The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-12-30

very well, anyway. When ] go to city on leave, I can geperally get London Times or some other good news paper which is only d few days old, and am able to Fse the general trend of events
 HEAR POLIAICAL NEWS
 ''But the best thing have had in the newspaper line in some time was the little bundle of Age-1eralds of about the middle of October. I learned of the gube e,iatorial situation. the announce menC of Judge Brandon, the injection of the religious issue into the campaign And many other things I wanted to learn about. I had already written to three men in Alabama asking for detailed in
 formation on the political situation Re- garding the injection of the religious question, you will doubtless recall that it was just two years ago next month (December) that we discussed this mat ter in detail and agreed that it was destined to be one of the chief ques- tions in the 1918 state campaign. How ever much interest we might feel in political questions at home, they will be settled without assistance of the men of the state over here as no provisions are made for us to vote. In that con- nection I might state that the New Workers over here voted in the mayor s race and took a keen interest. The Ca nadians and Australians are also vot- ing now on the question of 'conscription or seective draft But regarding coming
 elections, so far as I am concerned, Alabama will look good to me after the
 war, no matter wko is governor.
 COAL AND SUGAR SCARCE within a few days I am going to leave my present location and go to a place a considerable distance away, [ where it is much colder even than it is here, I am informed, and this in | 1 L f~ |. ~oI teS h 1n1 out like some precious metal or rare ! jewel. You ought to see our coal over here. Recently we tried to make fire out of a bucket of ashes which had been left in the room. It looked so much like the coal and burned so much like 1t we did not discover the difference until the orderly came in looking for his ash can. I have made many trips on the railroad trains slnce coming to Europe and have travelled 'first-class' for hundreds Of miles But 1 have yet to run across any heat on the trains. Coal 1 is used for military purposes, indus l tries and railroads first. But you never l hear anyone complain. The people here don't and we Americans can't afford to, l If we wanted to- And sugar is another | commodity they don't waste over here. 1 You never see a bowl of sugar If you are given two Jumps in safe for your l coffee and only drop in one the waiter quietly and unobtrusively removes the l other He is afraid you will put it in l your pocket and take it away.
 !, HOT WATER ECONOMY
 l And hot water Is another thing they economize on It is absolutely out of ! the question to have hot water except I on Saturday and Sunday, even in the finest big city hotels, and not all Of them have it then. As for steam neat 1 I thought the winter was half over be- | fore they even pretended to turn on the heat. And then you have to hold your bare hand on the radiator for several minutes to tell whether or not 1t IS on. ] Don't get the idea from these obserVa- tions that we are living in hotels ove l here Far from it. It Is only when mov- l ing from one place to another, or on l week-ends or leaves that we get to them. l Of course, many officers on the stan, i the uuartermaster department and those holding positions with certain headduar- 1 ters 'comprends pas when you insist only get occasional glimpses of these | things.
 AMUSING INCIDENTS
 l American officers, separated for time from the troops of the United l States. have encountered many anus 1 ing incidents in their efforts to secure l drinking water The Frenchman sim- 1 Div cannot comprehend why anyone 1 should drink water. It is unheard or | in this country, neither men. women nor children, rich or poor ever doing any such thing. If they do not care ] for their wine they drink tea and col 1 fee, but water-never.
 l "A waiter in cafe who can under stand everything you say simply shakes
 his head, throws up his hands and nut ters scomprends pas" wen you insist 1 in very good French upon having glass of water. He simply does not know what you want with it and you
 usually don't get it. Many Americans | have been conducted back to the lava tory the waiter thinking that probably
 water for bathing the hands is desired,
 and if you "see' some of the Americans speaking and 'gesturing" French, us- l ing both hands, you would not blame the waiter for misunderstanding. But as an example of the French viewpoint on this water question, I will relate
 an incident that actually occurred at the place where I now am. The mess | was in charge of Frenchman and no water was served at meals nor was
 there any for drinking purposes around the camp. The pumps all bore the sign Eau non potable" which had been placed there recently to keep anyone from drinking contaminated water. When the American officials ordered that boiled water be provided. the Frenchman Tn charge of the mess agreed promptly, but with no idea what was to be done with the liquid. How ever. at the next meal on long table
 at which about 75 American officers
 sat, there appeared a little bottle of
 water which was actually boiling at
 the time. And the Frenchman thought
 he had fully complied with his orders
 The matter was remedied at the next
 meal.
 WONDERFUL" BREAKFAST
 But speaking of French meals re-
 minds me of petit dejeuner"-that
 fearfully and wonderfully made break
 fast. I can imagine that before the
 war when wheat flour was plentiful
 when the fine French rolls and real
 coffee-not chicory-were obtainable, it
 would not have been bad to have a
 breakfast of coffee and rolls 365 days
 in the year, even for men who took
 much exercise and were exposed to
 cold. But the first few rainy, cold
 mornings I went up against that bowl : of coffee and that war" bread which
 could be cut only With a very heavy
 carving knife, and learned that there