THE SUNDAY CITIZEN, ABBEVILLE, N. 0., MAT 20, 191T.
FIGHTING FRANCE SEEN FROM THE INSIDE
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IBy Lincoln Hyr. rHi rr-P-1.nt
t Th Nw Tort World. In
Tli World;)
Unooln Kyr. Hi arl oorro
poodcat el T World. U famil
iar with mvtrr Pct o( llfo In
mbatilod Frmnc. In th rours
of bis dull ho has vllud oil
tho OMtoro of tho FVonoh front,
having n moro of tho Battl
of Vordun, for Instano. than any
othor forlrn nnrspspsr writer.
On Tho World behslf bo hM
traveled otnlvljr In tho Inter
ior a well a In tho ou of O
arml, and h coino to know In
tlmaUly conditions In evnry sto
tloo of tho country. s a rooult
of ono of hi trip, bo wroto for
Tho World a rls of artlrlM on
tbo ooonomio, industrial ond so
cial atat of afrlrs in Ktano.
which nmilni tho moot oompro
hnstv sposltlon of what tho
Fronch pooplo hsv dono In this
wr yet pullbd In Amerlro.
Byro. who boo boen station
. In tho Fwich capital otoodlly
xoept for brief trlpo to England
and Oermany in tho flret yaar of
tho rroat etrug tie, camo to tho
Vnltod Ptatoo with tho French
Mission at tho Invitation of tho
inlnlatry of foreum affair. Ho
will return with Vic lYomler
Vlvla.nl and Marshal Joffro to ro
" oumo hi work In rarla.
There I mora than merely tho urjr
M moral and numerlooJ reinforce
Ojaent In the request of Prance for
American troops on tho western front
Vlth tho. least possible delay. Al
tbouffh tho French people are whol
ly alnooro In their friendship for the
WnlUd States, they do not want to
(Uko any more chance than they
have to In Oil fight for their live.
Therefor they would be considerably
relieved to receive from thl country
' guarantee or real cooperation In
the ahap of American eoldler on
their MIL Th French government
feotartaln no doubt of President Wll
ojon'a will to war war In tho fash
loa moat advantageous to tb common
mum, but th French people, a prac
tical raca at all time, would find In
HELP SOLVE WAR
PROBLEMS OF RUSSIA
f7
' MaJ-Gn. Hugh L. 8cott, aboye,
kDd Rear Admiral James H. Glen
Bon have been appointed military
nd naval attache to the commis
ielon coins to Russia to help that
icouotry eolve her war problem.
IGea. Scott la chief of staff of the
!U. 8. army and Admiral Glonnon
E
ommandant of the Washlngten
avy jrr-
i
1
f
4
i
DotfJ Spoil Your
Coffee in the Making-
Good coflee deserves good treatment. The electric
percolator has demonstrated its superiority in re
taining the essential elements in the coffee that are
necessary to quality.
Ashcvillc Power & Light Co.
, SALESROOM: 102 PATT0N AVENUE.
th aoffllni of a foro be arm t tho
Dun and Strip promlaaory not
more potent than any oohana of
oordlal pohaa or ovn billion
loaned.
e e
In eonneotloa with th prorrara for
tb training of Amortoaa Infantry In
th Frenrh army son. It may bo
worth while recalling- that the bulk
of tb Ruaalana ahlppad to France
last yoar were wholly untrained and
hut acantlly equipped. None of them,
bad rifle. Thera wora only two real
fv rapabl reglmanta, which formed
a frame for the remainder. Vet
thee rather deneo mushlka wr In
th trennhe within four month nd
ar now nailed upon for Job I diffi
cult a tho performed by oraok
French oorpa.
e e
Fnmtfh Iom ar o earefnTly
guarded that, aecordtng to a certain
d latin gii lab ed general with whom I
talked shortly before coming to Amor
ka If doubtful If any living man
know exactly what they total. Tabu
lating raeualtle Is In the hand of a
mall rroup of officer at great gen
eral headquarter, no ono of whom I
uppoaed to know th tatltlo com
piled by th other. That la, each of
them ha chanra of totalling th kill
ed, wounded, prisoner and mlsalng of
certain divisions, and I Ignorant of
how the rest of th army la faring in
this repct
Probably no unit haa uftered as
greatly a th foreign legion. I
for th war thla exotlo group of ad
venturou character and roarveloua
fiahtera wna about 10,000 strong. It
waa rocrulled up to 0,000 within a
short tlm after boitlllUoa began, and
In th Iluttl of th Warn had flv
"regiment d march," or mobile
front line regiments hotly engaged.
