26. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all German merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture. The Allies and the United States shall give consideration to the provisioning of Germany during the armistice to the extent recognized as necessary.

27. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United States.

28. In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and all stores and apparatus of all kinds.

29. All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany, all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned.

30. All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the Allied and associated Powers are to be restored in ports to be specified by the Allies and the United States of America without reciprocity.

31. No destruction of ships or materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.

32. The German Government will notify neutral governments of the world, and particularly the governments of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether by the German Government or by private German interests, and whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately canceled.

33. No transfers of German merchant shipping of any description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature of the armistice.

34. The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days, with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice. It is understood that the execution of Articles 3 and 18 shall not warrant the denunciation of the armistice on the ground of insufficient execution within a period fixed, except in the case of bad faith in carrying them into execution. In order to assume the execution of this convention under the best conditions, the principle of a Permanent International Armistice Commission is admitted. This commission shall act under authority of the Allied military and naval commanders-in-chief.

35. This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany within seventy-two hours of notification.



CHAPTER LIV

PEACE AT LAST

War came upon the world in August, 1914, with a suddenness and an impact that dazed the world. When it seemed, in 1918, that mankind had habituated himself to war and that the bloody struggle would continue until the actual exhaustion and extinction of the nations involved, peace suddenly appeared. The debacle of the Teutonic alliance was both dramatic and unexpected, except to those who knew how desperate were the conditions in the nations that were battling for autocracy. Bulgaria was first to crumble, then Turkey fell, and Austria-Hungary deserted Germany. The Kaiser and his military advisers, left alone, appealed to the Allies through President Wilson, for an armistice during which peace terms might be negotiated. Prince Maximilian of Baden, a statesman whose liberal ideas were rumored rather than demonstrated, was chosen to open negotiations. President Wilson, acting in concert with the Allies, referred Prince Maximilian to Marshal Foch.

While negotiations were pending, a cabled message was received on November 7th to the effect that the armistice had been signed and that all soldiers would cease fighting on two o'clock of that afternoon. It was a false report, but it spread with incredible speed throughout the country. Celebrations which included virtually every American, made the country a gala place for twenty-four hours. The American people with characteristic good nature laughed at the hoax next day and settled down in patience to await the inevitable declaration of an armistice.

The true report arrived about three o'clock, Eastern time, in the morning of November 11th. Shrieks of whistles, the booming of cannon, and the clangor of bells, awoke millions of sleeping persons, many of whom trooped into the streets to mingle their rejoicings with those of their neighbors. For a day there was high carnival in town and country throughout the land, then the nation settled down to face the imminent problems of reconstruction.

One of these had to do with the immediate reduction of governmental expenditures during the approaching year. President Wilson had appealed to the voters to elect a Democratic Congress as an evidence of approval for his administration. The reply was a Republican House of Representatives and a Republican Senate.

The Congress that had been in continuous session since America entered the war, ended its labors in mid-November.

For length, bulk of appropriations for the war and the number and importance of legislative measures passed, the session was unprecedented.

Appropriations passed aggregated $36,298,000,000, making the total for this Congress more than $45,000,000,000, of which $19,412,000,000 was appropriated at the first (an extra) session, at which war was declared on Germany.

Legislation passed included bills authorizing billions of Liberty bonds; creation of the War Finance Corporation; government control of telegraphs, telephones and cables; executive reorganization of government agencies, and extensions of the espionage act and the army draft law by which men between eighteen and forty-five years of age were required to register.

Prohibition and woman suffrage furnished sharp controversies throughout the session. The war-time "dry" measure was completed, but after the woman suffrage constitutional amendment resolution had been adopted, January 10th, by the House, it was defeated in the Senate by two votes.

Every man, woman and child in the belligerent nations owed almost seven times as much money when peace came as he did at the beginning of the war.

Figures of the war's cost to the world compiled by the Federal Reserve Board were summarized in the statement that the approximate public debt per capita had increased from $60 before the war to almost $400 at the end of July, 1918. To this was added the cost since July, which is at the highest rate of the entire period.

The direct cost of the war was calculated by the board at somewhere between $170,000,000,000 and $180,000,000,000, not taking into account the authorization of the debt or the cost of indemnities.

Four-fifths of the huge burden fell upon the shoulders of the future, only Great Britain and America absorbing a considerable amount by taxation.

The total debt of the seven principal belligerents before the war did not exceed $25,000,000,000.

The board contrasted these figures with the total value of the gold and silver extracted from the earth since the beginning of the world, which, it said, hardly exceeded $30,000,000,000.

The belligerent nations, therefore, owed about six times the amount of all the gold and silver produced in all time.

Prices rose to three times the average of what they were at the beginning of the war.

Great Britain's debt increased almost ten times over in the period of the war, or from $3,580,000,000 to $32,450,000,000 down to June, 1918. These figures do not include the debts of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, British colonies.

France's debt was quadrupled by the beginning of 1918, increasing from $6,833,000,000 to $25,410,000,000.

Italy's debt rose from $2,929,000,000 to $6,918,000,000.

Figures for Russia were brought up only to September, 1917, but they showed that at that time she owed $26,287,000,000, as compared with $5,234,000,000 at the beginning of the war.

The public debt of the United States was calculated to January 1, 1918, in order to be in line with those of other countries, increasing by that date to over $8,000,000,000 from a pre-war figure of a billion and a quarter. Since that time $11,500,000,000 have been subscribed to the Liberty Loans, thus increasing the national debt about sixteen fold.

The most extraordinary increase of all was that of Germany, rising from $1,208,000,000 to $26,332,000,000.

Austria owed $2,736,000,000 at the beginning of the war, which was increased by June, 1917, to $11,573,000,000.

Hungary increased her debt from $1,392,000,000 to $5,910,000,000 by December, 1917.

The neutrals, Denmark, Spain, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland together owed $2,871,000,000 when war began and increased their debts only to $3,710,000,000.

Existing war obligations of the United States at the close of 1918 matured as follows:

First Liberty Loan, $2,000,000,000, redeemable at the option of the Treasury after 1932 and payable not later than 1947; Second Liberty Loan, $3,808,000,000, redeemable after 1927, payable in 1942; Third Liberty Loan, $4,176,000,000, redeemable and payable without option in 1928; Fourth Liberty Loan, $6,989,047,000, redeemable after 1933, payable in 1938; War Savings, $879,300,000 up to November, 1918, payable in 1923.

