h it is our duty to deal. To state them is to set the stage for
the legislative and executive action which must grow out of them and
which we have yet to shape and determine.

"A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since then we have sent
1,950,513, an average of 162,542 each month, the number in fact rising
in May last to 245,951, in June to 278,760, in July to 307,182 and
continuing to reach similar figures in August and September--in August
289,570 and in September 257,438. No such movement of troops ever took
place before, across 3,000 miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment
and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of
attack, dangers which were alike strange and infinitely difficult to
guard against. In all this movement only 758 men were lost by enemy
attacks, 630 of whom were upon a single English transport which was sunk
near the Orkney Islands.

"I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and
material. It is not invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting
organization of the industries of the country and of all its productive
activities more complete, more thorough in method and effective in
results, more spirited and unanimous in purpose and effort than any
other great belligerent had ever been able to effect. We profited
greatly by the experience of the nations which had already been engaged
for nearly three years in the exigent and exacting business, their every
resource and every proficiency taxed to the utmost. We were the pupils.
But we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and a readiness of
co-operation that justify our great pride that we were able to serve the
world with unparalleled energy and quick accomplishment.

"But it is not the physical scale and executive efficiency of
preparation, supply, equipment and dispatch that I would dwell upon, but
the mettle and quality of the officers and men we sent over and of the
sailors who kept the seas, and the spirit of the Nation that stood
behind them. No soldiers, or sailors, ever proved themselves more
quickly ready for the test of battle or acquitted themselves with more
splendid courage and achievement when put to the test. Those of us who
played some part in directing the great processes by which the war was
pushed irresistibly forward to the final triumph may now forget all that
and delight our thoughts with the story of what our men did. Their
officers understood the grim and exacti