The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-06-06
MESSAGES FROM
OVERSEAS FORCES
TWO SPEAKERS TELL BROOK.
iNGs AUDIENCES OF LIFE IN
THE TRENCHES
CROWDS PACK the COLLEGE AUDITORIUM
Inspiring Address OF Edward F. Trefz
And Story OF Sergeant Grimes
Spur Us To Big Efforts

Seldom has any city been so privi-
legged as B%rookings has been in the
past week. Two great meetings have
been held at which addresses were
delivered by men who have seen the
%awfulness of war and the terrible
frightfulness Of the German methods
right in the trenches. Edward T.
Trefz, who spoke under the auspices
of the food administration last Friday
evening at the College Auditorium.
was sent over to review the situation
and to come back able to tell the peo-
pie what We must do to keep our SOL
diers up to the mark and how we can
supply our allies with food to sustain
their strength and courage. His de.
scription of the scenes in the devas.
tated country were the most vivid, and
his description of the sufferings of the
peoples of those countries brought a
picture to the minds of our people that
will linger for many a day. He told
us that W. must raise crops that will
surpass any of the past, that our boys
may be kept strong and the allies who
fight by their side may be kept as
strong as they. If the allies cannot
be supported in the fullness of their
strength, then the morale of our boys
will suffer in the association and we
will feel the grim suffering of those
in France who have had to bear an
uphill fight for these past four years.
The peoples of France and Belgium
are suffering, the peoples of England
and italy are needing food. They are
our help. We must keep busy on the
job and give them the cereals that
can come from nowhere else. Mr..
Trefz did not mince his words He
spoke with a ~plainness that was al.
most cruel. But the directness of his
way Of talking and the manner In
which he presented the duty of Amer
lea could leave no doubt in the mind
of any one that we must do "our alp.
The address will live in the minds of
his hearers for a long time and speak
ers of his caliber are the ones who
will arouse the United States to a full
realization Of the task that they have
to master. Olaf Eden of the State
Council Of Defense presided and in.
troduced the speaker, and appropriate
music was furnished to enliven the
spirit Of the occasion.
Last evening at the same place. the
College Auditorium, Sergeant Manning
Grimes of the 1O3rd Field Artillery,
stood before an audience that filed
the big hall, and told the story of
what he had seen in the trenches, of
his being gassed and the sufferings
that he had endured. His story had
no beauty of speech. style or rhetoric,
but 1t did impress his hearers with
the fact that the business we have
taken in hand is no child's play and
that we are facing a condition the like
of which the world has seen be-
fore. He told us'that he was a New
England boy, and every line and SEN
tence of his story was grim with the
scenes Of war life as they appeared
to the unimaginative vision of a man
who sees only the worst. He has suf-
fered, has been gassed, and no doubt
the awfulness of his experience is
still upon him, but with all that he
is ready to go back to his duty when
well enough. AS a whole his story
was just the knowledge of one man
whose range of action was limited and
whose spirit was still affected by the
horrors of war.
George A. Mathews followed Segt.
Grimes with a short address that
brought a better feeling into the as.
sembly and urged them to the full.
ness of their effort in making such
scenes as had been described an i'm
possible thing in the future. M. e.
Culhane presided and a duet by two
young ladies opened the meeting. Pre-
ceding the speaking, stunts Of an
amusing nature were pulled of by the
boys from the different counties. who
are attending the boys week camp.