American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1919-02-07


a man unfit for immediate exertion.
Soldiers on the march are strongly |
advised by their chiefs not to drink |
red wine, but white exclusively. The |
wine our soldiers fall for is heavy |
wine called cognsac, and It is bad stuff, |
something like our bootleg whisky.
A little of 1t will spoil an otherwise
good soldier Reer and whisky Is sold
in all parts of France The beer is
not of the quality of "Budweiser," but
ii is better than Becco or any other
near beer. The whisky is as bad as
any, perhaps worse. Anyway is Is the
fighting kind, but very bad for sol
der
In 1918 there were in France 1889
diStilleries and 1900 private stills. The
vine was first planted 500 years B. G.
by the Greeks. The yearly wine pro-
duction now reaches 1860 million gal
Ions. Some win
Have you ever heard of snail farm
ing? II is quite an industry over here.
A frog (Frenchman) told me snail
farmers made beaucoupe (boo koo)
money; that often off of one acre he
gets 100000 first quality snails. They
oiN iCA ph SobbHtNt citNASNsAaf eAN
bran soaked in wine. The wine is sup
posed to give them a special flavor.
Some OF the boys eat snails and say
it is a great dish. I'll take corn willie
and beans for mine.
The French have good horses, very
large and strong, judging by the load
they pull They look like the big cir
Gus or brewery horses in the States,
and are very slow, not much faster
than oxen. If they were any faster
( they would leave the drivers behind.
The driver usually walks. The don
key is quite favorite with the French
and is as useful as he is small. They
are not much larger than the big
dog Wright's had The donkey is ihe
Ford of France.
Nearly every woman of the poorer
class has one or two goats, often more
The village shepherd, usually little
girl or boy collects them all in the
morning on his way to the fields, anc
returns them at night. The goat is tt
the COW what the donkey is to thu
horse. And the hogs and chickens ant
everything live in the mud In the from
yard, with the horses and COWS.
Every farmer, no matter how small
bred pigeons and rabbits and believ,
me, rabbits cooked in wine is a disl
fit for the kings. Rabbits sell for from
three to%ssx francs. A franc is tn
tfnlt OF money over here and is wort
about Is 1-2 cents in our money
Pigeons and peas is the national dish
take my Overseas hat" off b
the French on their roads. They ar
masters in the art of building roads
The roads vary in width from 21 t
30 feet in width, not including a ditcl
on each side Early last spring | mad
trip by truck over one of their won
derful roads from Nevers to Bourghef
distance of rs kilometers A kilom
eter is five eighths of a mile. Thi
road is perfectly straight except 4
one case. where 1t makes a shar
turn onto a bridge spanning the Loir
river. At some time ages ago tree
were planted on both sides of the roa
25 or 80 feet apert all the way fror
Nevers to Bourghes. The trees mus
be two or three hundred years ole
: Judging by their size. Roads are GOV
cred with crushed stone and grave
and traffic soon wears il smooth SUI
faced like a floor. Army truck train
have worn some OF the roads. in fac
nearly all of them, until they are pre-
, ty rough, but they are never mudd.
=, On one side stones (sometimes cai
I iron) about 10x14x30 inches, are 8,
| up every kilometer. The stones sho
| on the side facing the road the nun
Der of that road and the number {
e ktlometers fom its starting point. tn
] sides show the names Of and the dii
e tance to the nearest towns. Small,
stones numbered one to four and 81
. to nine, and one medium sized stor
y giving xii s." mark the decimal
visions of every kilometer. The di
q tance between town are measure
G from church to church Most OF Il
7 perfectly straight roads were built
e the Romans under Augustus. They n
;. dated from Lyons, the capital foundt
by Augustus, TO harseilles, the Rhin
Boulogne and Bardeaux. The Roma
e road builders didn't try TO avoid hill
6 as they were built for military pu
n poses only and were not intended 4
. heavy wagons, trucks and big noun
ed guns as we have now The short
b and more direct a road the cheap
q II would be TO make, would be short
d for men marching. A slodier wou
:. rather march up and down hill ths
s TO march further around it.There a
e 24,000 miles of road froutes natio
aies.) kept in repair by the nation.
y Chemins Ruraux Country roadi
e are opened and maintained by v
y lagos. State roads are maintained
? the states and are built and kept
1t repair by engineers trained In 80
s, cial school. All roads and bridges a
e free of toll | wish idaho had II
IT thousand miles Of roads like Franz
u can't begin to tell you how 81
II I am that ID. W. Davis was elect'
I'm sure he is the ablest man In M
y no. and surely no one has work
of harder for Idaho than he, and we kn'
Of how hard he worked putting the Il
ID erty Loans over. He can bank on
ss boys over here 10 back him to
re limit in his fight for a better Ida
and the fight he surely will ma
,e against I W. VS. and rank socialis
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