  The existence of hadronic string is derived as a consequence of confinement
in QCD. A state of ``stretched glue'', created by a Polyakov loop operator, is
shown to have translational zero-modes which are stringy degrees of freedom.
These modes are described by an effective string theory, valid for world-
sheets which are locally flat on length scales of order $\Lambda_{QCD}^{-1}$,
the dominant behavior being given by the Nambu-Goto action. In a subsequent
paper, these effective strings will be shown to emerge in mesons stretched by
their orbital angular momentum, thereby deriving some aspects of Regge
phenomenology directly from QCD and confinement.

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;High Energy Physics - Theory