The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1915-05-04
ENGLAND

| .
Copyright, 1915, by the United Press
copyrighted in Great Hritain.l
HEADQUARTERS OF THE BRIT
IsH ARMY, NORTHERN FRANCE,
April 19. (By mail to New York.)-l
is the stopper which General Frsnch
put Into the neck Of the German bot
tie at the battle Of Ypres when tho
German tide began to pour Caialsward.
This EngIish limo is at the exact
spot in Europe where General NogI,
the Japanese master Of war, once said
would occur a battle that would stag
ger the world, II war in Europe be-
came a reality.
Was Ypres the battle Nosi dreamed
Of? Or was that battle only fore
runner Of greater battle which GEN.
eral French and his English soIdiera
have before them within the coming
months7
Whatever Is ahead, the army Of
General Sir John French is ready for
1t. II Is a good army.
The first thing that strikes you
about the British army Is the quiet
men. saw six horses trying to run
away the other day when a regiment
Of men cheered General French after
he had thanked them in his quiet, hes
itating way, for the part they had TAX
en- In the battle of Neuve Chapeile.
Cannons the horses know. Cheers are
strange to them. 1t dawnS on an
American slowly that, in the mind OF
an English arms man, noise, fuss and
efficiency do not 90 together, Aa
compared with the small portion OF
the American army that landed at
Vera Cruz year ago, the organize
tion Of the present British army IS
perfect. Though the American army
had been waiting In state of pre-
paredness for over two years to 90
into Mexico, when it finally did land
In Vera Cruz the army horse shoers
found themselves without sufficien:
horse shoeing equipment and for many
days they were forced to shoe mules
and horses with small sets Of tools
intended only for the march.
Don't have any ceremony" seems
to be the British army mans idea OF
doing his job.
A youna officer was moving about q
room In a farm house uF
near the front, whore he had gone IN
for some hot tea. He chatted with
the officers at the table about score
of various things, finally winding up
with a discussion of the officers mess
awe ought to have French cook,
he said, az he threw his bag over his
shoulder and started for the door.
That was his good bye remark. He
might never come back again. On
the battle-ground back Of Heuve Chap
ellie the fields are dotted with small
white signal boards. They were plac-
ed there long before the battle to
show regiments where to go whe'
the battle began.
noticed many short ladders In the
trenches which the British had left
when they rushed on Neuve ChapelIe.
1--WE made lots OF those and put
them into our trenches SO that our
men could climb out quickly when
the charge began" explained an Of
ficer.
On the battlefield one sees small
bridges placed over bitches So marrow
that any soldier could jump them with
ease. But General French didn't want
any waste motions or waste exertiona
In that battle.
Were aoins to do this the best it
can be done," re said. The result o.
this quiet efficiency was that Neuve
ChapeIIe fell in one hour and halt
instead of within the ten hours tnat
had been calculated. The only thing
that sputters in this British army is
powder; the only noise comes from
uuns. This self possession of British
officers sometimes almost passes be-
lief.
| sat at a table with officers Of the
flying corps recently and they chat
ted about the most everyday thing:
But all this time they knew that one
of their mess was up In the air over
the German lines, within range Of ths
German shrapnel rifles. He came N
soon after and it wasn't until | noted
they were slappins him on the back
with unusual cordially that l realized