Part 7

This was the first official utterance indicating even indirectly the number of men sent abroad. The first force to go was never described except as a division, although as a matter of fact it was constituted into two divisions soon after its arrival in France.

An Associated Press dispatch dated May 17 announced that troops of the new American Army had arrived within the zone of the British forces in Northern France and were completing their training in the area occupied by the armies which were blocking the path of the Germans to the Channel ports. The British officers who were training the Americans stated that the men from overseas were of the finest material. The newcomers were warmly greeted by the British troops and were reported to be full of enthusiasm.

American Troops in Central France

By Laurence Jerrold

_This friendly British view of our soldiers in France is from the pen of a noted war correspondent of The London Morning Post_

I have recently visited the miniature America now installed in France, and installed in the most French part of Central France. There is nothing more French than these ancient towns with historic castles, moats, dungeons, and torture chambers, these old villages, where farms are sometimes still battlemented like small castles, and this countryside where living is easy and pleasant. On to this heart of France has descended a whole people from across the ocean, a people that hails from New England and California, from Virginia and Illinois. The American Army has taken over this heart of France, and is teaching it to "go some". Townsfolk and villagers enjoy being taught. The arrival of the American Army is a revelation to them.

I was surprised at first to find how fresh a novelty an allied army was in this part of France. Then I remembered that these little towns and villages have in the last few months for the first time seen allies of France. The ports where the American troops land have seen many other allies; they saw, indeed, in August, 1914, some of the first British troops land, whose reception remains in the recollection of the inhabitants as a scene of such fervor and loving enthusiasm as had never been known before and probably will not be known again. In fact, to put it brutally, French ports are blasé. But this Central France for the first time welcomes allied troops. It is true they had seen some Russians, but the least said of them now the better. Some of the Russians are still there, hewing wood for three francs a day per head, and behaving quite peaceably.

These old towns and villages look upon the American Army in their midst as the greatest miracle they have ever known, and a greater one than they ever could have dreamed of. One motors through scores of little towns and villages where the American soldier, in his khaki, his soft hat, (which I am told is soon to be abolished,) and his white gaiters, swarms. The villagers put up bunting, calico signs, flags, and have stocks of American "canned goods" to show in their shop windows. The children, when bold, play with the American soldiers, and the children that are more shy just venture to go up and touch an American soldier's leg. Very old peasant ladies put on their Sunday black and go out walking and in some mysterious way talking with American soldiers. The village Mayor turns out and makes a speech utterly incomprehensible to the American soldier, whenever a fresh contingent of the latter arrives. The 1919 class, just called up, plays bugles and shouts "Good morning" when an American car comes by.

Vice versa, this Central France is perhaps even more of a miracle to the American troops than the American troops are to it. To watch the American trooper from Arkansas or Chicago being shown over a castle which is not only older than the United States, but was in its prime under Louis XII., and dates back to a Roman fortress now beneath it, is a wonderful sight. Here the American soldier shows himself a charming child. There is nothing of the "Innocents Abroad" about him. I heard scarcely anything (except about telephones and railways) of any American brag of modernism in this ancient part of France. On the contrary, the soldier is learning with open eyes, and trying to learn with open ears, all these wonders of the past among which he has been suddenly put. The officer, too, even the educated officer, is beautifully astonished at all this past, which he had read about, but which, quite possibly, he didn't really believe to exist. The American officers who speak French--and there are some of them, coming chiefly from the Southern States--are, of course, heroes in every town, and sought after in cafés at recreation hours by every French officer and man. Those who do not know French are learning it, and I remember a picturesque sight, that of a very elderly, prim French governess in black, teaching French to American subalterns in a Y.M.C.A. canteen.

A great French preacher the other day, in his sermon in a Paris church, said that this coming to France of millions of English troops and future millions of American troops may mean eventually one of the greatest changes in Continental Europe the world has ever known. His words never seemed to me so full of meaning as they did when I was among the Americans in the heart of France. There, of course, the contrast is infinitely greater than it can be in the France which our own troops are occupying and defending. These young, fresh, hustling, keen Americans, building up numerous works of all kinds to prepare for defending France, have brought with them Chinese labor and negro labor; and Chinese and negroes and German and Austrian prisoners all work in these American camps under American officers' orders. Imagine what an experience, what a miracle, indeed, this spectacle seems to the country-folk of this old French soil, who have always lived very quietly, who never wanted to go anywhere else, and who knew, indeed, that France had allies fighting and working for her, but had never seen any of them until these Americans came across three thousand miles of ocean.

