SOMETHING LIKE A PARADE

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 23 November 1917, Page 4

SOMETHING LIKE A PARADE

On September 4, at Washington, D.C., the vanguard of the national army was being honored vwith demonstrations to celebrate the eve of departure of the first drafted men to the cantonments. Typifying the spirit of the nation, sending forth its sons to battle for Democracy, the capital gave itself over to a great public demonstration, in which President Wilson, Congress, and all the heads of the Government were leaders. President Wilson himself, eyes to the front, stepping out like a freshlv-trnined recruit, marched at the head of "the long line, surrounded by a committee of citizens which arranged the parade. Behind, him in unbroken ranks came most of the members of the Senate and Jlouse, in such a tribute as the)' probably have never given 011 any occasion in the long years since this country became a nation. When he reached the White House the President left the ranks and took his place in the stand by Mrs Wilson. It was the second time he had gone afoot oyer Pennsylvania avenue. The first was when he led the preparedness parade before the United States went to war. Most of the members of the Cabinet, the Japanese Mission, Ambassadors Spring-Rico or Great Britain and Jusserand of France, Minister Calderon of Bolivia, and dozens of others in the uniforms of the nations that are fighting Germany, were in the stand with them. All stood, for the two hours with eyes steady on the spectacle. The President sat grim and unsmiling most of the time, watching intently while all trappings of war came bv.

t At the head of the Senate came Senators Nelson of Minnesota and Warren of Wyoming, of the Union army, and Martin of Virginia and Bankhead of Alabama, who fought on the side of the grey in the Civil War; and with them inarched' Senators Chamberlain of Oregon, chairman of the Military Committee, and Lodge of Massachusetts, ranking Republican of the Xaval Committee. There were 70 Senators in line, and only a few were absent who were not sick or unable to make the long trip. The House tqrned out hundreds of its membership, headed by Speaker Clark and " Uncle Joe Cannon."

For morel than an hour the Hood that poured by the stand was in the brown of the khakitdad army, with the exception of the 1,400 drafted men, who, in spite of their civilians' clothes, marched proudly aud with more than a semblance of military formation. Regulars on - foot, on horseback, on the caissons of field-pieces and trundling machine guns, national guardsmen of the district, and marines from a near-by camp turned the avenue into a golden flood of marching men with

bayonets or sabres shining and grim, suntanned faces ttiat looked businesslike and ready for war. Behind the troops were the Government departments. : Secretary Baker marched at the head of the War Department, with .Major-general Scott, Chief of Staff, and the ranking army officers on duty at Washington in khaki ahead of the clerks in civilian clothes. Secretary Daniels led the navy, with Admiral Benson, Chief of Operations, .his aides and scores of officers in the. summer white of the navy. The_ Food Administration attracted much attention. Mr Herbert Hoover marched at the head, and behind him came 50 women in blue uniforms and white caps carrying a monster flag. More than 100,000 people line'd the avenue, but there hardly was an incident to mar its whole-liearted enthusiasm. ,

At New York the sumo diiy 25,000 of the troops raised by the State* for service in Frauce under General Pershing paraded through "the streets of three boroughs, and made a most, imposing spectacle as they passed down Fifth avenue and up . 42nd street. The stand was erected'in front of the Public Library, and on it were Governor Whitman, Colonel Roosevelt, Mayor Mitchell, and other celebrities in the military and civil life of tho' pivotal Stated