With this program of maturity, the Treasury by exercising its option could call in the nation's war debt for redemption in installments every five years until 1947.

Secretary of the Treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo, who was also Director General of Transportation, created a sensation when he resigned both offices in November, 1918, the resignation to take effect January 1, 1919. Coming upon the eve of the peace conference in Paris and the announcement that President Wilson intended to head the American delegates to the conference, the resignation caused widespread surprise. The reasons given by Mr. McAdoo were ill-health and a serious depreciation of his private fortune during his incumbency of governmental positions.

Following the armistice, steps were immediately taken for the repatriation of a considerable portion of the American forces in France and the return to their homes of the men in American training camps. The Third Army of the United States, commanded by General Dickman, was ordered to the western shore of the Rhine, there to co-operate with the troops of the Allies until the conclusion of peace negotiations.

The country was amazed on November 23d when General March announced that the casualties of the American forces which had been anticipated as being less than 100,000, had in reality exceeded 236,000. Explanation for this lay in the fierce on-rush of the American forces during the last month of the war.

A forecast that many thousands of American boys would remain in France was given by Andre Tardieu, General Commissioner for Franco-American affairs, when addressing the Association of Foreign Correspondents in New York City, after the armistice had been signed.

M. Tardieu appealed for permission to retain American soldiers in France. He said:

"We want first an immediate assistance in the matter of labor. We hope that, during the preparation and the carrying out of the transportation of your troops back to America your technical units as well as other units with their equipment will be able to co-operate in that effort. We soon will have to carry out a colossal work of transportation in view of the supplying of the regions evacuated by the enemy, of the recovering of the railroads in Northern and Eastern France and in Alsace-Lorraine. We will have to clean the reconquered ground of the ruins accumulated by the German hordes. Your army will help us in this work while our population will restore her cities and villages.

"Again in reference, not to all purchases—as a large part of our needs will be supplied outside of the United States—but in reference to those purchases which will be made in America, we are in need of credits in dollars covering about fifty per cent of our total purchases for reconstruction. The assurance of that financial help will bring to every one in France, government and private enterprise, the courage and faith necessary to apply to peace reconstruction the energy and the spirit of enterprise she has so prominently shown during the war.

"We will exact from Germany the restitution of each part of the material taken away from us as can be recovered. But, besides that restitution, we must bear in mind that speed is a primary condition in the reconstruction of France, and that America, on account of her immense capacities for production, ought to give us the first help. We need ships, chartered ships as well as ships transferred to our flag; the speedy reconstruction of the country is strictly depending on the revival of our mercantile fleet.

"The colossal effort put up by the United States in the building of her fleet for war purposes will not be diverted from this sacred end if it, in part, helps France to recover on the seas, for the revival of her forces in peace, the means of transportation which were lost to her on account of the war.

"In reference to these four items—labor; credit, raw materials, ships—I have explained in detail our needs to your administration, by whose welcome I have been deeply moved. What I told them, what I asked for, I am telling it to you again, because a policy of secrecy does not befit our day.

"We have lost two million and a half men; some are dead, some maimed, some have returned sick and incapacitated from German prisons. Whether they be lost altogether, or whether their working capacity be permanently reduced, they will not participate in this reconstruction. The fifteenth part of our people is missing at the very time we need all our material and moral forces in order to build up our life again. The younger part, yea, the stronger part of our nation, the flower of France, has died away on the battle-fields. Our country has been bereft of its most precious resources.

"Our war expenses, on the other side, 120,000,000,000 francs, are weighing heavily on our shoulders. To payoff this debt there are at hand only such limited resources as invasion has left us. The territories which have been under German occupation for four years were the wealthiest part of France. Their area did not exceed six per cent of the whole country. They paid, however, twenty-five per cent of the sum total of our taxes.

"These territories which have been, for the last three months, occupied again by us at the cost of our own blood and of the blood of our allies, are now in a state of ruin even worse than we had anticipated. Of the cities and villages nothing remains but ruins; 350,000 homes have been destroyed. To build them up again—I am referring to the building proper, without the furnishings—600 million days' of work will be necessary, involving, together with building material, an outlay of 10,000,000,000 francs. As regards personal property of every description either destroyed by battle, or stolen by the Germans, there stands an additional loss of at least 4,000,000,000 francs.

"This valuation of lost personal property does not include—as definite figures are lacking as yet—the countless war contributions and fines by the enemy, amounting also to billions. I need hardly say that, in those wealthy lands, practically no agricultural resources are left.

"The losses in horses and in cattle, bovine and ovine species, hogs, goats, amount to 1,510,000 head—in agricultural equipment to 454,000 machines or carts—the two items worth together 6,000,000,000 francs.

"Now as regards industries, the disaster is even more complete. These districts occupied by the Germans and whose machinery has been methodically destroyed or taken away by the enemy, were, industrially speaking, the very heart of France. They were the very backbone of our production, as shown in the following startling figures:

"In 1913 the wool output of our invaded regions amounted to 94 per cent of the total. French production and corresponding figures were: For flax from the spinning mills, 90 per cent; iron ore, 90 per cent; pig iron, 83 per cent; steel, 70 per cent; sugar, 70 per cent; cotton, 60 per cent; coal 55 per cent; electric power, 45 per cent. Of all that, plants, machinery, mines, nothing is left. Everything has been carried away or destroyed by the enemy. So complete is the destruction that, in the case of our great coal mines in the north, two years of work will be needed before a single ton of coal can be extracted and ten years before the output is brought back to the figures of 1913.

"All that must be rebuilt, and to carry out that kind of reconstruction only, there will be a need of over 2,000,000 tons of pig iron, nearly 4,000,000 tons of steel—not to mention the replenishing of stocks and of raw materials which must of necessity be supplied to the plants during the first year of resumed activity. If we take into account these different items we reach as regards industrial needs a total of 25,000,000,000 francs.

"To resurrect these regions, to reconstruct these factories, raw materials are not now sufficient; we need means of transportation. Now the enemy has destroyed our railroad tracks, our railroad equipment, and our rolling stock, which in the first month of the war, in 1914, was reduced by 50,000 cars, has undergone the wear and tear of fifty months of war.

"Our merchant fleet, on the other hand, has lost more than a million tons through submarine warfare. Our shipyards during the last four years have not built any ships. For they have produced for us and for our allies cannon, ammunition, and tanks. Here, again, for this item alone of means of transportation we must figure on an expense of 2,500,000,000 francs.

