The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-01-22
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL

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care is exercised in making the resting
places fitting memorials to the deeds
of our boys who died for their coun-
/ Try. The mother or father whose son
! lies in that hallowed spot has every
reason to feel that it is fitting and
proper that the remains should rest
! forever with the comrades who died
with them in battle. A little reason
! ing, and an acquaintance with the
/ gfewsome facts, ought to convince any
relative that it would be little short
of shoulish to disturb these graves in
France. For the fact cannot be
evaded that men who died in battle
We're often dismembered and parts OF
] their bodies were scattered, and often
entirely missing. The identification
tags served their valuable purposes,
and quite commonly number OF
bodies were placed in the same grave.
To exhume one body for shipment to
the United States would mean that it
would be necessary to disturb the re-
mains of all of these.
Miss Myrtle Stinson Of Washington,
who spent eighteen months in volun
teer war service with the Polish and
French, as well as the American
| armies and who was wounded In ac-
tion, and decorated for gallant ser
vice, throws light on this important
subject She recalls her experiences
! at a hospital in the south of France
where boys were sent to recuperate
after having worked among the graves
Of their comrades, and in exhuming
the bodies. Miss Stinson talked with
a thousand Of these boys who did this
work, and she says that in every one
of their countenances there fingered
expressions Of horror, and their eyes
were windows of sufferings or the
anguished souls. A great many OF
them had lost their minds, while 9TH
ers were permaturely aged by their
experiences. Miss Stinson says that
she knows from her own experiences
that il the dead soldiers buried in the
fields of Flanders could speak that
they would cry out against the at
tempt to have their comrades dig up
the remnant remains that have been
inferred. She says that If American
parents could see as she has seen, the
| beautiful places where these sons are
buried, and where loving care vies
with the bright sunshine OF France in
cheering the spots where our heroes
lie they you'd not want their sons to
have any other final resting places.
The removal OF bodies from the
graves in France cannot be accom-
plished with ary degree of absolute
certainty The army and the govern
ment has used every precaution tt
properly mark the graves, and IT Il
certain that the remains Of our heroes
are buried in the spots that are IN
dicated. 1t is not certain, however
that thew could be exhumed and trans
!. ported overseas with any positive as
surance that the right remains woult
be delivered
And then again, it is claimed tha
organized propaganda for the remova
of these bodies has been instituted b!
the undertakers of the United States
and their journals are reminding th'
men In that profession OF the grea
volume of business that would CONF
to them If the bodies OF dead soldier
were brought from overseas.
Mothers and fathers who will ALLOW
the fullest sway to their sentimental
feelings, and who will at the SAM
time view this momentous question
in its practical light, can hardly fai
! to answer with a positive and empha'
| is mo" when the question is asked o
them as to whether they wish the re
mains OF their loved ones brought from
overseas.
Samuel Rea, the head of the Penn
= sylvania railroad system, which rank
as the biggest transportation system
in the world, seems to have thorough
exploded the popular delusion as
watered railroad stock. He says tina
it is conservative to state that tn
actual cash investment in the raj
roads exceeds, by at least $3,0O0,OOO
900. the issued bonds and stock. II
points to the Pennsylvania System
which has put more than $5OO,OOO,OO
in the upbuilding Of its lines in exces
of the securities that have been i
i sued. That, he says, Is the result
seventy-fve years Of prudent fna
cling. Mr.. Rea also points to the fa'
that more than one-third of the cap
tai stock of the railroads Of the coul
try, or s3,250 100000, does not pa
any dividends at all and that in add
i ton there is a considerable amount
j bonds upon which no interest is beiI
paid.
N Since 1907 the railroad accoun
have been very thoroughly scrutinizt
Y by the Interstate Commerce Comm
sion and during this time $6,5OO,OO
= 600 of new capital has been devote
3 to the development and extension
the railroads of the country. No on