Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1919-05-09

| the harbOr to be of commanding i'm.
portance, decided to establish the en-
! barkation and rest camps outside of
the town.
They worked wonders In doing so,
and despite the manifest discomforts
Of daily rains and perpetual mud
they have in Pountanezen provided a
halfway station between the battle
front and home which is second to
none in the world. Pountanezen is
about seven or eight miles outside Of
the town itself. Its present capacity
is about 10000. Within three months
it will have been expanded to take
care of 10000.
The embarkation hospital ut Ker-
huon, separated only few hundred
yards from Pountanezen, will ulti
mately have capacity for caring for
1900 cases. 1t can now care for
between six and seven thousand. Both
plants are near completion. The plans
when finally worked out will provide
accommodation for three-fifths Of the
military establishment maintained by
the United States on European soil
It Is gigantic task. this making q
new city for the care Of both the sick
and we'll, but it is one that the men
intrusted with the work believe they
can accomplish under the most un.
favorable circumstances.
AS it assumes the form of its chief
Importance all European roads will
lead to Brest. s54
To, Keep the Well Diverted.
: The big thing, as the responsible
officials view it, Is to provide the
healthy men with diversion to keer
them not only out Of mischief but in
good spirits while waiting for trans.
portation. Men who have been living
next door to death and constantly un.
der the thunder of great guns are
finding life at detention and intern
ment camps rather uninteresting. It
is the purpose Of the officials respon'
sible for their welfare to keep them
occupied SO that they will not miss
the tumult Of war or brood too much
upon the delay Of getting home.
Up to date the chief occupation Of
the 10000 men who are conferred here
has been confined to speculation as to
dates of departure and taking close
up view Of the few attractions OF
BreSt. ~
Some idea of the native entertain
ment is furnished by the fact that
there is only one moving picture show
in the town. Severe restrictions are
placed upon the ventures of the
doughboys in the night life of the
ancient burg. The girls of Brest are
not particularly attractive. Their
faces are not lacking in qualities Of
classical beauty, although their hands
and feet are not the sort that inspire
the sculptor or painter to reproduce
them in mud, marble or on canvas.
The military police keep pretty
sharp eye on the men in hhaki, and
the penalties for attractions Of army
law are pretty severe.
The doughboys make light Of the
mud, their well shod feet squash into
It. and their comfortable clothes re
sist the penetration of the mist that
peninsula. There is little or no dis.
comfort from cold, because while
much further north than New York.
Brest catches the eastern end of the
Gulf stream, and the temperature
rarely falls below IS and most fire.
auently fiuctuates between As and 55
The men are well fed and comfort
ably housed. The mothers of some OF
them would probably raise their
hands in horror at one or two features
Of their daily life, but the health re
ports of the camp furnish substantial
proof that the precautions taken by
the government are working out much
more satisfactorily than the regimen
inspired by home influence.
The army and navy officials point
with pride to the fact that In one day
$4,000 American troops debarked at
Brest, and that during the next day
5000 were added to the total. Tss.S
means that an aggregation of fighting
men one-half the size of the mobile
army of the United States four years
ago was dumped into the mud NJ
Brest by convoy of the most i'm.
pressive ships that ever sailed the
main-the Leviathan, Mount Wash.
ington, President Grant, George
Washington, President Lincoln, L.
France, Paris and the Lutetia.
Medical Regulations Rigid.
The medical regulations that prevail |
in the chief American military de
oarkation port are most rigid. No
soldier is permitted to enter or leave
the camp without a thorough exami
nation and when he receives his ticket
to 60 aboard ship to 60 home he must
be 100 per cent physically.
Arriving by train from interior
points his clothing Is taken from him
and is subjected to process that
precludes the possibility Of infection
or insect life. He gets q complete |
new outfit and many other convent
ences that were not possible while |
be was up near the 1ghting line.
The facilities for handling the