Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-10-12
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| twenty-seven and twenty-nine years,
respectively. Another family had four
sons of draft age, and six others had
three apiece-eight French-American
families, in brief, furnishing the amaz-
ing number of q conscripts.
Young French-American men in Low
ell-home, by the way, of George
Charette, one of the heroes of the
Merrimac" of Spanish war fame-had
always in peace times enlisted to no
ticeable extent in the regular army
and navy and in the national guard.
AS one officer of the latter organiZa
ton put it: 1.-THE French boys always
were strong for the national guard"
Upon the call to arms, the response of
these same French boys" was strik-
ing. In spite of the circumstances of
so many of them, forcing abstentiOn
because of dependents to support, vol
unteering was brisk with them in all
branches of the service When the
draft came into operation, Military
District Number 4, corresponding to
Ward 6, Lowell's banner French
ward" had only SO men to call to fill
its quota, so numerous had been the
voluntary enlistments, or Credits" In
the section.
A recruiting officer in Lowell, who
had been previously stationed in sew
eral other New England cities, showed
me page of his register where Is of
the 30 volunteers names it contained
were French, and he reported SINH
lar willingness of the French boys"
to serve wherever he had been. This
page was of course exceptional, but no
page in the book was without several
French names. They ranged all the
way from that of a prosperous young
lawyer to that of woodchopper who
Theoretically signed ''Arment," the
named he shared with the lover of the
Dame aux Camelias.
The five Lowell units of the nation
al guard went into camp with one
fourth or over of their men French.
Americans, while many more, accord
ing to an officer, had at some time
tried to join and been turned down"
for various reasons. One company of
the railroad engineers reserve, num-
bering $50 men now in France en-
gagged in railroad building, was organ
lied and is captained by a Lowell
French Canadian, who naturally sought
among his compatriots for volunteers
and secured the larger part of them
from their ranks. A company of the
state guard in Lowell is composed to
man of French boys" and captained
by one, these same French boys" be-
ing older men with dependents who
could not otherwise serve, but who
are all periodically anxious to give
what they can. Plattsburg commits
sions have also been sought and Sc
cured.
Patriotism has been shown In vari-
Gus other ways. A French-American
group of the Red Cross has been
formed, and knitting is fast and furi-
Gus among the French girls. Priests
in the French churches have preached
volunteering. Earlier in the war one
young priest stirred social gatherings
largest organization of French-Amer.
lean men in the city, by passionate
appeals for voluntary Service under
the American colors. That organiza-
ton alone has over 60 volunteers now
wearing khaki or the sailors blue.
In brief, all reports tend to show
that the one million and half people
of Professionalism stock in the
United States are gladly and even
eagerly accepting war service, while
two million of the same people In Can
ada are apparently opposing it zen
bloc" What can be the reason for
this striking difference of attitude?
The English colonies in 1776 became
American of their own volition. The
French of Canada became English in
1853 by force of conquest. England
to the American colonials was the
burden shaken off; France, to the
Canadian colonials, the lost treasure.
There is no logic" young Amer
lean once said to me, 'about the
French Canadian affection for France
and the corresponding dislike of Eng
land-one born of the other-after q
century and half of English rule. 1t
is mere sentiment. Political, that is,
practically, Frances name is erased
from the Canadian consciousness"
The sentimental link with France
has naturally remained stronger with
the educated classes. 1t always does.
The cultured lose more in losing the
ancestral land because they had pos
sessed more of that lands heritage.
This is what has puzzled Americans
so much-the contradiction in the Que
bee Frenchman's refusal to serve when
he is described as still fond of France. |
This contradiction, however, is not
wholly contradictory. The ancient
French blood bond, the occult and
mighty pact of race, is stil the OBJ
scure root of many things, and it cam
not be ignored in getting at" the
complex feeling of French-Americans
on the attitude of their Quebec cousins