About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 11, 1918)
4 THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL t ATLANTA. GA., 3 NORTH FORSYTH ST. “N Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of the Second Class. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Twelve months Six months Three months - oC The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday and Friday. and is mailed by the short est routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by special leased wires into our office. 1 it has a staff of distinguished contributors, with strong departments of special value to the home and the farm. Agents 'vanted~at every postoffice. Liberal commission allowed. Outfit free. W rite It. L. BRADLEY. Circulation Manager. The onlv traveling representatives we have are B. F. Bolton. C. C. Coyle. Charles H. Wood liff J M Patten. W. H. Reinhardt. M. H. Bevil and John Mac Jennings. We will be responsible only for money paid to the above named travel ing representatives. \ —— -s NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS The L'Lel for a«rn»stag ».wr ivper shors H*. <»«’ yocr <jbwrlwtkm eipir»*. Byjen.-ving at least two week* be fore the rtJtl <m tbl» you resutar setvice. In < Meries pai-r eh. a< e.l be wre to mentis your well »« your r.ew If on a route, plestre live the mule We ranfot eater subscription* to beein with back Remittancea s'rt:!.' be sent by r ratal -Mer or r-Ristered mail all orders and notice for this Deparimet t to THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOVBNXL. Atlanta. 6a. _ ■ e. . I he Journal’s Service Flag in honor oL the seventy-three Atlanta Journal men who have entered the service of their country. The two white stars are in memcr of Captain Meredith Gray ana Captain James S. Moore. Jr., Journal men. who ’ave their lives for our country in France. The President 's Poser To Chancellor Max President Wilson s reponse upon the occasion of the latest peace query from Berlin puts the good faith of Germany's professions to the acid test. Chancellor Maximilian iad written: “The Germap Government accepts as a basis for pteace negotia tions the program laid down by the President of the United States In his message to Congress of Jan uary 8. 1918, and in his subsequent pronounce ments.” And upon that declaration, which would, be significant indeed could it be taken at face value, the Chancellor planted his request for an armistice. This move, generally construed as merely another piece of German deceit. Mr. Wilson counters with a skillful simplicity which the Potsdam intriguers will find keenly disconncerting. He does not answer the German proposal, be it noted. Instead, he says, through the medium of the Swiss diplomatist, that before replying he “deems it necessary to assure himself of the exact meaning of the Imperial Chancellor’s note.” Does - the Imperial Chancellor mean that Germany ac cepts the President’s terms in the sense and to the extent that “its object in entering inU discussions would be only to agree upon the practical details of their application?” Furthermore, whom does the Chancellor speak for, “merely for the constitut ed authorities of the Empire who so far have con ducted the war? And finally the President firmly declares against any consideration of an armistice so long as Teuton armies are on Allied soil. “The good faith of any discussion, he affirms, would man .festly jdepend upon the consent of the Central Powers to withdraw their forces everywhere from invaded territory.” Now. what must Jermany do if it is ready to accept the Wilson terms, not as “a basis for peace negotiation.” as the Chancellor proposes, but as a settled program concerning which the.e shall be no further discussion save such as is necessary to the working out practical details? Those terms, set forth explicitly in the President's message to Con gress January the eighteenth last and reiterated in on several occasions with unchanging firmness, are too clear to admit of doubts, and are too important, as President Wilson has repeatedly declared, to admit of compromise. Beginning with the stipulation that there must be an end to secret and intriguing diplomacy (like that upon which the Central Powers are now bent) the President’s peace program called for freedom of the seas; the removal as far as possible of economic barriers and the establishment of equality of trade conditions • among all the nations consenting to the peace and associating themselves for its maintenance;” ade quate guarantees of the reduction of national armaments “to the lowest points consistent with domestic safety;” and and "open-minded adjust ment of al colonial claims based upon a strict ob servance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty, the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the Government whose title is to be determined.” At this point the President entered upon that part of his program which con stitutes the critical test of any peace professions which Germany may