Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-07-18
ESTABLISHED 1856
FACTS ABOUT FRANCE
American Soldiers Had Little Oppor'
tunlty to Form Unbiased Opinion
GREAT LOVERS OF their COUNTRY

American Soldiers Depended Solely
On Own Country For Support
French Best Cooks In The World
United States Can Learn Much
From French.
By Lewis NJ. Grist.
Msny of we soldiers, and l guess 1
am in the lot, are not competent 70 90
inst,ce to France as a country and the
French as a people. Located as we
were mostly in isolated communities
for long periods and coming in contact
principally with French men ana
women of the lower classes and In
sections Of the country where industry
was at its poorest, it is but naturai
that our view Of the land and lts peo-
nle ia somewhat biased. One great
characteristic stands out however, no
matter what the mental, moral ana
physical condition of the people. That
is the love of the Frenchman Tor
France and for the country's greatest
city-Paris. To the Frenchman'
Paris Is the Jerusalem, the most
beautiful, most wholesome city In all
the world. Paris to the Frenchmeh )
mind Is the super-perfect. Ana II
must be indeed a wonderful city. 1
was never there although stationed
within forty miles of it for long time
This Jealous love Of country on the
part of the French is ample to cover
many of their failings and shortcom-
ings. The thing that had tendency
toward the repellant in the trencn
from what 1 saw was their apparent
Unsuitable greed and covetousness.
The average Frenchman OF the lower
class appeared to look on the Amerl-
can soldiers as so many multi-million-
aires. and themselves as leeches whose
business It was to suck the financial
blood of those multi-millionaries. The
French people appeared to be ever
irving to get money out or the Amer
ican soldiers. If they were not peg
einp money from them they were at
tempting to sell them various artlcies
at fifty times their worth. And yet
there is something to be said in their
defense. Suppose the United States
had been involved in a terrible war like
the European conflict on its territory
for four years and had been hard put
even as the French were up until the
time of the Americans coming. Per-
haps we would have developed similar
characteristics. The French soldier
is paid the equivalent of five cents per
day for hissservices and the American
priyate in France was paid in excess
of 81 a day. The French therefore
had some right to look upon their
American ally as millionaire, eh?
Their Love of Country.
But their love of country Is some
thing wonderful and beautiful VI
course there were few French trait
ors-a number being convicted ana
executed as spies. But they were
very, very few. Up in Belgium 1t used
to be said that there were almost as
many traitors as there were people
loyal to their country. And it is
fact that hundreds were executed and
imprisoned by the Allies for traitorous
acts. Quite different with the French.
Hardships counted nothing with them,
numerous disasters did not matter.
Their spirit was ever undaunted, ever
courageous. The French soldier cared
nothing for Germany, nothing FOR the
Allies. His whole thought and energy
was ever centered on the fact that ne
fought for France. OF course they
were appreciative Of the assistance OF
the Americans. But in the areas In
which / was located there was little
If ever any demonstration of that ap-
probation although the French are
commonly conceded to be the most
demonstrative and affectionate people
in the world. The only illustration of
demonstrative appreciation / ever wit
messed was one day when an American
hospital convoy carrying wounded
French soldiers started from one sta
ton to another.
Numerous old French peasants
lined the road and they cheered the
Americans who were caring for French
wounded. And there were many tears
mixed with the cheers of those honest
hard working old French men and
women as they watched the convoy go
by.
Depended on Nobody.
American troops in France didn't
depend upon their Allies for anything
unless it was for the benefit of their
experience. But the other Allies did
depend upon them great deal. Why
if we had depended upon the French
to feed us, we would have starved to
death. Hardly anything in the way
of edibles was purchased from the
French, though occasionally some
vegetables were bought from the
French government. Canned goods
flour and cold storage stuff from the
good old states were the food we de-
pended on and there was always plenty
of it even if it was wee bit old. Why
the French could not even furnish us
enough water to drink.
The finest cooks in the world are
to be found among the French and the
Germans. No wonder they call fried
spuds French fried" The French
know how to fry 'em better than any
body else on the earth and have eat
en- other foods cooked by them that al
most tied with the biscuits that
mother used to make" They can cook
all right; but the trouble with them is
that they haven't great deal to COOK
They were never used to much, how
ever-that is the common herd, and
yet they are hale and hearty. Inciden-
tally their conditions set me to think
ing that the folks back home could get
along on a great deal less and get
along just as we'll if they only knew
how