Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-07-15
Ibis IMPRESSIONS OF FRANCE
Corporal Lewis N. GflSt Gives a
Brief Interview.
TRANSPORTATION Won The War

TRANSPORTATION Won The WAE
Where People Queneh Their Thirst
With Wine Instead Of Water-Farm
ing Confined Principally to Trucking
Has Enough of War and Is Now
Content to Remain at Home.
I Lewis M. Grist, Motor Truck Com.
pany $40, returned to the home Of his
father, Mr.. w. D. Grist, in Yorkville
Friday morning after nine months SER
vice with the American ExpeditionarJ
Forces in France. He arrived in the
states in May; bit his earlier discharge
was prevented by reason Of the fact
that he has beon held for treatment In
hospita!s-first at Walter Reed In
Washington, and later at the Base
Hospital at Camp Jackson. He Is look
ing quite we'll and is much heavier
than when he went over. He freely
admits that he is glad Of the opportu-
mites he had and that experiences he
gained were invaluable, although he
emphatically declares that all the mon
ey in the town Of Yorkville would no,
be much of an inducement for him to
go through it again unless conditions
were the same as those which made II
necessary for the Americans to put the
fear Of God and democracy in the Ger.
mans. He said Friday that he had
quite enough Of travelling to satisfy
him Cor a few years at any rate, and
that the wanderlust is not strong with.
in him by a great deal my job on
The Yorkville Enquirer" he said
'Iooks better to me than any place
know, and knew for a certainty that
this town Of Yorkville Is the finest spot
on the face Of the earth-absolutely nc
exceptions"
Speaking Of his experiences overseas
and the work Of his organization, Cor
poral Grist said: I'VE fellows in the
motor corps didn't have any chance to
especially distinguish ourselves and we
did not have any fighting to do. Why
we didn't even have to fight cooties
and l have yet to have the experience
| of going through one Of those de-coot-
| ieizer outfits, so necessary and vital tc
tho physical comfort Of tho doughboys
It was our job to transport the fighters
to the front lines, to haul them sup
plies and all that kind Of thing and to
keep the thousands and thousands OF
trucks, motorcycles and touring cars
| in running shape. We had plenty to
do all the time and there was COM
paratively little time for recreation. II
we didn't learn pretty nearly all there
is to learn about motor cars and their
mechanism, it is our fault. We sifrely
had plenty Of opportuniti, to learn.
Aided Railroads.
You have heard a good deal about
the efficiency Of French railroads" ne
continued. 'There Is no -doubt Or the
fact that they are efficiently managed.
During my nine months IN France, l
never saw or ,,eard Of a serious rail-
road accident. But at the same time
those railroads are very small and very
slow, and it is my sincere belief that
had 1t not been for the thousands OF
American and Allied trucks used in
handling soldiers up to the lines like
trains the war would still be in pro-
gress or else Jerry would have long
ago mopped up. Motor trucks hauled
as many soldiers over France as did
the French trains and most Of the au-
tomobile hauling, it seemed to me, was
done by the Americans.
| THE French trains are small, they
have not the accommodations of our
american trains. Why, many OF their
engines on the main lines are not near
ly as large as the dinky engines one
sees in use on construction work In
this country. There seems to be little
system about their operation and yet
there is a lot Of system too. They
know nothing about air brakes and the
conductor has no means of communi-
cation with the engineer except in per-
son. Many time have seen French
conductor stop his train at some little
village or town, go into saloon and
order a quart of wine and sit for nall
hour or so at table, calmly slipping
his vintage. The passengers had no re-
dress other than to await his pleasure
to proceed. I've known the engineers
to do the same thing. 1t is more than
funny as compared with our methods
Yet damage suits in French courts or
| account of railroad accidents are al
most unknown in France. A watch
man, usually a woman, is stationed al
every railroad crossing Of any import
ance in France. She has horn and
upon approach of q train, stands neal
the crossing and blows the horn.
| Rode In Box Cars.
I'VE enlisted men did most Of oui
riding in box cars-third class you
know. After l got my warrant as
| non n-commissioned officer / was allow
| ed to ride second-class and more thar
| once I have gotten away with seal
| in a first class compartment by telling
| the French conductor no compre'-
that means no savy, when he under
| took to oust me from my good place
ION the whole we Jared pretty well
I don't remember ever going hungry
a day and there was always more
i than enough for us. But the drink
ing was something fierce. The water
in France is very poor and much Of
it is poisonous. All that we had was
charged with chlorine to kill the
germs, and that resulted in a dose
that was worse than awful. VI
around La Pallice the water was salt!
and of course there was nothing do
ing so far as drinking that was con
cerned. We had to content ourselve:
4 with the wine and beer that the
| nnnlH ppt n.