"This makes, if I sum up these different items, a need of raw material which represents in cost, at the present rate of prices in France, not less than 50,000,000,000 francs.

"And this formidable figure, gentlemen, does not cover everything. I have not taken into account the loss represented for the future production of France by the transformation of so many factories which for four years were exclusively devoted to war munitions. I have not taken into account foreign markets lost to us as a result of the destruction of one-fourth of our productive capital and the almost total collapse of our trade. I have not taken into account the economic weakening that we will suffer tomorrow owing to that loss, to which I referred a while ago, of 2,500,000 young an vigorous men."

This was one of the great by-products of the war. Thousands of young Americans, vigorous evangels of democratic thought, remained in Europe to bring American ideals and American force into the affairs of the old world.

Those who returned were formidable factors in re-shaping the affairs of the nation. Grave injustices were done in some instances to young men who had volunteered in the early days of the war through patriotic motives and who returned to find their places in industry taken by others. In the main, however, the process of absorption went forward steadily and without serious incident.

One factor making for satisfactory adjustment was the insurance system put into effect by the United States Government, affecting its war forces. Immediately following the armistice, the following announcement was made:

Preparations by the government for re-insuring the lives of soldiers and sailors on their return have been hastened by the signing of the armistice. Although regulations have not yet been fully drafted, it is certain that each of the 4,250,000 men in the military or naval service now holding voluntary government insurance will be permitted within five years after peace is declared to convert it without further medical examination into ordinary life, twenty-pay life, endowment maturing at the age of sixty-two, or other prescribed forms of insurance.

This insurance will be arranged by the government, not by private companies, and the cost is expected to be at least one-fourth less than similar forms offered by private agencies. The low cost will result from the fact that the government will pay all overhead administration expenses, which, for private companies, amount to about seventeen per cent of premium receipts; will save the usual solicitation fees and, in addition, bear the risk resulting from the wounding or weakening of men while in the service. Private companies would not write insurance on many wounded men, or their rates would be unusually high.

The government will arrange to collect premiums monthly, if men wish to pay that way, or for longer periods in advance. This may be done through post-offices. The minimum amount of insurance to be issued probably will be $1,000, and the maximum $10,000, with any amount between those sums in multiple of $500. There will be provision for payments in case of disability as well as death, according to the tentative plan.

Thus will be created out of the government's emergency war insurance bureau the greatest life insurance institution in the world for peace times, with more policyholders and greater aggregate risks than a half dozen of the world's biggest private companies combined. Out of the experience gained may eventually develop expansion of government insurance to old age, industrial and other forms of insurance, in the opinion of officials who have studied the subject.

Regulations for reinsuring returning soldiers and sailors are being framed by an advisory board to the military and naval section of the war risk bureau, consisting of Arthur Hunter, actuary of the New York Life Insurance Company; W. A. Fraser, Omaha, of the Woodmen of the World, and F. Robertson Jones, of the Workmen's Compensation Publicity Bureau, New York.

Plans also are under consideration for allowing beneficiaries of men who have died or been killed in the service to choose between taking monthly payments over a period of twenty years or to commute these payments in a lump sum.



CHAPTER LV

AMERICA'S POSITION IN WAR AND PEACE

By common consent of the Entente Allies, President Wilson was made the spokesman for the democracy of the world. As Lloyd George, Premier Clemenceau of France, Premier Orlando of Italy, and other Europeans recognized, his utterances most clearly and cogently expressed the principles for which civilization was battling against the Hun. More than that, these statesmen and the peoples they represented recognized that back of President Wilson were the high ideals of an America pledged to the redemption of a war-weary world.

The war produced a sterility in literature. Out of the great mass that was written, however, two productions stood out in their nobility of thought and in their classic directness of expression. These were the address before Congress by President Wilson on the night of April 2, 1917, when, recognizing fully the dread responsibility of his action, he pronounced the words which led America into the World War, and the speech made by him on Monday, November 11, 1918, when addressing Congress he announced the end of the war. Other declarations of the President that will be treasured as long as democracy survives, are those enunciating the fourteen points upon which America would make peace, and two later declarations as to America's purposes.

His address of April 2d was delivered before the most distinguished assemblage ever gathered within the hall of the House of Representatives. The Supreme Court of the United States, headed by the Chief Justice, every member of the embassies then resident in Washington, the entire membership of the House and Senate, and a host of the most distinguished men and women that could crowd themselves into the great hall, listened to what was virtually America's Declaration of War.

The air was still and tragic suspense was upon every face as the President began his address. At first he was pale as the marble rostrum against which he leaned. As he read from small sheets typewritten with his own hand, his voice grew firmer and the flush of indignation and of resolution overspread his countenance. He said:

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS:

I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making.

On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland on the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.

I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of noncombatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people can not be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

It is a war against all nations: American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion.

When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people safe against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned their right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual: it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice we can not make, we are incapable of making; we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life.

With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it; and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war.

What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable co-operation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with Germany, and, as incident to that, the extension to those governments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all respects but particularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces of the United States already provided for by law in case of war at least five hundred thousand men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation.

I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans.

In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our own military forces with the duty—for it will be a very practical duty—of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should help them in every way to be effective there.



British Official Photograph BELGIAN SOVEREIGNS RE-ENTER BRUGES King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of Belgium saluting the Allied colors, on their triumphal entry into Bruges at the head of their victorious army, October 23, 1918.



Copyright International Film Service. SURRENDER OF THE GERMAN HIGH SEAS FLEET Actual photograph showing the greatest naval surrender in history—the German fleet arriving to surrender. Below, The commanders of the British and American fleets, Admirals Beatty and Rodman, the King of England and the Prince of Wales viewing the surrender.

I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees, measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly fall.

While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by them. I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate on the 22d of January last; the same that I had in mind when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on the 26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states.

We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, it may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impossible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs.

A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own.

Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thoughts, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their native majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a fit partner for a League of Honor.

One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that government entertains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence.

We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a government, following such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic governments of the world. We are now about to accept gauge of battle with this natural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them.

Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion, and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for.

I have said nothing of the governments allied with the Imperial Government of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has therefore not been possible for this government to receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accredited to this government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary; but that government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights.

It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irresponsible government which has thrown aside all considerations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let me say again, the sincere friends of the German people, and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us—however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present government through all these bitter months because of that friendship—exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbors and to the government in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few.

