five months ago, there was the same old story of graft, fraud, and a
deceived people.

But the war authorities gripped France with an iron hand. The military
traitors and grafters are in jail. The weaklings in the official line
have been cashiered. The politically undesirable have been given
foreign missions.

There was political as well as military wisdom in the return of the
government from Bordeaux to Paris. The French people were shocked when
they learned that the boasted military defences of Paris, "the most
extensive fortifications in the world," embracing 400 square miles,
were unprovisioned and indefensible, that the government had fled, and
that there was no army to save the city.

Indeed, the authorities had determined to sacrifice Paris to save
France. General Joffre had no men to spare to be bottled up in the
city. He determined that his armies should be kept free on the field.

You may ask anywhere in France, Belgium, or England why the French did
not come to the relief of Belgium, why Paris was undefended, and what
saved it after Von Kluck had led seven armies of 1,000,000 men down to
its very gates, and you will get no satisfactory answer.

But when you have studied the situation and the record, you will see
that no simple answer can be readily given. A brief one would be:
French mobilization plans were imperfect, and, therefore, Belgium could
not be defended by the French. But motor-busses did what the railroads
were unprepared to do, and finally saved Paris and France.