The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-06-01

N&A"&A2sSN~A--~-s
and to publish them with comments.
From San Francisco paper they
cleaned that willie, the cotil-
non leader Of last seasons younger
set, leaves for France shortly with
the Blankth Engineers to take
charge, it Is understood, Of the con-
struction Of a telephone system
contemplated by the government to
facilitate the hauling Of troops to
the front"
The comment records that the
erstwhile cotillion leader, Private
-, is now on the business end of
a No. shovel.
Call Themselves sd. G. S."
Well, what Of it? The shovel work
has to be done just as the prairie
sod had to be turned. The men
growl about it sometimes, but most
ly they grin. They chalk "P. G."
on the backs Of their jumpers, the
same letters appearing in white on
vivid green uniforms Of the German
captives at work in many camps.
They mean Prisonnter de Guer-
re, war prisoner, and when the
weather is cold and rainy and let
ters from home are delayed. and
spirits sink, you can hardly blame
the men for feeling at times a lit
pected excitement and perhaps some
glory, and hard work and isolation
Is their lot.
But what they are doing, tedious
enough day by day, is in the aggre-
gate splendid and invaluable to the
success Of our army. The like Of
1t was never done before by any
army in the world. When the Ger
mans see it, as they will some day
through their newspapers, they will
be aghast at the hugeness of it.
They had sneered at the idea Of
the Americans sending large army
to France. How could they send an
army? An army can't swim, nor
can it fly, and the Americans had
no ships. Even If they found ships
and sent men enough, how could
they feed, clothe and equip them?
How could they keep up their sup
plies?
The Americans could and did per-
form all these miracles because
they had in them the blood Of piO-
neers, Of men and women whom no
ulIllCulLl6S
Gle turn back. Our soldiers have
proved themselves in countless army
camps abroad to be worthy sons Of
the breed.
I remember one big aviation camp
which was built in a few months
out OF short length of boards be-
cause the colonel and his staff
couldn't get any better lumber.
They were told that they couldn't
buy any better lumber of all, that
there was none available in that part
Of France. But they did get it, and
they built the camp. The men lived
in tents during the coolest weeks Of
winter with icy winds blowing over
the barren plain. All aviation camps
are built on big plains.
Their Conduct Epic.
In spite of the cold the men had
no stoves furnished them. No doubt
stoves were contemplated, but they
did not reach the camp. But you
can't freeze pioneers. Those boys
just went to work and built stoves,
built them out Of mud, brick and
stones and biscuit tins and any
other old junk they could find lying
around. They made stOvepipes out
Of tin cans, and they kept warm.
I met and talked with a half doz-
en- Of those engineers who were
caught in that German counter drive
near Cambria last November. The
men, it will be remembered, were en-
gagged in peaceful labor behind the
British front, linking up railroad
communications and forwarding sup
plies needed by the English soldier
por -, -
that the engineers were in any dan
ger, and the squads went out with
out guns or revolvers.
But unexpectedly the Germans
swept over the British lines and the
American engineers suddenly found
themselves in the middle of battle.
Some Of them seized arms from fall
len men sailed into the fight like
seasoned soldiers. > Others had no
chance to get hold of firearms, but
did they retreat? Not so that you
could notice it. They went for the
Germans with their picks and SHOW
els, and what they did to them was
epic. In describing their work the
British general In command said it
was futile to bestow praise on the
Americans. What they did was be-
yond praise.
Wnen met THESE men Luey were
just finishing up a piece of con-
struction work at a camp in central
France. 1t was not an especially
work, just day labor.
But when the big push began in
March these men, being free to
move, were sent up to the front to
build more railroads.
Pick AS q War Weapon.
'tAren't they the lucky stiffs 2"
groaned q man In another labor
group 'tBut our turn will come, I'll
bet YOU"
The lucky stiffs agreed that they
wer lucky, but they refrained out Of
politeness from saying too much
about 1t. CT course, every man
hopes to set up into the big show.