Th Legion arl hav fought In the
yer, at Arraa In May, mi. Cham
pagne in Heptember of tho aam year,
at Verdun, on th eJomm and now
again In Champagne, and have al
ways been violently mauled, giving
as good as they got, however. After
tho famous assault which won bark
for Franc Belloy-en-Santerre, in Pi
ca rdy, on th Fourth of July, 19K,
th legion In French territory num
bered one "regiment do marohe" of
three battalion about 8,000 men In
all. It I doubtful If there are today
more than 4.000 leglonarle left, and
Of that number many have Joined
during the war. Half of the thirty
odd American remaining In the leg
Ion avere killed or permanently dis
abled at Belloy-en-Santerre, among
them Alan Seeger, the poet There
were about 600 American legionaries
In Heptember, 19H, but many were
honorably discharged within a few
months of their enlistment, having
joined In a moment of enthusiasm and
found themselves physically Incapable
of standing the strain.
The strangest character In the
French army, In my belief. Is James
TTrafy of "Pawtsmouf, VuhRtnyuh,
sah," second-class soldier In tho leg
ion. James, who la of eablo hue, ex
plained to me when I met him at
La Valbonne, the legion's depot, that
he had come to Franco from Hamp
ton Roads, In a "gran" ship, wrastin'
houses." Discharged at Bordeaux-, he
nought aid and comfort at the Amer
ican consulate. Officially tho consul
could do nothing for James, t'nolll
clally, the younr man was advised to
Join the legion, as he was of course
"bone-broke." For alx months after
enlisting, James, being prejudiced
arslnst visiting the front, walked plcr-
eon-tocd and kent most of the army
surgeons in Frnnce guessing as to his
strange malndy. Finally, a cakewaiK
waa organized, and James forgot to
turn his toes Inward, for which he
was rewarded by being despatched
forthwith to the firing line. I asked
the dark lad if be didn't want to fight
the Germans. "Yas, ab, T wants to
fight 'em all rlfrht, but I wants to
fight 'em back home in Pawtamouf,
where I knows de people nnd con flKht
"om right," he replied strategically.
Most of the American aviators In
France are by no means anxious to
don the American uniform. Their at
titude Is that they enlisted In the
French Flyinp Corps because they
shared tho French deslro- to crush
the "Borhes" and keep civil ir.atlon
intact, and that thera is no reason
why they should go over to the Unit
ed States army simply because we
have broken with Germany over her
submarine ruthlcwsness. They are
Klad their country Is aiding- tho com
mon cause, but they feel that they ar
fighting for the principles actuating
Coal Is $32 a Ton, Eggs 80 Gents a Dozen, Steak 80 Cents a
Only by Card, But France is Not on Her Last Legs
Men and the People Back Home Shows the Patriotic
Race How the Famous Foreign Legion Has Paid Its
Only 4,000 of the Original 60,000 Remain,
France in her truggl rather than
those upon which president WlUon's
action wu based. Vet tbey Insist
they are Just an good Americana as
vr.
.
The grat taotlcaJ problem en the
western front aUU remain that of
"breaking through" on a grand aval.
It haa nvr been acoompllahad. al
though on vral occasions both
side hav temporarily found them
Mlva insld th enemy1 line and
with do defending force In front of
them. It la unwla to mention the
occasion on which th French pene
trated Into German territory, but I
can safely say that In the ravin of
Bra, on the evening- of Feb, SI, 1111,
the Crown Prince's troopa had noth
ing between them and Verdun, alx
mile away, and that on June 10,
1116, a lUerman detachment entered
one of the Verdun fort without ts
counterlng realstanoe. Had they trla
to forge ahead, however, they would
probably have been annihilated, for
at both places the open space was too
narrow for ucceful penetration. In
each Instance they were forced to fall
bark a few hour later.
