Norwich bulletin., 1919-05-27
WASHINGTON AFFAIRS
(Spjecial to The Bulletin !

tween our men and the allied forces" said Congressman John Q. Tilson of New Haven today Col. Tilson has just returned from an official visit to France with the house committee on military affairs. While war was go- ing on and the American soldiers and the allies were fighting side by side. 1t was all right. but now it is about like two families with different tastes, diff ferent aims and a different viewpoint of life trying to live together. Mixing up the soldiers from different countries was all right when there was com mon danger to be shared, but to keep them together now is a bad thing. There is thus far no official break, but there is a tremendous amount of ill- feeling. They don't pull together and bad blood is very much in evidence The boys ought to be brought home without delay. We went into war for purpose which is now accomplished and We ought to get the American army home and end the whole thing" added Col. Tilson emphatically.
 While in Europe, Col. Tilson follow ed as far as possible the ground which the 18th division covered. He also made a trip through the Rhine valley and visited all the principal battle fields. Tt was horribly dreary. espe-
 
 not a soul in sight and whole villages shattered fields torn up by great shells and concrete houses laid fiat. I saw the battlefield of Waterloo and it looked like d toy battlefield in com parison with those of the great war"
 Commenting on the thrift and recu- perative power of the French, Col. Til son said that although the long line of OTTO nj. in were many sections of them already half hidden by fields of waving grain. The French have lost no time in res toration work and except where great shells plowed the ground into deep furrows, which can never be wiped out, they have planted and sown the same as before the war, At Nose." said he, there was such complete destruction that one shattered concrete wall was the only thing left standing. Here we found an old French woman and a small child making a good living by posing for motion pictures and passing tourists. All along the roadsides as we went from battlefield to battlefield we saw fox holes. There has not much been said or written about these holes, but they have saved the lives of hum dreds of thousands of men, and the route along which the troops marched are ridded with them. The men marched by night. silently and in utter darkness, but when daylight was about to break they stopped by the roadside and dug holes just big enough to crawl into and coiled up like snakes. Each man had to dig his own fox hole with his bare hands or his bayonet. How could they do it?' said the colonel, re-
 beating my question. Why, they just clawed the dirt like cat or a dog or a fox. It was life or death to them, and they dug like animals. They stayed motionless and foodless in those holes all through the day and the next night again took up their march and at night again dug more fox holes and crawled in. 1 tell you that the American in fantry went forward through hell each time they marched to battle" and the colonel spoke with stern solemnity.
 Commenting on the desoIation of Verdun and Soisson, Col. Tilson said the streets were piled high with debris and that at night the darkness was so in- tense and the pitfalls so many that a
 guide was necessary. At Soisson we saw but ten faint lights in the whole town. Everything else was total dark ness" Col. Tilson gave an interesting description of salvaSin9 the battlefelds where thousands of tons of munitions and ammunition are stacked in piles like cords of wood The German am
 intuition cannot be used in our arms and is being dumped and exploded but the allied and American arms and mu-
 nitions are being salvaged and will be returned to each country. He saw but one American airplane in the whole
 trip, and that was at the army univer- sity at Beaune. where it was out o1 commission, but used as a part of the airplane study. This university is car ried on by Americans and by professors from this country and here the mer can go on witfl tiIeir intoiYlfit[et trades or professions. no matter O what nature. Absolutely everything i: being taught there that could be stud fed at our home universities. Col Til son stated that military orders hat been issued that in Germany no malt citizen between, the age of 6 and 6t could occupy a bed until every Ameri- 1 can soldier. whether officer or men had been provided with bed. As {
 result, the Americans along the Rhint valley are living in clover. They oc | cupy the finest castles and sleep il | the best rooms, while the German
 owners are relegated to the attic o1 some obscure outbuilding. But thu 1 stories that Germany is suffering iron | lack of food seems unfounded,'' said he | T found the Germans fat and sleek l Their cities are undespoiied, their in. | dustries humming and Germany is put 1 ting all energy into building a saf' after -the-war condition. Unless thu United States and the allies look to i and get busy. Germany will outstril them in industrial and commercial conditions as soon as peace is de 1 clared. She is losing no time no wrangling about how it shall be done l She has marked out a strong polio! and the work is already well unde way" Col. Tilson referred specificall,
 to the German dye industry and added l that as a member of the ways ant means committee he should urge i'm
 mediate legislation to protect Ameri can dyes, Along the Rhine the Ger
 man dye plants are steadily piling III
 supplies for immediate distribution af
 ter the war is declared at at end,
 Chaplain Petty of New Haven wa! senior chaplain at San Sulpico, nea
 Bordeau, and it was remarkable "happenstance" that the day Col. Til
 son visited the camp Petty was to re ceive a decoration from the King O Belgium for extraordinary bravery 1T | the face of the enemy. Petty wa. chaplain of the old Connecticut Secont infantry, of which Tilson was Heuten- ant colonel. and General Rhodes. whc was to read the citation, asked Tilsor | to pin on the medal immediately after
 wards. It was an impressive momen 1 for those two Connecticut men, coming from the same city and tentmates dur. ! the trouble on the Mexican border. tt
 meet in France. the one to receive ant i the other to /aid in bestowing a meda
 for distinguished service on the battle
 field of Europe.
 Col. Tilson expressed regret that h,
 was not able to get detailed informa tion on labor topics. but as peace ha,