Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-07-04

able chief of staff London gossip did
not handy about him; he was not a
personality to the public though he
was to the army.
When anyone asked at the front
who was the best man to take Sir
Johns place, the answer was almost
invariably, "Haig." He had not cap
/ tured the armys imagination, but its
reason. The tribute was one to brains
The new army was arriving in great
numbers from its English drill
grounds when he took over command
His country expects him to make it
an instrument which will execute a
, successful offensive on the western
front, where the four months effort
Of the Germans at Verdun, the French
, effort in Champaign and the British
effort at Neuve Chapelle and Loos
convince many military circles that
/ the feat is impossible.
! His first operation, carried out with
out a hitch and unknown to the Ger
mans, was the taking over of the
trenches occupied in the Arras sector
by General Petain's army which was
released for Ferdun. This gave the
British an intact front of about one
/ hundred miles, and was decided upon
| by the allied commanders as wiser
, than a premature British offensive in
the mre and bog of the fiat country
Of Flanders and northern France.
A wisp of d flag and two sentries
designate the entrance to the chateau
smaller than that occupied by many
division generals which is the head
quarters Of the comma nder-in chief
Anyone who expects to be ushered
into offices with aides running in and
out Of doors and telephone bells ring
ing viii be disappointed. No place
could be farther removed from the
struggle OF the trenches and yet in
the army zone.
The only occupants Of the chateau
beside Sir Douglas are his private
secretary and his aides, who are
crooks" which is the army word for
officers who have been wounded and
are not fit for the physical exposure
Of the trenches. In other words, if
yOungster wishes to become an aide
he must have fought and then have
the decision of a doctor that he can
not stand living in ceIlar-like dug
outs"
The hour Of any appointment is ex-
act TO the minute; and whoever has
one at his chateau is expected to be
there on the minute, general head
quarters time. There is little cere-
mOny. Life at the chateau has a real
sOldiery simplicity. At luncheon the
soldier servant places the food on the
sidebOard and every one takes his
plate and helps himself Few guests
come, Sir Douglas keeps his time TO
himself for his work and his own
choice Of recreation.
One Of the aides receives the caller.
and a minute later the man with iron
gray hair and mustache, sturdy. ath-
letic Of build. slightly above medium
height, who comes into the hall could
not be mistaken, whether in or our
Of uniform. for anything but a sol
der, though something about the we'll
chiseled, regular features also sug-
gests the scholar
oxford and Sandhurst and India"
said one of his admirers, and hard
work at a desk when he was not TAX
ing exercise in the open air best de-
scribe him"
In one of the rooms OF the ground
floor the walls are hung with mans,
including a series which have been
crowded on a roller. Any portion of
the front in all its details may be re-
ferTed to in a moment. In the center
OF the room a desk, and against the
wall a table with more maps and
drawings, and some of those strange
photographs from aeroplanes of gray
ish lines of trench systems in a duskv
field Of shell and mine-craters which
make one think of the dead world of
the moon. Out of doors a field of
daisies. birds singing, a typical sun
ny day in northern France.
From this retreat a vast army is be-
ing trained and its organization COM