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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



The men march in solid ranks and are 

 mowed down by rapid-fire guns. As the 

 front line falls the rear advances. As it 

 falls, too, another line appears to take its 

 place. And so by increments of death the 

 Kaiser wins his way. 



the: world's greatest battle, but not 



THE LAST 



This is the world's greatest battle. 

 More men are involved, more cannon — 

 they say there is a gun for every 40 feet 

 along the western front — more airplanes, 

 more tanks, more lethal weapons of every 

 kind, more poisonous gases, and more of 

 hell is seen upon that 60-mile front than 

 the eyes of the angels have ever looked 

 upon before. We call it the world's 

 greatest battle, but the last great battle of 

 this war has not been fought and cannot 

 be fought now. 



That line may bend, but it will not 

 break. Remember, there are Scotchmen 

 there — Scotchmen from Glasgow and 

 from Edinburgh and from the far islands 

 of the north, Scotchmen who never sur- 

 render ; and Englishmen from Liverpool 

 and Manchester and London, from the 

 Soft Lake country and from Surrey ; and 

 Irishmen from Killarney, the gallant 

 Irish, who are fighting that there may be 

 an Ireland saved to which will come 

 home rule ; and men from Australia and 

 New Zealand; Canadians, who love war 

 no more than we do, but can make it just 

 as well. There are Frenchmen there, the 

 Frenchmen of Verdun. Need I say 

 more? No more can be said. 



MORE TO LIVE AND DIE FOR THAN EVER 

 ARMIES HAD BEFORE 



Those men do not yield. They have 

 not fought for nearly four years that they 

 may crumple up now. It is a thin line 



that holds the Kaiser back, but it is a 

 line in which there is more of spirit and 

 more of resolution than in any line the 

 world has seen, because it has more to 

 live for and more to die for than any 

 other group of men ever gathered to- 

 gether; and into this thin line we are 

 weaving our men in khaki. These are 

 but an assurance. More and still more 

 are to follow, until that thin line is made 

 a thick line. 



Von Hindenburg said after the first 

 week of the offensive that the first act 

 was over. It is never the first act that 

 tells the story. The climax comes in the 

 closing scene, and in that closing scene 

 America will play her part ; and it will be 

 a noble part. It is my solemn conviction 

 that when success comes to the Allied 

 armies, under General Foch, it will come 

 because of what we do, because of our 

 men in the field, and the spirit and sacri- 

 fice of our men and women and our boys 

 and girls at home. 



A NEW SPIRIT IN AMERICA 



America has never sought to be a world 

 power. She does not now. But Amer- 

 ica has nothing to live for if Germany 

 becomes the one dominant power of the 

 world. And against that possible day 

 your boys and my boy must give their 

 lives, their ambitions, their dreams, if 

 need be. 



And we who are not permitted to fight, 

 what shall be our part? Let it be our 

 resolution that when our sons return they 

 shall find a new spirit in America, a 

 deeper insight into the problems of a 

 striving people, a stronger, firmer, more 

 positive and purposeful sense of nation- 

 ality. We shall make America better 

 worth while to Americans and of higher 

 service to the world. 



