1 S^si Trench and Camp
Published weekly at the National Camps
and Cantonments for the soldiers of the
United States
National Ueadqnarteni.
Him Boom 504. Pnlitser Rnlldlng.
New York CUy
ADVISORY BOARD OF CO-OPERATINO
|f * k I PUBLISHERS
jj* * * I JOHN STEWART BRYAN. Chairman.
^ . ? I H. C. Adler, Chattanooga Times
F )? ? 1 C. H. Allen. Monlgdmery Advertiser.
. . P. T. Anderson. Macon Telegraph,
j W W W K. a Baker. Tacotna Tribune.
Bit ^ ^ I w. W. Ball. Columbia Stats
^ John Stewart Bryan. Richmond NewsHarry
Chandler. Los Angeles Times
I A moo C. Carter. Fort Worth Sty Tele
? Democrat
Gardner Cowle*. Dee Moines Register.
R. A. Crothers, San Francisco Bulletin.
Charles S. Dlehl. San Antonio Light
W. A. Elliott Jacksonville Times-Union.
E K. Gaylord. Oklahoma City OklahoiF.
P. Olaas. Birmingham News
Bruce Haldeman. Louisville CourlerClark
Howell. Atlanta Constitution.
W4 James Kerney. Trenton Times.
L Victor F. I-awson. The Chicago Dally News.
Charles E. Marsh. Waco Morning Newa
m Frank P. MacLennan, Topeka State Jour[F
A. L. Miller. Battle Creek Enqulrer-Newa
D. D. Moore, New Orleans Tiraoe-Pleayune.
Fleming Newbold, Washington Evening
"Sk Gough J Palmer. Houston Post.
4 Bowdre Phlnlzy. Augusta Herald.
, 4 Don C. Selts. New Tork World.
?* Rudolph C. Slegllng, Charleston Newa and
H. D. Slater. El Paso Herald.
W. P. Sullivan. Charlotte Observer.
Charles H. Taylor. Jr.. Boston Globe.
g James M. Thomson. New Orleans Item.
- Published under the auspices of the Nar.
tlonal War Work Council of the T. M. C. A.
" of tho United States, with the co-operation
of tho papers above named.
Distributed free to the soldiers In the
i National Camps and Cantonments.
ft THE UNBREAKABLE LINE
*0 One of the higher commanders of
the French Army now on duty in
Iff -America recently prepared a memo11
randum for the French Institute of
United States, in which he pointed
jm /*' out that Germany would make her
I \r supreme effort to win the war before
IS r? June 1. 1918. Already the German di(n
/^I visions that have been set free on the
Ml / Russian front have been hurled
II | tym against the northern borders of Italy.
France and England and America are
^ U calmly waiting the advent of new diB/fflfli
visions for fighting in the Champagne
district, in front of Verdun, or any1
vffl whcre else the Germans may choose
? '?S along ii?e trenches from the
M. L*. JEI mountains of Switzerland to the
^ort^ ?ca
\JM we speaK 01 ncnuics aim ?,
U in mind one narrow trench three or
four feet wide and five feet deep, but
x?EJgl\?? how many of us stop to think that
behind this trench there is another
trench, and then another trench, and
then another, until the whole system
^ from where the first front line
A trenches face each other all the way
back to the rear line covers a distance
of more than fifty miles? It is this
network of trenches; it is this long
and carefully prepared system of defense
backed by the artillery of France
anc* t^a* of her allies that has made
France so sure tbat Germany would
not pass that way.
As the attack on Paris failed in
*914, as 'he great drive at Verdun has
since failed in spite of the hundreds
-IglH thousands that the Crown Prince
lost, so this new drive against the
YkMt i//\ 'nte8rity of France and the success
J \ of the Allied cause will also fail.
max * I ?ut one thing this French commanL
l jLv" a ^cr not emphasize. He spoke of
?W^rr.' .-A the fact tbat America would be there
im (uufirm to help, and she will; he spoke of the
In mrx fact that the French artillery and the
(U Jh 11 British artillery were now able to
u ImK I ^om'nate the German gunfire as they
I I'ln/ had never been able to do before in
mA 1 lira all their experience, and he 'comfl
mented with evident satisfaction upon
I?I j 1J the fact that Germany had been forced
I w VjJ to go back to the old method of mass
| fl IJS formation wnicn, tnougn it gives wvic
I M VS courage to the men who arc marchI'?~?i
? ing, exposes the whole body to a deI
8rcc ?f destruction from gunfire that
I is not possible where men attack in
open order.
BHppWBB These are some of the conditions
lililllllllll/lm which make the Allies' line seem un|(||l}JHIilJ/aj
breakable, but there is one fact that
nj a ^ ^ surpasses them all. It is the spirit of
en W A W the American soldier. These men do
fljfc'jfcjfc not have to he herded along like catjfl
tie by their second lieutenants; they|
g] jfr ^ * did not cross the ocean in pursuit of |
H . . loot or lust; they have not been
^or a generation on hatred, nor
PHMIIfHuf 's ,hcir national industry founded on
ffflllllfllifffn war" They arc come t0 *ace death
uiwiiuiirHH because they wish that life may be
*- preserved for themselves, their fath|?\
ers, their mothers and their children.
