Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-01-27
RUINS0FWAR
REVIEWED BY
mo One Can Put Into
Words My Impressions"
His Only Comment.

Paris. Sunday. Jan. 26.-CBy the
Associated Press )-President Viii
son today made his first trip to the
battle front and devastated regions
visiting Chateau Thierry, and
Rheims. AT the close of tour
that took him thrugh dozen
razed villages ending in the ruins
of the historic cathedral at
Rheims, he made this comment:
NO one can put into words the
Impressions have received
amongst such scenes of desolatiOn
and ruin"
That was Mr.. wilson's only ex-
preston Of his feelings after a
trip that every F'renchman has
been hoping he would make before
he takes part in deciding what is
to be exacted from Germany for
the devastation of northern France.
- Accompanied by Mrs Wilson,
RS~Qiral Grayson and a very small
party Mr. Wilson left the Murat
residence early this morning.
Motor to Chateau Thierry.
His party motored frs to Cha
teau Thierry where lunch was
Il
The party then proceeded by
motor to Rheims. passing through
many ruined villages and along the
old fighting lines where evidences
OF combat are still to be plainly
seen. After visiting Rheims the
president and his party abandoned
their motor cars and, boarding a
special train, returned to Paris.
The last part of the motor trip
was made in a swirIing snow
storm, the first snow Mr.. Wilson
had seen since last winter.
The fighting ground was re-
ported as the party neared Belleau
wood, immortalized in the history
of the war by the gallant fighting
of American marines. The motor
cars turned off the main roads and
crawled perilously through back
lanes to bring the president close
to the place where the fighting
took place. The country folk in
that neighborhood are striving to
reclaim their country from wars
desOlatiOn. The farmers were
plowing the shell-cratered fields
as the president stood beside the
graves of one hundred or more
American boys who gave Their
livSs at that point and looked
,e1foss the strategic valley to Bel
leau wood, mangled mass of
tree trunks and underhrush. but
marines after whom the French
government have named the place
Sees Where Yanks Whipped Huns.
NJ
Martinsville. Va, who commanded
an artillery battalion in the fight
and was later chief of staff of the
Seventy-seventh division in the Ar
gonne fighting, stood beside Presi-
dent Wilson and Brigadier General
William W. Harts and told the
story of the battle in detail. Then
Mr.. Wilson drove up the hill over
which the American troops smash
ed the crack Prussian divisions
mustered there to crush the green
horns" and where the advance on
Paris was centered. This was near
Chateau Thierry and the place |
promises to be a mecca for Ameri- |
cans for many years to come. Mr.. |
Wilson saw the ruins of bridges |
over which the Americans thrust |
back the enemy line at this near |
est point to Paris and the she'll !
houses which survived the |
battles of those memorable days.
On entering Chateau Thierry, the |
greeted Mr.. Wilson, who re-
sponded quite informally. He then |
drove on towards Rheims, passing
along the old battle line between |
barbed entanglements, now rusting
away in the first winter of peace
between long mud trenches reach
ing over the hills and down into
noIlowS as far as the eye could see,
and past the wrecks of dugouts,
dumps, aviation sheds,
barracks and all the 9TH
sr litter left behind by the defeated
enemy in his flight. l.
DesOlatiOn Everywhere.
1t seemed as if the fields had
,een sowed by Mars with the vast
Lge of war in the hope that it
would take root and blossom.
american as well as French graves,
ay along the roadside. There were
Serman graves to be seen too.
)esecrated cemeteries were found
n many cases, at every turn of the
Dads was a farm, deserted and in
uins, its fields dotted with she'll ,
.oIes filled with water and crusted