Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1917-11-17
TELLS or SCENES
IN THE WAR ZONE
,teotengnt Colonel 6. ". Hoffman
Writes Interesting Letter Of
Training Post.
srgscRIBE 10 SECOND LOAN
Gives Report on Amount Of Liberty
Bonds American Soldiers In
France Purchase.

Lieutenant Colonel G. NJ Hoffman,
,,rmerIg Major Hoffman, engineer in
chief off the United States army engi-
,strs directing the improvement Of
the upper Mississippi river, has writ
Tan an interesting letter concerning
scenes .n the war zone in Fran -.
He is with the Eleventh regiment of
United states army engineers, and left
this country ia August for France.
last April he departed from Rock Is
ssd being an officer in charge of in
,truction of the officers training
school at Fort Benjamin Harrison Ind.
His letter in part follows
There is much OF interest here that
lam not permitted. under the rules, to
write about. in fact letter lis some
ibipe OF am undertaking with the eau
ian always in mind that there is a
hook FUN OF prohibitions. The censor
ship is very slrict-nO names Of places
allowed. or OF people, except to say
they are Well or otherwise or Incl
dents That could by any chance have
sbv military Information in them,
meaning all Of interest to the people
at home.
Our winter camp is finished and We
have moved in following our train
loads of mpediments which took a
week fo load and send out The huts
are of galvanized corrugated iron
shpafhed with wood so the air space
gets warmed and stays so; with the
use 0f our OIL wood or coal stoves.
these are very comfortable. The build
ngs are not very light though. for
window glass Us scarce. and as these
huts are movable and may be torn
down any day TO he transported else
where. anv glass is almost sure to be
broken Iu the process.
The Liberty loan was great suc-
cess every man subscribed. and that
IS 10 ha tb0 slogan throughout the ex-
pedHio0ary force Moreover our --
men subscribed 10 2.7S3 bonds. or two
snd f0gr-feHths bonds per capita
Pretty good for men getting generally
SEQ pen month, and in a strange land
furnishing many Incentives and neces-
sites for spending on double or treble
he scale al home Owning bonds vii
ho an excellent thing for them all anf
may be- the starting Of a thrifty MI
c.eJs among our careless. extravagan
Americans.
finei one evening recently at one
M the headquarters an old chateal
which had deep dug-outs in the ter
race, and one extensive series Of I'm
ierground passages and rooms TO ac
Jommoiatc q whole army staff I
was once the scene Of active militar,
operations hut these have now gont
ma1y niles to the front not so far
h1' vo can hear the constant rumble
guns and see I'm the evening OF
no horizon The flash Of burstinj
rapDe' The outline of captive bal
looms OT hear the Vhir Of aeroplane
as they come up, sometimes in squad
IONS. starting for a bombing raid The
7re apt 10 appear any time, anywhere
over Paris the channel towns in Eng
land. and often we see them not ia
rom oar camp almost always O
course. French or English. One OF tn
latter sailed close down the other day
dropped "a lille message wrapped in q
American 7ag and then did stunts
Tor MS he seemed 10 enjoy somer
@uliilE doing # over and over again
Sometimes 70 is all as peaceful as
sunday morning I'm the country, an
hfn sndendly everything seems elet
lHhe1 with mutters Of sound in tn
'ar distance and field glasses ar
pulled ont 70 scan the horizon. the telt
phone ttngles and guess goes roun
lhal there's something big on the wa