s j i IIS i!is|; I f-^vl ^ Tf' |i|^' $ .iN The Caduceus “DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE OF WORLD WIDE JUSTICE." V , ^I• :.•.•■pi;;I«;wI THE CADUCEUS Published every Saturday by the En listed Personnel of the Base Hospital, Camp Greene, Charlotte. N. C. Business Office ’Phone 1530 Editorial Office—Building’ C-1, Base Hospital. Five CeiitH the Copy. Sponsor Lieut. Walter Mytinger Editor & Mgr. ..Sgt. Verlin J. Harrold Associate Business Managers— Private Theodoric Neal Ivan H. Law. MOST EFFECTIVE \ Just as The Caduceus is hailed as ■‘one of the greatest American camp publications” in its acting as a con necting link between the soldiers and the outside world, so is it becoming un derstood to be one of the strongest advertising mediums for those who would reach the combined field of a great civilian circulation and a thor ough canvas of the soldiers in camp. JUST MEN Apparently the German morale is breaking. Four years of hunger, hardships and death'have made their marks upon the minds of the men of “blood and iron” who started out to conquer the world in 1914. • Those who write back from the front state that there-is little ■of the "superman” in the way the squads of Teutons put up their hands and cry ‘Kamerad.” German prisoners are being captured in a wholesale fashion that would have seemed ridiculously Impossible a year ago. This does not mean that Germany is beaten—yet. It does not mean that she will retreat before every advance. But her attitude is being re duced from that of a God-appointed plunderer to the mean state of a wild beast at bay. . The philosophy of Nietschke, which kindled the egotism of a smart peo ple Is being swept to oblivion by rivers of German blood. “We must fight” s the call of the Teuton press in the lines which once proclaimed: “We must conquer.” They have seen that their great war machine is not invincible. They have found that victory is not a matter of mathematics and science alone. Verdun first taught them that. There have been many miracles since. “They shall not pass” has come to be more than a battle cry. And now Germany has caused to be brought to her frontier the sons of Freedom who leave the blessed soil of America only because they hold justice above peace and the eternal prinicples of democracy above all person al joy and gain. She feels the shock of those who battle in holy zeal for motives as common as sunshine smiling over fields of nodding grain. The following bit of verse by “The Bard of Barricks Six” is a version of why “our boys” will break the sword of von Hindenburg and will crush the power of the hoard of Nietschke’s mad followers; OUR MORALE. It is not for the thrill of the fighting game That we heed thd* *call to arms; It is not the lure of the shock and flame. It’s the thrill of the touch of a dainty hand • Which sends us into that hell; It’s the tear-bright eyes, that in sorrow grand Speak what the lips wili not tell. It is not a vision of world domain That draws us across the sea. In our hearts we hold no image vain Of a haughty power to be. But we bear a dream of a cottage home, Shug in among the pines, Where the roses red in the door yard bloom And the porch h9,lf hid in vines. It is not for the love of a conqueror’s pride. In bounty of gold and trade. Nor the charm of mighty fleets that ride At the shores of kingdoms made; It’s a finer spell that bids us step in place. A prayer for guidance from above— The silver threads that crown a hopeful face— A mother’s realm of love. These, our- tender pictures, never, never fade. They form the spirit of our strength. Which falters not in any clash or raid; Heedless of the battle’s length. GoJden sunshine on a winding, homeward trail, W^th bluebirds singing rife. Where Freedom blesses every crest and vale— These are dearer tar than life. LESS DUST. The road girting the base hospital wards presented much the appear ance of a deserted highway on last Sunday. The loss of rumbling and clat tering autos, the absence of waving banfeerchiefs and the lack of the usual Sunday dust clouds, stirred up by the motor vehicles, was noticable. The conscience of the base hispital is clear on the Sunday gasoline wast ing order because it does not feel that it harbored any marked per centage of pleasure seeking, war-order dodging, selfish. Sabbath joy-riding, traitors. Orderlies and other enlisted men of the hospital have agreed to take spec ial care in showing visitors through liarts of the hospital on week'days and to discourage in every way possible the practice of “touring the hospital” on Sunday pleasure trips. We ask those who feel that they must elude the government edict, to make their amusement “spins” in oth er parts and not to waste the power- giving fluid, which is surely needed for moving troops at the front, by climbing the hills about the hospital on Sunday. LAFAYETTE DAY Nearly everybody kneVv that Fri day was Lafayette Day but there was no great stir in the land. America has not forgotten but her expression of gratitude is not in music and marching and show this year. She honored Lafayette by giving more ships and shells and men to the cause for which France bleeds. « Our most fitting tribute, to the dashing young man who came to the aid of the colonies in the darkest hour of our revolutionary conflict was voic ed by that peerless leader. General Pershing, when he stood before Laf ayette’s tomb, more than a year ago, and with the thousands of hardened American marines behind him and when with bowed head he uttered; “We are here, Lafayette.” WOULD NOT FIGHT. One day a man was drafted into the army and he being a conscien tious objector declared to himself that he would not fight. “You may draft me,” he said, “but I will not fight.” He was then sent to a training camp and run through the usual in fantry drill and still he said, • “You may train me, but I will not fight.” The time came when he, with the rest of his regiment embarked for France. Still he declared, “I will not fight.” After he had been on the oth er side three weeks the company in which he had been placed was order ed to the front. But still he held to his old declaration, “You may put me in the trenches but 1 will not fight.” One evening, as the sun was sink ing in the west he was sitting in the trenches his old ,black “Jimmy Pipe,” when with a whiz a bullet sang by and cut his pipe in two. Springing up from his seat he cried, “Damn that measley Hun who busted my pipe, gimme my gun and lemme at him.” By Pvt. 1st Cl. Leslie McAfee.