Chapter V (7)

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:

On the anniversary of your arrival in France to take command of
the American troops I wish, my dear General, to express to you
once more the greatest admiration

Judge Svinhufvud
_Dictator of Finland_

Professor Masaryk
_Leader of Czech independence movement_
(© _Harris & Ewing_)