Recruiting for the army and navy became active as soon as war was declared.  On April 15 President Wilson issued an address to the nation, calling on all citizens to enroll themselves in a vast “army of service,” military or industrial, and stating that the hour of supreme test for the nation had come.  The United States prepared to rise to its full measure of duty, confident in the patent justice of its cause, and echoing the sentiment of its President when he said: 

“The hope of the world is that when the European war is over arrangements will have been made composing many of the questions which have hitherto seemed to require the arming of the nations, and that in some ordered and just way the peace of the world may be maintained by such co-operations of force among the great nations as may be necessary to maintain peace and freedom throughout the world.”

ENGLAND WELCOMES U.S.  AS AN ALLY.

The news of the President’s proclamation of war, following the action of Congress, was received in England and France, Russia and Italy, with enthusiasm.  A great service of thanksgiving was held in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, attended by the King and Queen, ministers of state, and an enormous congregation that joined in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the national anthem, while the Stars and Stripes by official order was flown for the first time in history from the tower of the Parliament buildings at Westminster and on public buildings throughout the British empire.  A high commission was appointed to visit the United States for a series of war conferences, and Premier Lloyd George expressed the national satisfaction in glowing terms of welcome to the United States as an ally against Germany, paying at the same time an eloquent tribute to the masterly address of President Wilson to Congress, which stated the case for humanity against military autocracy in such an unanswerable manner, the British premier said, that it placed the seal of humanity’s approval on the Allied cause and furnished final justification of the British attitude toward Germany in the war.

POPULAR DEMONSTRATION IN PARIS.

In France, the Stars and Stripes were flung to the breeze from the Eiffel Tower on April 22, and saluted by twenty-one guns.  This marked the opening of the ceremonies of “United States day” in Paris.

The French tricolor and the star-spangled banner were at the same hour unfurled together from the residence of William G. Sharp, the American ambassador, in the Avenue d’Eylau, from the American Embassy, from the city hall, and from other municipal government buildings.

It was a great day for the red, white and blue, 40,000 American flags being handed out gratis by the committee and waved by the people who thronged the vicinity of the manifestations, which included the decoration of the statues of Washington and Lafayette.

Members of the American Lafayette flying corps, a delegation from the American Ambulance at Neuilly and the American Field Ambulances were the guard of honor before the Lafayette statue.