The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-09-25
SOLDIERS WERE
 OBSCURE COGS IN GREAT MACHINE
Instead of Thrill and Glory War Furnished Steady
 Grind.

Washington, D. C., Sept. 25. - Making political capital out of the reported discontent of the soldier and the discouragements he met overseas and on this side as well in the service has been a favorite pastime in many sections of the country since the armistice. Throwing some light on the subject and as an explanation of just how the discomfort of the soldier came about, an editorial printed In the latest issue of the organ of the District of Columbia Department of American Legion The Veteran" is interesting, because it shows that there was no fundamental wrong at the bottom of this soldier discontent' so popularly referred to by the agi- tatOrS.
 The whole country has taken note of that fact that nine service men out of ten who came back from overseas are nursing a grouch. Many thought ful people, enthusiastic over the great thing that has been accomplish ed, have scratched their heads in be- wilderment because the men who turned the trick are without rejoic- ing, are, on the contrary, well sup piled with large sized hammers with which to attack anything from Persh- ing to pork and beans. The condi- tion is a fact and might as well be faced.
 But the cause of 1t Is by no means serious. The veteran is optimistic in the belief that it will fade away when exposed to the sun of time and that not a vestige of 1t will remain one year hence.
 Here is the reason why the serv- ice man Is sore. He went bHthely away with a great enthusiasm for the cause. Instead of being of thrilling adventure as he had expected he found that going to war was one con tinuous grind of hard work. Instead of finding himself in a position where personal thrill and glory filled up his entire horizon, he found that he was but an obscure cog in a stupendous machine and that he played a very monotonous part
 Even this he bore with a forti- tude as long as the great thing to be accomplished was ahead. The job was worth any amount of drudgery. But when, on November II of last year, Germany caved in, his incentive for enduring his burdens was gone. He regarded his mission as being per
 
 bending every effort upon a supreme effort ahead, but of getting back home-back to his family, back to his job, back to the career he had left.
 But he found that he could not get away. There were reasons why the military strength must be main tained. Germany had not yet signed i the treaty. Activity might be re- sumed. The existence of force was necessary although there was little chance that it would ever be used. So the men in the service must stick around. They must continue the monotony and drudgery of their lives, must be held away from those Elysian shores back of the Statue of Liberty. The tedium of it, the fret of it, the seeming uselessness of it, got on the nerves of every man. Months of wait ] ing soured most of those dashing i Tanks. They become quarrelsome, sore, blue, disgusted, fault-finding. l They came home with a grouch. Ii i was but natural. Nobody who un- | derstands them planes them for 1t. But nobody who understands the l processes of the human mind worries | about this attitude. It is a saving | quality of the memory that expert i ences that are pleasant remain and
 that those that have been disagree able gradually fade away. So 1t Is safe to say that, a year hence, every i mothers son of them will be as ! happy as a cricket and that half a
 century to come will be filled with re-
 citals of experiences in which there | is naught but qualification"