Something of a miracle, also, is what our new allies are accomplishing. They are doing everything on a huge scale. I saw aviation camps, training camps, aviation schools, vast tracts where barracks were being put up, railways built, telegraphs and telephones installed by Chinese labor, negro labor, German prisoners' labor, under the direction of American skilled workmen, who are in France by the thousand. There are Y.M.C.A. canteens, Red Cross canteens, clubs for officers and for men, theatres and cinemas for the army, and a prodigious amount of food--all come from America. The hams alone I saw strung up in one canteen would astonish the boches. American canned goods, meat, fruit, condensed milk, meal, &c., have arrived in France in stupendous quantities. No body of American troops land in France until what is required for their sustenance several weeks ahead is already stored in France. Only the smallest necessaries are bought on the spot, and troops passing through England on their way to France are strictly forbidden, both officers and men, to buy any article of food whatsoever in England. As for the quality, the American has nothing to complain of, so far as I could see. All pastry, cakes, sweets are henceforth prohibited throughout civilian France, but the American troops rightly have all these things in plenty. I saw marvelous cakes and tarts, which would create a run on any Paris or London teashop, and the lady who manages one American Red Cross canteen (by the way, she is an Englishwoman, and is looked up to by the American military authorities as one of the best organizers they have met) explained to me wonderful recipes they have for making jam with honey and preserved fruit. The bread, of course, they make themselves, and, as is right, it is pure white flour bread, such as no civilian knows nowadays.

One motors through scores of villages and more, and every little old French spot swarms with American Tommies billeted in cottages and farmhouses. Many of them marched straight to their billets from their landing port, and the experience is as wonderful for them, just spirited over from the wilds of America, as it is for the villagers who welcome these almost fabulous allies. But it is the engineering, building, and machinery works the Americans are putting up which are the most astonishing. Gangs of workers have come over in thousands. Many of these young chaps are college men, Harvard or Princeton graduates. They dig and toil as efficiently as any laborer, and perhaps with more zeal. One American Major told me with glee how a party of these young workers arrived straight from America at 3:30 P. M., and started digging at 5 A. M. next morning. "And they liked it; it tickled them to death." Many of these drafts, in fact, were sick and tired of inaction in ports before their departure from America, and they welcomed work in France as if it were some great game.

Perhaps the biggest work of all the Americans are doing is a certain aviation camp and school. In a few months it has neared completion, and when it is finished it will, I believe, be the biggest of its kind in the world. There pilots are trained, and trained in numbers which I may not say, but which are comforting. The number of airplanes they use merely for training, which also I must not state, is in itself remarkable. "Training pilots is the one essential thing," I was told by the C.O. These flying men--or boys--who have, of course, already been broken in in America, do an additional course in France, and when they leave the aviation camp I saw they are absolutely ready for air fighting at the front. This is the finishing school. The aviators go through eight distinct courses in this school. They are perfected in flying, in observation, in bombing, in machine-gun firing. On even a cloudy and windy day the air overhead buzzes with these young American fliers, all getting into the pink of condition to do their stunts at the front. They seemed to me as keen as our own flying men, and as well disciplined. They live in the camp, and it requires moving heaven and earth for one of them to get leave to go even to the nearest little quiet old town.

The impression is the same of the American bases in France as of the American front in France. I found there and here one distinctive characteristic, the total absence of bluff. I was never once told that we were going to be shown how to win the war. I was never once told that America is going to win the war. I never heard that American men and machines are better than ours, but I did hear almost apologies from American soldiers because they had not come into the war sooner. They are, I believe, spending now more money than we are--indeed, the pay of their officers is about double that of ours. I said something about the cost. "Yes, but you see we must make up for lost time," was all the American General said. And he told me about the splendid training work that is being done now in the States by British and French officers who have gone out there knowing what war is, and who teach American officers and men from first-hand experience. This particular General hoped that by this means in a very short time American troops arriving in France may be sent much more quickly to the front than is now the case.

An impression of complete, businesslike determination is what one gets when visiting the Americans in France. A discipline even stricter than that which applies in British and French troops is enforced. In towns, officers, for instance, are not allowed out after 9 P. M. Some towns where subalterns discovered the wine of the country have instantly been put "out of bounds." No officer, on any pretext whatsoever, is allowed to go to Paris, except on official business. From the camps they are not even allowed to go to the neighboring towns. They have, to put it quite frankly, a reputation of wild Americanism to live down, and they sometimes surprise the French by their seriousness. It is a striking sight to see American officers and men flocking into tiny little French Protestant churches on Sundays in this Catholic heart of France. The congregation is a handful of old French Huguenots, and the ancient, rigid French pasteur never in his life preached to so many, and certainly never to soldiers from so far. They come from so far, and from such various parts, these Americans, and for France, as well as for themselves, it is a wonderful experience. I was told that the postal censors who read the letters of the American expeditionary force are required to know forty-seven languages. Of these languages the two least used are Chinese and German.

