New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-15

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir. New York is full of them-out-of-
town soldiers, tall, rangy, loose-llmbed'
straight and outstanding. Somewhat re-
.srved Of speech. they look one square in the
eve as they talk in their quiet, soft-spoken
way Their whole bearing and demeanor be-
speak a calm strength in reserve.
They are a cross-section Of America. These
Young men come from all parts of the coun-
try. the Mississippi Valley. the Far West
and the Southland They are coming to the
Eastern seaboard camps to await embarka-
ton for somewhere in France" Thousands
Of them are now at Camp Upton and Camp
Mills. They spend a large part Of their fur
Tough seeing New York. They are observant,
and the town, too, is beginning to take
notice Of them.
chatted with group Of them the other
might've Of them farmhands from the
cornfelds of Iowa, one a machinist in a
small town in California and one "clerkn'
down Alabamy way" Their views on their
present mission are interesting. Engaged
in vast military enterprise, they are any
thing but mlitaristc in spirit or outlook.
That sub-stratum OF American hard-headed
common sense and repressed shrewd humor
lay close to the surface.
Plain Matter-of-Fact
The war? An unavoidable evil, an un-
plessantness to be gotten through WITH as
soon as possible, and then back to home for
theirs. No grandstand playing, no hysteria
Just a plain, matter-of-fact way Of looking
at the situation. No mouthings, no strut
tings, no boodthirsty herocs, no hungering
/ for loot. One young fellow was somewhat
bellcose. He drawlingly admitted to the
hope that he'd get a chance "to clip the
points Off the Kaiser's upturned mustacbes
and bring 'em home to sister" How decided
" mild and lamblike such views in COMPARE
son with the hysterical predictions OF our
militant pacifists Of what would befall the
Republic when once the foul hand Of a
bloody miltarism had gripped US in its dire
clutch, How refreshingly contrasting to the
fearful prophecies of those fearful fatal
lists. Added he from down Ioway way:
"Gad to be off on an adventure with the
army? What? With corn now shocking at
( u cents a bushel including nubbins? Me
FOR home and the feel of a saddle between my
legs and an occasional run down to Cedar
Rapids: and say, friend. If y really want Z
see a real lit-up White Way as is lit up, you
Just hit that town on a Saturday night.
Yes. sr-ee" breeze as from across the
Western plains waited all through their con-
yersation.
One of the young soldiers told me that he
was a native of the first generation on this
soil of German parents who had settled here
thirty years ago In speech, manner and
mental attitude he might have come by d.
rect lneal descent from the original May
flower Charter party. Certainly in our West
the American amalgam runs smooth.
/ Now, while these young Americans are Wis.,
| iting polygenetic and polygot New York,
why not utilize their peculiar talents in the
cause of popular patriotic education? New
York City has been the sieve to America S
melting pot. She has strained out the less
venturous in that foodtide of millions of
. immigrants that have poured through her
gates in the last sixty years, and these rave
stopped with her in language demarked for
eign colonies and group-conscious ghettos.
Why They Came
Escape from rigorous economic conditions
in their homelands. or political and religious
prosecutions, was not the sole driving :orce
that made them seek Americas shelter-port.
large part of them had come to America
TO escape years Of grinding service in the
class -offcered autocratc armies of the kings
and cars and kasers Of East. Central and
Southern Europe. Their lives were their
own. They would not throw them away to
satisfy the whims and selfish ambitions of
any sword-rattling monarch. They would
away 20 land free from the curse of mad
militarism. to land where their children
could grow up and live and die in the fulness
Of years.
And now that this world war has crept
over to the shores OF America, and they be
gin to see the evidences of military prepare
ton about them. they are become panicky.