The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1921-12-07
A GREAT COMMANDER

A GREAT COMMANDER
The visit of Ferdinand Foch to the United
States is one Of the most pleasant events in our
country's history.
y AS the victorious chieftain in the greatest
I struggle in the history of the world, he ranks
with Alexander, Cromwell and Napoleon as one
Of the master strategists Of the ages In him the
tactics of the offensive and the defensive were
more effectively blended than in almost any leader
Of armies He possessed Cromwels capacity for
standing punishment and Alexander's fury in
launching an attack Like Napoleon he had the
gift of divining his enemy's weak spot and hurting
Overwhelming numbers against it.
Alexander inherited superb fighting machine
from his father, Philip of Macedon, and did not
have to be diplomatic toward powerful men UNI
der him or regardful of any legislative group or
council. He was despot with unsurpassed re-
sources for warfare at his disposal Cromwell led
an army which was so fired by fanaticism that
its members became almost fends in the hour Of
battle Napoleon hurled the hest troops in Eu-
rope against coalition divided against itself and
singularly unfortunate in most of its leaders.
But Foch had to correlate and centraize
against closely organized and ably led enemy,
troops speaking more than a score of tongues and
scattered over a battlefield surprising in extent
anything of which strategists of other eras had
even dreamed
His was the task of welding league Of demo-
cracies, always at disadvantage in time of war,
against despotism which could instantly concen-
trate its resources toward given end. He took
command in the darkest hour Of the war when
the initiative was still in the hands of the enemy.
and when the demand from the Allied peoples for
swift achievement was so great as to threaten to
deprive commander of the freedom to properly
time his blows. He was answerable to the
Supreme Council which, in turn, was the voice Of
those democracies which We're impatient for vic
tory and ignorant of the seriousness Of the mill
tary situation which their generaissimo had to-
face.
He had to be diplomat, statesman, politicians
and a man of war all at the same time. All OF
these, both in the hour when defeat seemed sol
near and when he had the enemy completely att
his mercy he proved himself to be- On scale
which has been equalled by no other man who
has ever lived he was the organizer Of victory the
directing genius for the resources, the devotion
and the heroism of millions upon millions of peo-
pie.
In him there was none of the bestiaity of Alex
ander. the sourness of Cromwell or the diseased
egotism of Napoleon Simple in his manners,
fervent in his faith totally unsullied by his sue
cess he delighted, when given a short respite
from his labors, to commune with his God or
silently and with understanding to hold the hands
of little children. Flowers and peasant-folk and
peace he loves-this mightiest warrior Of the
modern world
France reared him and helped to mould his
lofty soul, and yet he is no longer a Frenchman
merely but a citizen of the world. AS the trump
liant leader of free peoples, he made himself one
with the lovers of liberty in every land.
For decades those who see him while he is in |
this country will remember it with enthusiasm
and speak of it with pride. 1t will be an ex-
perience which will take on added value with the
passing of the years. Half century or more
from now men and women who as children shook
hands with the great marshal will tell of the eX-
perience in the same eXultant manner in which /
those who shook hands with Washington or La t.
fayette spoke of it to their grandchildren and
their great grandchildren.
Ferdinand Foch great general, Christian gen.
Lleman, lofty patriot, world citizen, America I
greets you as one who helped to emblazon upon
The skies of human liberty the ideals of the |,
ranscendent spirits that formed the Declaration
IF independence. May your years be many, and
your influence for good co-eval with time itself.
l--------
Is there any reason why bills should not be
laid prOn1ptlv and when due ? Merchants to carry