BANQUET. 277 



ADDRESS OF HONORABLE JOSEPHUS DANIELS. 



Mr. Toastmaster, ladies and gentlemen, I think it was in keeping with a profound 

 sense of national gratitude that, at the opening of this dinner, which will be remembered as 

 the Victory Dinner of this Society, your President, with a realization that it has come to 

 us, not only by force of arms, but by force of spirit and faith, should have asked us all to 

 sing, "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," and the good minister shoulld have 

 prayed for the day near at hand, the day that has dawned, when peace and righteousness 

 cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. 



Last Monday was the day which will be remembered long, and with more pride than 

 any day in America except Independence Day, the day that brought to all the world the light 

 of liberty and hope and gave to weak nations the certainty that every nation anywhere, weak 

 and strong alike, could stand upright and be free. (Applause.) When the soldiers of this 

 great republic landed in France, the people of that country, the people of France, were re- 

 assured and were comforted; and somehow or other, ladies and gentlemen, though few of 

 us trace our lineage to that "gentleman of nations," all of us have a tenderer love for France 

 than for any nation on earth other than our own. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who 

 said "Every man has two countries — his own and France." 



When our soldiers arrived, they were welcomed with a loving hospitality that warmed 

 their hearts, for the French people thought of them, not that they were soldiers fighting for 

 something for themselves, not that they had gone into war in defense of their fatherland, 

 but that they were crusaders who had crossed the sea that the world might enjoy the same 

 liberties which had been vouchsafed to us here in America. (Applause.) 



The sweetest recollection of those days, as the years go by, will be that from first to 

 last the men who represented America, and put their lives in jeopardy, and sealed their faith 

 with their blood that from the day the first soldier went into the trenches of France until 

 Monday last at eleven o'clock when fighting ceased — they behaved as crusaders, as chivalric 

 soldiers, and now that the end has come we can truly say there is not a stain upon their 

 escutcheon. (Applause.) They fought with the eyes on their watches until the hands 

 pointed at eleven o'clock. They fought without quarter, asking and giving none. But when 

 that hour, the hour that will be ever memorable, had arrived, they ceased firing, drove down 

 stakes, dug themselves in and walked across the lines with no hate in their hearts for the 

 men they had conquered. We should look back upon the courage of our men, their victories, 

 their sacrifices, with thanksgiving that they are of our faith and of our blood ; and we will 

 be prouder and prouder as the years go by, knowing no vengeance or passion touched the 

 hearts of American soldiers and American soldiers at home (loud applause), and because 

 at home we kept our hearts in tune with the whole impulses of the boys on the firing line. 



