The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-08-11
CORRESPONDENT
|ROASTS TROOPS
SIBERIAN ACTS
Y. $. HONOR IS IMPAIRED DUE TO
LAX DISCIPLINE SAYS GIRL WAR
CORRESPONDENT IN SIBERIA.
ny Peggy Hull,

Ihe policy adopted by the govern.
ment when American troops were sent
to Siberia has cost US the faith of
the Russian people and to a great ex-
tent the respect Of the Czecho- Slovak
forces. The conduct of American SOL
diers after they reached Siberia has
embittered the people who once loved
us as a nation and looked upon us as
the greatest people on earth.
What would we think If the Rus
slams had sent an army of 1000 to our
shores to help us, and instead OF NOV
ing to the places where they were
needed they calmly settled down in
San Francisco, occupied the best build
fngs in town and the best barracks
while our own soldiers slept in box
cars? How would we feel if their au-
tomobiles and trucks raced through the
main streets regardless of human life?
If their soldiers insulted our women
and our cafes were filled with drunk
en- foreigners who made life miserable
for everyone?
Yet this is exactly what happened
in vladivostok. And after my exper-
fence with the army on the Mexican
border and in France 1 feel that
am qualified to judge fairly.
-. ,. soldiers IN Vile Port.
Vladivostok is. with one exception,
the worst port in the world. Port
Said is the only place which surpass-
Thousands of criminals were turned
loose during the revolution They
flocked to the nearest port and the
city became the center of their opera
tions. Dens of vice were established
and inadequate police force could not
cope with the situation. "Kopeck Hill. :"
the center of immortality, fourished
without restraint. Murders occurred
every night.
1t was INTO this port of degradation
and chaos that our soldiers were land
ed for their first Far Eastern duty.
vlad.vostok was said to be dry. bit
vodka, which proved to he As per
cent pure alcohol, could be obtained
without difficulty. 1t was sold to the
soldiers in little tin cans, similar to
our old fashioned coal oil cans. Cog
nae could be bought at some of the
restaurants and with these two liquors
available the Americans proceeded to
forget their old troubles and create
new ones.
No Military Police to Curb Forces.
When / arrived in Vladivostok an
the town twice each day. There were
no regular military police then.
I called on Major William Graves
and asked him why there were no NJ
P's
Il have ideas about the American
soldier, replied General Graves. II
don't like to think it is necessary to
put a military policeman over a man
as protector of life and liberty"
1t was a sweet thought and I know
the general was sincere but very short
ly after our conversation his "protec-
tors of life and liberty had wrecked
building, been mixed up in several
shooting scrapes and had become so
reckless that he found it necessary
to sidetrack his ideals for a while.
This was not done, however, until
the Russian people had been thor
oughly disillusioned about the Ameri-
cans.
: All during that long bitter winter
our men stayed in barracks in vladi-
vostok The Czechs, whom we were
supposed to have relieved at the front
starved to death and froze to death
because their supplies did nor reach
them. We were dickering with the
japanese for control of the railroads.
In all the months / spent in Siberia
never saw drunken Czech soldier.
They maintained the best discipline OF
any of the eight expeditions in Siberia.
Czechs Orderly; Yanks in 6rawIs.
At Nagasaki, Japan, / saw Czech
troops returning to their country via
America. They proceeded through the
streets in orderly groups. singing their
national songs and went back to the
IT, s. transport on which they were
travelling. in an orderly and sober
fashion. At the same time Americans
from the same ship were staging in
dfyidual battles all along the main
1 saw three fighting
with a little Japanese barber over the /
price of a shave. Several had con- |