III

THE WAR OF COMPASSION


Officially America declared war on Germany in the spring of 1917;
actually she committed her heart to the allied cause in September,
1914, when the first shipment of the supplies of mercy arrived in
Paris from the American Red Cross.

There are two ways of waging war: you can fight with artillery and
armed men; you can fight with ambulances and bandages. There's the war
of destruction and the war of compassion. The one defeats the enemy
directly with force; the other defeats him indirectly by maintaining
the morale of the men who are fighting and, what is equally important,
of the civilians behind the lines. Belgium would not be the utterly
defiant and unconquered nation that she is to-day, had it not been for
the mercy of Hoover and his disciples. Their voluntary presence
made the captured Belgian feel that he was earning the thanks of all
time--that the eyes of the world were upon him. They were neutrals,
but their mere presence condemned the cause that had brought them
there. Their compassion waged war against the Hun. The same is true of
the American Ambulance Units which followed the French Armies into the
fiercest of the carnage. They confirmed the poilu in his burning sense
of injustice. That they, who could have absented themselves, should
choose the damnation of destruction and dare the danger, convinced the
entire French nation of its own righteousness. And it was true of the