It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other.

His address to Congress on November 11, 1918, while all the Allied Nations were celebrating with exultant hearts the victory that had come to them, was no less dramatic than the speech that had marked the beginning of the war. He prefaced it by reading the drastic terms of the armistice granted to Germany. Continuing he said:

The war thus comes to an end; for, having accepted these terms of armistice, it will be impossible for the German command to renew it.

It is not now possible to assess the consequences of this great consummation. We know only that this tragical war, whose consuming flames swept from one nation to another until all the world was on fire, is at an end and that it was the privilege of our own people to enter it at its most critical juncture in such fashion and in such force as to contribute, in a way of which we are all deeply proud, to the great result. We know, too, that the object of the war is attained; the object upon which all free men had set their hearts; and attained with a sweeping completeness which even now we do not realize. Armed imperialism such as the men conceived who were but yesterday the masters of Germany is at an end, its illicit ambitions engulfed in black disaster. Who will now seek to revive it?

The arbitrary power of the military caste of Germany which once could secretly and of its own single choice disturb the peace of the world is discredited and destroyed. And more than that—much more than that—has been accomplished. The great nations which associated themselves to destroy it have now definitely united in the common purpose to set up such a peace as will satisfy the longing of the whole world for disinterested justice, embodied in settlements which are based upon something much better and more lasting than the selfish competitive interests of powerful states. There is no longer conjecture as to the objects the victors have in mind. They have a mind in the matter, not only, but a heart also. Their avowed and concerted purpose is to satisfy and protect the weak as well as to accord their just rights to the strong.

The humane temper and intention of the victorious governments have already been manifested in a very practical way. Their representatives in the Supreme War Council at Versailles have by unanimous resolution assured the peoples of the Central Empires that everything that is possible in the circumstances will be done to supply them with food and relieve the distressing want that is in so many places threatening their very lives; and steps are to be taken immediately to organize these efforts at relief in the same systematic manner that they were organized in the case of Belgium. By the use of the idle tonnage of the Central Empires it ought presently to be possible to lift the fear of utter misery from their oppressed populations and set their minds and energies free for the great and hazardous tasks of political reconstruction which now face them on every hand. Hunger does not breed reform; it breeds madness and all the ugly distempers that make an ordered life impossible.

For with the fall of the ancient governments, which rested like an incubus on the peoples of the Central Empires, has come political change not merely, but revolution; and revolution which seems as yet to assume no final and ordered form, but to run from one fluid change to another, until thoughtful men are forced to ask themselves, with what governments and of what sort are we about to deal in the making of the covenants of peace? With what authority will they meet us, and with what assurance that their authority will abide and sustain securely the international arrangements into which we are about to enter? There is here matter for no small anxiety and misgiving. When peace is made, upon whose promises and engagements besides our own is it to rest?

Let us be perfectly frank with ourselves and admit that these questions cannot be satisfactorily answered now or at once. But the moral is not that there is little hope of an early answer that will suffice. It is only that we must be patient and helpful and mindful above all of the great hope and confidence that lie at the heart of what is taking place. Excesses accomplish nothing. Unhappy Russia has furnished abundant recent proof of that. Disorder immediately defeats itself. If excesses should occur, if disorder should for a time raise its head, a sober second thought will follow and a day of constructive action, if we help and do not hinder.

The present and all that it holds belongs to the nations and the peoples who preserve their self-control and the orderly processes of their governments; the future to those who prove themselves the true friends of mankind. To conquer with arms is to make only a temporary conquest; to conquer the world by earning its esteem is to make permanent conquest. I am confident that the nations that have learned the discipline of freedom and that have settled with self-possession to its ordered practice are now about to make conquest of the world by the sheer power of example and of friendly helpfulness.

The peoples who have but just come out from under the yoke of arbitrary government and who are now coming at last into their freedom will never find the treasures of liberty they are in search of if they look for them by the light of the torch. They will find that every pathway that is stained with the blood of their own brothers leads to the wilderness, not to the seat of their hope. They are now face to face with their initial test. We must hold the light steady until they find themselves. And in the meantime, if it be possible, we must establish a peace that will justly define their place among the nations, remove all fear of their neighbors and of their former masters, and enable them to live in security and contentment when they have set their own affairs in order. I, for one, do not doubt their purpose or their capacity. There are some happy signs that they know and will choose the way of self-control and peaceful accommodation. If they do, we shall put our aid at their disposal in every way that we can. If they do not, we must await with patience and sympathy the awakening and recovery that will assuredly come at last.

FOURTEEN PRINCIPLES OF PEACE

On Tuesday, January 8, 1918, President Wilson placed the peace terms of the United States Government before both houses of Congress, in joint session. The fourteen principles were:

1. Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understanding of any kind, but diplomacy shall proceed always frankly and in the public view.

2. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

3. The removal, so far as possible, of all economic barriers and the establishment of an equality of trade conditions among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance.

4. Adequate guarantees given and taken that national armaments will be reduced to the lowest point consistent with domestic safety.

5. A free, open-minded and absolutely impartial adjustment of all Colonial claims based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty, the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined.

6. The evacuation of all Russian territory and such a settlement of all questions affecting Russia as will secure the best and freest co-operation of the other nations of the world in obtaining for her an unhampered and unembarrassed opportunity for the independent determination of her own political development and national policy, and assure her of a sincere welcome into the society of free nations under institutions of her own choosing; and, more than a welcome, assistance also of every kind that she may need and may herself desire. The treatment accorded Russia by her sister nations in the months to come will be the acid test of their good will, of their comprehension of her needs, as distinguished from their own interests, and of their intelligent and unselfish sympathy.

7. Belgium, the whole world will agree, must be evacuated and restored, without any attempt to limit the sovereignty which she enjoys in common with all other free nations. No other single act will serve as this will serve to restore confidence among the nations in the laws which they have themselves set and determined for the government of their relations with one another. Without this healing act the whole structure and validity of international law is forever impaired.

8. All French territory should be freed and the invaded portions restored, and the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871, in the matter of Alsace-Lorraine, which has unsettled the peace of the world for nearly fifty years, should be righted, in order that peace may once more be made secure in the interests of all.

9. A readjustment of the frontiers of Italy should be effected along clearly recognized lines of nationality.

10. The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and restored, should be accorded the freest opportunity of autonomous development.

11. Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro should be evacuated, occupied territories restored; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea, and the relations of the several Balkan States to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity, of the several Balkan States, should be entered into.

12. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule, should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees.

13. An independent Polish State should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenants.

14. General association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike.

President Wilson in his address to Congress on February 11, 1918, presented these four principles which are to be applied in arranging world peace:

1. That each part of the final settlement must be based upon the essential justice of that particular case and upon such adjustments, as are most likely to bring a peace that will be permanent.

2. That peoples and provinces are not to be bartered about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if they were mere chattels and pawns in a game, even the great game now forever discredited, of the balance of power; but that

3: Every territorial settlement must be made in the interest and for the benefit of the populations concerned, and not as part of any mere adjustment or compromise of claims amongst rival states; and,

4. That all well-defined national aspirations shall be accorded the utmost satisfaction that can be accorded them without introducing new or perpetuating old elements of discord and antagonism that would be likely in time to break the peace of Europe and consequently of the world.

President Wilson, in his Liberty Loan address in New York on September 27th, thus stated this government's interpretation of its duty with regard to peace:

1. The impartial justice meted out must involve no discrimination between those to whom we wish to be just and those to whom we do not wish to be just. It must be a justice that plays no favorites and knows no standard but the equal rights of the several peoples concerned;

2. No special or separate interest of any single nation or any group of nations can be made the basis of any part of the settlement which is not consistent with the common interests of all;

3. There can be no leagues or alliances or special covenants and understandings within the general and common family of the League of Nations;

4. And more specifically, there can be no special, selfish economic combinations within the league and no employment of any form of economic boycott or exclusion except as the power of economic penalty by exclusion from the markets of the world may be vested in the League of Nations itself as a means of discipline and control.

5. All international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world.



THE WAR ZONE ESTABLISHED BY GERMANY, FEBRUARY, 1917, THAT BROUGHT AMERICA INTO THE WAR.



CHAPTER LVI

THE WAR BY YEARS

Germany's military strength developed during forty years of preparation, and the offensive plans of the German High Command developed in connection with an extraordinary spy service in France, Belgium, Russia, England and the United States, culminated in a simultaneous campaign on land and by sea, affecting these five nations.

AUGUST 1, 1914-AUGUST 1, 1915

Belgium and Northern France were overrun by a German invading force under General von Kluck. The heroic effort of the French army under General Joffre and a supreme strategic thrust at the German center by General Foch turned back the German tide at the battle of the Marne. The scientific diabolism of the German High Command was revealed when poison gas was projected against the Canadians at Ypres, torturing, blinding and killing thousands.

German terrorism on the high seas culminated in the sinking of the Cunard liner Lusitania by a German submarine off the Irish coast. Men, women and children to the number of 1,152 lost their lives. Of these 102 were Americans.

German colonies in South Africa were invaded by British South African troops under General Louis Botha, who during the Boer War commanded a division against the British. The German holdings at Tsing-Tau and in the Marshall Islands were seized by Japan.

German cruisers that had raided sea-going commerce were destroyed. The most noted of these was the Emden, which was defeated and destroyed by the Australian cruiser Sydney off the Cocos Islands.

German sea power was further humiliated in a running fight off Helgoland in which the battle cruiser Blucher was sunk and in a battle off the Falkland Islands in which three German cruisers were destroyed.

Italy entered the war on May 23,1915, and invaded Austria on a sixty-mile front. Russian forces, after early successes, were defeated at Tannenburg by von Hindenburg, the outstanding military genius on the German side.

The development of aircraft as an aid to artillery and as a destructive force on its own account, was rapid, and the use of machine guns and hand grenades in trench operations became general.

AUGUST 1, 1915-AUGUST 1, 1916

The tragic sea and land operations at the Dardanelles and Gallipoli marked this year with red in British history. Sir Douglas Haig succeeded Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief of British forces in France. The outstanding operation of the British forces on the western front was the bloody battle of the Somme, beginning July 1st, and continuing until the fall of 1915. The losses on both sides in that titanic struggle staggered two continents. Especially heroic were the attacks of the Canadians in that great battle and especially heavy were the losses in killed and wounded of the Canadian regiments. They ranked in magnitude with the depletion that came to the Australian and New Zealand armies in the fatal Gallipoli campaign.

This year will be glorious forever in the annals of France because of the heroic defense at Verdun. That battle tested to the limit the offensive strength of the German machine and it was found lacking in power to pierce the superhuman defense of the heroic French forces under Petain and Nivelle.

Bulgaria entered the war on October 14, 1915, with a declaration of war against helpless Serbia. Greece, torn by internal dissensions, inclined first to one side, then to the other. The occupation of Saloniki by French and British expeditionary forces finally swung the archipelago to the Allies.

A British Mesopotamian force under General Townshend, poorly equipped and unsupported, was cut off in Kut-el-Amara, and surrendered to the Turks on April 29, 1916.

The Italian forces under General Cadorna made a sensational advance terminating in the capture of Gorizia. Portugal entered the war on the side of the Allies after it had refused to give up to Germany several German ships interned in Portuguese ports.

An object lesson in German submarine possibilities was given America when the Deutschland, a super-submarine cargo vessel, arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 9, 1916. The Deutschland later was converted into a naval submarine and re-visited American shores, sinking a number of merchant vessels. It was one of the German submarine fleet surrendered to the Allies in November, 1918.

Russia proved itself to be a military ineffective. German armies under von Mackensen and von Hindenburg occupied Warsaw, Brest-Litovsk, Lutsk, and Grodno. Grand Duke Nicholas was removed from the command of the Russian armies and Czar Nicholas assumed command.

Germany's pretensions to sea power ended with the battle of Jutland, May 31, 1916, when its High Seas fleet fled after a running fight with British cruisers and destroyers. Never, thereafter, during the war did the German ships venture out of the Bight of Helgoland.

AUGUST 1, 1916-AUGUST 1, 1917

This year was marked by two dramatic episodes. The first of these was the sudden entrance and the equally sudden exit of Roumania as a factor in the World War.

The second was the appearance of the United States which became the deciding factor in the war.

Roumania created enthusiasm in Allied countries when it declared war on Austria-Hungary August 27th. A sudden descent by a Roumanian army into Transylvania on August 30th was hailed as the harbinger of further successes. These hopes were turned to ashes when von Mackensen headed an irresistible German and Austrian rush which fairly inundated Roumania. The retreat from Transylvania by the Roumanians was turned into a rout. Bulgarian forces invaded the Dobrudja region of Roumania and on November 28th the seat of the Roumanian Government was transferred from Bucharest, the capital, to Jassy. Roumania ceased to be a factor in the war on December 6th, when Bucharest fell to von Mackensen. Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary died on November 22d, while Austrian hopes were at their highest.

