Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-05-21
MEMORIAL DAY OVERSEAS
TOLD OF BY HASkI
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

pe9ple whom we KNOW can well at
ford to give large sums, such as $5,-
00O or $4,000, toward such a worthy
cause" wrote Mr.. Damn. but we
think the public wants to be in on
this.
Therefore, our slogan will be
something like this, "A dime from
everybody Wen get the newspapers
to give US free advertising. news and
editorial space for telling Mr.. Pub
lie all about it. Wen put little boxes
in every chain cigar-store and drug
store in the city. Wen tell the public
the boxes are there and ask them
to go in and deposit their dimes and
other small change. Wen announce
1t from every stage in New York,
and have the Boy Scouts pass a.
round the little boxes. Wen get some
theatrical stars to do some stunts
for us in front of the Public Library,
in Times Square and in City Hall
Park, and raise some money that
way. Perhaps We'll get the Hippo
drome for a Sunday benefit concert
to top the whole matter off,"
General Pershing, Secretary of War
Weeks and many other prominent
Americans have endorsed the Lee
gion's project to insure the perpetual
care of the graves abroad, and will
cooperate in making it a ucces
BY a strange coincidence, almost
simultaneously with the
ment OF this memorial for our for
eign dead came a speech from Gen.
eral George H. Harries, Commander
in-Chief of the Military Order of the
World War, in which the startling
statement was made that mot less
than 80 per cent of those of ours
who were killed in action or died of
wounds were ~wastefully sacrificed
because Of inadequate training or no
training at ALL
This statement has been question
ed in various quarters, but General
Harries repeats and emphasizes it,
asserting that it is extremely con-
sentative. Illustrating the fearful
price we paid for unpreparedness the
General says that on the night be-
fore an advance in the Argonne an
American ~regimental commander re-
ceived 400 replacement troops to fill
his ranks to a war strength of ap-
proximately $500. Two days Of hard
lighting ensued and when the casual
ties were analysed it was found that
81 per cent Of the regiments killed
and wounded were of the compare
lively unframed men VINO mad joined
forty-eight hours earlier.
The French and English and Ger
mans knew how to fight, yet there
was great slaughter" said General
Harries. But the carnage would
have been infinitely greater had they
done as did the people-the Govern
ment-of u own land when we
flung unframed troops-'raw, into
battle, as we pluckeG them, raw,
from the street.
The French soldiers were aghast
at u casualty lists. The British,
Tess demonstrative, commented quiet
ly and regretfully. Many enemy off,
GERS with whom I talked after the
defeated armies had-Beturned to Ger
many, praised the energy of our at
tacks. but all asked: Where was the
individual technique? Great numbers
of your soldiers persisted because
their unbridled spirit took them into
situations where they could only be
defeated"
Whether twice an many Americans
died in France as needed TO have
been sacrificed in accomplishing oul
detectives may always be a moo
question, but on May 30th each veal
there will be agreement that the rol
of the dead was far, far too long.