The Montana courier. [volume] (Shelby, Mont.) 1922-192?, 1922-08-30

CORPORATION for an association which shall keep
them together and "enshrine their common sac
rifce."
It is Representative Thomas d. schall of Min
nesota who has introduced the Incorporation bill.
Calling the attention of the house to the visitors
in the gallery, he made an eloquent speech that
stirred even the blase house and brought forth
many bursts of applause. Probably one reason
the speech was eloquent was because the speaker
knew what he was talking about. For he had been
under fire with the boys on the firing line. He was
on the American transport Mount Vernon when
she was t%orpedoed off Brest September 5, with a
loss of 81 killed. He was in France during July
and August of 1918 and followed the Americans
in the Chateau-Thierry drive. AS he said in his
speech:
hot fragments of shell lay smoking in the street,
the town being shelled every 10 minutes. l expe-
rienced creeping upon hands and knees for about
half a mile to avoid exposure to the enemy. 1
sayoreC the heavy white dust, the flies, the heat,
and the scantiness of water; the smell of ~decaying
flesh, where the human dominated the animal. l
heard the mighty uproar of night attacks, where
like heat lightning the barrage played along the
sky the boom of artillery and the burst of shell
the heavy rumble of trucks bringing troops, NUM-
lions and supplies to the front; and ambulances
setting out with the wounded.
"From actual contact with soldiers in action, in
field and camp, l know something of what our
boys suffered and what they accomplished over
there. I dined with them at mess and communed
with them in biyouac in the night, at a time when
mems tongues are loOsed and they talk. Today
they narrowly missed death. Perhaps it would be
their turn tomorrow, and so on the verge of eter-
nifty they spoke their hearts and told the plain
truth without fear or favor. No winners among
them. No boosters. Just matter-of-fact, pure
stuff, the dross burned away In actual Fellowship
with death, leaving their souls vibrant instruments
Of truth. If | had but one word with which to
describe the American soldier, l would describe
him with the word courage No nation in all the
annals of war has produced average individuals
with such predominant courage, such unheard-of
heroism, such willing offering of life"
But Mr.. Schalls speech was eloquent for another
reason also: He himself is a blind manifest
sight through electric shock" says the Congress
sional Directory. Said he, in his Introduction:
mo doubt every one of these boys has cried out
In his hour Of trial, % Lord, If possible, take this
CUP from me- and would have chosen to have
remained upon the battlefield, with no wakening,
to bear, day after day, the heavy cross of silent
Waiting. The constantly recurring thought in the :
carly DAYS of blindness is, rs not death to be pre-
ferred :? for they then reason with the mind Of the
seeing. can reno Der upon losing my sight,
acorIa;ntances meeting me after a lapse of time
vouId say. sSchall, / heard you were dead. ! re-
NOT dead, just blind! But l could readily
nte,y,ret what they thought. When they heard
hat I had lost my sight, they said to themselves,
7 would rather be dead And SO, having said it,
bev concluded that / was dead. But | am not
,pad [Applause.] And 1 am quite sure that the
hind soldiers who are here in the gallery today
III ,roye that they are not dead. [Applause]
AThese men are making good under their trials.