The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-26
HIGH PRICES HERE IS
 REASON FOR CHANGE
 OF HEART TO FRANCE

American officers and soldiers, arc hcmesick for France.
 The pendulum of regard in which the French people arc held' or have been held. by American officers and soldiers. is swinging the other way says q writer in the New York Times. Nervous and irascible criticism of our French allies, mostly due to our de- sire to find something to criticize, is giving way to heartfelt expressions of regard, even love for Jean Fran cOis and his women folk.
 When we were in France we damn ed things French with hearty gus to which, when analysed carefully, was found after all Co have very ht- tle support in our hearts We kicked constantly about our being over charged---"so soaked" as we called it. The officers and buck privates and ,Incommissioued officers said they were overcharged by French store keepers. They accused women con ducting fancy little shops of selling them cheap and gaudy fluffles of feminine attire which those same French women wouldn't wear to a ''dog fight" to quote one enlisted man. It is only now that these A. E. F. men are waking up to the fact that. if these Eaudy hufiies were of fered to them for sale, it was because the French storekeepers had the idea that was the kind of stuff Americans wanted.
 The French woman, inanery, has a very definite taste for the pretty things in life. She has no more re- gard for lavender aprons with Sou venir of France" embroidered on
 Hl-- American girl. But the Frenchwo- man found that American soldiers seemed to buy that sort of stuff and she stocked up with It. Plain white silks and dainty lace aprons would have been more to her dainty idea of what soldiers ought to send home But she bowed to what she believed was the inevitable.
 'Ixeep the Change"
 Soldiers in France were over charged. That cannot be denied. But nine-teuths of the overcharging over there was our own fault It was a common thing for an enlisted man ol an officer to say Keep the change in his pidgeon Trench-Oh, ou1 French b-vhen he would get a fifty centime piece in change. And 1t was a common failing with all of us to show willingness to pay anything for wha We wauted-especiauy if we though some other American wanted it.
 In one of the pretty little villages near Diion, in France. was the head quarters of a certain infantry bri aade, which distinguished itself lat CT at Moutfaucon. The mess orrfce' at this brigade headquarters had ol his hands a general and a group O other officers who simply loved fresl eggs. So he bought eggs from tn village stores every day.
 For a short time after the brigad headquarters reached the little vii Iage eggs were costing about fou cents apiece. Tn French money tha would be twenty continues. One da the mess officer found the eggs ha jumped to five cents apiece, and O the following day found that they Ina gone to six cents.
 ~Ahal" said member of the mesi they're after our money"
 But the mess officer soon foun that another mess officer iE the tow was outbiGding the brigade mess of icer for the small supply of eggs O hand. and the French village stor, keeper couldn't be blamed for taE ing the extra money Finally the br fade mess officer had to do a ntt1 daily bidding against his rival Whe the brigade headquarters cleared th village eggs were selling at ten cen apiece. Who was to blame~ Tn French storekeeper? No. He woul have been content until the end time with his old price.
 Prices at Home.
 Americans who went on a certai military expedition not so many yea, ago know by experience that the do not have to leave their own couI try to taste the bitter flavor of hfgr CT than legitimate prices. It is standing joke in one of the New Yor regiments that interesting but dus
 athering armadillo backs cost $3.j