The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1919-03-21
MOSCOW SOLDIER
TELLS NEED OF HELP
FRANK H. THOMAS RECITES
FACTS THAT CAME UNDER
HIS OBSERVATION

| 10 the people OF Moscow and v1cln-
ity who would probably care to give
a little toward the relief of the Bel
gium and French war orphans and
yet are somewhat doubtful as to the
necessity Of their gifts, | would like
to say few words. 1t was my lot
to serve in France for period of
sixteen months, during which period
saw number of refugee camps and
had my attention called to the condi-
ton of the refugees who were scat
tered broadcast over the land.
Of all the cases of poverty brot on
by the. war, the one that touched me
most was that of an old man, his
sister, wife, and three little grand
children. 1t was in November, 1917,
during the rainy season, when the
cold winds were driving the torrental
rains over the low hills of central
France, that an old gray-haired man,
scarcely able to walk with the aid of
cane, asked me tremblingly for a
sou.
"Only one little sou, Monsieur
PAmericaine, sill vous plait." There
were tears in his eyes. At that time
a sou was not quite equivalent to a
tenth of a cent in our American
money. Well-he got the sou, and
many more of them.
The next day 1 saw his home and
family. The home was a miserable
little hovel built of odds and ends of
discarded sheet iron roofing and bur-
lap. 1t was approximately two meters
or less than seven feet square, and
had no floor. There was no fire, for
wood or coal was out of the question
r.. I, 1oI 10 offoy.nI
blankets for bedding. They had no
outer garments had been patched
many times.
The American soldiers rented a
ed them as long as we were in that
camp. What they will do when the
last American soldiers leave Nevers
is a real problem. The older people
were too old and feeble to do any
but the lightest work and the child
rem were too young.
While. at the American camp at
Nevers I saw Belgian and French
refugees picking over the waste from
the kitchens and mess halls in order
to get food that they might live with
out suffering the pangs of hunger.
With very few exceptions these ref
ugees were very scantily clad, and
always. they were drenched thru from
the downpouring rains. 1t ,rained
every day we were at Nevers.
At Perigueux | saw camp of ref
ugees where the housing conditions
were no better than the one described
above, and where the refugees went
to large cinder dump to search for
tiny bits of coal that might happen
to be there Many of these men and
women were barefooted and none Of
them dressed with clothing warm
enough to comfortably live thru the
winter months
And so it is nearly any place you
may happen to go in France. Most
of the refugees have absolutely moth
ing with which to start life over
again in the devastated regions
where once they had their homes.
The French nation and the people of
France are striving heroically to solve
the problem of taking care of the
thousands of homeless, and are sac
rificing much that their fellow coun-
trymen may not starve to death. The
wages the peasant population receive
for their, efforts are so small that
it would take them years to replace
even a part of what they have lost.
The American soldier in France is
doing much to relieve. the suffering
of many of these unfortunate people
and make life a little easier for them.
The children of France and Belgium
are going to miss their big American
comrades when the boys all leave for
home, and many of the little war or
phans may go in want of things that
our boys, in their generosity, made
possible for. them to have.
If there is any doubt as to whether
things given by the people of this
country are needed by those who were
forced to seek refuge from the Hun
Kultur, let them ask any man who
has been overseas and who has had
chance to see these conditions at
first hand. If that man has had the
opportunity to observe the condition
of the refugees, and has a heart, he
can give but one answer.-"They
need everything we can give them"
FRANK H. THOMAS,
Company B, 10th Engineers.