The Mena weekly star., 1918-11-14
IMMENSE TASK
| FACES AMERICA
Must Not Leave Job Half Done in
France. and 1t VIII Take Two
Years 20 Get All Soldiers
Home.

At least two years will be required
to complete rehabilitation of Amer
lean forces in France, according to
estimates Of allied military leaders.
General T. Coleman Dupont, who has
just returned from two months visit
to the western front where he con-
ferred with high officials in each of
the allied governments, brought
this estimate back as the minimum
expectation Of army officials. mil
itary officials have been urging us
to think in terms of long war"
said General Dupont, NOW they are
equally insistent that we begin to
accustom ourselves to the thought of
long rehabilitation There is an
immense task ahead of our forces
when peace is declared AS one of
our generals said to me, Tell the
people back home it viii be two
years at least, before they see us ALL
We have a years work just to I'M
tangle barbed wire that has been
strung back and forth across France.
at must never be said Of America
that she left her task half done" "
General Dupont continued. I'VE owe
everything to France, and our men
will have to stand by until they have
done what they can to set her on
roads to restoration. and while they
stand by over there. it is going to be
tremendously important we stand by
them over here"
"This fact gives double Importance
to United War Work Campaign,
which / am glad to find so we'll I'M
der way. No one who has not lived
with our boys can imagine how vi
tally important the service of those
seven organizations is; no one who
studied history of other wars can
overstate their Importance in the
period of rehabilitation. The civil
war destroyed careers of hundreds of
promising young men. 1t turned
them back into civil life, weakened
and purposeless. This war must not
do that Boys who have sacrificed
so much to win it must come back
stronger and better men than when
they left. found War Work
Agencies in France laying states
manlike plans for this trying period
Every hut in France it to become a
university classroom on the day
peace is signed. Under direction Of
leading educators and business men
from this country, the boys will be
given every educational advantage.
Entertainment and recreational work
will be largely increased, for with
the coming of peace not merely part
of time, but all of the time of our
boys will have to be provided for.
/ United War Work Agencies will need
every cent of their $17,500,000. Yes,
and millions more. They will need to
send thousands of additional work
ers, women workers particularly, for
the influence of good women in rep
resenting American homes over
there is more potent than influence
of any man can be, no matter how
capable. If the American people
stand by through rehabilitation, as
they have through the months Of
fighting, our army will have made
the most splendid record of any ar
my in history. Men in it viii come
back not deteriorated by hard expe-
rience of war, but strengthened
more efficient, more resolute, better,
more useful and more successful in
every way.
General Dupont's views are en-
dorsed by military leaders of the
United States and the allied nations