The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-04-29

|
 true, wearing the khaki of the A. D. F
 will sooner or later be called upon to l brave. Naturally, such belief lowered the standing of the association in the eyes of the men actively engaged III preparation for the work of the flghtlhs | line"
 In an eloquent tribute to Abraham
 Lincoln condemning his detractors anu | reciting the trials through which ne
 passed and the triumphs he achieved, an editorial on the anniversay of hls
 birth concludes:
 "It is our privilege and our glory i as members of Americas vanguard or
 1 liberty so to fight, so to strive, that
 we may rightly be called the fellow countrymen of Father Abraham.
 TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME l The slanderous stories of drunken
 ness and disease among the American l troops are deeply resented by the soi- | diers. They call every chaplain m l the army, Protestant and Cathollc' as
 witnesses to prove the falsity or the
 charge and "The Stars and Stripes
 1 to the folks back home
 1 ITO the fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, wives and sweetheares and friends of the men in the Amerl>
 can expeditionary forces:
 1 We hear that you have been re-
 galed with some alarming storles | about us of the American expedition ary forces and our conduct here III
 l France. In fact, some of those stories have been relayed to us, and II they | weren't SO far from the truth we might he inclined to get really mad. But knowing the authors of some or ethen' I-for some of the hysterical stripe haVo l really been over here-our first inclln- ation is to laugh.
 | "But. after all, it's no laughing mat ter to be talked about behind our hacks in such reckless and irrespon- sible way by reckless and lrrespoh .
 sible people, though no doubt some ol them have the best intentions in the
 world and think that they, and they l alone. can save us (They have prop ably told you that, and asked you to contribute money to their worthy cause. haven't theyD What hurts most, however, is the thought tnat, | though we know you are loyal to uS and have the firmest of faith III us perhaps these dire tales may nave caused you anxiety, may even have brought you to believe that perhaps after all we had become a bit neglect | full of our trust; and that so oelies inp vou might have been sorely, ana | entirely unduly, distressed in splrt' | "Be assured that these sensatloha' | stories are nothing but myths. Apso- Ilutely nothing else. And we nave the | facts to prove that they are. Llsteli' "The percentage of venereal oiseasee in this army of yours is three-ten.ns l of percent-the smallest percehtase | on record for any army, or any civil 1 nonulation in the worlds history. IL IS l a soher army. and a well-behaved one The statistics in possession or the iudre advocate generals department nroye that there have been, In propoi t,on. fewer cases of drunkenness Ie" ar breaches of military discipline among it's members than has been tne case with any army "hose have been preserved
 "As to conditions in general, poth allied and neutral military opserV' s,,- Nave expressed themselves as as. l tonisbed at the remarkable good pe- bavior of this army of yours. lhe world does move. Armies no loHseI 1 live by forage, loot, and plllage' ou' even at that, this pay-as-you pe- have-as-you-go American army na' been a revelation to our European "i | lies. o., axreditionarv forces constitute an army which is in every way worthy successor to the first army of llperty' wbose commander was George Wasn- | ;ncton It is proud of its heritage nro,d of you people at home who are supporting it and who are backing II with your labor, your money youi homes. and your prayers, proud ol lhe government that sped it on It's way ,arseas nroud of the cause for Which 1 if is fighting-the greatest cause uhicb any army was ever called upon to cbamnion. It would rather rot under tba soil of France than to do anything which would cast discredlt on tno hon,es if left, which would inpugn Tn any way the good name or the great neople from whom it was created
 Bear all this in mind, good peopie hac ri. in Gods country, 1T you hear any
 .aore stories about us made up out ot the same whole cloth. If by any chance any of you should hesitate to believe us write to our commanders' our chaplains, our doctors-anypooy III authority. They will back us 10 the llimit-and we, for our part, Will guar antee to come home to you clean III hodv. exalted in mind and heart. ana with the record behind us or mans size job manfully done
 ENTER THE COMPANY POET P,t the Stars and Stripes, While | ,erv-n,uch-in-earnest newspaper, Is not always as serious as the above extractS | would suggest The poets are gwen Ixyide range and they ride old PesaSus | ,y,t hout bridle or saddle, and when ne | fires they spur him bit Like this: CRUSADERS.
 | Richard Occur de Lion was a soldier and a king;
 He carried lots of hefty tools with which l his foes to bins; He cased himself in armor tough-neck, | shoulder, waist, and knee; | put Richard, old Occur de Lion, didn't l have thing on me
 For while old Occur de Lion may have worn an iron casQue,
 He never had to tote around an English gasproof mask; ue never galled himself with packs that weigh about ton,
 lNor-lucky Richard!-did he have to clean a bcastly gun.
 | Iris true he wore a helmet to protect himself from powders,
 | But then, he had good rest for 1t upon his spacious shoulders;
 While my tin hat is balanced on the peak of my bare dome,
 | And after marching with it-gee! l wish that l were home!
 His feet were cased in metal shoes, in length about a yard
 Which, since they were so big. l bet did not go on as hard
 l. As Uncle Samyals dancing pumps thai freeze so stiff at night
 That donning them at reveile is sure an l awfui fright.