Gilpin observer., 1918-09-19

lighting man! he Is.
Is he as good fighter as his fathers
and grandfathers were in the Civil
war? The answer to this is not so
simple because fighting in Civil war
days and in 391S is by no means the
same thing, says Don Martin in the
New York Herald. Whenever the
Yankees have had an opportunity to
meet the enemy in straight-Out hand
to-hand fight the American has demon
strated that he is chip off the old
block, and that bear in mind, is saying
a good deal.
People who have not been face to
face with the war that has ravaged
Europe for nearly four years must of
necessity have but poor conception
of just what war IN these days is
like. Read what an officer from
tinction in the Philippines and is
serving with distinction now, says
about it!
- "If there were to be a few great
battles like Gettysburg, Spottsylvania.
Wilderness, Charlottesville, Cold Har-
Dor or Antietam it would be differ
ent proposition. The boys would
know that the killing would occur at
certain times, on certain days and the
victims would be recorded as having
fallen in some great battle about
which all coming generations would
read; RW here there will be only 9
few great battles known as such BY
name. There viii be the Marne,
Somme, Aisne, verdun, Ypres, Picardy
and some others, of course, but the
millions and millions of casualties
which this war has rolled up will rep
resent for the greater part side line
fighting and little subsidiary struggles
about which no one will ever hear.
"A division Of any army might be
holding part of sector-a quiet sec
tor, too. There would be no great
clash between the opposing forces.
There would be raids, meetings of pa
trolls, sniping, deaths by artillery and
gas, accidents-a thousand and one
things, and at the end Of year the
number of casualties in this division
would be as great as If the unit had
been Id q great battle. There is a
certain romance about war. When men
can 20 into battle with colors flying.
bands playing and q world waiting to
hear the outcome of the particular
combat, there Is an incentive which
does not exist in a struggle Of waiting,
of hidden attacks and gas. But the
patriotic spirit is there. In fact, l
confidently feel that 1t takes more pa
triotism to keep an army fighting as
armies fight now than 1t did In the old
days.
The Fighting Of Today.
'sLet me give you an illustration.
trenches. It may stay there three
days. 1t may stay there eight days,
before it is sent back on repose to
get ready for another siege at under.
ground warfare. These boys know
that shells will be directed at their
trenches practically every night and
maybe all day. The artillery also
know that the enemy artillery will be
firing shells. gas and shrapnel ut their
batteries almost continually. Both the
artillerymen and the lads In the
trenches know that gas shells will be
hurled day and night and that death
will lurk everywhere for him who can
not handle his gas mask properly
The possibility Of q raid from the en-
emy is not feared. In fact, 1t is this
very possibility Of real action, Of a
real meeting with the enemy, which
acts rs a sort of stimulant for the
men In the trenches. To have a shell
come down on a dugOut, crushing 1t in
and perhaps killing and wounding sew
eral men is an unpleasant thing
dcubly unpleasant because 1t comes
from some one who cannot be seen
and whose identity will never be
known. There is the consolation. or
course, that the shells which We are
throwing are causing death and injury
across the line, but while we know we
are hitting them we do not really know
at that. It is a queer war; inhuman
because the Hun made 1t SO and des-
titute Of the amenities and chivalries
Of all other wars because the Hun pos
sesses all the traits Of the coyote or
the hyena.
1.-THE Americans would like to meet
the Hun In fair fight and have 1t out,
but that cannot be. The Hun cam
not fight fair because he knows in a
fair fight he would be cleaned of the
earth. He will be cleaned off any
how, but 1t will take us longer; that's
nll."
No doubt in the United States, as in
Europe. the question is asked a mil
lion times day. How many fighting
men has the United States in France?
That question can be answered only
in Washington. I don't know, and the
censor, quite properly, would not let
me tell II I did know. But I will
probably be permitted to say this
Y.lA l,n