The Montana courier. [volume] (Shelby, Mont.) 1922-192?, 1922-08-30

striking distance of the enemy. AS they passed
the retreating French they were met with cries of
you're zigzag; you're crazy. Sure death ahead
There is no hope; go back But these eager
smooth-faced Americans. who had never smellet
the smoke of battle were not made of the stuff
that goes back when the enemy is in front. I'm
perturbed, hey landed in the mud, and under
cover Of the woods formed their lines and calmly
waited fer the dawn, when about $4,000 Americans
met and held and stopped five German divisions
[ApplaIse.] So fierce and unfaltering was the
attack that the enemy took it for granted that
there we're unlimited reserves in the rear.
"The miracle was performed, the march on Paris
stopped, the oncoming hordes turned back, the
Chateau-Thierry drive began, the destiny Of civil
lization changed. [Applause.l
"The soul of America had won because it had
broken the cocksure spirit of the enemy, had re-
kindled in the breasts of the dropping allies a
morale that ran from one end of the lines to the
other. For the supersoldier of the world, with
tremendous advantage of numbers, had been out
supered by a few simple, modest, unframed Ameri-
cans; and these same Americans were here in
great numbers, and they were coming by the thou
sands. The war could end in but one way. At the
height of the Chateau-Thierry drive, when the pail
of that terrible certain daily advance, when the
Smelling of Paris and the nightmare of air raids
was too recent to be forgotten, not a soul could
be found in the ranks of any army or in any walk
IN LIE so base DuI ne WAS Tree TO duI1lI IIldl 1t was
the American soldier who won the war, turned the
tide, saved them when they had their backs to the
wall. Yet now, when it is all safely over, there
are those who ungratefully say, We would have
won, anyway They would, like HI. Applause
sour boys were far from their homes. 1t put
shame into the hearts of men who were fighting
for their very hearth sides and families to see
such daring and spirit in lads who needed no spur.
1t began June 6 at Belleau Wood and continued
through the Aisne-Marne drive, the Sollme cam
paign, st. Mihiel, Ypres-Lys, through the Meuse-
Argonne. clear up to November II. Six months
and the job was done.
"Reared on American soil, imbibing her prin-
ciples of freedom, the American soldier did not
need years of intense training. He was used to
thinking and de, ding. In a pinch, every man was
an officer. The intelligence of the American
equipped him to understand the war game quickly.
Heroes every one, they dared to move apart
twenty, thirty, fifty, sixty feet; they dared to fight
alone and die alone. The average run of the Eu-
ropean soldier has not the private initiative to
alone and die alone. He fights best in mass
he sees the form af his companion ahead,
feels the rub of the elbow of his pal at his side,
hears the tread of his comrade In the rear. lie must
have a crowd to give spirit and soul to do and die.
The American soldier, because of his individual
DEVELOPMENT has soul power that dares stand alone.
European must group this soul power to pro-
duce the necessary courage. The American soldier
Is a lion who dares forage alone. Wolves hunt in
packs. The American soldier is an eagle who
dares soar aloft in the awful solitudes. Swallows
hover in thousands. The American soldier dares
to die right now. The European soldier tomorrow.
Ask fine German soldier or officer who won the
war. and he will tell you that it was the Ameri-
cans. That 1t was the Americans who advanced
nto no mans land without hesitation, and came
IN with that logged determination that sharp
shooter. machine-gun nest, ambush, hand grenades,
lilies. concealed mines, gas shells, curtains of fire,
small and big artillery, the blasts of hell itself
,ould not stop. [Applause.]
ut is the soul in the breasts of these boys up
lere in-the gallery that is going to count. 1t is the
that measures the size OF the man, whether
m tbe battlefield or III the conflict of life, and our
lind friends in the gallery have been tried and
'ound not wanting