The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-11-17
PARENTS, AND NOT
SONS, 0DJECTT0
TRAINING IN ARMY
Mothers and Fathers Say Men
Are eebIe-MInded,


CAN'T FUNSTON Kdnsas-Ral''
lnq a national army bv draft seems to
have, er,a,,r ad,c,,e rfi.c, nm ,h
,u : L. 49, ..n, 49,,
'" ~ '' Wv "'o"'N'
'"'n't'- 'n'n ON inc n'cn anu ooy'
whom 1t touches directly, aud who have
answered the DRAFT and arc now being
,.,..,,t...
ms uo''N 'ouno p'au''e'T ou'
never'hele" It " true Mai, Gen
Leonard Wood, commanding tIlt
riyhN. ninth division and ieut Col
49, ~" p'""' "''',''" '"b'o" 'o' 4"
nave hc'h very muth surprised at the
attitude taken By such a large number
ol father, and mother, ia the seven
.t,,c. ,h,, .,r, me, ~ g,,,,,, ,o1.
- ,n m
VIC o'''' '"'L
Letters by the Hundreds,
Letters come m mere every day moi
/ by the dozens. but by tho hundreds.
asking that men and BOYS be DISCHARGED
l1r one reason at another, and com.
plalulug OF alleged mistrea,mcnt ac.
corded the boys. All OF the complaints
are investigated as far "A possible and
n tar nearly every instance cited ha,
been found 10 be aro,sly exaggerated
Tor absolutely untrue.
II isn't the men who complain 50
much but their mothers and fathers
II isn't the men and 6Ns who want To
b. discharged but their mothers AMI
fathers who want them sent home.
Feeble Minded"
i 1T YOU would believe all the letters
that ! have received from fathers and
mothers the last six weeks" Colonel
Shcphard Aid TODAY, ono would think
three out OF every ten men in camp are
ierblc minded Tha, seems To be the
most popular malady Of them all lust
why 4 doting mother or proud father
should write 10 me and insist that their
hoy Is weak minded and has been eve,
since the day he was born Is a mystery.
OF coursc they always insNt that he
should he discharged because Of the
scarcity OF geay mlllcr"in his cranium
but ii you would have suggested such a
thing to one OF them four or five
months ago, II would have been liz,
stepping unannounced INTO a den oi
African lions. Bet now. since their
, boys arc IN the army. they are drag.
= king ou, every Skeleton that ever cx,
Ned In the past nineteen generation
"" and giving that as AL excuse 20 hay,
their hoys di,ts argsd
A Instructed Sons to Act the Part.
10 "And not only do they write 10 m,
4 but We have found several instance.
a. where tbey wrote their Sous. instruct
q ng them lust what 10 do and how 10
act IN order 10 create the impression
that they really are feeble minded This
: IA mighty hard thing iof q rel
bloodrd young man 10 do, especially
whcn all his comrades are having the
timc Of their lives aud feeling beltcr
than they eyer did at home. When We
ask about II they readily admit the
nice little plot that has been cooked
up at home Tor their benefit
Once in = while, OF course we find
man who is 'rying to get our by tht
physical disability route, and who at',
like he was feeble minded or an aplcip-
lic or rheumatic, because these are the
most difficult OF all maladcs 10 detect
o But we don't discharge them until We
. actually know that there is somelhing
radically wrong viii, them and is IN.
. curableD
Some o., the mother, and lathr-,
but chiefly the mo,hcr,. are ALWAYS
r,mplyinng about thc treatment ac.
corded thc,r bow, These complaint,
are much more ifcdncn, than com.
: plaini made hy the hoy, Themselves.
Son Didn't Get Enough Sugar.
Tor instance in the mail today
Colonel Nherhafd received A letter
from A kansa, woman complaining be.
r,u.e her son wasn't getting enough
,ugar I'm MI, coffee
"A, home he AWAY, took three tea.
= spoons" she wrote. "and he tells me
that bc never can, get more than two
y and sometimes none at all Tbi, j,
something ,ha, must he corrected. And
. II It isn't I'm going 10 have our con,
a grc,,man take il up with the president"
9 "Thc congressman is a irieRd OF our