They have made war that they might
insure peace. liicjr i?avc uww6..i o?fering
that they might do away with
sorrow. They are fired by the high?5
est ideal that animates the heart of
zr j man> and that ideal is the unbreakable
v trench which no German soldier can
ever take, and no German shell ever'
demolish. The Prussian barbarians
TRENCH A
have tacked Lonvmin; the, .have thot
to piecrs the great Cathedral of
Rheims; they have laid waste the
fairest portion* of Prance, but they
have not broken the spirit of France,
and they will never scale the citadel
of the soul of America!
That is the contribution that
America will make. All its guns and
all its men are only the outward symbol
of the spirit which these men exemplify
by their lives and by their
labors. . . ?
The wav mav be lone, but the end
is certain; the cost may be great, but
the victory is secure. Already in
Germany there are those who see the
handwriting on the wall. Perhaps
even the Kaiser has seen it; if not,
the time will come when he will look
back and know that when America
came into the war he met the insurmountable
force of the American
spirit. And that day the war for Germany
was lost!
CARRYING THE BOYS "OVER
THERE"
"There is," said Napoleon, "no such
thing as certainty in war."
That maxim applies today as surely
as it did at Austerlitz, at Jena and at
Waterloo. There is no certainty as to
the effect of artillery-fire, perfected
though it seems to have been. There
is no certainty as to the resistance of
the enemy, tried though he has been
by three years of fighting. There is
no certainty as to the tuture 01 tne
submarine, combatted though it is by
the most .accurate science and the
most ceaseless vigilance of the allies.
This was why Assistant Secretary
Roosevelt, in announcing the arrival
of the first American troops in France,
felt it necessary to warn the people
that some of our transports would
inevitably be lost before all the boys
had been 'landed "Over There." If
nothing else operated, the mere laws
of probability and chance would make
it almost certain that some of our
transports would founder and sink.
There is no use concealing the probability.
But this we can write down with assurance
and with pride: Thanks to
the efforts of the allied navies, not
one of the tens of thousands who have
left American ports for foreign service
since last April has yet lost his life at
sea en route to England or France.
Dangers there have been as a matter
of course, and close escapes; but of
deaths, not one in all the army.
How this record has thus far been
attained it is neither prudent nor patriotic
to explain in aetail. The less
the enemy knows about our defensive
methods, the less capable he will be
of combatting them. But the censorship
has permitted the publication of
a few facts from which readers of
Trench and Camp may draw conclusions.
Reports have come, from time to
time, of submarines operating 300,
400 and sometimes as much as 500
miles from the shores of France and
Ireland, but actual experience has
demonstrated that the undersea boats
seldom venture more than 200 miles
from shore. It is within this distance
?the last day's run?that the danger)
is most acute. Consequently, as our|
transports approach the edge of this,
zone, preparations are made for defense
and the size of the convoy is i
greatly increased. The guns are
manned, the boats are swung out on
their davits and the men put oh lifebelts.
Fore and aft, the gun-crews
stand ready to fire on an instant's
warning, while the officers and the
'lookout scan the horizon.
ru:.i Hnwfvfr nlaced
upon the destroyers and the submarine
chasers. These, move around the
transports in a cordon and at a speed
more than twice that of the transports.
If a submarine is sighted, the
destroyer is under orders to open fire
and run it down, where practicable.
If a "chaser" or a destroyer sights the
wake of a torpedo, the navigator must,
if possible, put his boat between the
torpedo and the transport. Dangerous
work, that, with the assurance of a
certain death if the torpedo strikes the
destroyer or the thin sides of the I
chaser! But the men on those fast-'
flying craft face it with a cold courage
and a quick decision that are an honor
to America.
Taking all the troop-movements at
I sea since the outbreak of hostilities,
some statistician has computed that
the chances of death on a transport
are only about 1.5 times what they
would be on ocean-liners during times
of peace. If the comparative losses
on transports during three years of
war be reckoned against the losses at
sea during the three years immediate|
ly preceding the war, the chances of
death are even less tnan l.a to 1. inai
is consoling to the fighting-man who
wants at least, to die with Mother
Earth beneath him. But if those
chances were ten times as great as
they are, there is scarcely a man in
any of the thirty-two camps that
would hesitate a moment. That is the
spirit of America and that is the spirit
which is to win the war! i
THE AUl
<H?HKHKHKH>0<KHKHKHCHWHKHKHKHa
AT every mess his voice is heard,
group, and thunders forth edict
final opinions.
The Authority has a grim set of jai
in his eye. He Knows It All?or if n
Account.
Perhaps that question if before th
discuss: How Long Will the War Lasl
the conflict will end. He knows. He
ogy and astronomy that it^ will be o
fifteen days. His opinion amounts to .
way one feels after The Authority has i
His pronouncements on other matt
philosophy, religion or army hash, ar
newspaper language has it. If his n
Latest Rumor, The Authority pushes a
and lays before the house contrary 1
the latest.
