. to know
what IL took a long time IN teach aorne