The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
INFORMATION BUREAU
FREDERICK. HASKIN, Director.
Washington. q. c.
A PLAYGROUND IN FRANCE.

Washington, d. c., March 1s.-The
senate committee on military aIfalrs
is now considering a bill to estaoilsh
a recreation camp for American f1ght-
ing forces in France along the Famous
French Riviera. Since the war, the
Riviera has been deserted. All the
elaborate hotels and villas that for
merly sheltered the English nobility,
American tourists and wealthy 1nva-
lids from every country are Closed
with the exception of Few small es-
adjustments that are offering accom-
modations to American officers VINO
can afford them.
Now IT is proposed that the United
States government appropriate Sis,-
900, 900 towards turning the Rivfer4
and its pleasure facilities into a resort
for American troops. Congressman
Miller of Minnesota, who introduced
the bill, has just returned from the
western front greatly impressed with
the necessity of such a provision.
lone of the greatest problems that
the government still has to solve in
sending men to France is the problem
of the man on leave. A man can
stand the strain of active duty at the
front just so long, and then he must
get away. There must be a letting
up, an opportunity for relaxation"
said Congressman Miller the other
day.
He must be allowed to get out of
shells, out of the sound of the roar OF
cannon, away from danger, away from
cold and suffering, away from life
under awful conditions and get where
! there is comfort, get where there are
refining influences that he knew be-
fore he came to the front, that his
whole body may relax and recuper-
ate
Others governments have realized
| this and have provided means by
| III Il. -..~.
| leave at stated intervals, says Mr.. Mil
/ Ter. Great Britain allows each man
a rest period of ten days in every
four or five months, and arranges for
| his transportation back to England.
| There is no question as to where a
man wants to go on his leave. He
wants to go home.
Every day, 10000 Britishers cross
| the English channel on their way back
| to England, and every day 10000 9TH
ers are brought back from their leave
| to France.
81 went on a troop ship across the
| channel one day. said Mr.. Miller.
| land they filled several trains with
| troops, and 1 had a chance to watch
| them on the train. When we reached
| London they did not wait for the train
| to stop; they pried open the doors and
| leaped out on the platform and yelled,
| 'Blighty at last!'
| Other Americans who have been
|
same news. Without this period of
rest, and, above all, the chance to get
| home, the whole morale of an army is
weakened, they assert. 1t is not that
| the men are SlackerS. The BritiSher
| is particularly logged and determined
| to win the war, and is willing to make
| the greatest sa crificeS to that end; but
even sacrifices become monotonous.
A man has got to have an interval of
| rest
| t. fnd
| to go home on leave every ninety
ldays. And it is this periodical leave.
| according to military authorities, that
| KEGS the French soldier in fighting
| trim. For three months a man is
subjected to all the trials of a print
weeks he is compelled to live in a
trench. This means that he must
live in a hole in the ground. working
| in rain and snow and slush. He gets
used to being cold, hungry and
| thirsty. Back in camp it is not much
better. Civilization, with its comforts,
customs and standards, seems long
way off Then, when hope has al
most been extinguished, and he is
about to offer himself as voluntary
target for the enemy, he is sent back
home to get new grip on life.
In both Great Britain and France
the problem of the man on leave is
easily solved. For a Britisher leaving
France in the morning can be in
| London the same night, while a
French soldier may leave any point
on the French line in the morning
and get to his home the same eve
ming, or at most by the following
morning. Our problem is much more
difficult. It is out of the question to
send Americans on leave back and
Il forth across the Atlantic and yet it
is necessary that they be provided
with at least little atmosphere from
home other than soap and chocolates.
Moreover, the military policy at pres
ent is to prevent them from going to
London or Paris, or any other large
city.
What is to become of them? To
this question the Miller bill provides
an excellent answer. 1t authorizes
! the secretary of war 'tto eSta bliSh and
maintain in southern France, on the
shore of the Mediterranean sea and
on lands adjacent thereto, a recrea-
ton camp for commissioned officers
soldiers and sailors in the military
end naval forces of the United States
including nurses of the Red Gross
and medical corps on duty overseas
which camp shall be known as t
American Recreation camp
The hotels and villas now present
, ing tracts of shattered emptiness
about Cannes and Nice will be leased
and thrown open to American sol
diers; new houses and quarters will be
constructed and furnished; gymna-
Sums, tennis courts and athletic
fields will be provided, and pianos
talking machines. books, games
everything possible in the way Of
: amusement will be furnished to cheer
t the recuperating soldier and sailor.
In addition, the bill provides tina
z the secretary of war be authorized
> ''to accept the services of civilians
who are citizens of the United State.
and willing to serve without compen
4 sation, except for actual and neceS
= sary expenses, and to employ at rea
f sonable compensation such other in
structors and employees may b.
necessary In inserting this clause