Evening star., 1926-09-26
BY WILLIAM RUFUS SCOTT.

| ~ EPORTS brought from France
l. by Senator r. H. Caraway of
, Arkansas that offensive epi-
i thets had been scribbled on
! the gravestones of America n
| soldiers. presumably as a manifesto
tion OF French irritation over the
debt policy OF the United States. have
not reached the War. Department
through any other channel.
! In fact. the latest information the
| cemeterial division OF the War De
partment has about the graves in
| France Is uniformly complimentary
to the attitude Of the French republic
toward the cemeteries and the way
| they are managed; and even II an
| isolated instance, of the kind Senator
Caraway said he was Informed. has
| taken place, the feeling in War De-
partment circles closely connected
!! with the situation is that it is in no
sense representative Of the attitude
Of the French people.
! Officials recall that the mutilation
Of a monument group in Paris. con
| tanning an American figure. was later
shown to be the work of an alien in
| France. and until more precise In
formation about the alleged defaCe-
ment of Eravestones Is received there
| la a disposition to minimize the sig
| nificance OF the incident, so far AS 1t
might be construed as an index of
French popular feeling.
Holds French Show Reverence.
One officer who was in France when
| the war broke out In 1914, who was
| there In the American forces during
! the war, and has been there since.
| said the French people are especially
| reverential toward the dead and that
| this Is particularly so In those Sec
tions where there are American ceme-
| teries. and this fact. coupled with the
! gratitude he believes the French peo-
| pie feel for American assistance In
| the war regardless of any transient
| opinions held about war debts), made
him inclined to reduce the incident as
reported to Senator Caraway to the
| weight Of merely an individual ex.
| preston Of criticism of the United
States~on the part Of one or a very
| few persons In France.
| Gen. PershinE, who only recently
| returned from France. where he was
| engaged, as chairman of the Battle
Monuments Commission, in work con-
nected with the cemeteries. and
| especially the selection of permanent
gravestones, has not reported to the
| War Department any incidents that
would cause him to regard public
feeling in France as in any appreci-
! able degree hostile toward Americans
to the point Of offensiveness indicated
in reports made to Senator Caraway.
Secretary Of War Davis now has on
his desk the recommendations of the
Battle Monuments Commission for
the erection of Italian marble grave
stones, and plans for rmanently
beautifying the cemeteries in France
are going forward according to con
gressiona1 authorization. If approved
the gravestones will be in the form
Of crosses for all except the Jewish
soldiers. who will have marble de
sign of the Star Of David.
+! Relatives Approve Cemeteries.
Many Of the thousands of Ameri
can tourists to France this Summer
have expressed decided approval OF
the American cemeteries. and among
these tourists were parents and rela
tives of soldiers buried there.
1t Is recalled that 1t became nee
essary to place a guard at the grave
Of the Unknown Soldier. in Airing
ton National Cemetery. when thought
less visitors occasionally fell short
Of paying the proper respect to the
dead; and so If now and then some
one should get into the carefully