make. He declarer uncompromisingly for the evalua tion of all Russian territory; for the evacuation and restoration of Belgium, and also of Serbia. Ru-. mania and Montenegro; for the freeing of all French territory and the restoring of its invaded portions, together with the righting of “the wrong done to France by Prussia in 1871 in the-matter of Alsace-Lorraine.” He declared furthermore for “a readjustment of the frontiers of Italy along clear ly recognizable lines of nationality;” for “the freest opportunity .or autonomous development” for the oppressed peoples of Austria-Hungary; for an in dependent Polish State; for the emancipation of non-Turkish nationalities now’ under Ottoman rule, and tor the permanent opening of the Dardanelles under international guarantees as a free highway to the commerce of all nations. The fourteenth and last article of the program called for “a general association of nations —formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small States alike.” The great import of all the conditions thus laid down lies, of course, in the fact that they give THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1918. practical expression to the principles of justice and freedom for which America and her allies contend. ■ and give also practical assurance of the stability j of the peace founded upon them. • If, then. Berlin’s ’ latest overture is other than what we now suspect ! it to he. if it is more than the usual German maneu ! ver to shift the momentous issues of the war from ■ the battlefields where the Allies are winding to a i conference table where Prussianism may at least escape justice and perhaps come off triumphant, if [ in short the Huns want peace on the basis of the Wilson program as Chancellor Maximilian avows, let them prove it by withdrawing their armies forthwith from Belgium, France, Italy. Russia, Rumania. Serbia and other invaded territory. And at the same time let them declare their readiness to make reparation for the brutal havoc they have > wrought, as far as reparation for measureless i crimes is possible; their readiness to restore Alsace j Lorraine to France, to pay indemnities to all the peoples they Jiave pllaged and persecuted; their readiness to give Italy her rightful provinces on the Adriatic and in the Trentino, and to give full free -1 do in to the Slavic peoples, not only those of in vaded Russia but those also within the bounds of the Central Empires. When Prince Max can report to President Wil son that all these conditionsjiave been fulfilled or definitely accepted and that stands willing to give such guarantees of good behavior as the Allies may require, then we shall be warranted in believing that she speaks with some measure of sincerity in saying she is ready for peace on the terms which the President laid down and the Allies aprpoved. But until then, commonsense, common experience and devotion to the principles we fight for, all bid us regard German peace proposals as wholly treacherous and to repulse them as firmly as our soldiers at the front would beat off a Boche onset. President Wilson’s inquiries concerning the Chancellor’s note are very simple, but they are also very keen, very far-reaching and will prove deeply discomfltting, we dare say, tfl the intriguers whom they are designed to search out. Meanwhile the American people stand immov ably against any shadow of compromise with the Hun. Not until he is forced to unconditional sur render, stripped of his brutal military power and made to pay the just penalty of his crimes will American honor be vindicated, American interests safeguarded, or the world rendered safe for de mocracy and civilization. Hindenburg got off lightly this time, for he only resigned while before he died. No Further Excuse for Not Buying More Bonds The Atlanta banks are warmly to be com mended for the great opportunity and induce ment which they have offered for citizens to buy Liberty Bonds in large amounts. Under the gen erous terms which the banks have all agreed to extend, the purchaser of bonds amounting to one thousand dollars or more is allowed to make an initial payment of only ten per cent and give notes for the remainder at four and a quarter per cent for ninety days, with the privilege of two ninety-day renewals. The plan is so simple and its advantages to the bond buyer so obvious that further comment would seem superfluous. It should be said, however, and said emphat ically, that this liberal offer removes the last and only excuse for hesitancy on the part of those persons who have not yet bought Liberty Bonds to the limit of their resources. Virtually all sub scribers to a thousand or more dollars’ worth of bonds are thus enabled to double or treble their subscriptions; and they ought to do so promptly as a matter both of enlightened self-interest ahd of simple duty to their country. Atlanta is far short of its quotif of this all important Fourth Liberty Loan. If it is to go over the top, every one. particularly those who can can buy