The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-12-22

reached the front, though perhaps a
majority of this minority did get
through the real mud and on over the
top. All, but they are the boys! As
to that vast majority that never got
anywhere near the front lines, it is on
ly fair to say that 1t was not their
fault that they did not, since they
were simply pawns in the game and
moved only as they were played. And
it is just as fair to say that, not hav-
ing been sent to the front, they really
suffered no hardships more serious
than inconsistencies and having to do
as they were told every day instead
of as they doggone pleased. On the
contrary, they were made fairly com
Portable and given wholesome and
sufficient food. They ware, feted,
dined, danced with, cheered, pephoto-
graphed, thrown on every screen in
the land and then cheered some more.
They were Red-Cross-Nursed, YIN
C-Aided and Socially-Welfared gene
rally. They were given systematic
drill and scientific exercise, and conse-
I quently became of more rugged health
and stronger day by day. Also, and
more to the point, they had instilled
into the mat every turn, patriotism,
square dealing, self-respect and re-
spect for authority. 1t is true that
most of them left the army better
men, more outstanding and self-reliant
than when they were drawn into it
by the scruff Of their necks.
! Bonus? They are not entitled to
cent. When we get right down to
brass tacks thew owe Uncle Sam, and
in their hearts they know it. Con-
gress knows it. too, but HASN'T the
cleanstrain sand in its craven craw to
get UP in meeting and say so.
What They Found on Return
! But the men up front had a terri
BILE time of it; often short on food and
sleep; frequently cold and wet, tired
and no place to rest. Any one who
has never been cold and wet and tired
and sleepy and hungry all at the same
time is at yet unacquainted with 81
mon pure hardship. - And the mud
and blood and brains and mud and
mud and mud. Ask any old dough-
boy that live through it. Then after
all these things an after burying
many of their comrades on the field
of battle, the braves came back, were
mustered out and sent home.
And what did they find? The coun-
try, their country for which they had
suffered, gone mad. Luxury and ex-
travagance rampant. Ham and eggs,
a days army pay; bred and butter ex-
tr. ldels shattered, sex barriers
breaking down, feminism and bootleg
liquor. Stay-at-homes become wealthy
by shrewdness, cleverness and rascal
ity. The profteer abroad in the land
and robbing with ease. They, the ex-
soldiers, had been taken by the gov
eminent and pushed willy-nilly into
the army, kind of service that en-
tailed all the risks of life and limb
and at small and fixed rate of pay,
whereas Samuel Gompers and his
gang of cutthroat lieutenants had or
ganized another kind of army which
they maintained could not be pushed
or pulled anywhere without its own
consent, or, even with its consent OBJ
tanned, then only at rates of pay hith-
erto undreamed of in the history of
the world. While the soldiers were
sleeping fitfully, under wet blankets
and hostile bombers these downtrod--
den sons of toll were snoring serenely
under eiderdown and their own un-
punctured shingles. While fighting
men were waiting patiently in a damp
billet for even post card from home,
these Sinking men were waiting inn
patiently for fat pay envelope at
home. While men in the ranks of the
army were smoking breakfast cigar
ct before falling in behind a rolling
barage, these men in the ranks of la
Dor were smoking an afterbreakfast
cigar over the family hearthstone,
waiting to fall in behind the eight
O'Clock whistle. While many gallant
boys were adjusting gas masks to
their well-chiseled features, some of
these lowbrows were waving their
hats in the gas emitted from the
reasonable platforms of radical
meeting houses. While heroes were
laying down their lives for their coun-
try in foreign land, these slackers
were laying down the law to their
country's government in their native
land. While the army was striking
the enemy for the sake of liberty and
democracy, Organized Labor was
striking for higher wages for the sake
Of its own bullying pocketbook.
When the boys returned from Gov
e. there" and saw the profteer and
union labor dividing the spoils be-
tween them and. at that, squabbling
over the division, they became mighty
mad. And who shall blame them |?
Had they but started in then and
there to restrain these bandits, and
TO set them an example in patriotism,
the country would be well on the road
to complete recovery by now. In
stead, their anger turned to envy and