Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-02-23


few months ago, when the G
Paris, but now it is different,
He also charged American officers
with boorish conduct in restaurants.
He personally saw two young officers
square off for bout in a cafe. A
major interrupted the quarrel, called
I'm an M. p, and caused the offender
to be dragged out In handouts, to
the shocked and indignant surprise of
the French gentlefolk. who were
quick to express the hope that the soil
of France might soon be cleared of
such canaille.
In view of the many disquieting
stories that are finding their way back
70 America. 1t seems highly desirable
that our people should know the calm
and reasonable truth about all these
things. and the sooner the better. Let
us take up one by one the tales and
accusations that are going about.
HOW FRENCH REALLY FEEL.
It may be that the French are no
longer grateful for American help, but
do not believe 1t. Wherever I have
gone, in Paris or in the small towns
In the war zone, the French people
are not merely polite; they are truly
and sincerely cordial. Such is their
attitude toward plain Americans who
have not borne arms for them. Their
feelin gfor Americans who helped them
stop the Germans, and who lahored
among the sick and homeless refugees,
surely is much deeper. Red Cross
workers will tell you that their lives
have been enriched by their expert
ences, and that they will forever feel
repaid for their efforts by the express
sions of gratitude chat have come to
them.
Let us consider the attitude toward
the doughboys. 1t is true shat our
soldiers universally call the French
people frogs" often to their faces.
1t seems to- me that this is wrong.
much as I admire the splendid young
fellows VINO make up ou, army, but
Americans will understand that the
term Is not intended to give offense.
Our youth is always irreverent, and
when it calls q Frenchman a frog. it
does so in goodnatured, thought
less way. Probably some of the
French people resent the term. We
could not blame them IL they did.
However, the most of them seem to
understand that there is no desire
TO hurt their sensibilities, and pay no
attention.
ARMY is SOUND.
Our army in France taken as n
whole, is made up Of big, modest,
rte
about quietly and behave themselves
as they should. There may be a few
muckers, but they are very few in
numbers. Americans may be conf
dent that the feeling for the army
here is based on the Judgment of the
big, clean sound majority, rather than
on any opinion that may be deservedlv
entertained in regard to the misbehay-
ting few.
Are the French people ungrateful?
There does not seem to be any sound
OASIS Tor thinking SO. Certainly we
cannot expect them to be telling us
constantly how thankful they are; we
ought to be satisfied with their ex-
pressions of gratitude on armistice
day, which Americans then in France
viii not soon forget. The reception
they gave our president, and the man
ner in which they have so often de-
ferred to him in the peace conference.
ought to satisfy us further.
We should not forget that France
has troubles Of her own, which would
naturally give her some preoccuna-
tion. Few of us realize that the coun-
try Is In very bad way industriallv
II we will recall the spent and wasted
condition of the southern states after
our civil war, We can grasp some-
thing OF Frances problem today. The
enormous losses In men, in capital
agricultural enterprise, TRANSFORMATION
and manufacturing and mining eouin-
ment present staggering difficulties
Ine whole nation. engaged in winning
the war. must now extricate itself
from activities no longer required and
reorsanize It's peaceful industrial life
all over again. The job is colossal
EXPLAINING THE CROUCH.
This brings us to a consideration
of the commonly repeated charge that
the French people are trying to gouee
the douEhboys. When a soldier has
$40 month to spend in a country
where prices are two or three times as
high as they once were, he is bound
g accumulate crouch. He wouldn't
be quite human IL he didn't. Let us
Investigate the situation.
= Paris newspaper is said to have
published recently news item to the
effect that certain barber shops
charged two scales Of prices, one for
hmeFicans and one for French pa