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TRENCH & CAMP
Published weekly at the National Camps and Cantonments for the soldiers of the
United States.
Room CO4, Pnlltzer Building
National Headquarters
New York City
JOHN STEWART BRYAN
Chairman of Advisory Board of Co-operating Publishers
Camp and Location Newspaper FnbUaher
Camp Heauiregard, Alexandria, LaNew Orleans Times Picayune . D. D. Moore
Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth Star TelegramAmon C. Carter
Camp Cody, Deming, N. MexEl Paso Herald H. D Slater
Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Mich..... ...Battle Creek Eriqulrer-NewsA. 1., Miller
Camp Devens, Ayer, Massßoston Globe Charles H. Taylor, Jr.
Camp Dlx, Wrightstown, N. JTrenton Times James Kerney
.Camp Dodge, Des Moines, lowa. .Des Moines Register Gardner Cowles
Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill, Okla Oklahoma City OklahomanE. K. Gaylord
| Camp Forrest, Chickamauga, GaChattanooga (Tenn. ) TimesH. C. Adler
Camp Fremont, Palo Alto, Cal San Francisco Bulletinß A. Brothers
I Camp Funston, Fort Riley, Kan Topeka State Journal. . Frank P. MacLennan
iCamp Gordon, Atlanta, GaAtlanta Constitution Clark Howell
Camp Grant, Rockford, IIIThe Chicago Dally News Victor F. Lawson
Camp Greene, Charlotte, N. CCharlotte Observer W. P. Sullivan
Camp Hancock, Augusta, GaAugusta Heraldßowdre Phinlzy
(".imp Jackson, Columbia. 8. C.. Columbia Statew. W. Ball
Camp Johnston. Jacksonville, Fla Jacksonville Times UnionW. A. Elliott
Camp Kearny, Linda Vista, Cal Los Angeles Times Harry Chandler
Camp Lee, Petersburg, Vaßichmond News Leader John Stewart Bryan
Camp Lewis, Tacoma, Wash Tacoma Tribune.F. S. Baker
Camp Logan. Houston, Texas Houston PostGough J. Palmer
Camp McArthur, Waco, Texas Waco Morning News Charles E. Marsh
I Camp McClellan. Annlst/n. Alaßirmingham (Ala.) News Victor H Hanson
, Camp Meade. Admiral. Md. Wash., D C , Evening Star Fleming Newbold
Camp Pike, Little Rock, Ark. Arkansas DemocratElmar E Clarke
Camp Bevier, Greenville, S. CGreenville Dally Newsß. H. Peace
j Camp Shelby. Hattiesburg. MixaNew Orleans Item James M Thomson
I Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Ala Montgomery AdvertiserC. H. Allen
Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, Ky. Louisville Courier Journal Bruce Haldeman
[Camp Travis, San Antonio, Texasl ~ ~
Kelly Field and Camp Stanleyf San An(oaJo Light Charles S. Diehl
•lamp Unton. Yaphank. L. 1, N. Y. . . . . New York World Don C. Seitz
Camp Wheeler, Macon, Ga. Macon Telegraphp, T. Anderson
Publish nd under the auspices of the National War Work Council, T. M. C. A. of the
United States, with the co-operation of the above named publishers and papers.
A soldier’s-work is a man’s work.
The best men in America are the men
In uniform. Next to these come the
men who would like to be in uniform,
and generally speaking the men in
America who would hot be willing to
don their uniform and take a turn at
it, provided they are fitted for a sol
dier’s work by health, age and train
ing, are not real Americans and are
not worth very much.
For nearly twenty years I have been
employing other people. I don’t be
lieve that there is one of these men
who would not have been better off
Rnd a better man for a soldier’s train
ing. For military life teaches a man
self respect, it teaches him to take
orders and obey them and thus it fits
him to rive orders. The only man I
think of just now who doesn’t take
orders and obey some one is the
Kaiser, and if he lives long enough he
will learn. Some folks profess to feel
sorry for the boys who are going into
the service and may have to face bul
lets. The truth of the matter is that
every man who is worth his salt has a
sneaking or open envy of them.
And all of us know that the fellow
wh-i -s unwilling to stand up for a
THE HONpR OF THE AMERICAN ARMY
When that grim old warrior. Gen
eral Chaffee, led the American troops
in the China campaign, his attention
was called to the fact that certain
of the Allied troops wero looting.
Particularly was his attention called
to the fact that astronomical instru
ments of great value had disappeared
from an observatory.
