Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-09-14
Writes to Press Club.

Press club by Lieutenant Robert
NJ Ramsay, former court reporter,
son of Judge F. ID. Ramsay OF the
circuit court of Rock island
county. 1t is as follows.
my friends, the members OF the
Tri-City Press club:
Il wrote to your secretary some
time ago acknowledging the re-
ceipt OF his letter and notification
of nv election to your club as an
honorary member, and in my let
ter | did very little but thank him
and you for your kindness to me,
as l at that time expected to be
shipped back to the states as UNFIT
for service Since that time it has
been discovered that although !
will have a poor ankle for some
time, | am able to work back OF
the front lines over here, in what
is known as the S. 0. s., or service
of supplies
This S. o. S. is the unglorificd
branch of the A. f. F., where the
more you do. the more IS expected
of you. Promotions are small AMI
scarce. But for a fellow like me,
it is all there is left to do, and l
am glad l can do it. You see in
your papers every day what is
going on in the front lines over
here, so l will tell you about our
work back here
Il was assigned to duty in Bak-
cry company 337. The business OF
the company is to keep this area
Ct may not tell you what that area
e oil
men who are unattached to organ
izations, run a school for bakers
and cooks who Will be needed for
requirements up at the front, and
try our rations as the supply COM
pels a change. AS you no doubt
can guess, this line of work was a
trifie outside my civil job, but as
there were many things for me to
do which I could do, l have not,
sittingly speaking. become cal
lOused.
Our daily family numbers any
where from a few hundred up to
5000; our bread consumption and
output runs from 10000 to 900
pounds per day; our school must
graduate at least 100 men per
month; our experiments On yeast,
dehydrated vegetables ana various
food substitutes without causing
bellyache 1.-TWO varietiesj at times
keeps midnight lights going, as We
have but three officers and less
than full strength company to
do the work, while our equipment
is all of the field type and not
adapted to wholesale manufacture.
Censorship rules keep me from
writing all l would like to tell you.
so please be content with the
meager details | can give. You
must remember that railroad, tele-
phone and telegraph service here
is not only badly run down, but is
also crowded. the movement Of
troops is more or less constant, but
sometimes punched; supplies are
always coming in, but occasionally
are not varied. 1t sometimes re-
suits like this:
zone evening we had 1920 men
for supper, and received word
about p. m. that $500 would land
in camp between l and a. m, who
would need sandwiches and coffee
before retiring. Simple enough.
But we knew we would have to
feed that same bunch of extras for
breakfast. That being arranged
and the men fed and put to bed, we
drew one breath and went 10 bed
for little slumber. We were
snoozing along peacefully enough
when along about $50 a dirty,
long cared, low-lived messenger
came along with the glad tidings
that at 6 of this very same morn
ing 200 additional men would
take breakfast with us. We moved!
Had we been feeding by the men,
seven might have fed on what we
had prepared for five; but, holy
smoke, 1900 men can't feed on
what was TO be dished up for $500
Canned food does come in
handy, doesn't it?
That is more than a sample of
our life here. We don't nave that
every day Still, once in a while
is sufficient.
ITO a man in the S. O. S. life
in France is quiet, peaceful, and
more or less of a continuous per-
Torrance. Very little variation
But We are content. The work
must be done, so those OF us VINO
are able to do no other work ac-
cept the place and go to It, sending
our thoughts and good wishes
along with the boys who nave been
our guests for few days and who
are leaving us every day to go up
to the front to do a real mans
job.
Il would very much enjoy al
evening with you men, and hope
the time will be soon wnen with
liberty controlling over here" d
meeting of the club may be held
over there" which can be at
tended by
An Honorary Member.
ROBERT NJ. RAMSAY"