The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-05-23

other days. It means confidence
and courage for whatever in these
tragic times shall need courage. 1t
means pride in the young manhood
Of America and hope unbOunded for
the future of America, which lies in
! their hands. Before ! went to France
wore my service pin for one SOL
dieT-rny son. [ wear 1t now for the
| American army. If l can, by writing
! of that army as have just seen it in
France, lessen a little for other wom-
an the burden Of anxiety and dread
shall count my journey worth
while.
- I went to France as a correspon-
dent, q reporter, to write a bout the
war. I was sent, not because l am
"a woman, but in spite Of the fact,
and merely because my editors he .
heved that could handle that par
ticular job. My letter of credentials
to the French foreign office said
that I had reported the Russian
revolution for this paper and that
I was now assigned to France with
the view OF informing readers in the
United States as to participate Of
United States troops in war and the
political situations Of the allied
countries in the war.
hope that my editors confidence
In me was not entirely misplaced
and that I did not quite fall down on
; my Job. But what 1 experienced in
France and what brought out with
me were not exactly what I had ex-
pscted. I went to France as a cor
respondent, deeply interested in my
work, but very soon after I arrived
and almost with my first contact
/ EEyfFI Pr,
got all about my work I forgot that
7 was in France after military and
political facts.
-. Forgot She Was Writer.
y forgot that I was a. correspon-
dent I was conscious only that I
was a mother. The mother of a. boy
In Franco 1 was one in heart with
g. million other American women
I have never seen and will never see;
one with every woman in the land
who wears a. service pin
discovered that try as might to
Sllink of armies, strategies and diplo-
Tnacies, the only thing that vitality
concerned me in France was to find
out how my son was farlng, and in
doing so I was finding out the things
that other mothers wanted to know
about their boys
T. Where they are. how they live
who their comrades are, how they
work and play, what they are learn
ing. how they get along with their
strange new nedghbors. the French
people, and what the war is doing
TO their minds and souls, as well as
their bodies. I wanted, fervently,
to know all this about one soldier,
and believed that the other women
would Like to know about their own
Our soldiers are more than 5000
miles away from home, and they
have gone on a. terrible Grand We
know less about war than any other
women in the world. but we know
that It is CHASTITY, brutal, bLndly
pitiless, bloodthtrsty business. We
know that bodies perish in war, and
sometimes souls, which is worse
Going over in the steamer a horrible
story was told me, a story which
turned out to be quite untrue, but
which when heard it cost me
eIeapless night It was to the effect
that vice was so rampant in all the
armies that a whole shipIoad OF
hopelessly diseased Australian sol
diers had recently sailed from Eng
land. The hospitals had salvaged
many, 1t was said but these men.
who had left home clean, wholesome,
decent boys, were now being sent
bablS to die, physical and moral
wrecks. Some, it was certain, would
commit suicide during the voyage.
Soldiers Morally Safe.
THAT tale filed me with such terror
that I went to some lengths to in
Ssstigate it. It was quite untrue
and repeat 1t here only because it
ts representative Of stories that are
current everywhere and add great
iy to the sufferings of the women at
home.
The fret thing want to say
shout our army is that the men
are morally as safe in France
.as they could possibly be at
home. ! know this. made it
4 my particular business to know
spent three months in France,
travelling over most Of the consider
able territory occupied by the Amer
aoan forces. I visited something
like twenty i've camps, large ones
ana immense ones, where the men
are training, where they are being
made into experts in special lines Of
lighting; where they are at work
BliIding miles Of wLarves, ware
aollsaa- cold storage plants, barracks