Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-11-18
~ NE may gain a vivid and true

NE may gain a vivid and true
conception of the trials of the
American doughboys, those OF
the American EXpeditionary Force
who saw actual fighting, by reading
Lieut.-Col. Theodore Roosevelt's re-
cent book, Average Americans (G.
p. Putnam's Sons. New York;. In
its pages is set forth the story or
hardships brought on by the Ma
tons adherence to the prophets of
unpreparedness, but overcome by
the unconquerable spirit of the
fighting man and at what cost. The
writing is easily distinguishable as
that of a man who knew the labor
of combat, the whine of shells and
zip of bullets. 1t is not the war
stuff turned out by the usual cor
respondent writing from brigade
headquarters or farther back, or one
who took an occasional dash to the
front to get material for copy.
Colonel Roosevelt went overseas
among the first of the American
forces and in the war served the
greater part of the time as a major
in the 26th infantry. While his
book incidents deal altogether with
the operations of that unit and the
ISL ySI IllN oiOlS 10 ~ PhSdA
of the experience of all those COM
bat divisions that met the enemy
face to face.
For a son of the first Theodore
Roosevelt to write a book on the
war without reference to the result
ing Soldier suffering due to the long
years of an unpreparedness policy of
the government would be impos-
sible. Early in the volume he says:
1T is all very well for someone
comfortably ensconced in his swivel
chair in Washington to issue the
statement that he glories in the
fact that we went into this war un-
prepared. It may be glorious for
him, but it was not glorious for
those who fought the war, for those
who pay the price. The clap-trap
statesmen of this type should be
forced to go themselves, or at least
have their sons, as guarantee of
their good faith, join the fighting
forces. Needless to say, none of
them did"
The author declares that to the
average person at home the woes of
unpreparednesS are not evident.
They read of battles, they read of
courage of the men, or the casual
ties, of the glory. They do not APP
preciate the UNNECESSARY sacrifices
and the unnecessary hardships on
us by our policies"
Not a Postwar Lament.
Roosevelt is not one of those who
sings a postwar lament in useless
uncofstructive criticism of those
who managed affairs. I'VE had the
lesson of rnpreparedness illustrated
so that we can all understand it,"
he says. I'VE must not now content
ourselves with admitting we were
wrong. That does not get lis any
further forward. We must adopt
measures to see that it does not oc-
cur again. The policy that l be-
l;eve is necessary to this end is COM
pulsory training-from an economic
standpoint alone, compulsory train
ing would be of untold benefit. The
economic unit of the community is
the individual. BY training and de-
veloping the individual you develop
the economic assets. The small loss
in time from n money earning as
pect would be the times oompen-
stated by the increased efficiency
after training. From a moral stand
point the individual would be
broadened by contact, trained in
fundamentals and self discipline,
and have one of the surest fotinda-
tions of clean thought and clean
action. a healthy body"
One phase of our unreadihess for
war dealt with in the book is that
of supplies. When | say that our
troops were coming across in large
numbers tthis was more than q
year after the beginning of the war;
let it be borne in mind that. though
I'the men did come, munitions and
weapons of war did not come. The
Browning automatic rifle, for ex-
ample was invented in the
United States in the summer Of
1911. When the war finished it had
Just been placed for the first time
in the hands of a limited number of
our divisions; my division. the 1st,
never had them until a month after
the armist'ce. We used the old,
French chauchat, a very inferior
weapon. None of our airplanes had
come, and the death of many of our
young men was directly traceable to
| this, as t'.ey of necessity. used in
| ferfor machines. Our cannon was.
ard remained. French. Our troops
were at. times, issued British uni
forms Ald many of the men OH
jecixd .trenEously to wearing them