Casual observer ploture th various
"drive" that have taken place as hav
ing all been straight shove forward.
A a matter of (act, every one had a
different tactical form. Bom were
fan shaped, other cut In to the right
or to the left, still other were de
signed as an encircling movement
Kxcept the 3attle of the .Varne, whloh
flung the Germans back on the Alsne
and forever freed Parla of their men
ace, none has achieved atrateglo auo
cess In the full meaning of the term.
The Battles of the Yser and Verdun,
which may be set down a French
vlctorle, were of oouree splendid tao
tlcal resistance to enemy on slaughta,
but had no immediate active results.
Tho Homme, aside from the relief It
brought the defenders of Verdun ob
tained only local benefits.
In figuring out the number of effeo
tlves engaged on either aide, the most
puzzling point Is to estimate the total
aotually lining Ihe trenches at any
given time. The trench population Is
a constantly shifting one, Increasing
here one day and there the next.
From the best Information at my dis
posal I believe there have never been
more than ,000,000 men, British and
French, In tho first line and reserve
trenches simultaneously. This of
course takes no account of the divis
ions or regiments "In rotose" behind
the front, or of the strateglo reserve.
Throughout the entire war there has
never been the smallest gain of ground
without some Infantry fighting al
though Infantrymen have frequently
snatched small slices from their ad
versaries without artillery aid. As
Lieut, de Tessan, who Is here now as
aide-de-camp to Marshal Joffre, puts
it In his book. "Quand On Se Bat."
all the guns, aeroplanes, motor trucks,
railroads and other branches of the
army organisation have only one
basic object to bring one's own In
fantry face to face with the oppos
ing Infantry under the best possible
conditions for tho former.
France Is not on her last legs, as
the foe would have us believe; but
she Is fighting with blood flowing from
a host of unstanched wounds, and
suffering Is Inevitable among e'ery
element of her civilian population.
Her great cities, and principally
Paris, are enduring the bitterest hard
ships imposed upon the non-combatant
folk. The coming winter, as they
themselves are aware, Is going to
strain the fortltudo of the Parisians
to a degree unequalled since the "ter
rible year" of the siege.
The most alarming shorttsg will
probably be coal, as It was last win
THE OUTBURSTS OF EVERETT TRUE-BY CONDO
ii in, ITi7r"1
TARTJON Mtv- I m secciNC
A TS6.AUT I FUtAY tU.USTRATCt HISTORY
l'r or tho CRejr ujar in 3 voc
xau'gs" NOr'SgLUNg IT IN HSRei)
THS tvr IS NOT OVCR YT,
j an p ' n THa W6fs''r 1 1X4 g, Z '
ter. I haven't the slightest idea how
I am g-olng to heat either my apart
ment or The World' Pari olllce when
the cold weather comes. Both are
supposed to have steam heat, but In
the office the radiator ceased to radi
ate last January, and at the apart
ment they were working so feebly
that grata flree wr a necessity.
Doubtleaa they will fall ua altogether
next winter. Order for , coar ix
month ahead ar refused by both re
tailer and wholeasders. m three
oooaslona, for a weak at a time, I was
able to kep a midget fire In the ot
floe only by having the offloe boy
stand In line every morning for two
hour to buy 10 kilo (twenty pound)
of coal, the most one could purchase
at the municipal coal station.
The magnificent courage of th
Parisian ha kept them from voic
ing their aufferlnga In an obstreperous
manner. There have been no riots of
any importance, the demonstrations
being confined to amall Individual af
frays. I know of one rase In which
four "pollua," returning on leave to
the1rParla home and finding their
wive and children without means to
keep them warm, marched In a body
to the central yards and, with drawn
revolvBTa, domanded coal. The ter
rified clerks promptly gave them all
they could carry away, and only a
ahow of resistance was made by the
police protecting the yards. Coal In
Paris, by the way. Is always guarded
by policemen.
