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Show I; OVER TWO MILLION AMERICANS. In an official statement Secretary j Baker notifies President Wilson that up to October 21, over two millon j American soldiers have sailed from the ! ports of this country. The exact num- j ber is 2,008,931. On July 1, America had sent 1)019,-115 1)019,-115 men to the war zone, and he (' speeding up since then has been most pleasing to the American peoplfi and the AIIIob. At the rate troops are leaving there will be 2,600,000 of our soldiers in France or on the way there by Christmas Christ-mas day. Our heaviest ombarkatjon was in July, It was during that month that the darkest shadows fell across ! the path of the Allies. It must have ; been reassuring to the heavily at- I tacked French and Brjtish forces to realize that at last America was get- iting in with her great strength. It was in July that the Germans first felt tho quality of the steel of our American boys. It was In that j month that the victorious Gorman ; "shock troops attempted to proceed ! west from Chateau Thierry and south ; across the Marne, in the renewal of their great drive which Tvas to end tho war, and then is when for the first ' time, any considerable number of ! Americans offered to blqck the "way ! of the conquering Hun. It is history now. We all know what happened, i " ' fciven the German army has heard the j story of how the Prussian guard went down to death in an effort to break through tho scroon of the American troops which held at Chateau Thierry and south of the Marnc. Since that day the war pendulum hag swung until now victory Is unmistakably unmis-takably on tho side of the Allies. We predict that close analysis of tho Strategy of the war, made when tho struggle is over will show that the turning point was reached when the American troops arrived at Chateau Thierry and stopped the Gorman troops who were attempting to debouch de-bouch in the direction of Meaux and Paris. As to the two million Americans who have gono abroad, let us specu-I specu-I late a little. We estimate that ap proximately 1,700,000 are in Franco, 275,000 in England and Scotland, and about 25.000 near Archangel, Vladivostok Vladi-vostok and other P.ussian points. Of the 1,700,000. not less than 1,-500,000 1,-500,000 are'fightlng men, available for first line action. Not more than 700,000 have been moved up to tho battle front, and perhaps only two-thirds two-thirds of that number have been in engagements. There must be close to a million men waiting to be thrown into the conflict. Where are they? When the news arrives that a major operation has been started somewhere near Verdun, a million Americans, so far unheard from, may be expected to suddenly disclose whether the American Ameri-can Is too soft to fighL The Standard has not been looking for the great American blow to be struck before . spring but with the German army reduced so as to bo unable to again assume the offensive, it is possible a heavy attack will be made before winter. While the German army was constituted consti-tuted as it was last July, it would have been inviting disaster to have allowed the Americans to-have struck with all j their might. A defeat would have ,been serious. Today the whole military mili-tary situation is changed. General Pershing is free to launch his offensive offen-sive whenever he is ready, as a setback set-back could not now endangor the gen-eral gen-eral military plans of the Allies. But when General Pershing exerts his full power, it will be a signal that the campaign for the invasion of Germany has begun. |
