Norwich bulletin., 1917-08-03
SAYS KAISER IS
 WORSE THAN NAPOLEON.
For the Safety of This Country He
 Must Be Crushed.

| No one seems to know what designs | the kaiser has. He is far worse than Napoleon and for the safety of this i country has got to be licked, says Capt. E. R. St. John, U. s. R. in a l letter to his grandmother. Mrs.
 Charles De F. Rudd of Norwich Town.
 Capt Erastus R. St. John has been
 for some years an engineer in the l employ of the American Bridge Co.,. Pittsburg. He had no connection with
 military companies until he visited
 Following are extracts of the let | ter:
 Washington, D. C. 1 July %, 1917. We'll have spent a pretty busy and | hard three months. After leaving Fort Niagara we went to Belvoir, Va, winch is about three miles from Washington's cd homestead at Mount | We were camped right in the thick woods on the Potomac River and l went swimming every day. We had l to swim as that is part Of the re- | quirements of an engineer officer. | We built pontoon bridges. wooden trestles. mines, trenches, blew down
 trees. threw real bombs. had pistol practice and rifle practice and bay
 onet practice.
 l
 weeks and then came here to Wash | ington for finishing touches. Up here l we have learned how to cook. march, ride horseback q am a mounted of l hcer) dig trenches, build more and | larger bridges, survey. make roads, | ma achine gun bomb proofs, in fact
 we are being trained in everything | even to learning how to put a pack | on an army mule. and how to tell a good war horse, and how to cure horse | diseases, and how to bandage and cure ourselves if wounded.
 I I received my commission as Cap | tain of Engineers, U. s. R., and last week was put on active duty. I understand the U. s. R. United States Reserve) will be discarded when I am assigned to troops. We we will either be assigned to troops, put on special detached work or else sent home to be used later on. It is against orders to write any one about what I am going to do. Next Tuesday the Army Board will
 make assignments and few days after we will know our fate. I feel reasonably sure q can't tell how or
 ger company of drafted men' q can't tell where from or at what place) somewhere in the United States I will probably train them until per haps next year.
 However. although I know I have
 been recommended for this assign ment. I won't be sure until I get my orders. and I can't tell you until after the war department has officially pub lished the orders. The reason for all this secrecy is on account of spies. If I should be ordered to sail for France, for example, on a certain date should happen to tell somebody else, why if some spy should hear of it (and there are lots and lots of spies) that spy could find out what regiment Hol< sage that such and such a regiment was going to sail such and such a
 date at such and such place. You can see that 1t is for our safety that
 we are ordered not to tell anything about ourselves.
 This war is going to be an awful
 war No one seems to know what
 designs the kaiser has. He is far
 worse than Napoleon was, and for the safety of this country has got to be licked.
 I saw the war coming last year and that is why went to Plattsburg and
 that is why I drilled in Plattsburg and that is why l am now a captain and believe me when I tell you a captain has got some job
 captain is in command of a company of about 16o men. He is personally responsible that they are properly fed, have proper clothes. beds, blankets, are properly taught to fight. take care of themselves. have proper medical treatment If sick, and last, but not least a captain is re- sponsible for the lives of his men.
 If in battle 1 should give a wrong command and all my company was killed, I would be responsible for leo grieVing mothers wives and sisters
 In the Civil war, young but brave uutrained officers were partly the req son why 50 per cent of the deaths were unnecessary.
 We have had lecture after lecture. af book (about 20 books) teaching us how to. and how not to, act in bat tie, you can't imagine how much Wye have studied and yet now we are only good material for officers. We are not good officers yet. We will have to study and study and study. All the time we will be training our men and they will have to study, drill and practice, and the more we study and drill and practice, the fewer men we will lose and everybody, men, wo- men and children. should help by economizing and by encouraging all the men.
 If men are encouraged. they can study. drill and practice better. It's awfully hard to wake the general public up to understand facts
 ed and are brought home. then the public will rise up and demand that Germany be licked. etc.
 What they should do is to use brains Every war in the history or the world has been won because somebody used brains. Wilson used brains when he had the draft system made law. for he can get any num- her of men necessary, but he cant make those men want to fight and learn how to take care of themselves, etc.
 It is up to the public to encourage those men.
 It is all based on the Fundamental law of human nature that anybody will work harder and more earnestly 1 and thereby become more efficient, if he or she feels that his or her work is being appreciated.
 I have written the above to let you | know that I appreciate fully my re- sponsibillty and that I am not going | into this war game for fun. If I | should get command of a company of | American boys I will put all the | brains and energy I possess into fit | traaxr, inc mi xxrcI.l- 1