The Washington herald., 1920-01-04

WAR TORN LANDS
TO BLOOM AGAIN
Somme Fields Will Wave
Wheat Once More Next
Summer.
ARGoNNE UNTOUCHED
Sacred Soil as Americans
ARG0NNE UNTOUCHED
Sacred Soil as Americans
Left 1t, With Graves
Carefully Tended.
BY JOHN LLOYD BALDERsroN.

BY JOHN LLOYD BALDERsToN.
When are the Americans coming? 90
This question has been asked me ev-
erywhere In a tour have just made
OF the devastated regions-or. as the
French prefer to call them. liberated
regions. The question has a different
meaning now than when it was asked
in 1871. Then 1t was doughboys they
wanted to help them in their life-and-
death struggle Now they await the
rich tourists who are to come in mil
lions, the small shopkeepers and citi-
zenS Of the towns believe, scattering
gold with every step.
But while the townspeople in Rheims.
Arras, Verdun, Ypres and a hundred
smaller places prepare souvenirs
and other devices for separating the
hoped-for American from his money,
the country people have been working
hard in-these thirteen months since
the guns ceased grumbling. They
have performed miracles. though there
are still hundred tasks to accomplish
for one that has been finished, before
Northern France and the wrecked
strip Of Belgium can be themselves
again.
ArEOnne Sears Remain.
of the whole front. and have
Just been through all Of the sectors
where fighting was most desperate,
the scene OF Americas greatest bat-
tie remains. more than any other
held OF war, as it appeared when
the tide of conflict swept over 1t to-
wards the Meuse. in 1918. Little re-
construction work has been attempt
ed I'm the Argonne. through bands Of
american and English welfare work
crs have put up wooden shacks for
returning fugitives in most OF the
wrecked villages. But. in the Ar
conne. the wire and the shell-holes,
the smashed tanks and the battered
trenches and the infinite debris OF
battle are untouched.
This is because the ArSonne in
peace time was sparsely Inhabited.
1t was not an agricultural country.
There is no incentive to clear up the
mess. and few inhabitants to do II.
But the tourist who wants to visit
the holy places of his countrymen' s
valor will find 1t difficult next spring
and summer to do so. All other
parts of the Western front can
easily be reached by train or car.
cessfble, except to the motorist who
takes two or three days supplies of
food with him. There are no rail-
ways and few roads. and the latter
are bad one. as my chauffeur of this
week can testify. But all the more
:ra~r-ss-y... IN ~ III lorelE and proud
~Ilu.r. az t,t rows Il thousand
.. -. thousands Of white crosses in
r.s ~ t,0Cr'Can cemetery at Ro-
.4.. r., TIM. suddenly come upon the
.. l-..r- y. no may Had himself as he
..a.s-s- -r-nrE sm the only hv-
ing figure in sight.
Graves Not Neglected.
These graves are not neglected as
was at one time reported. First the
Americans, and now French and
Americans as we'll have cared for
tbenr and every day one or two new
rows are dug to receive the remains
Of douGhboys who died alone in
tangled, untrodden thickets and have
lust been found there, or whose
bodies are discovered in shallow and
temporary resting places.
/ There viii be no lack of facilities
for the visitor to Paris to see the
.rruc Of the summer fighting around
Cilsstcau-ThisTTy. near the Belleau
WOOL. and south OF scissors on the
flank Of the great salient that our
divisions with the French broke open
T,p. Foch on the fateful 18th Of July.
I;l't hcIC. even now, there is littl"
T., tell Of war: there will be less still
rrNi spring or summer. For this
country is rich farming land as the
,rnr:.htoyS viii remember who
.'.s,,~ad forward through waving
wheat fields.
Md thr. thrifty French farmer has
'rTorcd day and night, roofing out
the wire and flling in the trenches
and the shell holes and blowing the
ground again. taking the risk. often
With fatal results to himself. that his
pIow may strike an unexpected shell
or grenade and send it off. Next
summer the fields around Belleau
wood and on the hills above the
Narne will again be filled with rust
ling grain. and the tourist must 60
,l<eyherc . nc would see what mod
ern war does to the earth.
somme -PIain Reclaimed.
on the great plain of the Somme.
:ousht over three and four times,
have Just seen how hollow were the
propheciAs OF those who said that
this land had been blasted and
SPOILED for generations by the millions
Of shells. their upheayal OF the sub
soil. and by the poisonous chemicals
that were to discourage nature her
self. Only trees could grow in these
places of death, we were told by cN-
parts.
The patient tiIler of the soil in
Picardy has in one year shown that
his faith in his land Is justified. Re-
turning to find his village blotted from
the map. ne has crawIed into GEL
lar. pre-empted an abandoned army
hut. or accepted a shack from a well
fare unit. Somewhere, I don't know
where, he has obtained horses and
farm implements, and with awe-in-
spring diligence he has set to work.
The government helped. of course,
but the government could do little
without the proverbial hard work of
the peasant. and OF his wife and chill
dren. too. There have been hordes of
Cierrar prisoners employed in the
stricken countries. helping to repair
a 1.-THE Of the damage they did. but
most OF them are working in cities
and towns and the farmer has had
little good of them.
nir. ONT W,r UEtt.r