rmy, she will have no
ships to transport that army to the field of battle. In von
Hindenburg's words, "America carries no weight." I suppose he means
she has no ships to carry weight. On that, undoubtedly, they are
reckoning.

Well, it is not wise always to assume that even when the German General
Staff, which has miscalculated so often, makes a calculation it has no
ground for it. It therefore behooves the whole of the Allies, Great
Britain and America in particular, to see that that reckoning of von
Hindenburg is as false as the one he made about his famous line, which
we have broken already.

The road to victory, the guarantee of victory, the absolute assurance
of victory is to be found in one word--ships; and a second word--ships.
And with that quickness of apprehension which characterizes your
nation, I see that they fully realize that, and today I observe that
they have already made arrangements to build one thousand 3000-tonners
for the Atlantic. I think that the German military advisers must
already begin to realize that this is another of the tragic
miscalculations which are going to lead them to disaster and to ruin.
But you will pardon me for emphasizing that. We are a slow people in
these islands--slow and blundering--but we get there. You get there
sooner, and that is why I am glad to see you in.

But may I say that we have been in this business for three years? We
have, as we generally do, tried every blunder. In golfing phraseology,
we have got into every bunker. But we have got a good niblick. We are
right out on the course. But may I respectfully suggest that it is
worth America's while to study our blunders, so as to begin just where
we are now and not where we were three years ago? That is an
advantage. In war, time has as tragic a significance as it has in
sickness. A step which, taken today, may lead to assured victory,
taken tomorrow may barely avert disaster. All the Allies have
discovered that. It was a new country for us all. It was trackless,
mapless. We had to go by instinct. But we found the way, and I am so
glad that you are sending your great naval and military experts here
just to exchange experiences with men who have been through all the
dreary, anxious crises of the last three years.

America has helped us even to win the battle of Arras. The guns which
destroyed the German trenches, shattered the barbed wire--I remember,
with some friends of mine whom I see he