America's appearance as a belligerent was forecast on January 31, 1917, when Germany announced its intention of sinking all vessels in a blockade zone around the British Isles. Count von Bernstorff was handed his passports on February 3d, and on April 2d President Wilson, in a remarkable address to Congress, advised a declaration of war by the United States against Germany. This was consummated by a formal vote of Congress declaring war on April 6th.

This action by America was followed by the organization of a Council of National Defense. Under this body the resources of the nation were mobilized. The council was later virtually abandoned as an organizing factor, its functions going to the War Industries Board, presided over by Bernard Baruch; the Fuel Administration, under Dr. Harry A. Garfield; the War Trade Board, with Vance C. McCormick at its head; and other governmental bodies. George Creel headed the Committee on Public Information.

Conscription was decided upon as the foundation of America's war-making policy, and the training of officers and privates in great training camps was commenced. Great shipping and aircraft programs were formulated and the nation as a whole was placed upon a war footing.

The Russian revolution beginning in bread riots in Petrograd, spread throughout that country, with the result that Russia disappeared as one of the Entente Allies.

FROM AUGUST 1, 1917-NOVEMBER 11, 1918

America's might and efficiency were revealed in the speed and thoroughness with which her military, naval and civilian resources were mobilized and thrown into the conflict. Under the supervision of the Chief of Staff, two million American soldiers received the final touches in their military training and were transported safely overseas. They became the decisive factor in the war during the summer and fall of 1918. To their glory be it recorded they never retreated. Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel, Siecheprey, Boureches Wood, Cantigny, Belleau Wood, the Argonne, Sedan and Stenay are names that will rank in American history with Yorktown, New Orleans and Gettysburg. The "land of dollars" became over night the "land of high ideals" to the civilized world. Lightless nights in cities, restriction of the use of gasoline on Sundays and daylight-saving legislation linked civilians to soldiers in war effort.

Italy suffered a severe reverse beginning October 24, 1917, when the German forces rushed through a portion of the Italian army that had been honey-combed with pro-German Socialistic propaganda.

Canada again emblazoned its name in history through the heroic capture of Passchendaele on November 6, 1917.

The Russian revolution turned to the Bolsheviki when Lenine and Trotsky at the head of the Reds seized Petrograd on November 7th and deposed Alexander Kerensky, leader of the Moderate Socialists. The Czar Nicholas was executed by the victorious Bolsheviki and the Imperial family made captives.

The British Mesopotamian forces advanced into Palestine and Mesopotamia, destroying the Turkish army under Ahmed Bey in a battle terminating September 29, 1917. General Stanley Maude, the leader of the expedition, died in Mesopotamia November 18, 1917.

General Allenby commanding British and Arabian forces, routed and destroyed three Turkish armies in Palestine, capturing Jerusalem which had been held by the Turks for six hundred and seventy three years.

The turning point of the war came on March 29, 1918, when General Foch was chosen Commander-in-Chief of all the Allied forces. This followed Germany's great drive on a fifty-mile front from Arras to La Fere. Successive German thrusts were halted by the Allied forces now strongly reinforced by Americans.

Foch, patiently biding his time, elected to halt the German drive with Americans. The Marines of the United States forces were given the post of honor, and at Chateau-Thierry the counter-thrust of Foch was commenced by a complete defeat of the Prussian Guard and other crack German regiments, by the untried soldiers of America.

From Chateau-Thierry to the armistice which went into effect at eleven o'clock on November 11th was only a short span of time, but in it was compressed the humiliation of arrogant Teutonic imperialism, the destruction of militaristic autocracy, and the liberation of the world.



CHAPTER LVII

BEHIND AMERICA'S BATTLE LINE

GENERAL MARCH'S OWN STORY OF THE WORK OF THE MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIVISION—OF THE WAR PLANS DIVISION—OF THE PURCHASE AND TRAFFIC DIVISION—HOW MEN, MUNITIONS AND SUPPLIES REACHED THE WESTERN FRONT.

It is important that a general summary of America's military preparations, a detailed description of the operations behind the battle line and a detailed chronology of America's principal military operations in France during the year 1918 should be presented to the reader. Such a summary is afforded by the report of General Peyton C. March, Chief of Staff, United States Army, for the last year of the war. Addressing the Secretary of War, General March wrote in part:

The signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, has brought to a successful conclusion the most remarkable achievement in the history of all warfare.

The entry of the United States into the war on April 6, 1917, found the Nation about as thoroughly unprepared for the great task which was confronting it as any great nation which had ever engaged in war. Starting from a minimum of organized strength, within this short period of sixteen months the entire resources of the country in men, money, and munitions have been placed under central control, and at the end of this period the Nation was in its full stride and had accomplished, from a military standpoint, what our enemy regarded as the impossible. The most important single thing, perhaps, in this record of accomplishment, was the immediate passage by Congress of the draft law, without which it would have been impossible to have raised the men necessary for victory. In organizing, training, and supplying the vast numbers of men made available by the draft law very many changes have been made necessary in the organization of the War Department and in the methods existing therein which were inherited from the times of profound peace.

Shortly after my installation as Chief of Staff I adopted the principle of interchange of the personnel of the various staff corps of the War Department with men who had training in France, and in the application of this principle placed as the heads of various bureaus officers selected on account of their ability and experience in the system of warfare as conducted in France.

At this time, also, I found that the divisions organized in our armies were still regarded as separate units, designated by different titles in accordance with their origin. This made three different kinds of divisions in the United States army—the Regular army, the National Guard, and National army divisions. All these distinctions were abolished and the entire army consolidated into a United States army, without regard to the source from which drawn. The source of supply of all replacements for the various elements of the army, without regard to their origin, was drafted men; and the titles had no significance whatever and were a source of possible disturbance from the standpoint of military efficiency. There was, in fact, no actual difference between these divisions with respect to efficiency—all have done high-grade work from whatever source drawn. All have shown courage and capacity for quick absorption of the fundamentals of modern military training and irresistible dash and force in actual fighting.