bonds to the amount of a thousand dol lars or more, must put forth redoubled effort. With serviceable patriotism, the banks have swung wide the door of opportunity. Let no Atlantian fail to make the most of this generous invitation. Not to do so w’ould be disloyal to the American cause and to one’s own highest interests. “Hindenburg reported resigned.” Resigned to what? The Task of Restoration. The herculean and inspiring part which Ameri cans will be called upon to play in rehabilitating the Hun-wrecked lands of Europe is indicated in re cently published estimates of the reconstruction needs of France. In the invaded region of that country, the region which supplied before the war the vast bulk of French iron, steel, coal and tex tiles, more than twenty-six thousand factories have been demolished. The cost of restoring these in dustries is almost beyond reckoning, so enormous is th'e ruin which the Germans have wrought and so much greater than the original cost will be that of replacement. Some idea of the minimum may be gathered, however, from preliminary calculations concerning a few of the important industries de stroyed. The value of one such group, exclusive of land and stocks on hand, is put conservatively at one billion seventy-six million eight hundred thou sand dollars. That is a mere fragment of the work to be done in France, and France is only one of the countries where the Prussian beast has left his trail of de struction. Belgium, Serbia, Rumania, Poland, Rus sia, all have suffered and will be sorely in need of help. The Manufacturers’ Record aptly comments; “The superhuman trade demands that will be made upon our raw materials and factories will go far to solve the problems of what to do with the victorious United States army when it returns to civil life. For years to come a large portion of our productive energy and resources will be absorbed in the truly noble task of helping to restore what the Hun has destroyed. If you don’t believe this is an autumn of plenty, If not of peace, go to any county fair. The Spry Dads of Forty or More. Now how about us forty-year-old Dads having a parade some afternoon? We feel the same as we did at twenty. We believe we can walk, carry a rifle and as heavy a'pack as any son— John, Bill or Tom." So writes a Journal reader, whose letter is print ed elsewhere, proposing a meet demonstration for those Selective Service registrants who are jour neying briskly beyond four-times-ten. His sugges tion is highly appealing; but may we offer a word of caution? He had better let in the men of fifty, or they will swoop down upon the procession and fight for a place at its head. For our own part, we would not dare exclude those of sixty and over, for of all the sons of Mars the most belligerent, the most head-long, the most unrestrainable, once lie is started, is your patriotic and puissant American grandad. Precautions Against Influenza. The municipal authorities of Atlanta are to be commended’for the prompt steps they have taken towards preventing the spread of Spanish influ enza. Under an order issued Monday by the City Board of Health and subsequently reinforced by a special ordinance from Council, all schools, libra ries, churches, theaters, motion picture shows, dance halls and other places of public amusement where people congregate, will be closed until in the opinion of the Board cf Health the necessity for the precaution has passed. While the situation in Atlanta is much less disturbing than in many other cities, these safe j guards have been wisely taken. Prudence at this | juncture will keep the contagion within the nar ! rowest limits and spare thousands of persons from its distressing attack. The Atlanta public, self disciplined as it is in concerted action for the com ! mon good, needs no further admonition to co-oper ate with the health authorities for the control of this contagious malady. The Theater Managers’ Association show’ed the community’s characteristic spirit when it declared in advance of Council’s ac tion it would observe unquestioningly what ever requirements the Health Board deemed neces sary. That will be the general, the unanimous, attitude toward the new order; and in the city will pass through its influenza wave wIK. a minimum of discomfort. It is exceedingly important, however, that indi viduals take those simple personal precautions which are recommended for the prevention and control of the disease. Dr. J. P. Kennedy, City Health Officer, seasonably urges the use of indi vidual drinking cups,, the thorough ventilation of bedrooms day and night, an abundance of fresh air in all living and working quarters, at least ’ eight hours of tleep every night, and going to bed in every case of Spanish iniluenza or of a severe cold. The Natidhal Conference of Army, Navy and Civilian Doctors has issued a concise and help* ful bulletin of advice as to what should be done, first, to keep from catching the influenza, and next to prevent s .rious consequences in the event it is contracted: Preventives: 1, Avoid contact with other people so far as possible. Especially avoid crowds indoors, in street cars, theaters, mo tion picture houses, and other places of public assemblage. 