Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1919-04-23
ApoIosists in High Places.

WINCH are .acCcptSN as hdAhiiSSS uu
their face value have been found to
be harmful.
Apologists in High Places.
Bolshevism is found in high places
in some parts of this country. This
is the Lords truth, although il is one
of the hardest things in the world 10
prove. Apologists for the present re-
gime In Russia are in many guises.
The word ordinarily is that the Rus
sian doings of today are misunder-
stood and that the killings which are
the order are prompted solely by kind
ly affection for everybody in the world
except those marked for slaughter. 1t
sort of an Abraham and Isaac bust
ness over again, except that unlike
Isaac the victim of bOlShevism does
not escape the knife and the pyre.
In this town there are no wickedly
potential apostles of bolshevism. They
are all of the hot house type. but
their preachings are an encouragement
to the non-intellectuals who take their
lessons from others and prepare to
do the things which the others would
shudder TO do.
Bolshevism is attempting TO enlist
discharged soldiers of the American
army in its cause. It probably viii
not have much luck except In a few
places where the draft brought into
! the service some weak-minded ones
a negligible number of draftees whose
fiabby mentality not even service in
the field could bring 10 normal.
Plenty of War Souvenirs.
1t was the easiest thing in the world
t. gather souvenirs of the battlefields
In France. All that an American had
to do was to stoop down and pick up,
ard he could continue the process of
stooping and picking through all the
daylight hours without getting what
the fishermen cal la water haul.
Some four score thousands of Ger
man helmets are TO be offered rs
prizes TO the workers In behalf OF
the next Liberty loan. The pOstofllce
| department recently has said that the
volume of souvenirs sent to the United
States from France by parcel posi-
may be measured by the ton. Already
! half million helmets have come
through the mails.
| Not far from Chehery, which is
northeast of the heavier section Of the
Argonne forest, is a wood called the
| Bots de Bourgonne. One day in early
November the Americans gassed this
wood With mustard. They drove the
| Huns out limp-legged. The enemy
dropped pretty nearly everything that
he had i'm his haste TO get away from
the fumes and the burns. Six days
after the wood had seen gassed some
| American officers from General Dick
mans headquarters explored the wood.
| Notwithstanding the fact that nearly
a week had passed since the gas shells
had been dropped in the forest, the
air still was charged with its fumes
and the ground was pretty well soaked
with the semi-llquid. II ,pas neces-
sary on entering the wood to wear a
gas mask, and some Of the denser
parts of the underbrush could not be
penetrated because the exploring off,
GERS were not properly protected.
Hun Equipment All Abandoned.
| The floor" of the Bots de Bour-
! gonne was Uttered with Hun imple-
ments. There were gas masks. he'll
NETS, revolyers, rifles, belts, blankets,
and a score Of other things which a
soldier carries or has carried for him.
The place looked like curi0 shop.
As soon as It was safe to enter the
wood the salvage corps undertook Its
| work. The Bots de Bourgonne was
only one of hundreds Of like places
| I'm the fields and forests along the
front. east and west of the Mouse
river. where the Americans operated.
| The same conditions found duplica-
lions in the fields of the French and
British fronts Train loads Of souve-
! Mrs were picked up by the American
| armies after they had attended to
the major business of driving the Hun
out of his advanced positions In the
| st. Mihlel salient and the Argonne
forest.
One afternoon Gen. Joseph r. Dick
man. who commanded the first army
corps in the ArgoDne, took the writer
hereof on a flying motor trip from
| Chehery, due east to Montfaucon.
The Americans had swept over this
ground shortly before driving the Hun
| back toward Sedan. This section Of
| the front was largely open country
and one could get an instant under
standing of the wastage of material
in the wake Of retreating army
and not all this wastage Is that Of
the army which is on the run, FOR
men in the eagerness of the pursuit
occasionally will throw away impedi-
menta in order to fly light and fight
| light"
In the fields between Chehery and
Montfaucon there were tens Of thou
sands Of shell cases. Hun guns out
Of commission broke the line Of vision
everywhere. Baby tanks. which one
pounders had put out of business were
waiting the arrival Of the members If
the salvage corps.