Mexico weekly ledger., 1919-05-29
MEXICO SOLDIERS
DISCUSS THE FRENCH

There seems to be a difference Of
opinion between some of the returned
soldiers regarding conditions in
France and the, character and quality
of the French people.
A representative of the Ledger
dropped in to one of MeXico's business
houses the other day and overheard
an argument between two soldiers who
had served in France in different
divisions. Both had seen active duty
in the most important engagements
and both had been given an %opportun-
ity to visit in the cities and smaller
towns of France. But neither seemed
to hit on the same idea concerning
the French people or French COS
tunes.
One of them was of the opinion that
the French took an advantage of the
American soldier in selling him their
commodities. That they charged him
whatever they chose to, simply be-
cause he did not know the value Of
the French money. Again he seemed
to think that they "loved' the Amer
lean for what they could get out of
him or edo him for" He thought that
if America ever did owe France a
debt, which he did not deny, that
that debt has been paid three fold
and, if there is any difference, that
difference is in favor of America The
French were done for, he said, when
the Americans arrived and in the sec
tors he was in they didn't even want
the Americans to say anything to the
Germans for fear they would do even
greater damage than they had already
accomplished. His opinion of the
French soldiers was that he was
too slow and waited too long to move,
letting the Huns get the jump on him.
The French women he said, could
not come up to the American girl in
any way. "Ill give France all the
credit that is due her." said he but no
more; and l do not think the French
people a come up to ours"
The argument of the other soldier
was quite to the contrary. He thought
France and the French people were
every bit the equal of the Americans.
That even though France had lost
thousands of her youth she would
never have surrendered until every
last man and woman had given up
their lives for the cause. Many of
the first American soldiers to arrive
in France, according to him, took adj
vantage of the French instead of the
French taking advantage of the Am
orleans. He cited examples where
some of u soldiers had passed tobac-
certificates on the French for S1.00
bills. The exhorbitant price charged
for goods as he explained, was due to
the extreme and dire needs of the
French people. They were at a great
expense in obtaining the commodities
and necessarily had to ask high prices
fo- +1o-o H. f,,+Ior -4,4aI Alo4 o,-o.
then, they were not so much higher
than in some American cities. He told
of an incident on his return to the
States where a soft drink establish
ment had charged him with other SOL
diers, 50 cents fora glass of lemonade.
In many American cities he said, if
a stranger asked a fellow to direct
him to a certain place he would take
him to some dark alley in the city,
knock him in the head and rob him.
In France this was not the case. A
Frenchman would go out of his way to
direct the Americans to their destin-
alton without asking a thing for their
trouble.
He however, favored the American
woman in preference to the French
but had nothing but high praise fer
the latter.
After carefully weighing these two
arguments the casual observer decided
there was a good deal of truth in both
arguments and that certain allow
ances should be made on both sides.
1t simply showed the opinion and view
point one took of his experiences with
the French. 1t proves that no two
human beings, wherever they may go,
will see the same thing alike. This is
also proved by accounts of fights, rob-
berries, accidents, etc, that appear in
different newspapers. While getting
the facts of the story almost identical,
the details surrounding the happen
ings is told differently by each re-
porter.