Evening star., 1932-06-05

phlegmatic, soft-spoken westerner, who
never raises his voice and tries to apply
calm reason to every situation which
arises.
Another Gives Pep Talk.
Still another type is represented by
Bill Keyser Of Cleveland, who came
over TO give the new arrivals a pep
talk-a man with good flow of words
and a ready answer to all arguments.
The men were taking it easy yester-
day. Four or five at time worked on
the barracks construction with the
slender supply Of tools available. The
rest lay around in such patches Of
shade as they could find. Some slept.
Some talked excitedly. Some talked
calmly and in low voices Overhead
was the almost continuous droWsy hum
OF passing airplanes from the nearby
flying fields. The scene was not vast
ly different from that of an Army
cantonment in its first stages in 1917,
with handfuls of dra1tees or National
Guardsmen III civilian clothes begin
ming to come in and not knowing what
to do with themselves.
These men are waiting for sorne-
body to give orders-for somebody they
can lean upon. They want a leader.
They are willing to follow anybody who
inspires them with confidence that ne
can get them the bonus by any legiti-
mate means
Police Prove Friendly
Their best friends have been the
policemen. A police car took four or
five who reported on sick call to
Marine barracks doctor this morning
and then brought them back with in
StrlIctl0nS for ATO ba
| allowed to rest in the SHADE all day
and be- mad" to take their medicine.
policeman who had been In the A.
E. +. himself drove into the camp with
couple OF bottles Of all Army cure
all-Whlch some consider the corner
stone OF all military medicine and
whose junction Is TO prevent rather
than cure sickness Half the camp
avalled itself OF this medicant.
Reports that this army Of beWilder-
ment is associated in any way with the
reds arouse the ire of the men. II
probably can be said safely that very
few, If any in the ranks are in any sense
red insofar as the term refers 70
any describable political philosophy.
Quite to the contrary. it appears from
casual conversations, very few of them
have any political philosophers at al
other than the conviction that the
Government ought to do something"
They appear sincere in their cCnvic-
ton. The distress back home has en-
bittered them. 1t seems perhaps the
observation is Of some psychological in
terest-that sort Of depression pat
tern is spreading all over the country.
For example:
Just to show you how bad things
are in Portland said an Oregon vet
nf0e n hn h liz
schooA tainted away the other day.
When She was brought TO she told the
teacher she wasn't sick. but that it
hadn't been her turn to eat that morn
ing"
You folks in Washington haven't any
idea Of things in Camden" said a New
Jersey veteran. Why. Just the other
day girl tainted in the school room.
AfterW1rd She TOLD the teacher that
the family ate by turns and that her
turn wouldn't come until tomorrow"
Similar Incident Here.
And just the other day The Star re-
porter was assured by school teacher
VI all exactly similar incident that hap
pened last week il one Of the public
schools Of the District Of Columbia.
A depression folk lore appears TO be
spreading over the land. But the OBJ
NlOuS pattern nature OF LNe central
story does not render it any the less a
true symbolic statement applicable any
where nor does it make it any the less
pitiful.
This morning the veterans are plan
ming TO hold field services and have Sc
cured the services OF a Washington min
lister. They will pray for victory in this
new war. Nor does it make much diff
ference that few Of them have any
very clear idea of the nature Of the vic
tory they seek. Their prayers will be
JllSt as earnest
And they are beginning to realize-it
seems TO have been rather hard for
them to arrive at the realiZation-that
they ale, to all intents and purposes.
subsisting on the charity Of poor people
with plenty OF problems of their own
the worried citizens of the District Of
Columbia. They are beginning TO ap-
preciate that the District Of Columbia Is
not Uncle Sam. But they came here
for victory-and they do not intend
to leave, they say, until the victory IS
won.
In the last 10 years $4,000 people