America's First Anniversary in France
President Poincaré of France sent the following cablegram to President Wilson on June 13, the anniversary of the arrival in France of the first American troops:
The Allies, owing to the Russian capitulation, are living through the most difficult hours of the war, but the rapid formation of new American units and the uninterrupted increase in oversea transportation are leading us with certainty toward the day when the equilibrium is restored.
President Wilson replied as follows:
Mr. President: Your telegram was certainly conceived in the highest and most generous spirit of friendship, and I am sure that I am expressing the feeling of the people of the United States, as well as my own, when I say that it is with increasing pride and gratification that they have seen their forces under General Pershing more and more actively co-operating with the forces of liberation on French soil.
It is their fixed and unalterable purpose to send men and materials in steady and increasing volume until any temporary inequality of force is entirely overcome and the forces of freedom made overwhelming, for they are convinced that it is only by victory that peace can be achieved and the world's affairs settled upon a basis of enduring justice and right. It is a constant satisfaction to them to know that in this great enterprise they are in close and intimate co-operation with the people of France.
WOODROW WILSON.
President Poincaré also sent a message to General Pershing, heartily praising "the gallant troops of your command who behaved so magnificently in the recent battles." He expressed the firmest hope in the continuation of the American successes.
General Pershing replied to President Poincaré as follows:
Permit me to thank you, Mr. President, for your kind message on the occasion of this anniversary. The enthusiastic reception which Paris gave us then has since been extended by all your people to the American Army.
Today our armies are united in affection and resolution, with full confidence in the final success which will crown the long struggle for liberty and civilization.
The following telegrams were also sent to General Pershing: