New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1918-04-24
MAI. GlDDINGS ON
THE LIBERTY loan
Makes Eloquent Appeal to EN-
ployeS Of Stanley Works


Major Howard A. Giddings does He
was there. He knows that the wom-
en- Of England have abandoned all
comforts OF life to win the war. He
knows the conditions under which the
people of France live. And he knows
the conditions in the actual zone of
war, for he has been there. Major
Giddtngs spoke at a Liberty Loan
rally at the Stanley Works yesterday
noon and he carried his audience
with him through England and
France, showing what sacrifices are
being made every day in order that
the governments may have funds to
continue the war against the ruthless
Kaiser. His appeal was for in
creased investm ents in the issue of
the Third Liberty Loan and it is be-
lieved his talk was effective.
In part, he said:
The first thing that impresses one
who goes to the front is the sight OF
all the nations Of the earth come
to France to fight for Civilizations
British, Canadians, Australians, New
Zealanders, Newfoundlanders, South
Africans, Belgians, French, Italians
Japanese, Portuguese, American ne
groes, African negroes and Chinese
coolies. All come there to fight Or
work in the war; and not only men,
put materials from the four corners
of the earth
L will tell you something about the
general conditions in England and
France. There is not single pri-
waite automobile running; there are
no flags; you won't see a single flag
in the streets Or on the flag staffs ex-
cept on the war Offices and public
buildings. Flags cost too much
money in England and France. There
is shortage Of everything. Paper,
string and matches are very scarce.
You will see over there in tho war
offices twisted paper lighters on the
mantelpieces.
"One of the striking things in Eng
land is the women taking the places
of men employees on the railroads.
The women even clean the engines.
They also drive motor cars. The so
ciety women belong to the Royal Mo-
tor Corps Messengers in the war Of
fees are girls from twelve to fifteen
years of age. You have perhaps
heard of the Women's Army Auxili-
airy Corps, the members of which are
everything from telephone operators
to chamber maids, girls of the mid
die class. The girls also run -eleva-
tors. There are 4,750,O00 women in
uniform, including those in the fac
tories Of which there are a vast num-
Der and who do wonderful work
In England you will see no mourn
ing. The women do not wear crepe.
France on the other hand is afutter
with black. Business goes on DIS
usual more or less. Some kinds Of
business are very f1ourishing but
everywhere is visible evidence of the
war
'"The food situation is much more
acute than we realize. Sugar and but
ter are almost non existent and meat
is sold only on meat card The
war bread has a great deal of war
in it and there are no cookies, cakes,
pies, doughnuts and candy, but still
they are laughing about it. You
would not know that the situation
was SO serious.
IT want to tell you a little about
what England has done in war loans
The rich people have practically
turned their money over to the gov
eminent and hope some fine day to
)
of the people in England mechanics
and workers In industries, have sub
scribed to war loans in a wonderful
manner. In West Hartlepool, which
is on the coast of the North Sea Snd
which was bonn barded by the Ger
mans, in one week the people sub
scribed $18750 per capita. This would
be about eight to ten millions for a
city like New Britain. They know
what war is. 1 want to have you
know that in England and France they
have done a great deal more than we
are doing here in supporting the war
loans.
II would like to tell you about the
battlefelds. I was at Messines and
Wytschaete and Ypres, which is the
'Wipers' of the British Tommy. An
active battlefield looks like a vast
dump There are no trees, no bushes,
nothing but the ground all torn up
and the barbed wire entanglements.
The great guns can be heard for 20
miles and at night their flash looks
like lightning on a summer night One
day / counted in the air Is airplanes
and one observation balloon. The
small German shells sound like the
bursting of a paper bag.
II was in Paris when the 75-rile
gun commenced it's Commandment.
They thought it was a daylight air
raid, an unprecedented thing. The
shells dropped in the city every fif-
teen minutes. The next morning was |
Palm Sunday and shells dropped |
every eight minutes. I went to the |
Notre Dame cathedral where the en- |
frances and windows were protected |
by sand bags. All monuments in the |
parks are encased in sand bags. This |
Smelling continued until the follow |
ing noon. If 9 IL inch explosive |
CT, oil, D s&riaa