uilding of a railroad from Senegal to the Niger River in
1892.

Joffre fought through the Dahomey Campaign in 1893; saved the day for
the French in a brilliant rear-guard action and entered Timbuctoo as a
conqueror. Later he proceeded to Madagascar, where he constructed
fortifications and organized a naval station.

Recalled to France, General Joffre became a Professor in the War College
and obtained his stars in 1901. He later entered the Engineering
Department of the War Ministry; then became Military Governor of Lille.
Later he was promoted to be a Division Commander in Paris and then
commander of the Second Army Corps at Amiens. He gained the honor in
1911 of a unanimous vote of the Superior Council of War making him
Commander of all the military forces of France.

A FAMOUS WAR RECORD.

His record in the World War is well known. Every one has read of his
masterly conduct of the retreat from the Belgian border; of his work in
regrouping the shattered and retiring French forces; of his ringing
appeal to the men to strike back at the moment he had determined upon.
At the Marne he saved France and perhaps the world.

Joffre is unsympathetic and grim when at work. He has no patience for
anything but the highest efficiency. At a single stroke he cashiered a
score of Generals who did not measure up to his standards. He is a
master builder, organizer and strategist. Though rather taciturn he is
loved both by the officers and poilus. Among the latter he became known
as "Papa" Joffre.

He showed by his appointments and acts that a new inspiration--an
inspiration of patriotism--controlled the Republic. Joffre's accession
to supreme command symbolized that France had experienced a new birth,
that the army was well organized and that the man who for three years
had been silently performing the regeneration of the land forces had
rightly been placed over the forces he had reformed.

Almost unknown to the masses, Joffre was placed at the head of the
French troops in the summer of 1914. Among his associates he was known
as an authority on aeroplanes, automobiles, telegraphs and the other
details of modern warfare. Above everything else he stood for efficiency
and preparedness, and lacked the qualities of the French soldier of
literature. To be prepared for instant war had been his effort for three
years, and when that time came France found herself nearly as well
prepared for the conflict as was Germany, which had prepare