El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-05-18
FINE SPIRIT IN
AMERICAN RANKS
They Want to Beat Kaiser
and Know Nothing of
Wars Politics.
D JOHN \. BLADDER TON,

advance guard Of the great host Of
the future, who have met the Boche
face TO face, endured his gas shells
and seen their comrades die2 What is
their point Of view towards the great
tragedy; how does It differ from that
Ct their French and British comrades2
As I passed through the American
trenches. and talked to our men IN
their bilIets and training camps IN
the rear, II was these questions that
interested me most The progress we
are making in our task OF turning an
aEEIomerati0n Of recruits into an
army fit to measure up to the high
standards OF European warfare must
depend, I thought very much on the
spirit and the opinions Of the men in
the ranks
The difference that struck me most
between our 1Ops and the mass OF
the British and French is the absence
with us Of that bitter, intense, per
Eonal hatred Of the enemy that per-
meates the ranks Of our allies. II
IS easy 70 understand Why the French
smarting under the memory Of 1870,
their country now invaded and laid
waste, their own people murdered and
outra ged, must feel more deeply than
outsiders. But among the British,
Zoo ana EsIIEalaAaN Win AllElL A-NANaAAa4A
troops, / have often marveleu at the
violence Of their bathing.
Americans Not Haters.
It IS not so with our men. This.
think Is due to the absence with US
OF those terrible stories Of German
devilishness that pass from mouth to
mouth after each great battle. some
% them are doubtless untrue. some
are exaggerated. but many are told by
eye witnesses TO their comrades and
the men do not forget them When
whole American divisions have taken
part in real battles, through compan-
les and blttaliOns and divisions VIII
circulate horrible, unprintable things
that have happened, and every man
who hears them and believes viii
quietly within himself, OF volubly be-
fore his friends. as his nature is, vow
that he VIII exact repayment
But among the common soldiers In
their talk Of the war today, It isl
American idealism that comes most
often to the fore. They would not
ike to be told so, but IL IS true; ideal
ism camouflaged IN profanity, OF
worse. sometimes. remains idealism
none the less giving the lie to the
old tradition that we a lericans care
for dollars and for nothing else
Listen &c this old sergeant or the
preWar regular army standing be-
side the body OF lis cOmrade- a young
recruit from Iowa. just struck dead oy
a German shell in a little village near
TouL at seems queer" said 70
draw him out, that you should come
Ger here for this The Germans I
can't get 10 America What do you
figure we are fighting about2
As The Old Soldier See II.
CT guess" sciL the sergeant after ]
reflection, we're fighting 50 this /
thing here won't happen again"
But anyway persisted 4l /
won't happen to Us. What concern Is 4
It 81 ours that goes on in Europe
Il used to think" the old soluler
went on. "that nothing much mattered I
except Gods country But guess
tat amt true These here Germans
are trying 20 smash down the otnet i
people in Europe Maybe they am I
people Ike Us. but they're doing tnelE I
best to keep themselves free, and
guess we ought to help them May De- /
rs Won say the Germans couldn't get !
at rs even Il they lick the allies m 1
not SO sure OF that. but maybe they 4
couldn't 7 couldn't follow al thar
talk about submarine boats, ana I
don't know mu ABOUT Il yet o1L
tell YOU since I've been IN France I've 4
done a lot Of thinking, and reckon 4
America wouldn't be worth much II she
wasn't bel ping France and England
and Belgium We're going TO setlle
this here autOcrac- business, ana
when we've done u were going nome
and our kids and the kids OF tnese
Trenches won't have the job TO do
ssPerhaps I've left out some cuss
words But in all that the sergeant
told ne, there was no word OF hate
for the enemy Poor devils mem mem
huns over there" said a Michigan
private They've got &c do what
they're told, and the only way We
can lick their autocrats and the kaiser
is TO kill them But ybe aIter Us
all over the poor b0obs'u be glad OF
The poor boobs that get killed
VIII be glad. you mean2" somebody
said. and we all laughed But we
knew what cur Michigan friend
IN this spirit. which seems TO per
meate our army, and quite natura ily
does not exist TO the same extern
among our allies may b. found an eX-
client weapon Of var, Some days
among the German soldiers opposed
to our lines may spread the leellns
that we do not hate them, tnar we
pity them rather, for all ne sqIIeI-l-
rhev cause Us and our friends; tnal
we all believe that In defeating Frus-
sian aufocracV we viii do a Eoou
furn 70 the individual German soldier
himself when he goes home and sets
bout putting Germany in order.
The American in the trenches clings
TO his ideallsm, but he remains as
toundingly and cOmpletatly ignorant
OF all the complications OF European
POLITICS that are tied up In the war
As a result, his singleness OF aim IS
remarkable He wants TO beat the
kaiser. II you talk to him about
Tfthuania o. Poland or Palestine OF
OF the German colonies
or raw materials or any OF the oLner
things thar Europeans are wrauglinEl
about, he does not know what you
mean. The French Poilu viii become
eIooueut on the subject OF the balance
OF power IN the Mediterranean; the
Australian viii prove TO you that the
Interests Of the world require the an
nexatfon by this country Of the Ger
man Pacific Islands: the EnElishman
viii demonstrate the impOsslbllty OF
giving back the African colonies me
American soldier looks at you IN
blank II you ask him his opinion
about war aims
thinks, and he says; 'TO beat the
Izsiser. Of course" Well they teach
rs al scheo1 that singleness Of pur-
pose helps 10 get you there Inere
can be no doubt as to the singieness
Of purpose that animates the Amerl-
Morale IS a term that means
many things; but Il Is very Import
ant term. as Russia and the Isonzo
6ave taught us. Every army now has
officers whose Job Il IS 70 study the
10 better it. The morale OF the Ameri-
can troops, II am any judge, could
not be better. They have much 70
Iaa-n about sD7dieriuE. fast as they