2, Avoid persons suffering from “colds,” sore throats and coughs. 3, Avoid chilling of the body or living in rooms o? tem perature below 65 degrees or above 72. 4, Sleep and work in clean, fresh air. 5, Keep your hands clean and keep them out of your mouth. 6, Avoid expectorating in public places and see that others do likewise. 7, Avoid visiting the sick 8, Eat plain, nour ishing food and avoid alcoholic stimulants. 9, Cover your nose with your handkerchief when you sneeze, your mouth when you cough. Change handkerchiefs frequently. Promptly disinfect soiled handkerchiefs by boiling or washing with soap and water. 10, Don’t worry, keep your feet warm. Wet feet demand prompt attention. Wet clothes are dangerous and must be removed as soon as possible. Treatment: 1, If you get a cold, go to bed in a well-ventilated room. Keep warm. 2, Keep away from other people. Do not kiss anyone. 3, Use individual basins and knives, forks, spoons, towels, handkerchiefs, soap, wash plates and cups. 4, Every case of in fluenza should go to bed at Once under the care of a physician. The patient should stay in bed at least three days after fever has dis appeared and until convalescence is well es tablished. 5, The patient must not cough or sneeze except when a mask or handkerchief is held before the face. 6, He should be in a warm, well-ventilated room. 7, There is no specific for the disease. Symptons should be met as they arise, 8, The great danger is from pneumonia. Avoid it by staying in bed while actually ill and until convalescence is fully established. 9. The after effects of in fluenza are worse than the disease. Take care of yourself. 10, Strictly observe the state and city rule: and regulations for the control of influenza. In this, as in all else that ’concerns our well being, worry is the great weakener and the fear the great foe. A calm mind and a cheerful spirit, to gether with the precautions suggested, are mighty bulwarks against Spanish influenza. Our patriotic schoolboy is cheerfully supporting the influenza closing order. NO PEACE WITH PRUSSIANISM! Editor The Journal: Already the insidious Ger man propaganda is being spread more rapidly than ever, since Germany sent up her latest cry for peace, and it must be guarded against by the women, for it is they who are being approached. “The war is over, why buy a Liberty Bond now?” says a so called “loyal American” with a large percentage of German blood in his veins. A woman comes to me and says, “Well, the war’ll be over in a month now, you’ll soon your husband back,” and looks at me in horror because I say I do not want him on Germany’s terms. We, the women, who have given up husbands and sons to the cause we hold most dear, are being approached by these propagandists. More camouflage! is this latest cry from Germany, and it must meet with the reception it deserves. Peace without victory, after all our boys have suf fered already, to say nothing of those brave boys of pur allies who suffered alone for more than three years! Are all those brave young lives laid down in vain, that Germany, when she gets enough, must cry, “Hold, declare an armistice; we are tired now that things aren’t going our way, and ready to quit!” Forsooth, then, like frightened children who obey a tyrannical teacher, we must lay down our arms and quietly subside, because Germany, after her more than four years of ruthlessness and beastliness, lire and loot and ravaged women, is ready to cry quits before one foot of her land is touched! We are not in this war for revenge, but for the salvation of humanity, and a just punish ment of Germany's unmentionable crimes against humanity. An exchange from one paper says today, * Germany’s foes shall pursue their victories until she can fight no more; until surrender is forced upon her, and with it security against any further disturbance against peace from that quarter.” But what constitutes security from Germany? She treats her treaties as “scraps of paper;” she lies, and steals, and lies again! Who is to believe ber, and when? We are not thus so easily fooled. Oh, thou beast of Berlin! 