Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-08-28

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Canteens and rest stations for tho
French and American troops will be
established at once in France by the
American Red Cross.
The war Council has been trying
to find out just what the Red Cross
could do most effectively to hearten
the French ARMY and give to French
soldeiers a token of the fact that
America is with her Ally with all her
power. The French Army officers
have told the Red Cross that canteens
aid rest stations would do more for
the immediate welfare and content
ment of the soldiers than anything
else that could be done. Therefore,
the problem is going to be met thor
oughly and at once.
The poilus come out of the trenches,
to go on leave, mud-stained, vermin-
covered, reeking with infection. They
are marched to the nearest railhead
il that condition, where, perhaps, they
find little station with scanty ac-
comodations for a dozen passengers.
The Red Cross is going to put
shower baths there, and laundries and
mending and disinfecting rooms, which
will remove the menace of dirt and
disease which these men carry to their
homes. Then there will be rest rooms
where they can read and write and
play games, to make the transition
to civilian life easier, and small stores
where the can buy timed delicacies,
tobacco, and odds and ends.
Similar canteens will be opened at
the railroad functions where the men
must wait enroute. At some Of them
now these men, still trench-stained
have to lie on station platforms all
night. There will be dormitories at
such places, and lunch-rooms at all Of
them where hot meals can be bought
a price just above cost.
Nearly fifty thousand soldiers are
passing through eleven of these sta
lions every day. They will have con-
vincing proof of American frienliness
when they find American women-the
Women's Bureau is now recruiting
fifty of them for such service-ready
to help them.
Just behind the firing line the Red
Cross will put field canteens. Extend
ing the work already begun by the
French Red Cross, we shall see that
every corps of the French Army, ana
ultimately our own, has one of these
stations, which will supply hot and
cold drinks to the men who are fight
ing. Many of them now have nothing
to relieve their thirst EXCEPT their
days ration which they carry in con-
tainers which may be smashed at any
minute
The canteen is placed in or near
the second line, and refreshing drinks
are carried right into the front
trenches, Each station can keep about
1876 gallons of hot drinks at the boil
ing point and has several thermos
containers holding six to twelve gal
Ions apiece. Four thousand portions
coffee, tea, cocoa, bouillon, lemonade,
mint-are sometimes served from one
canteen in single day.
Here, too, American workers will
be found. The "convoyer" in charge
of the canteen will be Red Cross
man, with French soldiers to help
him. Many of the poilus will get their
first glimpse of the American uniform
in this way. Just the cup of coffee,
o. the cold drink, may make all the
difference between sagging morale and
spirited fighting.
To carry out these plans the War
Council has appropriated about $780,,
900, which will serve to establish the
canteens and maintain them for about
three months. Much of the original
equipment will be supplied by the
French Army.