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5^it<?H N
I i^eveiLLE
Rising To Honor
f' National Anthem
Originated In 1891
.BK. ".'Do yoa know the origin of the
!??'- practice among Americans of rising
X&vJin honor of the national anthem?
is said to be the way H started:
Egi-,- - Senator Burrows, of Michigan, was
-'the orator of the day at the exercises
Mfjfriot the graduating class at West Point
1891. Toward the close of his
: .speech he said :
"Soldiers should not be heedless of
fisjr the sentiment of their songs and to
,-lhe music of their bands. I would
to see every true American solfiffij:
dier or citizen, when he hears the
jjcfcnd notes of our national anthem,
rise to his feet in patriotic recogniEXilon
and uncover."
.at the graduating exercises-began to
Wr'j play "The Star Spangled Banner" and
S&r-Col. Wilson, Superintendent of West
?jjLPoint, and the entire battalion of
t-S cadets responded to Senator Bur?-rtw8'9
suggestion by springing to
their feet. .Their action was quickly
C^' followed by every civilian in the au5
. dlence. All stood with bowed headB
JgTxgntli the last note of the- anthem had
g^^een played.
JjEw5i.lt was an impressive sight and at?S
tracted much public attention. Later
|$^;8enator Burrows had this custom
.made compulsory at West Point, but
'jfnt required no legislation to make it
?&*jpopular throughout tha nation.
HgS " WOMEN ELIGIBLE
few The War Department now permits
women to 'qualify as inspectors ot
i ' , small arms, according to asnouncejfjpinent
made by the United States Civil
?f;-J&?rvlce Commission. The examinaWfc
lion for which the commission is re.
.. . ceiving applications to secure persons
^-equipped to serve as inspectors and
V'. assistant inspectors of small arms, in
the plants filling contracts* for the
Q..- -Army, is the first of its kind opened
>i;: .to womea, it is stated.
8?4lLL RIGHT OUTSIDE OF THAT
' The Sub: I say, Sergeant Major,
MK you realize that that chap with
harrow is a member an an archKB
Geological society?
4?;^-^The 8ergeant Major: Well, sir, 'e
? .may be -what you say. Personally
Pre always found 'lm quiet and wellbe'aved.?Punch.
/ t^SS^o^z
Home Letters Revi
And Play Impt
?
"Home letters hold .the front-line |
trenches."
This is the opinion of Captain H.
H Peamnn the first Canadian to eo
to France when war was declared in
1914 and the first to see service with
Kitchener's army.
Captain Pearson was at the front
for many months and saw hundreds
of men go over the top. He has been
over the tojf a number of times him-|
self. He says that both from experience
and observation letters from
home put heart and more courage into
the soldiers when they stand near|
the edge of No Man's Land, with
shells bursting around them.
Soldiers now in training in this
country should keep up their correspondence
with their relatives and
friefid/j so as to insure their getting
a steady stream of letters when they
get "Over There."
Send this" paper home so that
the members of your family may realize
what home letters have meant to
the soldiers who havu preceded you to
the trenches and what they will mean
to you.
Speaking of letters to soldiers, Captalp
Pearson says:
"If you have a. relative or friend at
the front, write to him, and do It
often. Letters from strangers don't
count, of course, but the others?no
one can say how much they matter.
"The most terrible part of the war
was that first winter of it?the end of
1914. the beginning of 1916. Dur
ing that first winter of the war, when
the enemy marched against us with
machine guns and all the modern in-1
struments of warfare, and we had nol
euns. no ammunition, nothing but
sheer strength of will to go on, it was
really the letters from home that held
the lines for as. We did it because
the home-folk expected jib to do it,
and said-so in their letters.
"Yon may say that this is all sentiment.
Well' this is a war of sentiment.
It's sentiment that took us
over there to fight, and it is sentiment
that is taking yon Americans.
"Anyhow, soldiers are like that.
I've known some of them that haven't
gotten a word from home in all the
time they have been gone, more than
three years now. They were a very
different lot, as a rule, f?om the chaps
I
f "FtoCKCT T300K /
(OfT ?OMe ? \
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'mmmrn^^rXr /
Do@c^o
eflftjinc J*
vify Soldiers
ntant Part In War
yho got letters from home regularly,
and they went into the fight with a
'different spirit.
"Sometimes a boy who hadn't heard
from home for two years or more
would get his letters at last, a lot of
I them in a bunch. You ought to have
seen his face when he saw his name
on the envelope, and knew that those
letters were for him! You ought to
have seen how many times he got letters
out and reread them, when be
thought no one was looking! You
ought to have seen the vim with
which he went into the next battle!
"What kind of letters should the
nome-roia write 10 tae suioier at mei
front? Literary quality isn't the
thing most needful in .them, of
coarse. Perhaps the best of them all
are the ones .packed full of little
homely details?accounts of the new
neighbors across the street, and of
the words the baby has- learned to
say, and of how Jimmy is growing
out of all his clothes, and getting to
look more like his daddy every day?
and if he just grows up to be half so
good a man it will be all right. These
are the letters that are oftenest reread
by the soldier before he goes
orer the top, just commonplace letters
that tell of every-day happenings
back home, and of the love and the
trust thaf are in keeping for him
there.
