NINETEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART III 185 



bellion on this side, that great statesman stood up in the Parliament of 

 England and, with the great working class of Great Britain back of him, 

 he said: "If I were an American as I am an Englishman, so long as there 

 were a foreign troop landed upon my soil, I would never lay down my 

 arms, never! never!! never!!!" That was said in the Parliament of 

 England by a great Englishman, and he had the sympathy of the British 

 workman back of him. Every American child should know him. 



What of France? Wonderful France, with only one-third of our popula- 

 tion! France was making only 30,000 shells per day when the war began, 

 but she increased production until at the close of the war she was turn- 

 ing out 300,000 every day. Remember, it was France that stood at Ver- 

 dun and gave between three and four hundred thousand of her sons, 

 fighting under a banner upon which was inscribed, "They shall not pass!" 

 That is the spirit of France. And of France we must say as Hugo said: 

 "Every man has two countries — his own and France." That is the way 

 the world feels concerning the wonderful spirit of that great people. 



And there was Italy! vWhat has Italy done? Italy held one and one- 

 half million Austrians on her front when they were sorely needed by the 

 Centi'al Powers on the other fronts. 



And then Belgium — brave, ravished Belgium! Belgium fighting to 

 the last man, with her territory overrun by the Hun except a strip of 

 Flanders as big as a man's hand. Oh, the undying devotion of Belgium! 

 And within a few days the King and Queen of Belgium have marched 

 back into Brussels — their own Brussels of old! Yes, and we went over 

 and fought, but, my friends, how close we came to not being there in 

 time ! 



Germany said, when the Russian collapse took place, "We will with- 

 draw our soldiers from the Eastern front and hurl them into France 

 before the Americans arrive." And in your heart, and in mine, during 

 those dark days, you went down early in the morning to get the paper, 

 didn't you? You were almost afraid to see it. There was a deep sinking 

 feeling in our hearts, that they might be successful. And at that time 

 we had a few, just a few thousand soldiers over there, when they first 

 started to bring their soldiers to the Western front. When they got 

 them over and began that great drive, what did they want to do? Drive 

 down the valley of the Somme, out off the British and force them into the 

 sea; take Paris; take France, Italy, and isolate England, before we 

 could get over a respectable force, so we couldn't land a force upon the 

 soil of Europe. They began first down in Picardy. In three days they 

 had gone thirty miles. The thunder of the guns was heard by every 

 Parisian, and then the drive slowed up and was held at Amiens. Then 

 they started again and were stopped just short of Arras; then they 

 began to drive in toward Calais, and they drove on and on until Haig said, 

 "You must not give another inch; you must die where you stand", and 

 they died! Yes, Britain stood there for the world's civilization and for 

 the American people, too. Then they drove in and past Montdidier, and 

 again the lines stood firm. And then the Hun said, "We have them all 

 engaged, and we will drive down by the Marne with our reserves." It 

 was at Chalons sur Marne that Attila the Hun was defeated way back in 



