e capitol at Washington, and underneath is a
sentence from Lincoln's Gettysburg speech: "These dead shall not have
died in vain, and government of the people, by the people, for the
people shall not perish from the earth."

_Englishman_. Those are undying words.

_American_. And undying names--the lads' names.

_Englishman_. What they and the other Americans did can never die. Not
while the planet endures. No nation at that time realized how vital was
your country's entrance into the war. Three months later it would have
been too late. Your young, untried forces lifted worn-out France and
England and swept us to-victory. It was America's victory at the last.
It is our glory to confess that, for from then on America has been our
kin.

_American_. (_Smiles_.) England is our well-beloved elder sister for all
time now.

_Englishman_. The soldiers who died there (_gestures to the ditch_) and
their like did that also. They tied the nations together with a bond of
common gratitude, common suffering, common glory.

_American_. You say well that there was common gratitude. England and
France had fought our battle for three years at the time we entered the
war. We had nestled behind the English fleet. Those grim gray ships of
yours stood between us and the barbarians very literally.

_Englishman_. Without doubt Germany would have been happy to invade the
only country on earth rich enough to pay her war debt. And you were
astonishingly open to invasion. It is one of the historical facts that a
student of history of this twenty-first century finds difficult to
realize.

_American_. The Great War made revolutionary changes. That condition of
unpreparedness was one. That there will never be another war is the
belief of all governments. But if all governments should be mistaken,
not again would my country, or yours, be caught unprepared. A general
staff built of soldiers and free of civilians hampering is one advantage
we have drawn from our ordeal of 1917.

_Englishman_. Your army is magnificently efficient.

_American_. And yours. Heaven grant neither may ever be needed! Our
military efficiency is the pride of an unmilitary nation. One Congress,
since the Great War and its lessons, has vied with another to keep our
high place.

_Englishman_. Ah! Your Congress. That has changed since the old
days--since La Follette.

_American_. The name is a shame and a warning to us. Our children are
taught to remember it so. The "l