American Shipbuilders Break All Records

Charles M. Schwab Speeds the Work

[MONTH ENDED MAY 15, 1918]

All shipbuilding records have been broken by American builders in the last month. On May 14 it was announced that the first million tons of ships had been completed and delivered to the United States Government under the direction of the Shipping Board. The actual figures on May 11 showed the number of ships to be 159, aggregating 1,108,621 tons. More than half of this tonnage was delivered since Jan. 1, 1918. Most of these ships were requisitioned on the ways or in contract form when the United States entered the war. This result had been anticipated in the monthly records, which showed a steady increase in the tonnage launched:

Number of Ships Aggregate Month. Launched. Tonnage.

January 11 91,541 February 16 123,100 March 21 166,700

The rapidity with which ships are being produced was shown by the breaking of the world's record on April 20 and in turn the breaking of this record on May 5. On the former date the 8,800-ton steel steamship West Lianga was launched at Seattle, Wash., fifty-five working days from the date the keel was laid. This was then the world's record. But on May 5 at Camden, N. J., the steel freight steamship Tuckahoe, of 5,548 tons, was launched twenty-seven days after the keel was laid.

Ten days after this extraordinary achievement the Tuckahoe was finished and furnished and ready for sea--another record feat.

Charles M. Schwab, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation, was on April 16, 1918, appointed Director General of the Emergency Fleet Corporation to speed up the Government's shipbuilding program. He was invested with practically unlimited powers over all construction work in shipyards producing vessels for the Emergency Fleet Corporation. Charles Piez in consequence ceased to be General Manager of the Corporation, remaining, however, as Vice President to supervise administrative details of construction and placing contracts.

Mr. Schwab, who was the fifth man to be put in charge of the shipbuilding program, was not desirous of accepting the position when first approached because he considered his work in producing steel of first importance in the carrying out of the nation's war program. But after a conference with President Wilson, Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board; Bainbridge Colby, another member of the board, and Charles Piez, he decided to accept the new position.

Almost the first thing Mr. Schwab did was to move his headquarters to Philadelphia as the centre of the steel-shipbuilding region, taking with him all the division chiefs of the Fleet Corporation directly connected with construction work and about 2,000 employes. The Shipping Board and Mr. Piez retained their offices in Washington with 1,500 subordinates and employes. As a further step toward decentralization it was arranged to move the operating department, including agencies such as the Interallied Ship Control Committee, headed by P. A. S. Franklin, to New York City.

The original "cost-plus" contract under which the Submarine Boat Corporation of Newark was to build 160 ships of 5,000 tons for the Government was canceled by Mr. Schwab as an experiment to determine whether shipyards operating under lump-sum contracts and accepting all responsibility for providing materials could make greater speed in construction than those operating with Government money, such as the Hog Island yards. The result was to increase the cost of each of the 160 ships from $787,500 to $960,000.

A request for an appropriation of $2,223,835,000 for the 1919 program was presented by Mr. Hurley and Mr. Schwab to the House Appropriations Committee on May 8.

Of this total $1,386,100,000 was for construction of ships and $652,000,000 for the purchasing and requisitioning of plants and material in connection with the building program.

Third Liberty Loan Oversubscribed

Approximately 17,000,000 Buyers

When the Third Liberty Loan, raised to finance America's war needs, closed on May 4, 1918, the subscriptions were well over $4,000,000,000, a billion in excess of the amount called for. The total was announced on May 17 as $4,170,019,650. Secretary McAdoo stated that he would allot bonds in full on all subscriptions.

The loan was regarded as the most successful ever floated by any nation, not so much because of the volume of sales, but because of the wide distribution of the loan. Approximately 17,000,000 individuals subscribed, that is, about one person in every six in the United States. The number of buyers in the Third Loan exceeded those in the Second by 7,000,000 and those in the First by 12,500,000.

