The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-02-06
Birmingham Man Writes That Brigade Is Mortified by the Unjust Stories in Circulation
VERY FEW WEIGHED
 AND FOUND WANTING
 AMONG WHOLE 5000
Boys Have Had Some Sol diers' Hardships and Have Borne Them Without a Murmur


 Fourth Alabama infantry, one of the best known and most popular young men of Birmingham, writes from Nogales that the boys of the Alabama brigade feel mortified by the stories in circulation about them at home.
 Captain Jordan says the boys are not "squawlzers' or "quitters," and that it is unjust to condemn brigade because one o& two men have been weighed and found wanting" He writes:
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 Sir: The members of the Alabama brigade have been very much surprised and mortified at the way in which the recent complaints sent home from No gales have been misunderstood. It seems that the entire brigade has been cred ited with having made these complaints, and that as consequence the men have been accused of being 'quitters''
 This view is so unjust and so utterly without foundation that it is hard to believe that it has found credence among fair minded people. Surely no one could be so unjust as to condemn an entire brigade merely because few members of it have begged to be sent home. The brigade musters some 5000 men, and it would be strange indeed if it did not contain some malcontents.
 Simple everyday fair play demands that the vast majority be not condemned because of the doings of a few The thousands of hard working, hard handed young men who are doing their duty here on the border without complaint should not be forgotten while thinking of the few who have been weighed and found wanting
 HAVE DONE THEIR DUTY
 With the exception of the few home sick young fellows who have rushed into print with their tales of woe, the Ala bama troops here at Nogales have been taking their medicine graceful AL though they have been in service seven months and have undergone all the hard ships and privations incident to sol diers life in strange country and an ungodly climate, they have done their duty like men in a clean and workman like manner.
 The greater part of the recent "squawk- ing" has not been done by the soldiers, but by their misguided relatives and friends at home. The whole thing seems to have been started by a report sent
  correspondent, to the effect that the Ala bama troops were suffering tortures equal to those of .Washingtons army at Valley Forge. This statement was so absurd that it seemed hardly to deserve de- nial but when our Tucson hikes were compared to Napoleon's retreat from Moscow, the matter became serious in- deed.
 Letters and telegrams from anxious i,, rr1r- prised and outraged soldiery. Men who had learned to endure heat and cold and fatigue as part of the days work, and who had for months been doing the hard est kind of manual labor while learning the most exacting of trades, were now worked overtime answering solicitous queries from home. Naturally their rela- tives were panic stricken from reading the reports sent out, and this panic natu- rally spread to a few of the men in camp. Under the circumstances 1t is most cred itable to the brigade. that more of the men did not Join in the wailing chorus.
 GOT WORD FROM HOME
 For days the Alabamians read in their home papers of their own fearful suffer ings They learned for the first time that they were hungry. that they were freezing, that they were insuffciently clothed, and that the government they had sworn to defend had forsaken them. They learned what no one else had ever heard before-that the regular troops were living in luxury while they were left to die of exposure. No wonder some of them succumbed to self pity, and raised a cry of distress. It is cause of great pride to me that so few of them took up the cry. It speaks volumes for the manhood of Alabama that at such a time the vast majority of Alabamians here at Nogales stuck to their duty with out whimper.
 The greatest hardship the men have had to bear is the feeling of shame that these complaints have brought upon them. Imagine the feelings of husky young infantryman, bronzed weather beaten and ''bearded like the bard" who has been faithfully doing his bit here on the border, when he learns that after all his months of honorable service the folks at home regard him as a "squawker' and a "quitter.' And all because a few newspaper men have made copy out of naturally hard conditions, and few