Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-11-29
Americans Fighting in France.
Lord NorthcIiffe in the CHICAGO Tribune.

or arms bandaged. But they were all
1.-the and active, and when they We're,
paraded for inspection before being dis
missed to the cottages and barns where
they were to find quarters. they had a
kind of smartness, in spite of their fatigue.
in spite of their muddy appearance, which
Impressed me as a characteristic decidedly
suggestive of the American continent.
Were Chewing Gum.
noticed, by the way, a number of jaws
working, and I heard afterward that the
habit of chewing gum had been introduced
among British and French soldiers by
their American and Canadian comrades.
The army doctors are inclined to think
that it is quite a useful innovation. They
say that chewing gum has a soothing eff
feet and anything which can quiet the
nerves of men who are under the fire of
trench mortar and mine throwers, called
Familiarity "Minnies' from the German
word 'minenwerfer.' is certainly of value
Those who are sending parcels to the
soldiers of the American expeditionary
force in France should certainly include
packets of this sweetmeat.
Another thing which should always be
put in is p home newspaper I mean a
local newspaper, which gives the intimate
details for which the boys at the front
long so pathetically when they are far
away from home. They like to see what
their friends are doing. They like to read
about Church s~ocials." They like to know
thai Miss Smith poured tea for Mrs.
Brown. The troops at the front always
have plenty of the worlds great news
papers to tell them what is going on, but
the local home journal is a gift for which
they are always very grateful.
What They Said.
I saw those American soldiers having
a feast on some rather special occasion
and talked with many of them. They all
assured me that they We're very glad TO
be tak1ng part in putting an end to the
horrible organized avagery of the Prus-
sian and that they were we'll looked after.
lhey said they could not understand why
there was at that time so much peace
talk in the United States.
Ihey called the Germans "slantheads,"
and said, IF our people at home only
knew what they are doing to French and
Belgian women and children, they GER
ta1nly would agreed that the war can't
stop until the P~russians are down and
out They told me with glee how, when
the Germans put our boards in front Of
their trenches with "'Why not nave a
peace talk chalked on them, the only re-
ply they got was a tremendous lombard
ment which cured them of that particu-
lar trick most effectively.
About German Propaganda.
Another trick in which the Germans
INDUCED with special reference to the
Americans then fighting against them was
10 spread the report that the allies had
hired them to fight. The hire which they
received amounted to $1.25 a day. That
may have seemed a very large sum to
the German mind. The wages paid In
Germany We're VIGOROUSLY small.
But the men with whom I talked in that
pine forest and in the village close by
were certainly not the kind of men who
could be attracted by $1.25 n day into CIV
ing up their usual occupations. There
We're business men among them, real
estate men, lumber men, university grad
yates, engineers. That silly Germany story
was. like so many of their inept attempts
at propaganda, a boomerang which re-
turned to hurt those who launched it.
A Third Lesson.
Now the German propaganda talk makes
of the American armies which are
in training for the task of helping to end
the war. There is a stern warning in holy
Scripture against the folly of underestf-
mating your enemy's strength. The Ger
mans have already had two lessons which
ought to have proved to them the wisdom
of the biblical adage. They said at the
beginning. as they had said for years be-
fore the war. that the French were a
worn out nation and could not stand uo
in battle against them. They called the
British army 'tcontemptible.''
Let the American people remember
these taunts. That which the Germans
are flinging in their insolence at the
American armies will, / know, be dis
proved in the same crushing and signifi-
cant wav