Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-12-26
"FOR GODS SAKE
WAKE UP!"
Says Congressman Dale of Island
Pond After Returning from Visit
to European Battle Front.
WAKE UP!"

DEAD DOdleS SCIl lie prone IN the mud,
to the easy-chair atmosphere of
Washington, Congressman Porter H.
Dale's message to the people of the
United States is:
"For Gods sake wake up, and real
ize what this war means!"
American troops without guns,
without enough blankets, without
necessary equipment and wholly un-
prepared for the terrific struggle
which they must face is a situation
that sends Mr. Dale back to this
country with but one desire-to i'm
press on Washington and Vermont
the tremendous peril and responsible
ity that faces this nation.
"Talk about short war;" said Mr..
Dale in New York this week, 1--WE
shall be mighty lucky if we get
through this war in two years, at
such an expense and with such loss
of men as will run into hundreds of
thousands.
81 wish I might say to every de-
partment head in Washington: Wake
up!' I wish l could take them with
me to Vimy Ridge, where the guns do
not crash or detonate, but just ex-
plode in one continual roar.
81 did not go into the front line
trenches-I don't think it is any place
for a civilian-but l walked among
the stark dead bodies of gallant En-
glishmen and Canadians, some of
their faces crushed into the ooze and
some-horribly changed and CHASTITY
upturned to the sky.
"Why unburied? Because men are
so precious and the German aviators
so vigilant that even a burying-party
in the open is Immediately marked and
cut down by their quick-fring guns.
eyes, [ wish I had some of those
easy-chair Washington department
fellows at Vimy Ridge, men who, af-
ter eight months of war, and not
enough guns in France to equip our
men, are still telling the newspapers
that everything is all right!
''They seem to think we have done
great things. Let me say that unless
we begin cutting red tape, eliminat-
ing lost motion, doing away with in
competent survivals of a worn-out
military system, stopping this foolish
talk about short war and get busy
rushing % supplies, guns and NUM-
tions to our troops in France, (2)
men, more men and men by the mil
lions, we are not going to win this
war!
"You can't put the appalling peril
that confronts this nation too strong
ly."
At Vimy Ridge, the party were SO
close to the firing line that they were
required to wear gas masks and he'll
NETS.
Mr.. Dale showed some signs of the
ordeal of storm and stress that he
and the other passengers and crew
. endured on the return trip from
! France.
The city newspapers did not say
much about it as only a few passen-
gers were aboard and only one sea-
man was lost in the gale, but the
! Vermont congressman says the big
liner had her bows stove in by head
seas-a ragged gaping hole being ac-
tually torn in the heavy steel plates
by wicked smash from a big comb
er-her after-cabin-door stove in and
| the smokingroom cabin and every
thing else between decks flooded.
One-half of the bridge was torn
away bodily, the officer in charge and
the wirelss operator being swept
from their stations and rescued by
the crew almost by a miracle. One
seaman was swept overheard and
drowned in plain sight of everyone
before boat could be launched in the
| heavy seas.
This was the same storm which fol-
lowed the Halifax disaster and Mr..
! Dale's ship was then about 500 miles
from these coasts.
The voyage across was uneventful.
| The congressional party was deep
ly impressed with the speed and abil-
| ity of the destroyer, which conveyed
the liner.
"Our boat used to be considered
fast said Mr. Dale, "but the Destroy
er actually ran rings around her.
They are tremendously fast-about
35 or 40 miles an hour, believe-and
when they sight a submarine they
chase her like hawk.
81 understand the U-boat crews
dread these speedy, quick-firing boats
more than anything else.
eve are making a great effort to
turn out airplanes-and airplanes are
greatly needed-but if we can build
and commission enough destroyers we
shall soon rid the seas of the submar-
inc menace
Mr.. Dale's description of the voy-
age to and from the war-zone is as
dramatic in some of it's details as the
tempestuous return voyage.
The huge steel shuttle of a boat
runs absolutely dark at night. The
ports are closed from the outside and
steel-clamped beyond the power of a
passenger to open them. Every nee
essary light is carefully shaded, so
that no faintest CLEAN can be seen
one hundred feet away.
Blind, almost dumb and with every
human nerve strained to the breaking
point, the big shuttle huns through
the night. If door slams, a hatch
falls or a heavy object is dropped, the
whole ship is alarmed. Running feet,
agitated voices and general excite
ment pervade the night; then the
thing is explained and the passengers
settle down once more to uneasy rest.
Under these conditions a voyage
across is no pleasure trip in war
time.
Congressman Dale had no trouble
finding anythinf Trance but the
A y,oor;oo