The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-12

q guess you are wondering when we will come home. So am l. But up to the present date, I know nothing more about it than I did on the day the armistce was signed. Of course I am anxious to get back and I find the army not nearly so interesting in peace time as in war. However, I can see the necessity for considerable force to remain over here until the peace terms are finally settled and the Huns "come across.' Nothing but the mailed fist appeals to them, so I suppose we will have to be patient and stick it out a while longer. You know rumors move rapidly in the army and since the arnistice, we have been en- tertained with some new report daily as to what the division was going to do and where it was going. We have been
 ordered to Siberia, the Philippines, Hawaii, Berlin. Austria and Russia, not to mention Turkey and a few other places don't recall just now. But up to the present, the only move has been an occa- sonal change of billet. We are in support of the army of occupation, but whether we will relieve them or remain where we are until we are ordered home is a ques- tion that you can answer as well as I. Some weeks ago every officer was required to fill out a card stating which of three propositions he desired. "1. To remain in the regular army. "2. To be in the reserve corps.
 "3. Free and immediate separation from the service.
 1Rut it has since developed that this information was only for future ref erence' and the indications are that those who expressed a preference for | the third alternative will remain in the army until their divisions are demo - | bilized. It seems to have been just an- other one of those cards you fill out so | often in the army, about which you hear nothing until some one else comes along and has you to fill out two or | three more just like it.
 HAVE TAKEN FRANCE
 ''The American officers and soldiers have literally taken France since the armistice. Relatively few had ever | been on leave, and after hostilities l ceased, plans were made to let as many as possible off. The preference was given those longest with their divi- | sions, longest over here and those who | had been in combat service. In many | divisions. 10 per cent could be away al l once. and everywhere you would go the l Americans seemed more numerous than l the civilians anc other allies com bined. The Frenchmen like the Amer 1 jeans very much and do all they can 1 to make them have good time 1 Thanks to the American tourists who ! came over here in such numbers before | the war, the French are convinced that | every American who is not a million
 aire is a multimillionaire.
 "They are positive that every Amer 1 ican is worried to death to find enough I ways to spend some of his surplus | change, and the French always polite
 are most accommodating in rendering I every assistance. If you try to explain | to one of these fellows that he has i: mistaken idea and that many Ameri. cans are not overly rich. he thinks yor are a humorist and laughs heartily After two weeks In Paris and at the famous resorts along the Riviera. l ar ; convinced that France will soon regain her economic soundness and no appre hension need be felt about this coun try being able to meet her obligation! | after Germany is made to make goot | the devastated areas.
 "The Americans generally accept tht situation good -naturedly. Most O. them have been so long removed froi things of comfort and luxury that the,
 don't much care about the price, an, then it gives the French such infinit, pleasure to see the francs roll in. Tho, feel like patriots turning the nationa deficit into a balance in the shortes possible time. and also they really fee that they are doing great favor il
 helping their good American comrade'
 to get rid of some of their wealti. which must he burdensome to them.
 EXPENSES OF TRAVELLING
 Just before I went on my leave
 purchased a new coat and cap BI
 before I got back discovered that tn,
 initial cost of these articles was prob ably less than the sum I had to pa. for checking them to boys. girls, oil
 men and women at hotels. cafes an