Sugar, butter, milk, meat and, most
of all, bread and every variety of
baked flour are the chief scarcities
besides coal In Paris. Cards controll
ing the consumption of sugar were is
sued last March, and since my de
parture from France with the French
Mission meatless days have been or
dained. The Parla milk supply Is
dangerously short. In the fashion
able and well-to-do districts It Is pos
sible to got a quart of milk delivered
regularly In the morning. But after
that morning quart not a single ad
ditional thimbleful is purchasable,
and In the poorer quarters even the
morning delivery frequently falls.
The price of meat is soaring. Steak
costs from three to four franca a
pound, and tho other varieties of beef
are correspondingly high. The most
diminutive chicken costs eight to ten
francs. Eggs are four francs a dozen;
or 8li centimes (7 cents) apiece, and
they are among the cheaper products,
having ueen less than three cents
apiece before the war. Fish . Is be
coming a rarity owing to the falling
off In the number of fishermen and the
submarine peril. Only stale bread of
mixed wheat and rye flour Is available
under the present regulations, and
pastry will probably soon be alto
srether suppressed. Vegetables are
reasonably cheap.
French public opinion Is divided at
to whether It Is better tor a general
to be a pessimist or an optimist. I've
heard numerous warm arguments on
the subject, even among cabinet min
isters. The most pessimistic of French
military leaders was the late uen.
IQalllenl. who, to quote Minister of
Munitions Albert Thomas, saw every
thing through smoked glasses. Mar.
ehal Joffre is regarded as a pro
nounced optimist, and Oen. Nlvelle
also inclined toward a hopeful view
point which the "pollua" think will
make him a good teammate for 3n
Petaln. whose thoughts- have a more
pessimistic tread.
M. Albert Thomas Is an Imposing
flsrure of a somewhat monkish ap
nearance. The day after the Brland
ministry gave way to that headed by
M. nibot I met the deposed Premier
In the lobby of the chamber of depu
ties, to which he was returning as a
Pound and Sugar Obtainable
Life Among the Fighting
Courage and Devotion of the
Toll on the Battlefield Until
private member. At th same mo
ment M.. Thomas, who retained hi
post In the new cabinet chanced to
pass, his bushy beard flying about
wUh the speed of his march. I ask
eT M. Brland how th Ktbot govern,
ment was Vblng to get along without
him. "All I well," he replied, point
ing t6 M. Thomas; "J am leaving them
my Rasputin."
Tragedy Is everywhere on the
French front but T have never aeen
greater agony than that of a certain
young artilleryman who - for more
than two years haa been stationed on
the Height of the Mouse overlooking
hi home town, Salnt-Mlhlel. Twenty
minute' walk across the meadow
would brin g him to hi cpttage and
to his wife and children. But between
them lie the French and Oerman
trenches. I asked the man's captain
why he was kept there, and learned
that It bad been at hla own Insistent
request. Having made friends with
the aviators, he was able to get from
them photographs showing his home.
and even one treasured one giving a
glimpse -of hla wife and youngsters
outside in their little garden, "luck
ily we hardly ever flre upon Salnt
Mlhlel, although It's Infested with
Boches," the captain told me,
Amiens leaped into prosperity
through the Battle of the f.omme. Its
hotels are crammed with anam-ciaa
officers, and in all of them the barm
rooms work twenty-four hours a day.
rcsvr-"!
"AT
lt-WWrMI s 4i9 ' - I i , il B I
II -asae D-t-' ' II
each applicant being allowed only ten
consecutive minute for bathing away
trench mud. It 1 estimated that the
leading hostelry's ten tub supply
over 1,000 hatha a day. Bar and grill
rooms, with name Ilk Savoy and
Piccadilly, have apron up mush room
like, and tabu at them ar engaged
weeks In advance. The gayety come
to an abrupt halt at 1:10 p. m., when
all light must b xtlnnitahd un
less It to Interrupted before that by
enemy aircraft, whose bomb ar as
common a noise In Amiens a flat
wheel street car ar In New York.
