New-York tribune., 1919-05-16
"GHmpse S"
By Wilbur Forrest
N1ITH ARMY OF OCCUPATION IN
wv GFRMANv 1-'

" GERMANY.-Humans are crs.+
OF habit, whether in an army or
otherwise. The villages of Eastern Frsr.o
taught the army that drinking water ~
these villages was almost invariably had
Geologlcally speaking, French water IN
Eastern France is too near the surface II.
drink it means trouble unless YOUR svs.ou.
has been schooled from infancy with :.
out drinking water in American-occupied
Germany is different. 1t bubbles from ~.
deep pools of glacial rock formations tho.
abound everywhere in the valleys Of ~.
Moselle and Rhine. It is noted the world
over for its medicinal properties sna
crystal-like purity. However, enter manv
German villages occupied by our troons AMI
you see signs reading, Don't drink th;,
water without boiling it." 1 asked a mea;
cal officer about it in Moselle village N.
other day. He replied:
"The villagers drink it. With them !, ).
Just case of survival of the fittest. Thew.
been drinking it for centuries and those
who survived have now become imm,rs .
A more eminent authority, however. con.
firmed that those don't drink" signs ars
thing of habit formed in France.
American soldiers as general rule hers
in Germany want to go home. Thousands
have applied for release from the army or
one pretext or another. Where Thousand.
have asked to so home hundreds have sucu
ceeded. Hundreds who have failed tsl.
various means of protest against the rather
dull duty of policing the Rhine. ponulsr
OF tboJ ic
934, the American mail building in Coh,e,,
Soldiers do not stamp their letters. but
simply mark them "Soldier's Mail" Thew
have begun to mark them "Homesick sol.
dier's Mail" and eve want to 60 home
Bring US back to you," etc.
American newspaper readers possibly
would be surprised to know that CORE.
spondents with the American army of oc.
cupation over here in the Rhineland are
still subject to army censorship the dissolu.
ton of all other censorships. includin,
George Creel's, Notwithstanding. The armv
blue pencil which correspondents have
learned to know so we'll Is still on dutv
eliminating words, phrases and paragraphs
tending to forecast troop movements dis
cuss German propaganda in the interior Of
Germany or speak of politics in a contro
versial way. Why the army should CON-
tinue to maintain censorship is doubtless
known to the army. Correspondents have
not yet been let into the secret However.
on behalf of the army it might be stated
that censorship, like boiling good drinking
water, has become habit which cannot be
overcome in a day
The French are gradually getting over the
war habit, even though they still maintain
censorship. When the war began all printed
notices IN French railway trains warning
the German tourist not to pull the alarm
signal, not to lean out of the car window.
not to put his feet on the polished wood
work and general line of instruction how
to eat, sleep and ride on a French train
were blotted out with the utmost thorough
ness. Now the French railways not only
print their eating and sleeping car signs ia
Teuton, Anglo Saxon and Latin tongues. but
GO more. They are using German railway
cars, in which nothing but German is print
ed 1t depends on what part of some French
trains you occupy whether a German Eng
NAS'' Qi41aSC DoVe Is necessary 10 lOll0W IN
structions. Many French trains are literally
! Franco German
During the big Third Army carnival in
Coblenz the carnival authorities thought it
would be realistic if battery of field guns
fired barrage-a rapid fire performance
with blank shells. The guns were reouisi-
toned from a neighboring artillery regi-
ment and the battery commander was Or
| dered to prepare the 'blanks.' He had no
regular blanks, so he pulled the projectiles
! from q truckoad of "75" calibre shells and
wadded them with paper. He had to do the
work on short notice. but delivered" in
time. The guns were lined up and the signal
was given for the barrage to begin. Gun
crews worked feverishly and lanyards were
pulled in prescribed form. Everything went
tine but the barrage. The carnival crowd,
expecting to hear the sharp cracks Of the
guns blending into rolling drumfire, saw
but heard nothing. The guns refused to
crack" and instead sluggishly and sui
lenly spat bundles of yellow sparks from
their muzzles. The barrage was "fzzle,"
and certain battery commander has been
explaining ever since why "macaroni" pow
der fails with paper wadding. He didn't
think of it before