When I returned from France on March 1, 1918, I came back with the belief that the most fundamental necessity, both for the American Expeditionary Force and for the success of the allies, was that the shipment of troops to France should be vastly increased and should have priority over everything else; and as this policy became effective a study was instituted looking to our putting in France, if that was possible, enough men to bring the war to a conclusion in the shortest period possible. After a study of the entire situation, including as accurate an estimate of the potential strength of our allies on the western front and of the probable German strength as was possible, I came to the conclusion that the war might be brought to an end in 1919, provided we were able to land in France by June 30th of that year eighty American divisions of a strength of 3,360,000 men. On July 18, 1918, I submitted to you a formal memorandum, accompanied by a study of methods by which the men could be obtained, the supplies procured, and an analysis of the shipping which must be obtained in order to accomplish this very large military program. This was accompanied by an estimate of the cost of the proposed program.

In this study I recommended to you the adoption, as the American program, of eighty divisions in France and eighteen at home by June 30, 1919, based on a total strength of the American army of 4,850,000 men. This was approved by you and by the President of the United States and adopted as our formal military program. To carry this program into effect required the adoption by Congress of a change in the draft ages so as to include men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, and also created a deficiency over the enormous appropriations already made by Congress of some $7,000,000,000. The presentation of the program to Congress, accompanied by the statement that this increase in the army, if laws were passed by Congress which would make it effective, would lead to success in 1919, produced prompt and favorable consideration by that body. Up to the signing of the armistice troops were being transported to France monthly in accordance with that program. The results speak for themselves....



Photo by International Film Service. THE SALVATION ARMY ON THE WESTERN FRONT A shell-proof dugout used as a rest room for soldiers.



Copyright Press Illustrating Service. THE Y. M. C. A. IN THE FRONT LINE TRENCHES The Y. M. C. A. sign beside the trench points the way to a dugout, instead of the usual hut, in which soldiers found the comforts which made the sign of the triangle famous.



Photo from Underwood and Underwood. N.Y. A LETTER FROM HOME In thousands of France's little stone houses this scene has been duplicated. In the towns and villages soldiers were assigned or "billeted" to the houses of the inhabitants with the result that a deep mutual respect grew up between the two nationalities.

During the year, the most important in the history of the country both from a military and civil standpoint, there have been four heads of the General Staff: Major-General Hugh L. Scott, from the outbreak of the war until his retirement, September 22, 1917; General Tasker H. Bliss, from that date until May 19, 1918; Major-General John Biddle, Acting Chief of Staff at periods during the absence of General Bliss in France, from October 29, 1917, to December 16, 1917, and from January 9, 1918, to March 3, 1918. I assumed the duties of Acting Chief of Staff on March 4, 1918, became Chief of Staff May 20, 1918, and have continued on that duty since.

It was evident, as the war progressed, that the General Staff was acting under an organization and in accordance with regulations which were not only unsuited to the duties and responsibilities confronting it, but were wholly out of date and were not suited to any General Staff organization. Successive revisions of the orders under which the General Staff was acting were made as events demanded, until the experience of the year crystallized the organization of the General Staff into that set forth in General Order No. 80 of the War Department. This order divides the work of the General Staff into four primary divisions: 1. Operations; 2. Purchase, Storage, and Traffic; 3. Military Intelligence; 4. War Plans. Each of these divisions is under the direction of a director; who is Assistant Chief of Staff and is a general officer.

OPERATIONS DIVISION

The Operations Division is under the charge of Major-General Henry Jervey, United States army, as Director of Operations and Assistant Chief of Staff. This division is a consolidation of the former Operations Committee and Equipment Committee, which pertained to the War College under the previous organization. The Operations Division has had charge of the increase in the personnel of the army during the year. On June 30, 1917, the Regular army consisted of 250,357 officers and enlisted men. On August 5,1917, 379,323 officers and men of the National Guard were drafted into the Federal service. There were a few special drafts of small numbers of National Guardsmen into the Federal service after August 5, 1917. During the period covered by this report this division handled the calls into service of men obtained under the draft, the organization of these men into divisions and units necessary for the army, and turned over for shipment overseas up to November 8, 1918, 2,047,667 men. The grand total of men in the army from returns for the period ending October 15th is 3,624,774. This force was organized into divisions, the proper proportion of corps, army, and service of supply troops, and of replacement camps and training centers for Infantry, Field Artillery, and Machine Guns in the United States. Central officers' training schools were organized at each of the replacement camps. Replacement camps and training centers for the various staff departments were also organized. Development battalions were organized at all division camps and large posts and camps for the purpose of developing men of poor physique and the instruction of illiterates and non-English-speaking men of the draft. During the fiscal year 5,377,468 officers and men were moved by railroad to and from the camps.

The Operations Division has during the year also handled all matters connected with the adoption of new types of equipment, fixing allowances for various units, the preparation of tables of equipment for them, and the distribution and issue of equipment, and the determination of priorities of such issue.

It has supervised and studied the needs of camps and construction work therein, and this work in general has been characterized by marked ability and devotion to duty.

PURCHASE, STORAGE AND TRAFFIC DIVISION

The Division of Purchase, Storage and Traffic is under the charge of Major-General George W. Goethals, United States army, as Assistant Chief of Staff and Director of Purchase, Storage and Traffic. This division was organized by merging divisions previously created, and which had been called "Storage and Traffic" and "Purchase and Supply." The new division thus organized was subdivided into Embarkation Service, Storage, Inland Traffic Service, and Purchase and Supply Branch.

Embarkation.—At the outbreak of the war the Quartermaster's Department had charge of the transportation of troops and supplies and continued to exercise these functions until August 4, 1917, when they were transferred to a separate division of the General Staff, specially created for the purpose, and designated as the Embarkation Service. As already noted, this was subsequently merged with the Storage and Traffic Division.

Two primary ports of embarkation were established, one with headquarters at Hoboken, N. J., and the other at Newport News, Va., each under the command of a general officer.

The Quartermaster's Department was operating a service to Panama from New York, but with the shipment of troops to France a new condition arose which was met only in part by taking over the Hoboken piers, formerly owned by the Hamburg-American and North German Lloyd steamship companies, and the magnitude of the undertaking necessitated additional facilities. The situation at New York is complicated by the large amount of general shipping using the port, the diversified interests, even those of the government, and the complicated jurisdiction. An effort was made to bring about such a consolidation and unification as to secure greater co-operation with increased efficiency. To this end the War Board for the Port of New York was established in November, 1917. It was vested with full power and authority to make rules and regulations for operating the facilities of the port, to determine priorities, and to do what was necessary to provide for the prompt and economical dispatch of the business of the government in and about the port. Mr. Irving T. Bush was selected as the board's representative, with the title of chief executive officer. In addition to representing the board he was to arrange for the co-operative use of piers, warehouses, lighterage, terminals, railroads, trucking, and all other transportation facilities in and about the port.

