New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-21
An American Diarist Of
The War Of the Nations
General Dawes's Picturesque and Philosophic
Journal OF Two Years of the War
and the Arrnistice

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-,r,eers. za.,seS-stsSs> Tr~ Volumes. Pub
ssaed 81 ta.s lsoc-s-ca s,:s<1:a Cosss~
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~ II. $50 70 disrisss is aot past
For tAae VIC Srve eaaSe to ae
thankful, For tn that fact We
owe possession ard cnioyus@ns
Of ''f>isa,c.s document" & the Great
Var o. vivid and vital Interest and OF
rich and enduring value The country
kgs long known General Dswes as an
cxrepsS 10 ..2H,+ versatile sns1 competent
raa OF affairs. and il hxs recently had
occasion 10 observe him as keen and
rscy commentator and courageous
reforusr o. governn entail organization.
In the volumes before Us it sees him
n . day-by-Gay recorder of and COM
mentator upon what we may term the
bsz;ness side of the Great War. He
uzs the general purchasing agent for
the e. e F., and as such performed
duties whose almost uninnaginable mag
nitude and completely were riyaIed
only by their urgency and Importance.
He had formerly been diary keeper,
but in 1872 had given Up the practice
through bereavement in the tragic
death OF his SON. But when he was
summoned to service in the war he re-
sumed it, aud from August, 1917, to
august, 1919, wrote a journal full of
shrewd observations, of sound philos-
ophy, OF picturesque portrayal, Of min
gled hunaor and pathos, and withal Civ
ing such an intimate and vital picture
Of many Of the chief acts and actors
in the great drama as we may despair
Of elsewhere finding.
His close friendship, of years
standing, with General Pershing, as
well as his official relation to him, nat
urally leads him to say much about
rim, both in incident and estimate. A
characteristic example OF the kaleido-
scopic changes from grave to gay" in
soldiers lives occurs at an early date
Dawes and Pershing were riding to-
gcther to the house in Paris in which
TIC latter was living when by some
strange telepathy each thought Of his
great loss-Dawes of the drowning of
lis son and Pershing of the death by
FIRE Of his wife and three children.
Each looked in silence out of the win
dow at his side of the car. Then eve
both turned at the same time, and each
this war can't keep it out of my mind"
Then IN the very next paragraph the
asarist tells that they lunched in
house owned By Ogden Mills which was
.. most sumptuous establishment. LAS
I looked around me I said: John, when
/ contrast these barren surroundings
with the righteousness OF our early life
N Lincoln, Neb., it does seem that a
GOOD man has no real chance in the
world To which John meditatively re-
FLIED, Don't it beat hell.'" 1t was
often said that Lincoln INDUCED in
hunor to save his brain or his heart
rem breaking. and we may we'll be-
l;e'-e that it was in that very spirit
hat these men could thus joke in the
Sery Valley Of the Shadow Of Death.
A little later Dawes was to enter
tain Pershing at dinner at the Ritz,
and the head waiter was much dis
tressed because he did not order soup
70 head the menu. His protests were
polite but insistent. Surely the Cen
erzai would expect soup. He would pre-
pare it, anyway, and if the General
did not want It it would not be charged
in the bill. Whercupon Dawes uttered
what he meant for an ultmatum:
When the General and l." he said,
"patronized Don Caneron's lucent
lunch counter at Lincoln, Neb he was
able 70 get along without soup and
nearly everything else I have ordered
that costs over 10 cents" But the
waiter had no sense Of humor, so he
provided the soup. and when Pershing
took it his JOY was indescribable.
In December occurred an incident
which, as the diarist says, will be
Of Interest 70 those who do not know
our commander in chief" One morn
ing It was very cold and showing, and
Dawes was Invited into General Har-
oord's room, where there was FIRE, to
dress Notwithstanding the Ere, It
was freezing cold, and | was quite
proud Of myself for forcing myself