The campaign throughout the country was conducted with all the thoroughness of a great political struggle, with the difference that there were no contending parties and all forces were marshaled to make the loan a success. Nor was the campaign merely a display of efficient organization and vigorous propaganda. It had many features of dramatic and picturesque interest, not only in the large cities, but in almost every smaller centre of the nation. A noonday rally of 50,000 men and women in Wall Street, New York, on the closing day, was typical. An eyewitness described it thus:

The Police Department Band appeared and the band of the 15th Coast Artillery from Fort Hamilton. Taking advantage of the occasion, James Montgomery Flagg now appeared in his studio van on the southern fringe of the Broad Street crowd. A girl with him played something on the cornet. It was a good deal like a show on the Midway at a Western county fair. But this was no faker--one of the most famous artists in America, throwing in a signed sketch of whoever bought Liberty bonds. Those near him began pushing and crowding to take advantage of the offer.

And now, suddenly, a tremendous racket up the street toward Broadway. Who comes?

Cheer on cheer, now. It is the "Anzacs." Twelve long, rangy fellows, officers all, six or seven of them with the little brass "A" on the shoulder, which signifies service at Gallipoli and in Flanders. They are members of the contingent of 500 which arrived here yesterday on its way to the battlefields of France. They run lightly up the Sub-Treasury steps and take their stand in a group beside the soldier band.

And now they all come--all the actors in the drama of the day. Governor Whitman, bareheaded, solemn-faced; Rabbi Stephen Wise, with his rugged face and his shock of blue-black hair; Mme. Schumann-Heink, panting a little with excitement; Auguste Bouilliz, baritone of the Royal Opera of Brussels, who later is to thrill them all with his singing of the "Marseillaise"; Cecil Arden, in a shining helmet and draped in the Union Jack, come to sing "God Save the King," while the sunburned Australian officers stand like statues at salute; Oscar Straus, and then--

"Yee-ee-ee-eee."

Oh, how they cheered! For the "Blue Devils" of France had poured out of the door of the Sub-Treasury and, with the fitful sun shining once more and gleaming on their bayonets, were running down the steps in two lines, past the "Anzacs," past the soldier band, to draw up in ranks at the bottom.

Lieutenant de Moal speaks. What does he say? Who knows? But he is widely cheered, just the same, as he gives way to Governor Whitman.

"There are gatherings like this, though not so large, all over our land today," cries the Governor. "In every town and city we Americans are gathered together at this moment to demonstrate that we are behind our army, behind our navy, behind our President."

The cheers that acclaimed his mention of the President drowned his voice for several moments.

"Here are the Australians," he cries, pointing to the "Anzac" officers. "They have brought us a message, but we are going to give them a message, too."

As the Governor stepped back to cheers that rocked the street, Lieutenant de Moal barked a sharp order, and the "Blue Devils" shouldered their guns with fixed bayonets, the six trumpeters ta-ra-ta-raed, and the soldiers of France moved off up the sidewalk lane to the side door of the Stock Exchange, where all business was suspended during the fifteen minutes of their visit on the floor.

Four of the "Anzacs" meanwhile were taken from their ranks on the steps of the building up to the pedestal of the statue of Washington, which was used as speaker's platform, and Captain Frank McCallam made a brief address.

"We haven't many men left," he said simply. "And it is up to you people to help us out to the best of your ability."

More cheers, and then Cecil Arden sang "God Save the King." The American regular fired a blank volley over the heads of the crowd, and the kids scrambled for the empty shells.

Following Wise and Straus, Bouilliz, the Belgian baritone, sang the "Marseillaise," and then, after the soldier band had played "Where Do We Go from Here, Boys?" Mme. Schumann-Heink advanced and sang the national anthem, following it up with an appeal that was the climax to the play.

Less exciting but more impressive was the parade on April 26, when thousands of mothers who had sent their sons to the front marched in a column of 35,000 men and women in the Liberty Day parade in New York City. This day had been proclaimed as such by President Wilson for "the people of the United States to assemble in their respective communities and liberally pledge anew their financial support to sustain the nation's cause, and to hold patriotic demonstrations in every city, town, and hamlet throughout the land."

The challenge of the mothers was inscribed on one of the banners they carried: "We give our sons--they give their lives--what do you give?"

Remarkable as was the appearance of these mothers with the little service flags over their shoulders, many of them so old that they marched with difficulty, the spectators who flanked the line of march along Fifth Avenue from Washington Square to Fifty-ninth Street found it even more thrilling to note that so very many of them, whether they were mothers or young wives, or just young girls proud of the brothers that had gone forth to service--so very many of them carried service flags with three and four and five and even six stars, and occasionally a glint of the sun would even carry the eye to a gold star, which meant, whenever it appeared, a veil of mourning for a wooden cross somewhere in France.

Among the minor but ingenious forms of publicity was the Liberty Loan ball which was rolled from Buffalo to New York, a distance of 470 miles, and which ended its journey of three weeks on May 4 at the City Hall. The ball was a large steel shell covered with canvas.