1 did not give up my husband for any such peace as you cry for, neither did any other woman, nor any mother her son! Shall we stop now because Germany cries “calf-rope,” and in five years, less than that, perhaps, go through it all again? Only this time it will be America, and not little Belgium that is ravaged. The echoes of the “No’s!” of the wives and mothers, even while they weep because they must say it, will go thundering down through all the ages. “Those echoes roll from soul to soul. And live forever, and forever!” ISABELLE WOOD PATTERSQN. Atlanta, Ga., Oct. 7, 1918. THE ABNORMAL PARENT—By H. Addington Bruce WE hear a great deal about the study and treatment of abnormal children. I often wonder why we hear so little about the study and treatment of abnormal parents. Like parent like child, is an invaluable maxim to keep in mind. If it is a question of dealing with some uncommonly backward, troublesome, naugh ty child, one may usually take it for granted that there .is something the matter with the parents also—'at all events with one of the parents. Little Helen there, that girl with the wan, sullen, expressionless face. She has been sent for an examination because the teacher can do nothing with her —can rouse her interest in noth ing. Feeble-mindedness is suspected. But no, the tests show that she has a normal mentality. Clear ly, however, she is undernourished. What is the situation in her home? Visit her home and you will make some ‘inter esting and pathetic discoveries. Sanitation ic almost an unknown science where she lives. Water is of secondary importance to whisky. The rudimentary principles of a hygienic diet are yet to be learned. She has a drunken father and a virago of a mother. The child is perpetually nagged and ter rorized. No wonder the teacher finds her sullen, stupid, unapproachable. CONSOLIDATE WAR RELIEF—By Dr. Frank Crane At the beginning of the war there were in the United States some 14j856 war relief organiza tions of one kind and another. Which was approximately 14,*855 too many. The number has now been reduced to 159, most of them centred in New York City. . An effort is being made to reduce the number still further, but it is being opposed vigorously. The trouble is that every charity society is actuated by motives strongly mixed. There is di vine charity, and there are also much human weak ness and vanity. Men and women who are working for nothing are quite as'tenacious of their jobs, as insistent upon their importance, and as proud of their prom nence as highly paid officials. It is this factor that makes it difficult to se cure efficiency in charity. Nobody wants to hurt anybody’s feelings, and so a lot of incompetents flourish in superfluity. A great forward step has been made by the plan to appeal to the country in one great drive for the Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., and similar organ izations. At least this will not confus6 the people, and will not enable the slackers to dodge one sub scription list on the plea of intending to subscribe to another. THE “C. O.” PROBLEM —By Frederic J. Haskin y ’r -WASHINGTON, D. C.» October 7. —A new plan VV for using conscientious objectors ms attend ’ ’ ants in prisons, insane asylums and reform schools, is now being considered by the war de partment. This is practically a last resort, all other attempts to make use of their service having failed. And in justice to the conscientious objector it must be stated that this is not wholly his fault, partly the fault of his fellow-citizens, who conscien tiously object to having him about. T’he war department is now having as much trouble with American patriots as it is with the “C. O.’s.” Just as it established a splendid sys tem for transferring conscientious objectors from training camps to farms, many indignant farmers —farmers with sons in France—rose up and an nounced that they would not take them. V\ ere short on labor,” declared a West Virginia farmer, “but we ain’t going to have a bunch of slackers working for us. We’ll take the gals first. Os all the problems that have cropped up in this war, none has been more perplexing than that of the conscientious objector. None has been more irritating. There is no precedent for deal ing with fanaticism in the army, and one has yet to be established. The ordinary slacker is easily dealt with, for the ordinary slacker is usually a coward, and a few days in the guard house are enough to render him submissive and eager to go to war. But the conscientious objector can- be kept in the guard house for a month, and emerge with his conscience unaltered. It is this inexor able quality of the fanatic, who welcomes a crown of thorns as a crown of laurels, that has made the “C. O.”, after four years of war, as great a riddle as he was in the beginning. While the number of conscientious objectors is relatively insignificant in this country, it is much larger than most people believe. Conservative es timates place it at approximately 200 per training camp. Most of them are members of religious sects, such as the Dunkards, Mennonites and Quakers; a few are socialists and pacifists, and a few also belong to an unnamed sect which holds that love, not force, should* rule the world. The conscientious objector raises very little disturbance. He is quiet and serene; he seldom seeks to proselyte, and he does not lose his temper. But he does not participate in the war. The case of Tobiah C — illustrates how the “C. O.” conduct ed himself in the first draft. Tobiah faithfully registered on the appointed day, was put in the first class, and in due time was called upon to re port. He immediately sent word that he could not report, but that he could be found at his ad dress. Accordingly, a