Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1917-09-06
THE DRAFTED MEN
WERE BANQUETED
Banquet Was Given TO GratiOt's :
Quota In The High School
Tuesday Noon
SPLENDID SPEECHES GIVEN
Veterans OF The Civil War Were
Present At The Affair As Guests
OF Honor.

The Red Cross and the business
men Of Alma joined hand in hand in
giving the drafted men of Gratiot
county a fine farewell banquet be
fore they started leaving yesterday
for the training cantonment at Bat
tie Greek, TO begin training towards
making an army that will make the
United States and her allies victori-
Gus in the greatest war of world his
tory.
The banquet was held i'm the gym
nasium OF the Alma high school Tues
day, and with drafted men, members
of the G. A. r., who so nobly upheld
the cause of the union in the days of
81, and many members of the Red
( Cross present, it was an affair that
will never be forgotten by those for
tunate enough to BE- presenC
The banquet had o. serious draw
back. 1t was given for the men who
/ had been certified for service up to
! September 4th, and was announced
IN all of the papers or the county last
week. The certified list of men was
not ready until Monday night, Sep
tCmber 3rd so that it was impossible
TO send personal invitations to each
Only about thirty of the young
men who have been drafted were pres
ent
Following chicken dinner at
which everyone had more than their
fill, DR.. Harry Means Crooks, presi-
dent of Alma college in the capacity
OF POSTMASTER, called attention to the
fact that the United States was send
irg out these young men to make the
world safe for democracy, and then
paid q glowing tribute to the men Of
81 TO '65. who saved democracy in
this country He called upon DR..
I Carney Of the draft board for a few
words.
DR.. T. J. Carney, who has done
most faithful work with the draft
board with which he has been the as
sistant examiner, told his audience
that $50 Of Gratiot's young men had
( been examined. and about twenty
/ FIVE from other places, who had been
permitted to be examined here. He
then paid tribute to the manhood
OF Grat!ot announcing that only
eight per cent of the young men cx-
amined were physically unfit for
army service. indicative Of the fact
that the men Of Gratiot county are
ranking higher physically than in
most other places in the country He
told the young men that the hearts of
those at home were with them in
their work
Mrs. Frances Burns of St Louis,
the next speaker. said that no one
gave more than did the mothers that
the young men leave behind. She
asked the young men to remember
that, and asked them to aid in up
holding the great principles of the
&C ccuntry.
/ Marcus Pollasky who has the his
tory Of the county at his instant COM
mand, made a glowing address. He
started by telling these young men
that the county had been named for
Il fighter, General Gratiot, and then
told these young men that they, with
the rest of the million young Ameri-
cans called. were called TO bear the
burdens of the world in its great
war against autocracy He told or
the patience of this country during
the three years before war was de-
clared, and then paid great tribute
! tc the veterans of the Civil war. He
turned slightly and started to pay IA
tribute to these young men Gratiot
is sending out. He started with voice
choking with emotion. His voice
broke. His emotions overpowered
him, and he could not finish his fine
address.
Mr.. Halstead, owner of the State
Journal of Lansing, who was pres
ent, was called by Toastmaster
Crooks. lie had little to say, but
that little was right to the point.
Every man back Of the President"
Rev. j. Frank Jackson, the next
speaker, said, "let the Kaiser and de-
mocracy grapple. Right cannot fail.
He told of letters from the trenches.
which told Of things that indicated
that Germans were losing their
nerve. He said that he had watched
these young men being examined,
and that he had seen nearly every
{ type of soldier in Europe, but that
there would be no better soldiers
than the American type, who were
going out to save the world from a
great evil. He asked the young men
70 keep clean in thought, in word and
in deed, to remember that they are
Americans.
President Crooks of Alma college
closed the program. He stated that
the war was not Of our making, but
that it was the aim of AIN enemy
against us. He said that we were
not pulling chestnuts from the fire
for England, but that England Mad
pulled bushels Of chestnuts from the
fire for US during the past two years.
II is Americas war he said, and that
we ask nothing except to live our own
| lives. America had the cleanest