The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-08-29
AL. Taylor WRITES INTERESTING
LETTER FROM CAMP CODY, N. M.

speaking about the size OF this can
tonment; il now has 10000 men and
they are enlarging all the time and
when these men are gone. il is said
| that there will be sent here. immed
lately $4,000 new ones. To my mind
there is but one drawback to this
camp, if any. and that is the exces-
| sive heat at times and sand storms
II being out in the desert. While il is
hot in daytime, the consolation is that
ii never is at night. In fact there has
not been a night since l came here
that / have not slept under from one
to three thicknesses of army blankets.
1t will be remembered that eX-Presi-
, tonments of the country last fall and
in his report on his observations, he
said among other things, that the sol
diers in the Southern camps showed
that they were at least three months
in advance of those in the Northern
camps and this was because the ones
in the southern camps were enabled
to train much more than in the north
ern camps.
This camp. like all the others, have
a lot of French and English officers
stationed here. They were sent here
by their governments for observation
and instruction. They are men that
have seen from one 10 three years
;,, ,I,a Nd In -I,..f
it is ''over there" They are fine fel
! lows and are much interested in our
doings in this country. Yesterday a
very sad thing occurred. Two French
officers and one American took a
| long drive out 10 the mountains, about
so miles from here and in attempting
| to cross stream that was swollen
/ by cloud burst up in the mountains.
(. were all drowned and no one left to
| tell the story. Their bodies were re-
covered after long search from TO
/ Is miles from where they tried to
cross, but their ear has not yet been
J found. The American was found with
{ only his hand sticking out above the
rock and gravel. This certainly is
the irony of fate for two French Off
GERS who had gone through three
years of trench warfare facing the
Huns and live through II all, then
the desert.
Early last spring it was discovered
by this country that there were 1885,
900 aliens in the army in this country
Many of them wanted to stay-some
were drafted men, some enlisted men.
They said to our Government, We are
willing to fight for our adopted coun-
try. and if needs be. to die for it; but
If we fight and die for 1t, we want to
do so as American citizens. Hereto
fore no one could be naturalized un-
less he had lived in this country at
least five years, had declared his in
tention to become a citizen at least
two years previously and resided at
least one year in the state in which
he filed his naturalization petition.
Congress gave ear to the demand or
rather request of these aliens and ap-
plying to this particular class of peo-
pie made the following enactment on
the 9th of May last: ANY alien serv-
ing in the military or naval service
of the United States during the time
this country is engaged in the present
war may file his petition for naturali-
zation without making the preliminary
declaration of intention and without
proof of the required five years resi-
dence within the United States" So
1t will be seen that this country has
laid down "the bars" for the soldiers
in the army, though they may be alien
enemies. but of course, while an alien
enemy, if his loyalty record is good,
may be admitted TO citizenship, an
enemy alien cannot be. Nor can a
Mongolian be admitted, though he
may be in the service of the army.
Some of the most loyal men ! have
run across in the business here. are
Germans and they have proven their
loyalty beyond qquestion. On the
other hand there are many Germans
that will not be admitted under any
circumstances. The nationalities that
have been the greatest disappointment
to me, are the Swedes and Danes.
About nine out of ten of the aliens
from these countries that are brought
before me decline to be naturalized
and all want to be discharged from