to various persons upon cable orders from the Department of State in
Washington. This represents a purely business transaction, as the money
has first been deposited with the Government by friends in the United
States. It has, however, been an exceedingly practical means of helping
persons who otherwise might have had to fall back on the relief funds.




_Sunday, August 30._


Twenty-eighth day of the war. Sunny, but sultry, August Sunday. Light
northerly breeze, thermometer at five P.M. 26 degrees centigrade.

No let-up in the fighting. The Germans continue with wonderful tenacity
their favorite tactics of rolling up their forces on their right, and
then enveloping and striving to turn the Anglo-French left. The French
left, as officially announced at the War Office, has been forced to
yield ground. But the result of the gigantic battle in the department of
the Aisne near La Fere, Guise, and Laon, on the road to Paris, still
hangs in the balance.

It seems pretty certain that the French armies were concentrated too far
to the east. The temptation to enter Alsace, where strong force is
needless, was too great for the then war minister, M. Messimy, to
withstand. France is paying for this now. For over twenty years it was
an open secret among military authorities that the main German attack
upon France would burst in through Belgium and the northern departments
of France, which seem to have been left without adequate fortifications.