New Britain herald., 1916-06-21

upon the brave soldiers breast, wheth- CT it be the simplest trooper, the black
 est Senegalese rif1eman, or an officer.
 he kisses him heartily on both cheeks,
 never being satisfied with semblance
 of an embrace as are some other gen.
 erals.
 After conferring with the general of
 an army, visiting the quarters of the
 troops or passing a regiment, Joffre
 alwaW consults his little paper, the
 itinerary of his round, and this IS
 about the only thing that disturbs the
 equaninity of his temper. We are
 going to be at least twenty minutes
 late" he often says, impatiently, and
 this means that the man at the wheel
 must make up that time in order to
 get back into the generals good
 graces; he never goes too fast to suit
 his illustrious passenger.
 The tour of inspection is generally
 finished about 5 o'clock in the after
 noon. Then back at headquarters
 comes the most annoying part of his
 days work-questions of displace-
 m ent, prom otion, retirement, recom-
 penses of officers, and citations of sol
 diers, besides a thousand-and-one
 questions relating to arms, material, ammunition supplies and the sani- tary department The reserve sup plies of shells for cannon of differ ent calibre is a matter of such mo- mentous importance in this war that Joffre leaves these details to no one else; he keeps the figures in his head, and he, any day, can give the exact reserve stock of ammunition in hand. He knows also the exact figures rep resenting the daily output of the am-
 munition factories. He personally at- tends to all trials of new engines of
 destruction or protection.
 After the audiences relating to these questions, the general receives the director of what is called the "ser- vices of the rear" to discuss trans pertation and plans for the repair or construction of railroads; still more designs, more figures, all of which are organized, eo-ordinated, and filed in the prodigious memory of the gen. eral-in-c chief, so accurately as to re- quire no memorandum.
 Safety Valve Of the Army. General Joffre has been described by some of his generals as the safety valve of the army While he is the directing intelligence of the great machine, he is at the same time the relief for overeharged minds of su- bordinates who, under certain contin- geneies, may be over affected by mat ters of secondary importance. Sur prised by some unlocked for develop
 ment and impressed by a com plica- ton that seems to them decisive and perhaps irremediable, a simple ob- serVation from Joffre often reduces the exaggerated incident to it's proper proportions and cools the blood of his subordinate.
 The general-in- chief is not partial to the visits of civilians in wartime. He has resisted with admirable con-
 sistency the constant pressure of thou sands of influential civilians who have no business at the front. but never theess desire ardently to see it. Be- sides the hundreds of war correspon- dents, the supervising committees of
 the Cham Der of Deprties hundreds of
 other influential politicians, ministers, and other governme entaI officers, there
 are the visiting notabilities from the
 allied countries who never fail to put
 in an application or visit to the front.
 When the general lunches at the general headquarters, he manages to satisfy some of these innumerable de- 1 mands by receiving French or foreign l ministers generals, other officers of 1 allies armies, or notabilities, at his
 table. The dinner is generally a good ! one because Joffre eats with an ex- 1 cellent appetite, although he drinks l little and smokes not at all. It is
 one of the hours of the day which he looks forward to, because questions
 relating to the service are vigorously barred from conversation and gaiety
 Is the rule. After dinner the general
 turns over rapidly the leaves of the latest illustrated papers and com
 plains of the multiplicity of photo- graphs representing him in all sorts
 of positions and poses that he rarely
 finds to his taste.
 1 The general-in chief returns to his i work half past eight in the even 1 ing to receive the reports of the day 1 that have arrived in his absence, and i to approve the communiaue to the
 press, which is never transmitted to Paris without having received his ap-
 probation. The ordnance officers bring in the last telegrams and re- 1 ceive their orders for the morrow. At 1 10 o'clock, after the members of his
 staff have all retired, the general fin ally, entirely alone in his workroom,
 finishes his days task.