East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-03-19
BEN JACKSON Says
FELLOWS IN FRANCE
HAVE ALL COMFORTS

as a wrestler that he pitted rlmself
against Stanilaus Zbysczko in this city
a few years ago. is one soldier who
doesn't think the government was me-
gligent in providing for the troops at
Camp Mills. He is now In France in
the aviation department of the army
fand the following interesting letter
was sent to his sister;
Some place in France. Feb. 6.-My
Dear Sister Laura.--I received your
letter today and was more than glad
to hear from you and now you want
me to tell you all about France. That
is impossible. France is too great a
country to be told about in one letter,
and besides l am very poor at writing
but will do the best / can.
This is the most beautiful country
one can imagine. but they have suf-
fered terribly from the war. In spite
of nearly four years of terrible fighting
France is still a wonderful land. and
the way they farm every foot, not an
inch is left in waste. The houses are
all built of stone and cement, no wood
en- buildings. and l may say that the
barns are built warm and stronger
than our houses in America, and while
there is nothing wasted the people
have plenty to eat. have been out to
the farm houses and had several meals
and 1 find that the cooking is extra
fine. but never the less France suffers
the pangs of war. and there are lot
of very pitiful sights.
Evidence OF Hun Cruelty
Everywhere you go you see people in
mourning and the CHASTITY means the
Huns haYe used to exterminate France
Is beyond description. The Huns have
taken the French prisoners and inocu-
lated them in all kinds of venarlal dis
ease and then transferred them
back to France and of couse the. effect
was the same in France as II would
be in any place, especially when all the
doctors are at the front. This is GER
toinly a crime that no nation can ever
be forgiven of. 1t is not only a crime
against the present generation and so
ciety but a far reaching crime, one
that will be. inherited for generations
to come, and as for the respect that
they have shown in many cases to the
women of the Allies, is worse than
anything the Indians ever thought of.
The ''spie'' baby, as they call them.
certainly speaks for the crimes that
have been commitoted against civiliza-
tion.
To Hell With Culture
To hell with German culture and to
hell with German peace That would
be terrible thing right now. for a
peace proposal of any kind would only
mean more than ever. and just a
breathing spell for "Old Jerry" We ex-
pect to give him no rest and we know
that the next three months will tell
the tale. He is massing his forces for
a terrible drive. If successful for him
it. must be done at once. If we hold
him, which no doubt we will, then the
jig is up with him. He may drag along
for long time, we expect that but
We know he is going to die hard. but
die his Prussian militarism must; and
shall.
In spite of all France has under
gone, YOU never hear one whimper out
of them, and you never will. for a
t'renchman is not afraid to die.
BY the way, I got clipping froll
Helen today, which riled me all up. 1t
was cut from the Union. and was the
protest the Governor of oregon and
Mayor of Portland has made to the
War Department in regard to the con-
ditions at Camp Mills and can assure
you that there was nothing to it. The
protest was scandalous.
Govt. Doesn't Make weather
1t was true we had a great storm at
Camp Mills, wind, rain. and snow. but
these things have happened before,
and the Government was never held
responsible for them. AS I understand
it, the Government has nothing to do
with the weather. At any rate we had
a storm which blew down some tents
but not very many. If they had been
frightened as ordered they never would
have blown down. We had the orders
several hours before that the storm
was coming. for the Government
instrument registered storm. We all
went to bed, and here she came. My
squad was in bad place as the ground
was much lower there and the water
had to drain off through our
tents. 1 finally got up. and lit a candle
The water was just beginning to run
through our tents, / had the men put
their clothing on pile of wood we
mad in the tent and then | said, LET
her buck" and we all went back to
sleep. Next morning when we awoke
there was or inches of water In our
tent and still raiping, and you know
1t can not drain so very fast as Camp |
Mills Is on nice level ground. Some Of |
the fellows acted like babies and went |
10 private homes and churches and |
were all taken In. The people at Long
Island were fine to us. They never left
a stone untdrned. After the storm we
had mud. Strange too. such things
never happened in Washington or ore
son after big rain. OF course Wilson
Is to blame for this mud but so long
as he is getting blamed for something
Else, more wont hurt him. so we will
ay It all on to him, or Mr.. Baker. 1t
ioesn't matted which, just so some
me gets the blame. BY the way, we
nave mud here after rains. and lots of q
t. Who is to blame for that?
o. yes, the wood. You see it was Hike
his. We had to pack wood about
'narter Of a mile, and some OF the
ovs were too lazy to do this. so they ,
'ad no fires. III tell You one thing. q
ny squad wasn't too lazy to pack wood {
( man would rather freeze than car q
y wood, all right. We shoiild have I
amed the war department for not I