In addition the need was felt for having a shipping expert closely associated with the Embarkation Service, familiar with the facilities at various ports, so that he could properly assign ships, select ships for the cargo to be moved, and arrange for their loading. Mr. Joseph T. Lilly was selected for this work and appointed director of embarkation.

In February, 1918, the available cargo ships were not sufficient to carry the supplies needed for maintaining the troops overseas. To secure the requisite additional tonnage necessitated taking ships from the existing trade routes and determining from what imports and exports they could best be spared without interference with those which were absolutely necessary. This brought about a new situation which could be handled only by those having a knowledge of the trades as well as the characteristics of various ships serving them, since some of them were suitable for War Department needs and some were not. It had happened that an advantageous exchange of ships could have been made with the Allies by which valuable time could have been saved in getting over cargo, but there was lack of knowledge as well as lack of authority. The whole situation was gone over at a conference between the Secretary of War and the chairman of the Shipping Board, as a result of which the Shipping Control Committee was created, consisting of Mr. P. A. S. Franklin, chairman; Mr. H. H. Raymond; and Sir Connop Guthrie, representative of the Allies' shipping interests. The allocation and distribution of available tonnage, as well as questions of exchange of ships, was vested in this committee. So far as the work of the War Department was concerned the committee was charged with the loading and unloading cargo, coaling, supplies, repairs, and, except where vessels are commanded by the navy, of inspection and manning. They also have charge of the management and operation of docks, piers, slips, loading and discharging facilities under the control of the department, or of any board, officers, or agency operating such facilities, together with the direction and management of minor craft to be used in connection with the handling of steamers and their cargoes in port. The amount of cargo shipped overseas, the efficiency of the loading, and the reduction of the time of stay in the ports attest to the efficient manner in which the committee has operated, and it is not too much to say that they are to be largely credited with the results that have been accomplished.

Expeditionary depots were operated at Boston, Mass., Philadelphia, Pa., and Baltimore, Md., primarily for the movement of freight. When cargo ships having accommodations for troops were loaded at these ports troops for the available space were sent from the camps under the direction of the commanding general at Hoboken; similarly shipments of troops were made from Montreal, Canada, and Halifax, Nova Scotia, when practicable. Cargo shipments were also made from other ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

On May 25, 1918, the water transport branch of the Quartermaster's Department was transferred and made a part of the Embarkation Service.

In April conditions abroad necessitated the speeding up shipments of troops, and brought to the service such transports as the British Government could spare for the purpose, which have been continued in use. The army transports are officered and manned by the navy, as is the greater number of the cargo ships. The arrangements for transferring ships to naval control as well as for convoys for troop and cargo ships are handled through the Chief of Operations of the navy, who has given every assistance. The way in which the work has been handled by the navy is shown by the loss of no troop ships which were under their protection on the eastbound trips.

Inland Traffic.—The inland traffic service was established on January 10, 1918. As the government had taken over all of the railroads, the necessity for working in harmony with the organization that was placed in charge was apparent, and the Railroad Administration was requested to recommend a competent traffic man to handle the work. This resulted in the selection and assignment of Mr. H. M. Adams as chief of the section. He in turn secured his expert assistants through the Railroad Administration.

At the time the section was formed approximately 15,000 carloads of War Department property held in cars were congesting various Atlantic ports. Steps were taken which relieved this condition and brought about an orderly movement of the traffic when and in the quantities desired. The value of the inland traffic service was soon demonstrated and led to a reorganization, with authority to take over the transportation organizations of the various bureaus of the War Department, both at Washington and throughout the country, so that as now organized the chief of the inland traffic service exercises direct control of the transportation of troops, of the supplies of and for the various bureaus of the War Department, and for the contractors working for the several bureaus. This control extends over the entire country through the medium of representatives stationed at various traffic centers.

Working in conjunction with the Railroad Administration has resulted in minimizing the burdens of the carriers. The work has been performed most efficiently. More than 5,000,000 troops have been moved from their homes, from one camp to another, and from camps to the points of embarkation within the period covered by this report.

Arrangements have been made by which this branch will take charge of all express movements for the War Department, as well as the tracing of the movements of all War Department property, including the contractors and others for the various bureaus.

Purchase and Supply.—The Purchase and Supply Branch is organized into the following subsections: Supply Program, Purchase, Production, Finance, and Emergency.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE DIVISION

The Military Intelligence Division has as director Brigadier-General Marlborough Churchill, United States army, Assistant Chief of Staff. This division, which had been a branch, first of the War Plans Division and then of the Executive Division of the General Staff, was separated completely and made an independent division by general orders which reorganized the General Staff, thus putting the Military Intelligence Division on a par with similar services of general staffs of other nations of the world.

The duties of the Military Intelligence Division consist, in general, in the organization of the intelligence service, positive and negative, including the collection and coordination of military information; the supervision of the department intelligence officers and intelligence officers at posts, stations, camps, and with commands in the field, in matters relating to military intelligence; the direction of counter-espionage work; the preparation of instruction in military intelligence work for the use of our forces; the consideration of questions of policy promulgated by the General Staff in all matters of military intelligence; the co-operation with intelligence branches of the general staffs of other countries; the supervision of the training of officers for intelligence duty, the obtaining and issuing of maps: and the disbursement of and accounting for intelligence funds.

One of the important functions of the Director of the Military Intelligence Division is that of coordinating the work of this service with other intelligence agencies. Possible duplications of work and investigation by the State Department, Treasury Department, Department of Justice, Navy Department, War Trade Board, and the War Department are avoided or adjusted at weekly conferences held at the Department of Justice and attended by representatives of these departments who consider matters of common interest. For a similar purpose, the Director of Military Intelligence is a member of the Fire Prevention Committee, the War Industries Board, and the National Research Council.

For the purpose of securing close co-operation between the military intelligence services of the nations associated in the war, the British and French Governments were requested by the United States to send officers to this country for liaison duty. These officers have been of great assistance in accomplishing this end, because of their knowledge of the details of intelligence work in Europe.