Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-11-23

Two Days at Busy Camp Dodge
rBy a Staff Correspondent

| for drunkenness since the camp opened.
One, Des [Moines resident with
the mark Of rounder on his counten-
| ance was speaking Of conditions IN the
smoking car on the way out to camp.
He said women We're plenty but that
vice is secret and not open. He ia
vored segregation and talked like one
of the wide open variety. However he
favored strict police surveillance, some
thing impossible, he declared. under
present conditions where the polio-'
might know that the woman should be
arrested and could not prove one to
justify being "bawled out" for the arr
rest of "a decent married woman &.
However the chamber Of commerce and
other organizations are eNerting inf1u-
ence and pressure to make the city as
safe as possible for soldiers.
There are or have been several hun
dred cases OF venereal disease at the
camp and in the hospital there; but
the commander and the medical OFF,
GERS all agree that they came there
with the exception OF a few. The fact
Is that a much larger percentage OF
specific diseases exists among the civil
ian than in the soldier populations
Moreover it is a foolish conclusion as
we'll as unjust to imagine the men In
camp as immorally inclined over the
same men as civilians. The boys are
the same boys and the men the same
men that they We're two months ago
with as decent impulses and character
Moreover nobody can protect a mai
against himself. Observing the largo
number of soldiers always on tn.
streets OF Des Moines few were with
women and fewer still IN suspicious
female company. The soldiers at tho
cantonment are decent fellows and
compare very favorably with the same
number of civilians as regards their
morals and their conduct.
Driving thru the cantonment tha
men you see are the same men we SEA
on the campuses at Ames and Iowa
City, the same young men that come
hurrying out OF the shops when the
noon whistle blows. the kind of young
fellows that come driving in with their
girls from the country to county fairs
and that are in evidence at farm pic
MICS. They are not different men.
Their morals and characters are the
same.
Making Fighting Men.
But they are under different con-
ditions They are gathered for another
purpose. Those young fellows are
training TO be fighting men. What we
and they are doing at Camp Dodge -
getting into physical shape and learn
ing the art OF fighting effectively. Out
on the artillery range with field pieces
they are learning the essential Of bat
terry work. Those heavy guns will send
high explosive shells into the ranks OF
enemy armies and tho men behind
them will cheer when the missiles 40
their work. Those fellows with the
three inchers will drive their fifteen
pound shells in showers. one every I'VE
seconds into ranks Of enemy flesh and
blood. II Is difficult 10 imagine all that
from the seat by the flreside or the
rocker IN the club or az
the sewing circle-but that Is what IL
amounts TO and when they are seen
actually at practice Il Is easier to VS.
ualize them stained and blackened with
battle sweating in intense activity At
the task they are learning 10 do. Those
ranks and ranks OF men swinging here
and there as one man With the olue
CLEAN OF rifles above their shoulders
or at their sides are learning the art
Of war: those men throwing missiles al
the trenches seem to be at play-out
II Is a stern play with stern and bloody
intent beyond its present seeming. ana
those men at the bayonet practice
All. that tayonet practice! That IS
where the fact Of war and OF deadly
struggle comes home 20 the civilian
,nlooker who has never in all his life
known what w.r means. 1t Is saw
age spectacle. Thrust and parry. at
lack and guard, with the long bayo-
nets sheathed and buttoned. swing OF
butt toward head and breast with the
power OF trained muscles and the
weight Of a nine pound rife IN the
swing. swift step inside the opposing
guard, shortening the hold on the rifle
and the sharp powerful thrust toward
,reas. and throat. Lessons that shall
stand in stead some day when these
men hold the trench to save an army
" storm over the top TO defeat tyran- |
Nv that strives TO enslare a world. For |
ye are making fighting men. Rather