messenger from Tobiah’s local board appeared the next day and escorted him to the draft headquarters. • In the hands of the military, Tobiah was equal ly conscientious. He politely, but firmly, declined to obey military orders. When it became known about the camp that he was a Mennonite, he be gan to have difficulties. A private in his company cataie up and stamped on his foot; another stole his boots, and another made it his duty to knock Tobiah’s hat off every few minutes. “You’ll fight before you get out of here,” one private told him. But the private little understood the power of Tobiah’s will. To every species of insult that was inflicted upon him Tobiah persistently turned his other cheek, so to speak. At last, he was called before the board of inquiry, put through a psycho logical test, and pronounced a conscientious ob jector. There were *lOl others besides himself, and some of these, scattered through various com panies, had come to the court of inquiry from the guard house. As soon as a man is definitely labeled a con scientious objector, the military authorities are ex tremely anxious to get rid of him. In the first place, he is a constant source of disturbance in camp where the men are always trying to demon strate the weak points of his theory. In the sec ond place, to’keep him in camp is to support him in idleness, because he is willing to be shot rather than do anything to aid the war. But what to do with him? ✓ In attacking • this problem the United States had the example of England's failure before it. England has over 4.000 conscientious objectors, and she made the mistake of putting them in prison. Recently it has dawned upon her that this was an expensive and useless practice, and she is trying to find some way of getting them out. The United States, under the guidance of the president, pursued a more tolerant policy. It has given the conscientious objector the privilege of entering certain non-combatant units, including nearly all branches of the medical corps; the quartermas ter’s corps and the army engineer service. They can be assigned to work in remount depots, veteri nary hospitals, supply depots, bakery companies, the bathing service, the laundry service, the salvage service, the ,cloth-renovating service, the shoe re pair service And in transportation repair shops. Or, in the army engineer corps, they can build roads, fortifications, docks, wharves, storehouses and rail ways. According to the law, is, they can do these things. According to their consciences, they cannot. A large number of conscientious objectors have Os course, she must be taken out of such sur roundings. But what a pity her parents cannot be studied and treated as she will be! They, too, are manifestly abnormal. They should be given a chance to stablize their lives. And Percy, poor Percy, who is so nervous that he shivers at an unexpected sound. He has been brought for psychopathlogical study because he is too timid to go to school, even to venture out the house alone. What do we find in his home? Not dirt and squalor, but every evidence of refinement. His surroundings are seemingly the best a growing boy could have. But talk with his mother. Observe the strain ed, worried look in her eyes. Yes, she confides to you, she is perpetually anxious about Percy. She bites to have him out of her sight, lest something happen to him. Something has happened to him. The poor, abnormally solicitous mother has injected Percy with her own nervous anxiety. He needs treat ment, and so does she. Some day society will appreciate the urgently serious problem of. the abnormal parent. Some day society will insist oh treatment for the ab normal parent, even as it now insists on treat ment for the abnormal child. (Copyright, 1918, by the Associated Newspapers) When many charitable organizations are in the field the inevitable result is waste and misdirected effort. A national investigation bureau is now being; formed to inquire into the whole matter and to recommend the discontinuance of such efforts as are not found useful. Arthur H. Fleming of the Council of National Defense at Washington, speaking in approval of this movement, said; “I think a great deal of money given for a noble purpose is now being-wasted—how much it - would be difficult to say, because there is no way of checking up. In my opinion the great work of war relief pould be conducted much more effective ly if the number of organizations enlisted in it Mere reduced to ten. 1 believe it would be still better if the whole thing were turned over to the American Red Cross.” The American people are generous. They want to give, and give largely. But they do not want to be importuned by fourteen thousand different agencies, by men and women without authoriza ftion, by people who make no accounting, and by little boys and girls in the street. Consolidate, simplify, and organize the war re lief w’ork and much better results will be obtained. (Copyright. 