The daily Alaskan., 1917-09-17


 tie was told me by eRe Pf epg mea, who said he was there wheo 1t began, He said one of the Australians had careIessIy remarked that the British generals had decided 1t was time Co get through with the ssdeShow tn Bel Rlum, and this was the Eeason Thy they bud sent regular troops Ike tho Australians in to relieve tbe CsnadianA
 Thep come sensitive Canadian wish sd the Australians luck and hoped they'd finish 1t up as well as they had the affair ta the Dardanelies. Alter that our two days rest was made up principally of beating 1t cut Of esta- minas when strategic requirements suggested Q new base CT beating t into estaminss when it looked as if we could act as efficient rs-eltorcsmentA- That light never stopped for forty-eighe hours. and the only places 1t didn't Include were the church and the hos pitals. I'll bet to this day that the BelglaRs whe run the estHBhas in Poperinghs viii duck besstnd the bars if yeu just mentIoR Caaada aud Aus- krsHa In the sane breath,
 But I'm bound to gay that t vas good, clean aghtng, Nobody hued shot, nobody pulled bayonet, md no body got the wrong Idea about any thing. The Australian heavyweight champion who landed oa nc went right out in &he street And RatHtsd one Of our Hsutansnts We had tuEt ono satisfyinE yeaeetton after the hsAt was over-tbe Austrnlia1 battalion that rO- lleved us fell heiT to the eounteFattack which the Germans sent across to even up on our bombing raid.
 Down to fhe sOmms.
 We began our march to the somme by 6 hike to St. omer, the aEst Brit ish headquarters ip Europe. Then we stopped for a week about twenty niles from Calais, where we underwent q course Of intensified traiRing for open fighting. The infantry tactics, in which we were drilled, were very stmt- lar to those of the Upited States army, those Rhleh, tH fact, were originated by the United States troops in the days of Indian fighting. We covered most of the ground around Calais on our stomachs in open order. WAile it may seem tmpertiReat for me, q mere non com, to eIppess an opinion about the larger affairs of the campaign, l think I may be excused for saying that the war didn't at all take the course which was expected and hoped for after the aght on the Somma Undoubtedly the allies expected 10 break through the German line, That Is well known now. While we were being trained near Ca lais for open warfare very larg0 force of eavalry was being assembled and prepared for the game purpose. It was never used.
 That vas last Anggst, and the allies haven't broken through yet Even tually believe they will break through, but in my opinion men who are drawn for service In the first hRlf million of our new American army win be veterans in Europe before the big break comes which will wreck the Prusslan hope of success in this war. And tf Ee of the U. s. A. don't throw In the weight to beat the PTrs- slanS now they will not be beaten, sDd in that case the day will not Do very far dista1t when VIC will have to beat them to save our homes and our na- ton. War is e dreadful and inglor8ous and III smelling and cruel thing. But if we hold back now VIC Win be in ths logical position of a man hesitadng to 90 to. grips With a drunken. savage, shrieking, sPewtng maniac who has all bHt whipped his proper keepers and is Eeing after the onlookeF. However, l wish we had had two months more of weather on the Somme. There might have been Q different story to tell
 simplifiSd Medicine.
 we got drafts of recruits before we went to the Somme. and some of Our wounded men were sent back to Eng land, where we had left our safety first battalion" That was really the Fifty-flrst battalion of the Fourth M- vision of the Canadian forces, com posed of the physically rejected, men recovering from wounds and men tn- jured h training. The Tommies. how ever, called 1t the safety first" or "Sfa- tor GildRy's Light infantry" Major GIlday was our battalion surgeon. Be was lTamenSely popular, and he achteHL cd great name for himself He made one realize what a great personal force a doctor can be and what m nn- necessary elaboration there ts tn the ! civil practice of medicine.
 Under Major Gildayls administrator no man in our battalion was sick if be could walk, and If he couldn't walk there was a reasonable suspicion that be was drunk. The major simphAed medicine down to an exact science of