It is impossible to argue with The i
General Orders with poetry, or put off
gainsay him.
Toleration is the most bitter treatm
a mildly Insane person, Is the best m?
camp and cantonment. He can't help i
a concrete sidewalk when he was too y
substance. Some day he will learn t
point in knowledge is to know how 1
will be humble, and no longer The At
THE FIRST THIR
ON SHORE
By CHAUNCEY P. HTLBERT
Somewhere In France
"Heaven help the Germans If they
ever get In front of that bunch."
There was good reason for this remark.
Across an open field came
charging 1,400 khakl-clad men as
fast as they could sprint.
"Like a herd of buffaloes," remarked
another observer.
At the end of a minute's run the
1,400 men jumped a shallow six-foot
trench and went flying back again.
If the dust had not been so muddy
It would have filled the air.
This took place at one of the great
French ports during the first afternoon
the men landed from America.
It was called an inter-regimental
field day and somewhat over 4,000
American soldiers participated in it
inside of two hours. The events Included
a company run of 220 yards,
the trench jump and "Company Soccer."
Every man took an active
part and the winning company was
announced amid cheers. This Is one
example of what the Red Triangle
is doing with "Mass Athletics."
During the morning on which the
soldiers arrived on the transports
three members of the athletic and
recreation department of the Y. M.
C. A. delivered nine lectures before
all the officers and men of the conTHE
RED
(An appeal in behalf of
Lift up the Red Ti
Beside the thund
A friend, a shield,
To our (en millic
Go build a hut or di
By billet or by ti
A shelter from the
The cold, the filt
Where boys we lot
From out the got
Can sight the Red '
And find a bit oj
Lift up the Red Ti
Against the thint
It conquers Booze,
It shuts the houi
Go make a friendly
So lads can take
And get in touch u
And God's clean
Where Hell's destt
Are lenmirrl Jltith
Lift up the Red Tr
And help our boDaniel
SIX NEW MAJOR-GENERALS
The following brigadier-generals
have been promoted to be major-generals:
George H.' Cameron, Andre
W. Brewster, Charles C. Ballou,
George W. Reed, Charles H. Mulr and
Charles T. Menoher.
These colonels were made brigadier-generals:
Malvern-Hill Barnum,
William H. Hay and James Mel.
Carter.
Col. Alexander L. Dade was made
brigadier-general of the Signal Corps.
It rises from every tent and barrack
8, pronunclamentoes, last-words and
? and thfi lieht of Inside Information
ot All, Practically Everything of Any
e house which .All Men Everywhere
L? The Authority doesn't guess when
proves by arithmetic, calculus, theolver
in three years, Ave months and
a Fiat. Let The Powers Heed, is the
seen fit to Speak.
ers, be they smoking tobacco, rifles,
e Final?Five-Star Complete, as the
nates are hanging breathless on the
Bide the bringer of the alleged tidings
nformation forty seconds later than
Authority. Like trying to contravene
reveille with logic. Is any attempt to
ent. Indulgence, such as one accords
edicine for this chap who is in every
it. Perhaps his nurse dropped him on
oung to prove authoritative over that
he Great Lfcsson: That the highest
ittle is known, or can be. Then, he
ithority.
TY-SIX HOURS
"OVER THERE"
voy on "Social Morality" and "Mass
Athletics." The field day of the afternoon
was a practical experiment
along the latter line, being conducted
by six "Y" secretaries without preliminary
plan or special equipment.
Every man got strenuous exercise
and plenty of it and spent the evening
writing home about "Some
Track Meet."
The next morning the same Red
Triangle speakers, Dr. John McCurdy,
Dr. John Coulter and Dr.
James Naismith, addressed other
groups of men drawn up by regiments
on similar topics. It is significant
that the activities of the arriving
troops for their first thirtysix
hours ashore were put entirely in
the hands of the Y. M. C. A. The
favorable comment of both officers
and men attested tne success or me
undertaking.
In the trench Jump the men wore
their full uniforms and carried their
rifles and looked for all the world
like they were actually going over
the top. Following the trench jump
they were marched back to the starting
point and a few moments later
dashed off the 220 yards In record
breaking time. In the company soccer
game four balls were used and the
officials included four referees, two
umpires, four scorers and two timekeepers.
TRIANGLE
Y. M. C. A. War Work)
riangle
eritig guns?
a solace
>n sons!
ugout
rench?
horror,
h, the stench!
>e, returning,
y loam
Triangle
( home!
riangle
js that maim
the wrecker!
re of shame!
' corner,
the pen
nth mother
things again!
oying forces
i Potsdam's crew,
iangle?
ys come through !
M. Henderson.
SOLDIERS SEND GIFTS .
It was not a case of all take and
no give with the American aoldlerB
In Franco on Christmas Day. The
khaki-clad boys "Over There" sent
back more than 10,000 sacks of
Christmas presents to their relatives
and friends. The gifts included
hundreds of foreign novelties and
souvenirs of the war and will be
most highly treasured by the recip