The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1919-07-31
TELLS STORY Of
WORK OF ARMY
TEN THOUSAND TON SHIP TO
TRANSPORT RECORDS
FROM FRANCE.
GIVES FACTS WITHOUT COLOR
History OF the War to Be Compiled by
War Department viii Contain Moth
ing but What Was Done, and How
u Was Done.
BY EDWARD 3. CLARK.

BY EDWARD q. CLARK.
Washington.-A 10000 ton ship has
been assigned to the duty of trans
porting from France the records Of
the American expeditionary forces. No
other cargo will be carried.
This little paragraph of the news
will enable the people instantly to
understand the huge bulk and volume
Of the story Of the war as shown in
the official papers and In the life his
tories of each one of the 10000 men
who went over TO fight the Hun.
Almost Immediately after the first
American expeditionary force was sent
to France there sailed a company OF
officers and men whose duty II was to
gather the basic material for a his
tory Of the American army's operations
wherever they were carried out.
Nobody knows. how many histories
OF the war will be written. Some Of
them are under way now, but the one
history which will be accurate beyond
peradventure is the history which will
be compiled from the actual field serv-
Ice Of supply, and operation orders Of
the American expeditionary forces.
Specifically speaking, therefore. the
history which will be Of greatest ad-
vantage to the man who wants facts
without undue color will be the one
which is compiled from the orders is
sued from time to time. and from the
reports made by the men who carried
out the orders.
Facts Without Prejudice.
Other histories may be more hui
manly interesting and unquestionably
they have the widest kind Of SALE
Some of them will approach accuracy.
but none Of them probably will reach
II along every line to the goal. Fa-
voritism and prejudice frequently en-
ter into histories which are written
while the men who made the history
| still are living. Such q thing is al
most inevitable and the war depart
ment knows II. The history of the
war which the department will COM
pile will contain nothing except what
was done and how II was done.
A vast deal OF inaccurate history
| already has been written. The won
der is perhaps that II contains as few
errors as II does.
II one wants TO get an idea Of how
| accurate a government history COM
piled from the records can be. II In
simple matter to put the thing to
the required test. II one wants to
- n
Thompson, private Of Company X.
til Field artillery. all he has to
do is to write to the adjutant general
Of the army. Thompson may be I'M
known to anybody In the United States
except to his immediate neighbors.
The army records will tell where
Thompson was born. who his parents
were. what his education is, where he
enlisted or was drafted. where he
served In the United States prior TO
going abroad. where he served In
France. what battles he was In, wheth.
er or not he was sick or wounded,
what non-commissloned rank, II any,
he attained, the day that he was or
dered back to the United States and
the day and place OF his discharge.
Housed In Big Building.
In Bourges and Chaumont buildings
were given over for the purpose Of
housing the records Of the officers and
enlisted men In the American expe-
dictionary forces The building In
which the records OF the enlisted men
were kept is an enormous affair. The
records housed In Bourges alone will
MI a good part OF the ship which IL 20
bring back to America some Of the
history making material Of the present
war. Operation records are kept as
carefully as those OF the personnel.
How necessary the actual official rec
ords are In the work OF writing accu-
rate history is proved every day by
some OF the accounts which appear OF
this action or that action and Of the
brlgades or divisions which took part
IN them. In writing men trust too
much 10 memory, and moreover the