Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1917-11-22

/
and pictures don't tell. One must
see them in order to realize what it
is like and to appreciate the million
of lights and magnitude of the most
wonderful avenues in the new world.
Here one comes in contact with
every race in the world / guess, al
though l have not seen any Eskimos
in seal skin furs, but the seal skins
are very much in evidence. Rich
man, poor man, beggar and thief, all
jostle by each other in the immense
throngs that push their way up and
down the street, especially at noon
and evenings.
They say that a person is killed
on the average of one an hour on
the street, and it is no wonder, the
way they jump past the fronts of
the street cars into the mass of NOV
| ing autos and onto the side walks
| where sometimes one can only go the
way the crowd goes, when you once
get into it. A trip to China town
the other night was quite a feature
there are still standing and in use
but of course there are no more
black hand societies, and all the I'M
uCi pidStS dI6 ClOScU Dul TIC
Chinks still live there. They say
there is only one Chinese woman to
every one hundred men. So at least
some of them are happy They say
there are about $1,000 cinnamon
there and about $50 Chinese women
We were in real Mandarin where
all the partitions, tables, etc. were
genuine carved lockwood and some
of the ancient designs sure were
! beautiful altho the age showed very
! plainly. The Jaso house or Chinese
church is also a place that one should
see. The carvings there are some
thing wonderful as there is one
piece there especially that was made
by Chinese general that took him
over fifty years to complete. The
streets in Chinatown are about I5
or 20 feet wide and the side walks
are about 3 feet so they don't ac-
comodate very many people. The
| flags in the side walks were so worn
with age that most of the people
walk up and down the middle of the
street.
We were also thru the Jewish
| part of. the city called the Gletto.
where one can buy anything from a
| pin to a c0OkStOve.
The streets are so crowded here
that autos have to run at a small
rate of speed to avoid running over
| the giddishers, of course we strain
ed our necks till they acked, at all
the high buildings, but the Statue
of Liberty is one of the things we
have yet to see. I've seen a num-
Der of write ups on Camp Dodge
and about the size of it, but l don't
think the people who wrote them
knew about this place, as there are
five or six camps here and they are
so close together that they might as
well be called one. Here we have
the largest auto truck camp known
in the world and that is taking in
quite lot of territory, they tell
me, l have not seen them all l guess
that there are about $4,000 trucks
there. Then there is the aviation
corps, with hundreds of Lieutenants
and scholars, which takes up quite
a large space one of the aviation
fields adjoin our drill grounds and
that is where the new beginners get
initiated into the mysteries of the
art Of flying and believe me some
OF the boys are dare devil rascals.
Sometimes they go buzzing barely
over the tops of our tents and then
again they are so high they look like
a mere speck up in the clouds.
There are few who are masters of
their profession and to watch them
come down sure does make one feel
shaky as they loop the loop and
other stunts, they may take a notion
to do.
A few days ago on a huge Italian
biplane made a trial trip to some
place in Virginia with a load of pas
sengers abroad.
Wright Brothers have an ero-
plane factory in this camp. 1t is
not completed yet but they are now
building areoplanes on large scale.
for the government.
One camp is not quite as nice as
the one we left in Camp Greene but
we cant complain even if we can
we can't complain even if we do find
3 or 4 inches of water on the floor
once in while. We don't expect
to stay here great while as it cant
be possible that we are to live in
tents in such a damp place during
the winter. We hope to be moved
into barracks soon if we cross the
pond. We have Just been issued our
winter clothes, they consist of 1
trench coat, rain coat (please don't
rain) wooden gloves, 3 suits of
underwear. wooden gloves, we are 60
ing to get some socks soon, this has
all been issued in the last day or so
and it has been keeping our supply
sergeant on the jump the question
ing he has been asked the last day
or so would fill a book, you ought
to hear him rave (poor Pat).
We sure feel proud of our cooks,
and l don't believe there Is a COM
pany around here that feels as good
as we do.
The Co. next to us got there gas
masks yesterday We expect our soon.
When / start description Of our
trip. camp. life in the army etc I
feel like the green reporter that
went to the Worlds fair to write a
description of it. He was there
three weeks and wrote back four
words. "The scene battles descrip-
ton"
Floyd Campbell, Roy Campbell
and Earl Knapp are doing fine and
send their regards to you. I have
not written to you for long time
and hope the length of this letter
will make up for the back numbers.
l havn't near so much time to
write as you might think. we work
quite steady from 5:45 in the morn
ing till dusk at night and have to
study a whole lot after that, besides
keeping my clothes fixed up and
clean. Hoping this finds all the
folks as well as 1t leaves me. am
your son.
SERGEANT RALPH LAW,
lend Field Hospital. 116th SAM