1918, by Frank Crane) objected to entering the non-combatant service designated for their special benefit by the president for two reasons: first, because most of the presi dent for two reasons: first, because most of the work was considered to be aiding “the accursed thing,” as they term the war: and second, because both in the quartermaster’s corps and in the army engineer corps fighting in self-defense is often a necessary duty, drilling for such a contingency being part of the training. There is a third rea son, also, for the “C. O.” being kept out of the non combatant service, although this reason has not occurred to the “C. O.” himself. This is because the rest of the men in this service are intensely in terested in the outcome of the war. and would strongly resent his presence there. In real despair, die war department had to look about for another means of disposing of the “C. O.” nuisance. Then, it had a brilliant inspira tion. There were the farms! Immediately, an ar rangement was made whereby the conscientious ob jectors reported to the adjutant general of the war department should be hired out as laborers on th®, farms through the farm help specialists of the de partment of agriculture. For once, the “C., O.” made no objection. Farming was an occupation, of peace, having no direct connection with the war —at least in the mind of the “C. O.”—and Men noites, the Dunkards and the Quakers all accepted it without question. Parenthetically, it may be stated that there are very few Quakers left among • the conscientious objectors in this country, most of them having joined the Friends’ Reconstruction’' Unit in France. Under this system several hundred conscien tious objectors were placed on farms throughout the country during the summer. They usually worked in units, under a leader, and wherever it was possible arangements were made for them to hold religious services. Many such units are still at w'ork in various farming districts, but they are rapidly dwindling. The men remain under mili tary authority and receive the pay of the ordinary private, in addition to their lodging and board. The farmer, on the othet hand, pays the govern ment the standard local wage for each man, which is usually considerably more than S3O a month, and. the difference goes to the Red Cross. Many of the “C. O.’s” have been born to ag riculture and own farms of their own, but the gov ernment will not permit them to return to their’ homes or to give them any privileges not received by the*ordinary soldier. They make good work ers. for, curiously enough, their conscientiousness appears to be consistent. They are hard-working, thrifty and industrious, and if it -were not for the ill feeling that.they arouse in patriotic rural com munities, the farm plan would undoubtedly be a huge success. But, under the circumstances, some thing else must be found. Many officials of 'ths • war department even suspect that the “C. O.” will be unwelcome in the prisons and reform schools, too. Thus, it is begining to look as if the only opportunity to utilize the services of the conscien-t tious objector is in an insane asylum, where th® inmates are unacquainted with his principles. ‘ “HELP” ; - By Isobel Field, of the Vigilantes. I A good hearty laugh! Can-you send one to ourl soldiers and sailors? z The United States is succeeding in doing a what no othlr country has ever attempted before, and. that is to maintain a puritan army, clean in mind and body. It was not thought enough to safeguard and discipline the men. so a special de-i partment was created by the government for the; sole purpose of developing their moral and phys-< ical wellbeing. It is called the war department commission on training camp activities, and among its many plans for benefiting the soldiers is on® that encourages dramatic entertainments in camp,! staged and acted by the men themselves. It keeps a company cheerful for weeks, the rehearsals be ing as much fun as the final performance, as ev-» ery actor knows. To carry this out successfully, it was necessary to appoint trained men as dramatic directors to- * coach them, and also to have material to work with, ana that is where the public has been of great help. The famous dramatists contribute one-, act- plays, famous authors turn their hands to skits and duologues, vaudeville artists are send-i ing in scripts of their most successful "turns,'* and all over the country .*here is a general cudgel-| ling of brains and overhauling of eld scrapbooks. These—contributions, as they come in, are print- 1 ed in Utue pamphlets, and the funny stories are made into a book, entitled “Uncle Sam’s Joke* Book,” for the free and exclusive use of the army and navy. , . So, if you have the knack of writing a one-act play or an amusing skit, or if you know a funny 1 story, write it out and send it to Austin Strong, War Department Commission on Training Camp * Activities, 15*20 Broadway, New York City. Remember, the best antidote the blues, loneliness, or any other form of evil that threatens our boys, is a good hearty laugh!