"Certain other types of letter ought
never to be sent to the men at the
front. One is that written by the selfish
or thoughtless woman whose
closely written pages are blurred with
her tears, and taken up with her own
sorrow in having her soldier so far
i from home, and her plea for him to
IHnclr nt nnre. since everything
is going wrong without him.
"When it comes to sending homeboxes
to the soldieA overseas, women
should'be sure that they send gifts
that are needed, and that won't
spoil en route. A lot of junk merely
clutters things up for the soldiers
there. But a letter is a gift that is
always timely and never in the w%y."
Soldiers should be careful to answer
all the letters they receive and
write an' extra one or two now and
then. They should remember that
their relatives are just as anxious, if
not more sp, to hear from them.
Aviation Safer H||
1 Than Infantry I
General Pershing is authority for I
the statement that "Flying duty is no
more hazardous than duty with other ^
combat troops and Involves nothing
like the hardships endured by troops *
which occupy trenches." ' v jH
Becau&e of the prevalent belief that
military flying was extra hazardous,
aviators have been receiving fifty per
cent increase In their pay while on
duty involving actual flying. General
Pershing says aviation is now far be- fgB|
rand the exDerimental stage and it is fjffWXtBm*
not necessary to offer financial in- B
ducefnents to obtain the services of nfnMjcKjG
His recommendation that the extra UmM|fljH
allowances in pay be discontinued ^
was promptly adopted by Secretary of y ^
War Baker, who has asked Congress [ Jn&J
to repeal the old pay schedule and
create a new grade of aviator, -to be
filled by qualified civilians at a salary
of $150 a month. One of the criticisms
of the extra pay allowance plan
is that "it is productive of improper
balance in rank ana pay, which resuit
In injustice to other arms." . Tfl
This proposed financial readjust- Kg -Zj
mcnt does not mean that the War 3?fe*'i ' $
Department does not appreciate the . 9 ^
services of aviators, but indicates a * '
desire to eliminate any ground for '
complaints regarding inequitable pay. /Jr* 1 V
Lord Kitchener said: "An avia- '? I
tor is worth an army corps." ft.
Actual war conditions have proved -fr
to British, French and American offl- ,
cors that flying duty is not as hazardAna
u infnntrv sarvlrp in thft
trenches.
Attorneys Not Needed ^ /
To Collect Insurance
Secretary McAdoo recently issued |AgCv
a statement warning survivors of
killed or injured soldiers and sailors
against entpfoylng attorneys and
claim agents to collect money from {
the Bureau of War Risk Insurance. yZfyf a- '
TJ?e employment of outsiders is not
necessary, said Mr. McAdoo, who
strongly condemned the attorneys and
claim agents seeking to drum up busi- /tMgmg)1
ness. Their activities in this dlrec- ABBBBatl
tion, he declared, constituted a violation
of the law. Cffjma .
"The greed and avaflce of those
who would prey upon the misfortunes
of the survivors of a gallant American
soldier or sailor who has died for his 5
country cannot be condemned or rep- fljjfcV 'J
rebended too severely," said the
statement from the Secretary of the J|
Treasury. v%r$r n
The Treasury Department is anx- J 'v-^/A
ious to help the relatives of killed or jV
injured soldiers and sailors and the 4
claims can be collected without the 4k
needless expense-of employing attor- 'JmpEziaMi
neys or claim agents. Blanks for
filing claims will be promptly furnished
and every assistance in filling
them out will l>e given free by the
government.
Million and a Quarter Insured
With more than a million and a \gy.- ?9
quarter of its fighting men insured ? -IttmA
for more than ten billion dollars, the
government is still conducting ener
out the country and will continue to yjafflj/Juh
do so until April 12. the new date
fixed by Congress for the expiration VflHIftflKpy
of the insurance privilege. Extension
of the date front February 12 enabled pp? '
a number of soldiers in, the ramps
and cantonments to sign up for insurance
and afforded an opportunity
for men who had taken out^niall polIcies
to increase them. The change Hfrjagrgflfl
in date was made primarily for tbo nDMrfl
benefit of the members of the Kxpe- DHHjSwA
ditionary Force now in France and |
American soldiers in other distant ^
For the first time in the history of
the world a nation's land fighting VS I \S5j
forces are insured, with 95 out of KQC
every hundred men protected for fltf
about $8,880. Every officer and man wfo
In a great many regiments is insured u A
for 810.000 apiece.
The insurance written by the gov- VA*)Kk
ernment on its fighting men is more ftUb
than three times the total amount __wl A.
carried by any life insurance com- a
J KW OM I
HIS PREFERENCE EXPLAINED ^?gSf]
Recruit: 1 want to enlist in this C^UVJ
mortar battery I've heard about.
Recruiting Sergeant: And wby do
you want to join that?
Recruit: Well, you see. I'm a mason
by trade and I thought maybe my
previous experience would help me _
Princeton Tiger. /mj
ON EQUAL FOOTING S
Enlisted men in the National Army ? /
are on the same footing as those in
the Regular Army and National
Guard respecting appointment to ??? ?
West Point, according (o a ruling by
the War Department.