The Washington times., 1915-05-07
KITCHENER ARMY 100
PER CENT EFFICIENT
Not Only Brilliant Parts Of War
In Which Remarkable Re-
suits Are Attained.
By WILLIAM G. SHEPHERD.

copyright, 1915. by The United Press. Copy
righted In Great Britain).
HEADQUARTERS OF THE BRITISH
ARMY, Northern France, April 20 .tby
mail tofNew York).-A week with the
British army Is divided into two parts
You spend the first part, II you're an
American, learning that quietness and
an absence of fuss doesn't mean In
efficiency; you spend the second half In
observing demonstrations of 100 per
cent efficiency.
It is not only in the brilliant parts OF
war, like flying and fighting, that you
see remarkable results attained; 1t Is
In the common, everyday affairs Of
maintaining the army and keeping 1t
: happy.
I can. show you a young British Of
fcer who probably wears a monocle
whose stride Is Piccadilly, and who
never loses his well-bred expression OF
being bored even while he's showing
you over the great bath-house and
ago.
Three Months Without Bath.
Wei. here's the bag of tricks" he
says, as he waves his riding stick across
the entrance of the red brick building in
certain town. You see there were an
awful lot of our men who got no chance
to battle during the early part of the
war. Some of them went three months
without bathing. I've got two of their
shirts nailed up. In picture frames
HhSs Hrsb o~shs to be tied t+ to the
much as the little animals, what? Well,
We took this jolly old place and turned
i,,diats IT. into a cleaning house for tho tho
eoe eoidiers Incidentally I'VE" is really
Had to work with what we could
find here" he explains. We're bath
Ing thousand soldiers here every day.
y takes a soldier an hour to go through
the mill, and he comes out with mis-
uniform sterilized and with his socks.
shirt and underwear all clean and fresh
and darned."
~ "H9w SS,od do you ou get his clothes washed
"Oh, you see, he doesn't get his own
underwear and shirt and socks back.
He gets layout that was left by some
soldier yesterday; he leaves his layout
here and some soldier that comes to-
morrow will get that"
The British army efficiency extends
70 psychology. In town not q great
distance from the bathhouse is the
Follies.' It's theater
H. Makes Him Forget.
H<S object is to make the soldier be-
hind the trench line forget all about
1ect as the remarkable new convalescent
hospitals in the war zone, which are
nothing more nor less than rest cures
1or tired or nerve-strained men and not
hospitals for wounded or sick men.
1.-The Follies" is a real theater, in a
fair sized town. It's soldiers show
The six men who make up the troupe
were soldiers, excused from shooting
and fighting just because they could
sing and dance and make other soldiers
forget themselves.
The night l saw THE Follies" there
wore London officers around mo who
$n1oyed the show as heartily, apparent
". as II 1t had been given in a music
hall in London. The song hit of the
night was this:
Hear the military bands a-playing.
Rule Britannia and God save the King
But for the fellows in the trenches.
Thinking of their wenches.
There's one song only.
When they're sad and lonely
And that's little Johnny Morgan.
On his old mouth organ,
P1aYing Home Sweet Homa,"