The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-03-28
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO
WITH OUR RETURNED SOLDIERS
by C. NJ. Morrison.)


"What is to be my chance"
That is the question that thousands
yes hundreds of thousands Of young
men in the army and navy of the
United States of America are asking
themselves and asking each other as
the work of rehabilitation proceeds
AS they turn in tie rifle, the blanket
roll and the bayonet, that question is
in their minds.
These men are wondering if ma
ton, that was willing to raise bill
lions Of dollars when the war was
still to be fought to a finish, is going
TO be as willing to support any great
plan for turning themselves and their
/. comrades back into citizens with d
chance to make good.
Now that the proposal has been
made that thousands of farms be
placed at their disposal, that the Gov
eminent back them with It's money,
a new interest has been added to the
drive for the Fifth Liberty loan
For it is generally understood that the
Government must finance certain pro-
jccts that will make use of the splen-
hlu oPillI anu Vitality VI oHSHs re-
turning mon and that the financing
in part at least must be corri2d out
by means of Liberty Bond issues.
These men have been pouring back
into America by the ship load. So
great has been the demand for the
quick return Of the men who have
fought our battles that every avail
able transport has been used and a
considerable number of American
cruisers have been converted into tenn
porary transports.
They Expect Something Fair
These men have a right to expect
something. Not something for moth
ing, not pensions and a life of east,
not lot of soft words and fearful
sympathy. They will be in the right
in expecting that while they were
away marching and fighting, foot
slogging along French roads and dig
ging into French hillsides, that we
should have thought out the problem
Of how best to give them mans
chance when they got back to Amer
lea.
They understand just as clearly as
any of us that any attempt to solve
the problem of putting 1000 900 army
men back into civil life Of finding
places for half a million sailors and
untold others Jared loose from the
old inches made by the war, is going
to take brains and money, q lot of
money and high quality Of brains.
While in England, many of them
must have heard and seen something
Of the British preparations to have a
job for every man as he slipped out
of his soldier kit and turned in his
rife. They must have heard some
thing of the Canadian land-for-the-
soldier movents from their comrades,
the "Canucks." The Frenchmen
doubtless told them of the arrange
ments of the French Government to
reverse the machine of war and re-
build the splendid machinery of peace
full occupations that made France
prosperous country before the Hun
went suddenly mad back in 1914.
A Soldiers Thoughts
The soldier has been thinking to
himself:
What am going to do when !
get back? Will there be n job wait
ing for me? Will it be the old job,
and if it is waiting do | want to &c
back to that? Maybe girl has it now.
Maybe she won't want to give it up.
Maybe she won't care to marry and
will want to keep the place that she
has had all these months.
"What about some more school
ing? Well | guess am too old. The
school days are gone and J want to