Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-02-22
Yankee Soldiers Belief is War Will End in Spring;
From Now ON" Wiser View

dangerous kind of optimism. 1t fools
our side and such promissory
notes always come back to be paid
with a high rate of interest.
The Frenchmen in high authority
who have made good now admit that,
while it is not always possible to tell
the full truth in time of war;. it is
never wise to tell untrutbs by making
the situation seem better than it is.
If there is no really good news 1t is
better to be Silent.
"Brain StuffIng," Is French Term
This tendency to "hit it up" and
make everything look rosy seems to
have been started here in France at
the beginning Of the wal when things
were so bad that the Government was
afraid to have the full truth known.
The French soldiers have nicknamed
that sort of thing "Bourrage de Crane,n
or brain stuffing. They know from
| first hand evidence how much of it
was untrue and they make all kinds
Of sport Of the 6 lvernment inspired
newspapers. Though there is now
much less of "Bourrage de Crane"
than there used to be. the game having
spoilt itself, 1t seems that the Ameri-.
can Government has begun exactly
where the French began. 1t is a
dangerous procedure. The American
soldiers are not so light headed thai
they cannot stand bad news. II is
particularly dangerous to underesti-
mate the strength of the enemy. From
that kind of comfort there is an an
pleasant reaction, when the men get a
taste of the facts. l believe the Amer
lean soldiers will fight best uphill.
From my conversation with the
American soldier | am even led to the
belief the he will fight his bet if the
Germans attack first. 1 do not think
the average American soldier is in
spired with that personal hatred of the
Germans which the French feel. He
has not seen his own country invaded,
nor has he seen any concrete proof of
the German cruelty. 1 do not think
he relishes the idea of sticking his
bayonet into any German, except per-
Lhaps the Kaiser. But once hi is at
tackled | think he will fight like q
tiger, especially If he.sees any evidence
of treachery.
"They don't ply the gyme," the
English soldiers used to- say three
years ago. Now they do not expect
it. Lam also convinced that the re-
puted ferocity of the Canadians has its
origin in the first German gas attack
at Ypres and a firm belief in the report
that the Germans once cruciied a num-
Der of Canadian prisoners. = 1t is such
things that will also make the Ameri-
can boys fight. and not official soft
soap talk atout u duties to our Allies
and our task to make the world safe,
etc. 1t takes the fighting spirit out Of
the men and leads them to expect a
walk-over.
The only American soldiers / saw
who seemed to be anxious to have the
fray begin at once we're two Irishmen.
One of them told me in the best Cork
that his colonel had said that if he had
a thousand Shannons he could lick the
whole German army, and the other,
who had served with the British in the
Boer War, said that If somebody did
not start things soon he would start
something himself.
ssFrOm Now on" the Sensible
View
As to the duration Of the wal a
wholesome attitude to take is that of a
certain negro convict, Of whom an
American officer told me to explain
his own opinion on the subject. He is
a Paris la wyer in civilian life and has
seen the wal from the beginning at
close range. This negro, he said, was
on his way to states prison and on the
train he met another colored man
bound for the same place.
"How much do you get?" he asked
his fellow prisoner.
1.-TWO years. And yourself?'' "From
now on.n
HEDIN, in the Brooklyn Eagle.