The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-08-21

GENERAL JOHN ]. PERSHING, BOSS OF THE A. EFF.
Sketch Of the General Teacher and His Ways
Governing and Stimulating His Men
BY EDWIN c. RANCK

BY EDWIN c. RANCK


of the American Army walking along
in the rain, talking to private"
looked up quickly in time to see
the TALL soldierly figure of General
John J. Pershing as he passed our
car, listening with such absorbed at
tention to what the private was saying
that. he was utterly oblivious to the
barrage of salutes from all sides
The private was doing all the talk
ing, and General Pershing, as usual
was-listening. 1t was very evident
that this private had some important
information to divulge, and Pershing
was absorbing it as the sand absorbs
the eager sea.
1t was one of those misty, mostly
mornings" that one encounters so fire.
quently in France, and the scene was
the. General Headquarters of the A.
E. F., usually referred to in letters,
kilograms and conversation by the
doughboys as the G. H. @. The
place was small French town not
far from the American front, where
the Big Boss of the A. f. F. was bill.
lifted in a romanticlooking old French
chateau within close touch of G. II.
@, In the middle of the road as far
as the eye could reacs.. were khaki.
clad American boys toiling like Ital.
ian laborers in an effort to mend
this road and put it into better shape
for the never-ceasing flow of traffic
that daily swept past G. H. O.
These toiling doughboys would
straghten up as General Pershing
passed them, stand rigidly erect and
salute their commander with military
precision. He was by this time
aware of the fact that the barrage Of
salutes had completely inclosed him,
for his hand kept going up to his cap
with the automatic precision of an
automaton. Life to General Perish.
ing that morning was just one darned
salute after another.
Somehow, the work progressed
faster and more efficiently after
Pershing had passed. His PERSONAL
ity had left something electric in the
atmosphere that fingered there and
inspired the workers to do Their
best. This is a little way that Perish
ing has. 1t is entirely unconscious
He doesn't strive to impress his
personality upon any one, and there
is surely no one in France who would
assert that the American commando,
possesses that quality which we de
fine as personal magnetism" H,
hasn't a bit of that. In fact, Ger
tain detached aloofness always &C
companies him. | can't imagine an,
= one going up to "Black Jack" Perish
ing and slapping him on the back
But, nevertheless, his personality L
a strong force in the American
Army, and it is a force that encour
ages efficiency and hard work. Perish
ing is just what he should be. HI
is the Big Boss of the A. e. F. Al
speeder-up of men, he has no equa
in France.
The husky-looking young Ameri
cans who first set foot upon Frencl
soil were indeed the pick of our fin
est manhood Clean.limbed and ath
letic, fired with patriotic zeal to hell
the hard-fghting Frenchmen who hat
been defying the Kaisers hordes TO
so many years, the newest allies Il
the cause of world democracy wer,
eagerly anxious to demonstrate thei
mettle in bout with the Hun. Lik,
Jobs charger, they had scented tn,
battle afar off, and the odor of it wa
pleasing in their nostrils. Their in
tensive training in America had re
vealed much to them. They knew
the things that the Hun knew, ant
feared them not. A large proportion
Of them came of American pionee
stock, and their forebears had out
fought the Indian on his own camp
ing ground, They were confident o
taking every new trick that the boch,
had in his bag and ultimately usin,
1t against him.
1t was this sort of men that Gen
eral Pershing was bossing in France
and 1t was his job to turn our mae
niiicent fighting material into a bat
Ting machine that would beat bacl
the boche with irresistible blows
The Big Boss had not been in Franc
a week before he was on the Job
seeing things, planning things, dom,
things From the time of his arriya
things began to happen of big impor
to America. We were no longer il
the position of an innocent by
stander, likely to be struck at an,
Il moment by that big bully, Germany
No, we were actively in the figh
at last, and, God willing, the bi,