Th attitude of French eoldler to
ward recreation differ radically from
that of their British comrades. No
matter how frivolous he may have
been In peace time, th fighting
Frenohmen enjoys his vacation ae
dately. If ho la married he goes
home and star there for the whole
of the eight days' leave allotted him.
The Briton, on the other hand, wants
to celebrat aa aoon aa he reta a few
daya off, and If there Isn't tlm to go
to London he does It In Rouen or
Amlen or Part. Frequently one
hear a polio aay, "I won't do thla or
that till yo war I over." referring to
danolng or wining or some other
brlght-llghf pastime. The English
man 1 more apt to remark that he'll
settle down to domestlo pursuits only
whan peace comes.
The tradition of Brittoh t)!dness
haa had nearly as many jolts Cur
ing the war aa that of French frlv
olousness. Both French and English
officers have told me British troops
labor under greater excltemeat In the
course of an attack than the Frei ch
For example. It la more difficult to
bring the former to a halt after the
capture of an enemy position than It
is the latter. Keeping one's men
from going tto far In an ad vane
against the enemy Is one of the
greatest problems confronting an In
fantry offloer on the western front
To progress fifty yards beyond a giv
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There is a tremendous demand for these besntfftfl
five-passenger models. Orders are pouring itato
the factory from all sections of the country, and
it is a foregone conclusion that our Xtawood"
production will fall far short of die demand.
Then, also, remember that the cost of manufacturing
materials is steadily advancing. Each day ft
becomes more difficulttad conflequently more e
pensive to secure the (steel, afominum, copper and
brass that are found in a car like the bLinwood
Right now, you can buy one of these cars for $1x75.
If you delay the matter too long, you may have
to pay considerably more. Or, as we said in the
beginning, it may be impossible to secure early
delivery on a Linwood at arty price.
Stratford "Six-yi" teven-pasaenger, $1495 f o.b. Dttmfe
Fairfield "Six-46" uvrameaga, Uyjl i o. b. Detroit
Lirrwood "Six-39" five-passenger. ivji I a b. Detroit
Brooldands "Six-51" foar-pasienger, $169? f. o-b. Detroit
Dartmoor "Six'39" a or 3 -passenger. J117 j f. o. b. Detroit
Limousine "Six'jfi" even'pasertf.er, $1750 to. b. Detroit
Sedan "Six-51" seven-passenger, $3300 f. o. b Detroit
Sedan "Six-39" five-pasaenjer, $1775 f.o.b. Detroit
Town Cat "Six-ji" wtn-paasenger, $7yo t a b. Detroit
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en point might lead to the deatruo
tlon of a force under th barrier Art
of its own artillery.
French discipline is amiiing to on
accustomed to the iron distinctions
between officers and men In the Amer
ican army. The pollu salute hi of
ficer nbt becau b oonslders him In
any aense his social superior but
merely In recognition of the fact thai
he Is his military leader. I have aeen
a mud-stained private sitting at th
aam table In a restaurant with an
Immaculate general, and neither fell
In the least 111 at ease. When he wa
at Chantllly, Marshal Joffre frequent
ly Invited ldlers who had accom
pllshed some feat of gallantry or madi
a valuable suggestion to their com.
manders to dinner with him at gen
eral headquarters. French children
know more about the war than most
American grown-ups. They aro for
ever playing "offensive," a favorlU
game being to enact their own vers
ions of the day's eommunlque, whlob
they read as closely as do their elders.
Many of them ar aa familiar with
th topography of the front aa th
best Informed war correspondent.
Their great trouble In playing- war, of
course. Is to find a youngster willing
to Impersonate the "Boche." Not
only Is that role degrading In th
extreme In the juvenile mind but It
also entails severe mauling at th
hands of the ever-victorious "armies
of the republic" The "Boohes" are
generally ohoeen by drawing lota, and
I've aeen urchlna burst Into tears and
run off horn rather than act the hated
part
2j
n
ETTZTil si zi V.g 71 ' M u TM a: -Jfl
RS9
111
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