There went up a hue and cry that America adopt a foreign type of rifle, notwithstanding the facts that the rifle is the most necessary weapon of warfare, and we had the Springfield rifle in substantial quantity, admittedly the best rifle then being used in the world, shooting the most powerful and efficient ammunition ever prepared. In the face of this criticism, we adhered to our own weapon, adopting a modified and rechambered Enfield, which differs from a Springfield in such a small way that it is not worthy of discussion, now known as the United States rifle, model of 1917, resulting in some delay but now being produced in sufficient quantity.
When General Joffre made the request for a small expeditionary force, the critics of the Administration demanded what they thought was the impossible—i.e., that we ship to France during the first year 50,000 to 100,000 men. During the first ten days of May we shipped 90,000. Within one year after the first shipment America will have an army of 1,000,000 men in France, with their necessary arms, equipment, and supplies. It will be the best-fed, the best-clothed, the best-paid army of its size that the world has ever known, speaking the same language, worshipping the same God, and following the same flag. Its personnel will have the quickest perceptions of any soldiers in the world, and will have been trained under modern conditions, surrounded by the best moral influences, with the lowest percentage of disease, and will be nerved by the highest motives that actuate men.
Victory for our cause is therefore certain.
Italy's Third Year of War
Other Anniversaries, With Official Greetings Exchanged by the Allies and the United States
The third anniversary of Italy's entry into the war was the occasion of an address by Prime Minister Orlando, delivered in the Augusteum at Rome on May 24, in which, in reaffirming the unity of the Allies, he said:
For this unity, so solemnly consecrated again today, I express in the name of Italy my deep gratitude to all. To England, which could not send a more noble or more agreeable messenger than your Royal Highness, who brings to us a message reaffirming friendship with our country, a friendship which was shown at a time which was painful to us, and which has been strengthened by the intimacy of affection in the days of grief still more than in those of joy. To France, to our great sister toward whom with a feeling of renewed admiration our hearts are turned. To the United States, to this young people, powerful in its strength and already rich in glory owing to the wisdom of its leader and the numerous virtues of its men. To the peoples conquered by the enemy because of their smallness, for which reason their heroic sacrifice and admirable bravery are all the more apparent. To those nations from the Baltic to the Adriatic which the common enemy has oppressed. To the oppressed nations in the interior and on the frontiers of enemy States which heroically rise in rebellion with the cry "Long Live the Entente!"
In the royal box were the Prince of Wales and Prince Peter of Montenegro. The vast audience contained the official representatives of all the allied powers and the United States, and the leaders of all political and social groups of Italy, with representatives from all the important cities. The Prince of Wales in his address said:
I come to you to assure you of the constant friendship and sincere affection of the British people for your nation, whose enlightened and precious sympathy is a proof of the creative unity of arms which nothing can again dissolve. In the city of Rome, the ancient capital of the world, the source of social order and justice, I proudly proclaim my conviction that the great object for which our two nations are fighting against the forces of reaction is inevitably destined to triumph, owing to the union of which our meeting this evening is symbolic.