The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1942-03-26
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'CAIssONs ROLL ALONG
PATERSON
(Released by western Newspaper Union.)

'CAISSONS ROLL ALONG
IN A NEW TEMPO
AS I SIT AT THE WINDOW of the
room in which I write and watch
"the caissons go rolling along" at
some 40 miles an hour, it causes me
to think of the changed tempo of
war since the days in the COS when
/ was engaged in and knew some
thing of soldering.
In those days and, in fact, on
through much of World War /, the
caissons went rolling along at about
four miles per hour, the speed OF a
six-mule team when being urged
by husky mule skinner"
In those days the cSnnoneers rode
the caissons with iron trimmed
wheels and took all the jolts of the
highways and battlefelds. War In
those days was slow, leisurely OPP
Grafton that could be bloody when
one really got into it, but you could
not get in--or out-so quickly.
The doughboys walked, and their
speed was not more than 10 miles
a day. An enemy 100 miles away
could not reasonably be expected to
attack within less than 10 days, and
that allowed time for preparation.
Yes, the doughboy walked and
carried his equipment on his back.
Aside from the field and staff Off
GERS, about the only things that en-
joyed the luxury of transportation
other than shank's mares-were the
company pots and pans in which
were cooked the beans, the sow belly
and coffee, which, together with
bareback, was what the commissary
provided.
DEATH EVERYWHERE
SETTING-UP EXERCISES were
not prescribed for troops on cam
paign. The soldier got all the exer-
else he could take care of without
any of a prescribed kind. He did not
need a lullaby or a crooner to put
him to sleep at night. He seldom
waited for "taps," but was asleep
at the earliest opportunity, and awak-
ened only to cuss the bugler for
blowing reveille.
Washington, Napoleon, Wellington,
Bismarck, Grant, Lee, Pershing,
Foch and Haig commanded slow ar
mics as compared with the speed of
today. In those old days you looked
for death only on the ground. You
would get behind shield, but you
did not also have to get under one.
Today death comes on the ground,
from beneath the ground and from
the skies.
AS I watch the caiSSonS 60 rolling
along on rubber tires at 40 miles
an hour, I realize the speed of war
today and the need of youth to
maintain that speed. I do not ques-
ton the worthiness of our cause. I
do question the necessity of war in
general; I question the necessity of
destruction as means of attempt
ing to settle disputes.
But at soldier age l saw glory
and romance and adventure in the
tramp, tramp, tramp of the dough-
boy, in the clatter of the iron-shod
wheels of the caissons, in the pound
ing of hoofs of the cavalry horses.
The young men of today see the
same things in the roll of the rubber
tired wheels of the great guns and
trucks in which they ride, in the
clank of the tanks and the whirr of
the airplane propellers. We can be
thankful that when we must fight
as in this case we must-we have
youth that sees these things in the
same way their fathers, grand
fathers and great-grandfathers saw
them in days that are gone.
The caissons are rolling along to
eventual victory because of the val
or of our American youth.