The Republican journal., 1918-07-04
.meriean Business-Soldier in
y the War Zone.

..,no is from a banquet ad-
i0'l' Nav 10, 1918, at the Chicago
2l'' If the National Association
0'i'1 Manufacturers by Abner E.
~ nstrojt, who was sent to Eu-
~ .rerial mission by the U. S.
,ot and printed serially at the
'ef,rwood B. Thompson of Bel
,ttended the convention:
~ 40, home Mr.. Near of our or
D -V lsre me what l thought was
you ss S welcome | have received.
0' ,.' old lady in our employ. |
Is how old she is. l guess she
.pg@ seventy or eighty, or there
1.. has been in there about
ne nave been in business and
!, .. oth us Just as long as
A-l principal business in life
- M, diIlce in shape. That is,
.' Ia and goes through the for
= 11stipg the office every morn
very gentle old soul. l
I'll. her say word that was not
7'- s4 Ioyelv as you might expect
E adv but Mr.. Near said she
c..rf eNcited the morning she
t,I had gone down with the
and ,Ae SAID: 81 hope that
20 '..., when the Allies get through
o-Gt nave ground enough left
asage on" UaughteD.
II >gs York harbor on the after
.a-3ry 23d. Before sailing we
~ ~ Ianed to 60 in our state
I -eran indoors, so as we left
ana proceeded out of the har-
mad. not display the nature of
d." M he ships passengers. AS
= u1traopers aboard, all in khaki,
-..or4 Js,irable to keep them be-
AL .7.es which lined the docks
ys-, might not be able to tell
.fir tbs character of our ship.
~ Al Of you have friends probab-
acres, he sea, because you either
..o 5 brother or cousin Or
,oa .gII be interested somewhat
,lrg low the army transports
rt what an armed convoy is. 1t
-r 10 4c following manner:
1,5s It Of New York or out of
"a p0rt> On the Atlantic or the
,-t u-7.aeds to certain point of
.esrt here the ship is usually
, tFs other ships OF the convoy.
IF, o.. rradezvous lay about two
~ from New York harbor, and
..4.sed this point we lay for a
IL N. other ships of our convoy
mo sssembled.
Is aar tung want to touch upon
"a 1sssLng. We lay there for a
ngrnL nat day we might have
i.r boat drill. We did not
r And due to that fact the dis
s l,Hruoh US was all the more
say Tins, because our troops
-- ft- sea at this time are deServ-
,rr urecautlon which this gov
brow about them and the
g.a,a Of hfeboat handling is an
--tlad that should have been
.ol .. 20. Our only training in
boat lI consisted each day of
u Ire belt and going and stand
Dr. >a.lyu opposite the boat that
do Jake in case we were torpe
t4s5Its value because when the
,a. k anr we went instinctlvely
s,Hm ga the boat and did not
y-nlL "A one direction and an
yt 1 one aboard the ship was
tz ding of a lifeboat, which
.nN clinical business. The
Ls.. # lie davits and the hand
He a.4t. IS a matter of training
I-s. lows came from Oklahoma
las ld some from the other in
iies sd had never seen a llteDoat
and Las never seen a great body
q .al hue to that fact the serl-
* .t. l.saster was all the more
] men ION that in passing so you
I'D. ELECT upon US as we came to
r- hour Of our journey,
j. A- ,hips of our convoy were
e. Nt- we're twelve in number,
E.s4rled out across the Atlantic
ozas three, led by a British
. Iae ummander of the cruiser
4 ga.y man in our convoy who
a- situation. The rest of us
m.r lie sheep being led. We
asr~ the commander told MS to go,
vas most interesting perform
.e5z agged our way across the
.a5ra, During the daytime the
the o'her ships were Wig-wag-
x and forth and during the night
'ge aled back by heliograph.
by aslt that showed aboard our
Is stern light, and this was true
" other Ship. So in a great mist
mess we vent these 5000 miles or
'r9s, 'ae Atlantic, for during these
s9ll travels much more that 8, O00