Evening star., 1922-02-19


soldier of the United States was in his
position and ready. At midnight the
Germans launched a gas attack. Then
followed the raid of the shock bat
talon. The front ranks Of the raid
ing party were literally cut in two:
The amateur soldiers" had repulsed
one of Germany's crack outfits and
had been able to do SO because an In
telligence officer and his associates
had acted with wisdom and prompt
ness. Not only were many lives saved,
but confidence was inspired in our
untried forces.
While (G-2) was showing the
enemy a trick or two III this sly game
the VI. l. D. was busily organizing and
expanding In order that 1t might
cope with the sitnation ct. home and
in our insular possessions The draft
Army had not yet been fully Amer
icanized, and even in the early for
NATIVE period of that Army it was
necessary for the NJ. 1. D. to care
fully safeguard the morale of the
troops. The central powers had been
working day and night to place it's
spies in the ranks of the United
States Army and each batch of SOL
diers inducted into the different
camps was carefully scrutinized.
Transports and carriers of supplies
had been kept under observation and
information concerning them con-
veyed to submarine commanders
Railroads and warehouses were
watched by enemy agents. When 1t
is realized that there Is hardly field
of human endearor that was not af-
fected by the war. one can see that
there was hardly field which the
enemy overlooked. 1t was necessary
to keep a close eye on the activities
of the pacifist and it was also neces-
sary to scrutinize very carefully the
advertisements of some self-styled
religious organizations. Postal. tele-
graphic and Photographic as well as
press censorship became an absolute
necessity. Hundreds of factories had
to be protected, this protection be-
ing extended not only to plants
manufacturing war materials, but
also to institutions producing other
commodities.
Passports had to be carefully scru-
tinized so that no enemy might either
enter or leave the United States. 1t
was necessary to supply departing
officers with complete maps and
military handbooks containing au-
thoritative information concerning
the topography, climate. vegetation,
population. resources and transpor-
tation facilities Of the different parts
of the world to which we were send
ing troops. Take, for instance. the
expedition to Vladivostok, under Gen.
Graves. From the Intelligence per-
sonnel of the officers in Manila and
washington a we'll qualified intelli-
gence section was organized and as
signed to the expedition, and, without
intent to unduly. criticise, the writer
without fear Of contradiction. desires
to say that II the British had known
as much about Khartum, terrible
losses might have been prevented; II
they had known as much about the
Dardanelles, that ghastly failure
might have been a success. If Ma
poleon had known as much about
the country near Moscow as our gen
e&al staff knows today, he might have
avoided a momentous failure.
Propaganda had to be combated
from the day the United States en-
tered the war-propaganda of cruel
and contemptuous character. For
instance, there spread like wildhre
over the United States a story that
q certain woman had knitted
sweater and sewed in 1t a five-dollar
bill: that this sweater had been
found on the back Of a Red Cross
agent or on the counter, Of q depart
ment store. The story was always
told as having happened to friend
of a friend and when Questionnafret
were sent ont It was disclosed that
this particular libel was quoted AZ
| a personal knowledge in almost every
community in the United States. The
desire was to cause q dimunition OF
output Of comforts for the soldiers
In peace time such gossip would have