The Glenwood post., 1917-09-29
q. 8. TROOPS COMMENTED IN
FRANCE BUT OBJECT TO
DELAYED LETTERS

farlS, Sept. 20. naVinS just re-
turned from week IS tour of the Amer
lean camps in France, part of the time
the guest of General Pershing, the in
formation I obtained regarding the
condition of all our expeditionary
forces that have arrived in this coun-
try is probably as complete as has been
obtained by any other writer.
The tour was made by automobile,
under special permission granted>by the
French government, which still main
tains control over the zones occupied
by the American army, and no effort
was made to prevent me from securing
complete detailed information in all
camps regarding the condition of pri
Yates and officers.
The only complaint 1 heard was gen.
eral and concerned the unjust delay in
mail coming from the United States to
the army. Soldiers, officers and mem-
bers of the staff of the commander-in
chief were unanimous in denuneiation
of the disorganized mail system which
had kept from them mail which should
have reached them long ago.
An effort was made to trace respon-
sibility for the delay, and it appears
to rest with the war department at
Washington. Army postmasters in
France assert they dispatch mail to
men in the camps as rapidly as it ar
rives, but that bags are exceedingly
slow in reaching their offices here.
In all other particulars, the United
States army is more. contented than on
the Mexican border. One is impressed
by the vast school of war being every
where conducted IN order to fit the
army units here now as instructors for
armies, to come. 1t is college life on 4
vast practical scale. There are lectures
on complicated problems of modern
artillery and aviation and there is en-
thusiastic interest in the hard, actual
work of war trench building, grenade
throwing.
Each day is filled with swiftly de
veloping new perspective. Lectures be.
gin early in the morning and continue
until after nightfall, and counsel is
broken here and there by practical
field demonstrations with SCARED weap-
ons of conflict, and by heroes of the
Marne, of Verdun, of the Somme, and
of other bloody fields where knights
of modern France hurled gauntlets in
the face of militaristic "kulture."
This is the marvel of the world +"
leading French artillery instructor
said. "I never knew our two nations,
on opposite sides of the world, were 80
near together. Your officers, high and
low, pursue the science of war like
hounds racing through the forest, keen
on the scent of their quarry, alert, and
not too fast to know their route. I ar,
sure they will make great instructors
for your new armies.'' .,.-.
81 hope to God they never send me
back to Brownsville" one private said,
Zone appreciates these camps through
winding loads. Some of them are very
good and others not so good. People
open their doors to American soldiers
with the hospitality of. our Southern
states.''
When cities in which some American
camps are now located learned they
were to be hosts of the new allies of
France, merchants met and agreed not
to raise prices. You may be sure there
is none of this sentiment in Paris. One
may obtain articles from one.fourth
less in these cities if accompanied by
an American officer The hotels ask
you If you are an American. If you
are not, the bill will be more.
Everywhere the American organiza
tion is proceeding apace. Vast supplies
of materials, stoves, gasoline, fuel, food
and clothing are being gathered for the
winter. New barracks are being erec.
ted for the coming armies and billets
are being arranged in widely enlarged
zones. Vast bakeries with white bread
are in operation in central cities. as
American sentries are beginning to
halt you along the road. One gives us
package of American cigarets not OBJ
tainable in Paris Another, towering
above his French comrades at the post,
cranks your automobile.
/ ..E y, -4