The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1943-05-19
Observations
North Africa Was
! Never Like This
: Asserts Veteran
BY Charles p. Stewart

A young American artilleTyman
was away from the strife-torn North
African field OF horrible hostilities.
on leave in our national capital.
] met him a few days ago at the
Press Club. over a snifter in the
taproom he told me Something OF
thu frightful scenes he'd recently
been given, a brief vacation from.
II was awful listening.to.
And isn't this a heavenly re.
lief asked him.
why, the fact is" rejolned my
Vis.a-vis, that | scarcely can stand
the confusion OF Washington. It'll
be a blessed relief to get back to
the comparative peace OF the Tight
ing front"
He wasn't Joking, either.
He's been on the pan before a
multiplicity OF bureaus and was
well-nigh bughouse after his ex-
periences with EN- He furnished
me with a few details concerning
'em, and IT wasn't hard to under
stand why he preferred physical
belligerency to the mental tor
ments he'd endured as a witness
before EN- Going into particulars
was an impossibility for him, be-
cause that would have involved
revelation OF lot OF military sec.
recy.
A few things. though, it was per-
MISSILE for HIM TO refer to, rather
Euardedly.
The towns so crowded that
there's scarcely standing room for
all its visitors plus its normal quota
OF inha bitants, There aren't sleep
ing quarters or restaurant accom-
modations. There's NJ transporta-
ton, either. Even the sidewalks
are jammed until pedestrians are
elbowed into the roadwsys, and in
the latter they're in imminent
danger OF death under automobiles.
Getting into the burgh from New
York necessitates standing up as
rule-all.night trips, hanging onto
overhead straps, with women pass
engers fainting into the aisles &C.
casionally. Whole corps OF doctors
are needed at the Union passenger
station to care for arriving pa
tients-but the docs aren't avail
able: they've been conscripted al
ready.
The congestion also Stops over
from the District OF Columbia into
the surrounding suburban states
Virginia. Maryland. Delaware and
the rest OF the neighborhood. Their
hotels are -chock-a-block and their
restaurants can't wait on custom
ers. Naturally their service lines.
IN and out of the metropolis, can't
carry their passengers without jam
ming intolerably.
It's worse than that, too.
Just outside Washington. is the
War Departments celebrated Pen
tagon. the worlds largest office
building. in Arlington, Va.
II houses thousands OF war work
ers.
There's a cafeteria to feed 'em.
It's swamped to such an extent
that 1t can't get sufficient good
quality edibles to meet their re.
quirements.
consequently, suOIL NulS dSO'
II served 'em a lot OF semi-spoiled
grug which sickened some hundreds
OF EN-. The exact number is indie
terminate, for a considerable num-
Der OF 'em wobbled home and were
nursed back into serviceability by
their own Preside, but it's official
that the total ran into the hundreds.
A large proportion had to be hospi-
talized-200 or 300, anyway.
Now. isn't that. as a government
record, significant?
The moral seems to be
Don't eat at the governments
food counters"
The District OF Columbia's rec
ord Of juvenile delinquency likewise
is alarming. No less an authority
than Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt
has issued an appeal to social work
ers 10 deal with the juvenile prob
lem in war industrial areas. Wash
ington isn't exactly war INDUS
TRIAL. but surely it's a war issue.
Outside advices into Washington
from elsewhere. indicate that all
our industrial centers are afflicted
much as the capital Is, but Wash
ington seems to be the NUCLEUS OF
'em.