The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1921-12-09
EDITORIALS
PLEA FOR THOSE WHO
STAYED WITH THE STUFF


61st. annual banquet of the historic
"CO. A" Of the New Jersey National
Guard. There was notable gather
ing at this banquet. Among them
were Adjutant General Frederick
Gilkyson, Lieutenant Sigfried Roeb-
ling, Major L. NJ. Clayton, toastmas-
ter, Captain George NJ. Crammer, U.
S. District Court who served in the
Civil War, Lieutenant Clifford Pow
ell, Major Coyle, State Commander
of the American Legion, Captain C.
P. Houston, Major C. Frank Burr,
Major John H. Mccullough, Colonel
Harry Moorehead and Colonel Stone.
For the most part, the speeches,
tho vitality interesting to the mem
bers of the organization, would not
be of general interest to the public
at large. However, the remarks of
Mr. John Whitehead were keenly
humorous and subtly sarcastic. For
that reason they will be appreciated
by our readers who can "see the
point" (Other readers will have to
be patient and strive to develop that
jewel of all human characteristics
the sense of humor.) Mr.. White
heads remarks follow:
"a few thoughts occurred to me
this morning, and as I'm not good
at memory stunts, 1 dictated them,
and I'm sure you will pardon me if
| read.
"Much has been said of the hard
ships the soldiers underwent in the
last great war, but very little, much
too little, about US who stayed behind
the lines and rooted. Some of us
stayed at home because we had sweet
hearts and wives (soldiers do not
have such things, and if they do,
should notD some of US, like Mr..
Wilson, were neutral or too proud
to fight" and some of US were too
old, Others had to stay at home and
make millions to buy bonds to fl
nance the war; and also, war is not
gentleman's game nor very lady
like.
maybe you young chaps went to
war thinking you did all the suffer
ing, but such is far from being the
case. Perhaps you do not know that
we had to save coal, gas and electric
light. We did And on one occasion
in my apartment the thermometer
dropped to 10 degrees, and my sis
ter and l heroically refrained from
heat. And we always went to bed at
11.30 pm. to save light.
"Take the matter of food: We ate
beef and pork only once a week be-
cause you men needed it. The rest of
the time we ate lamb chops, chicken,
turkey, game in season and out of
season, etc. We ate bread that was
made one day out of plaster, and the
next day out Of mortar. And we did
this for two whole weeks Ye gods!
How we suffered! We did not waste
sugar we boarded it, so you boys
could have it when you came back!
"Take the matter of landlords
Klinkenstein raised my rent from
$50 to $50. so that he could buy
bonds to help out the war. Then the
matter of taxis: The drivers raised
their prices so we could not ride, and
thus saved gas for motor trucks, etc.
"And manufacturers took big pro-
fits, much against their will, so that
they could buy bonds. (3Iy, how that
hurtD But it provided the money to
buy you food and clothes.
Have you ever stopped to think
how We men here at home suffered
when we read the casualty lists? It
was dreadful for US to sit by the OPP
en- CRATE with the thermometer at
zero outside, and read of you chaps
being so cold and wet! We felt, so
realistic were the stories of the news
paper correspondents, that we were
just as cold and wet as you were!
And while you were over in France,
we paid 25c a drink for whiskey SO
the saloon keeper could buy bonds.
And when we had stocked our eel
lars, flor medicinal use only, we
stopped the sale Of alcoholics by the
saloons, in order that you poor chaps
might have more in the hospitals. We
wore cotton clothes for which we paid
$50. and SIS. So that the tailors
could buy bonds and you chaps have
wooden clothing.
Some of us got dreadful colds
watching troop trains go by. In fact,
my doctor told me not to do it any
more, but just look out of the win
dow I followed his advice, hard as
it was to do, but nothing could stop
our interest in the soldiers. Some of
US, much against our wills, comfort
ed the wives and sweethearts of the
boys over there! This was awfully
trying, but we bravely did it! In fact,
nothing could have stopped that part
of our war work behind the lines.
"Think how we suffered when we
went into cigar stores! We had to
listen to the major Generals" con
gregated there tell how the war
should be fought, and how they
would have fought it, if only the
heartless government would let them
go to france! Why. the cigar stores
produced more Generals" than the
fields Of France!
And so we suffered all along the
line, Tor behind the line), and we got
no medals! All we got was money,
the love of which is the root of all
evil. But you got glory, which is bet
ter, land less dangerously So when
you chaps from the "far flung bat
tie lines Of Flanders" Zone always