Richmond planet., 1925-08-15
THE WAR In

THE TROUBLES of the French in
their campo gn in Morocco have beer
aocentuatad by similar clashes else
were, notably in Syria, where their
army has met with signal defeat at
the hands Ct the war-like tribes OF
that country. AS a result, troops en-
route to Morocco have been diverted
and sent TO Syria. To make the sit
uacion doubly complicated, the rainy
season will soon set in and opera
tions by the French troops will be
impossible. - =.
But we will give further extracts
from Mr.. Clarence L. Screit's admir-
able article entitled. Where the Rifle
Defes he '75' ," He says:
sMxRExg9SS ssSas&Y-* 1
"Where the French use the bat
talon of a thousand men as a unit'
Ara EiSians use nothing larger than
"A loore Of a hundred, and it func-
ttons rather as platoons Oh twenty
five and squads of five, and as lnul-
yidual sharpshooters. They nave no
NOuartermaster's train Of impedlments
xonly mules and burros to keep them
supplied with cartridges. Each man
lives upon the country, and ms pnys
;es, wants are very few ana easily
supplied by himself.
"His homespun wooden cloak-tne
5s,laha or burnous-is at once MS
uniform. his blanket and his tent.
He Is used to sleeping on the ground,
10 living IN the ground in aves' ne
is not so far removed from tne t(g
y;odyte as to look upon the dugout
as a n~ew-fangled product or the
World War. He finds and cooks rood
for himself. He is not even paid.
Ha turns in the war material cap
tuned to the central depots OF ADD
eLKrim and is content with the booty
that remains. =.
And again
what effect does the up to-date
war machinery of the French have
upon such an enemy? 1t is supposed
to be effective in colonial warfare in
two ways-morally and materially.
There is a general belief that such
weapons as heavy artillery, airplanes
and gas must strike such terror in
the untutored native as to make him
fly or surrender at once. That was
once true in Morocco. Hitherto II
sufficed for the French to fire only a
half a dozen shells at the tribe in
order to subdue it. But in this war
. all the strange weapons of modern
warfare have been,used by the French
save gas. and have had no important
moral effect. Why? They are no
longer strange to the Riffians. The
noveltg wore off for them during the
four years they have been lighting
Spain. The Spaniards used heavy ar
tfllery. armored cars and tanks
against them. They bombed them
from airplanes and peppered at them
with machine guns. They even gassed
them. In a real sense the Rfffians
have been going to military school
under the Spaniards. Before they en-
gagged the French they had learned
how to defend themselves against
modern weapons.
This then is a frank admission
that the French have met their SUI
periors in this kind of warfare. The
writer continues:
"Since they have failed to inspire
awe, the military engines of our
modern worsd must be judged in Mo
rocco by the material results they
have achieved. The Riffians do not
seem to be greatly bothered. They
are stiM Slowly advancing as they
have been dong ever since the wal
began. 1t is not that the French dc
not know how to- use .airplanes OF
artillery. They are probably the best
aviators and artillerymen in the
world. The diff Guilty is that they
have next to nothing to shoot at in
this war 80. =. -.
But enough for this week. Col
ored people and white ones too, fol
that mater pay well read this ar
ticle with satisfaction and profit
Some way and somehow God enables
his people even with primitive weap-
ons to defend themselves against
persecution and aggression. Let the
French Government observe the for
mulas lad down By our W Presi
dent Woodrow Wilson and get out O