under hardships,
their unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion
which I am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have
earned the eternal gratitude of our country.

JOHN J. PERSHING.
General, Commander-in-Chief,
American Expeditionary Forces.

THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--AT HOME

When any nation declares war, it immediately brings upon itself unusual
problems and difficulties, but probably no other nation ever had such
problems to solve and such difficulties to overcome as the United
States, immediately after Congress declared a state of war existed with
Germany. The United States was not ready for war. She had been a
peace loving nation, and although possessed of great natural resources,
she had never developed them, to any extent, for the purpose of
carrying on war. The cosmopolitan people of the United States had
never been put to the severe test of war conditions, and whether or not
they would stand together as one great nation was yet to be proved.
This meant that when war was declared the United States had to start
right at the bottom and build up a mighty fighting nation. This had to
be done as quickly as possible, for Germany's plan was to crush her
enemies before the United States could bring any help.

The first thing that the country was called upon to do was to raise an
army. Under ordinary circumstances, the government would call for
volunteers. In this way an army could be provided which would be
sufficient for usual conditions. The war with Germany, however, was by
no means a war in any way like that Americans had taken part in before.
The government knew this and realized that the United States would have
to raise an army that numbered in the millions. To do this, the
volunteer system was found entirely inadequate. So a system of
drafting men was worked out for which the government passed the draft
law, compelling all men between the ages of 21 and 31 to register for
military service. This plan was accepted with great favor by the
people, and consequently, the day after registration the government had
ten million men in the prime of life from which to pick her army. The
draft system was in charge of General Crowder who, as a result of long
study on the subject, had devised a system which was not in any way
influenced by political pull and was equally fair to both the rich and
the poor. Local boards were established for examining the draft