The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-04-08


 the American expeditionary force.)
 To the fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, wives. sweethearts and friends of the. men in the American expeditionary force:
 We hear that you have been regal ed with some alarming stories about us of the A. E. F. and our conduct here in France. In fact, some of those stories have been relayed to us, and if they weren't so far from the truth we might be inclined to get really mad. But knowing the authors of some of them-for some of the hysterical stripe have really been over here-our first inclination is to laugh.
 But, after all, it's no laughing mat ter to be talked about behind our backs in such reckless and irrespon- sible way by reckless and irresponst- ble people, though no doubt some of them have the best intentions in the world and think that they, and they alone, can save us. (They have prob ably told you that, and asked you to contribute money to their worthy cause, haven't they?) What hurts most, however, is the thought that, though we know you are loyal to us and have the firmest of faith in us, perhaps these dire tales may have caused you anxiety, may even have brought you to believe that perhaps, after all, we had become a bit neg lectfuI of our trust; and that, so be- lieving, you might have been sorely, and entirely unduly, distressed in spirit.
 al stories are nothing but myths. Abso- lutely nothing else. And we have the facts to prove that they are. Listen: The percentage of venereal disease | in this army of yours is three-tenths of one per cent.--the smallest percent age on record for any army, or any civil population, in the worlds history. It is a sober army, and Well-behaved one. The statistics in the possession of the judge advocate generals de- partment prove that there have been, in proportion, fewer cases of drunken ness, fewer braches of military disci- pline among it's members than has been the case with any army whose records have been preserved.
 One Story Circulated
 Now, to take a specific instance. A certain self-constituted board of nor als'' is quoted in dispatch from the United States to the effect that 1,046 men from the northeastern states" were locked up in the guardhouse following their fist pay day, for drunk enness.
 That is the story; here are the facts:
 l &n ing from the northeastern states" came to France, the total number of their men locked up in the guard house for all offenses-not for drunk enness alone, mind you-has been eX- actly 134 to date. In other words, the half-constituted champions of sobriety generously multiplied by eight, the number of men imprisoned for all of- Ifenses-including as it does those pun ished for infractions of rules, insGbor- dination and the like-and passed the enlarged figures on to you are repre- senting the number of men locked up for drunkenness alone! No wonder you were scared-as they probably intended you should be
 Just to refute them again, here is a quotation from the report of a Pro- testant chaplain on active service with these same maligned troops from the northeastern states" Bear in mind too, that this particular chaplain has been in the army but a short time, and threfore brings a fresh and impartia judgment to bear on the problems This is what he says:
 "In performing my priestly func- tions 1t has been my privilege to traVe considerably among the troops, and i pleases me immensely to be able tC state that find moral conditions mos satisfactory. The military authorities ] are vigilant in removing temptation , We have a clean army; and I am hon estly convinced that the men il : France are in less danger morally thar they would be in service in their owl country"
 ! 'The men in France are in less dan
 ger morally than they would be il
 service in their own country" Ina last clause is worth repetition. Pon der on that, dear people at 'home. :, Here's something more. The Cath
 olic chaplains attached to these sam
 slandered troops declare that out o
 thousands of men admitted to the con
 fessional, only three have confessed t
 sins of any magnitude. A correspond
 ent of an internationally known dail Q newspaper, whose business it Is to ge 3, facts and to report them accuratel! = adds this:
 e 'T was in the only town of any sig e in the whole area occupied by tn e troops referred to on the night whe
 they were first paid off in France. Tn , majority of these men received fro1
 two to three months pay, totaling i . many cases $100 or more. The street ) were crowded with soldiers buying u
 everything in sight, from candy an
 chocolate to clothing, butts the al
 solute truth did not see a sing drunken soldier; while the provo!
 guard records show the smallest nun
 Der of arrests. Since then I have see . a good deal of the troops referred 1
 as Northeastern as a result of whic
 I can unhesitatingly state that if tf
 troops training in the United Stat, 7 conduct themselves as well, they'l
 doing nobly."
 Officer Praises Men.
 Finally, the commanding officer (
 this same body of men-and our con | IHdAOIh6 OA4lSOAS d1 Ool SSNSI SSt CIT
 ics and also our only really conpete1
 ones-volunteers this, by the way ( ! clinching the argument:
 q never knew any army garrison l. the United States before the war 1 IS have anything like so good a record le As to conditions in general, bot Ill allied and neutral military observe l. have expressed themselves as astol