With all the vigor he could sum
mon, General Chaffee sent a protest
to the fiejd commander, a German
general. Having been in tho field
with the German troops, the Ameri
can commander probably thought the
direct route was the best, although
military etiquette demanded that the
protest be addressed to the senior of
ficer present
It struck General Chaffee that It
was scarcely consistent with the
avowed ideals of the armies of the
great powers that they'should permit
their men to pillage. But it was a
now Hne of reasoning to the Hun com
mander, who very curtly acknowl
edged receipt of the protest and de
manded to know why it had not been
written in German.
Because of the international flavor
to the incident, the authorities in
Washington were compelled to ad
minister a mild rebuke, to General
Chaffee, not because of the stand he
had taken but because his righteous
indignation had led him to such vig
orous statement. But General Chaf
fee was rewarded later with the
highest honors that could be be
stowed by a grateful government, and
among his prized possessions for the
,rest of his life was a letter from the
j then Vice-President Theodore Roose
i velt telling him that the Republic
would always be grateful to him, not
■ alone for his achievements but for
what the American soldiers had not
■ been permitted to do.
j 'When the indemnities were paid,
the American nation showed that it
counted some things far more pre-
“A FIRST CLASS SOLDIER”
BY JAMES M. THOMSON
Publisher of the Now Orleans Item
good cause, fight and risk his life, if
need be. is a poor sort of fellow, who
is not fit to hold much of a job any
where, so we look forward not only to
the time when the men who are secur
ing the benefit of army training will
be in demand for places of responsi
bility in civil life, but toward the time
when this training will fit many of
them for taking over the conduct of
the great affairs of the country.
The saying that “success needs no
explanation” is not altogether true;
but it is certainly true that the man in
uniform has no explanation to make
eg to how he is serving his country.
Most men who are not in uniform feci
even now that some explanation is
necessary.
In the army as elsewhere there is
bound to be a difference among men.
So a great deal depends on how good
a record a man makes as a soldier. All
of my life I have heard veterans of
the Civil War use the expression in
describing some man “and he was a
first-class soldier.” In the years to
come that kind of a recommendation
is going to determine the careers of
hundreds of thousands of the men
who are going to run America. And
(hat is right. The men who are going
to run this war right can run the coun
try right.
clous than money. The amount
awarded to the country was not
placed in the coffers of the nation;
but was held as a trust for the edu
cation of Chinese students at Amer
ican universities.
These are two incidents in the mili
tary history of (the United States of
which we, the citizens, have reason
to be proud.
In Flanders another chapter
been added.
We have gone to the relief of
stricken France. We have pledged
all that we have and are. In ful
filment of our pledge we have placed
a great army in the country of our
Ally. We have ruined fields by our
military operation; have occupied
houses; have razed forests—all this,
mind you, in Behalf of France.
The fields were owned by individ
ual farmers; so were the houses and
so, too, were the forests. The fields,
the houses and the forests were all
that the French peasants and land
owners had. If the Hun conquered
they would be swept away.
Going to France’s aid in an expe
dition such as we have undertaken
it might have been reasoned that the
burden of paying for what we seized
would rest upon our Ally. But our
government did not so reason. Gen
eral Pershing sent to Washington a
request for the passage of legislation
reimbursing everyone whose proper
ty had been taken. To reinforce his
argument, our irieid Commander said
that any action short of this would
make our army suffer by comparison
with the British, which had paid value
for value for everything taken or de
stroyed.
Action was prompt. The Congress
enacted the needed legislation. But
It is with pardonable pride that we
who are Americans recall that our
action in the China campaign set a
standard recognized and adopted by
the British, that is thoroughly in
keeping with the high aims we have
proclaimed. » x.
IKENCH AND CAMP
I CANTONMENT TYPES
3 THE KIDDER
A GOOD share of the influences working for the development of high
soldier morale comes from outside the ranks— the officers, the folks
back home, the welfare workers, the peh-wielders—but there’s a
sizable collection of influences at work in the ranks themselves. Certain
types of soldiers are as valuable in fostering spirit as ice cream and cake
at mess. One of these types is The Kidder.
Every man in the army has to be more or less a master of this
Tongue-and-brain art. "The Come-back” as a means of self-defense is
rivalled only by the Manly Science itself. Many a man whose fist is No. 10
and whose shoulders belong to the Ladies and Misses classification is able
to defeat a whole squad or platoon by means of his ready wit. Most sol
diers would rather take a beating than have to pocket the small end of a
kidding match. The torture, for instance, which many a sergeant has to
undergo when the batteries of josh are turned on him after taps under
secure cover of darkness is unequalled by the rack or the whole works of
the Spanish Inquisition—or even a balling-out by the Primary Loot.
The first-class kidder often degenerates into a bore.
Oftener, he serves as a full portion of pepper, salt and all the other
condiments in his company. When a bird grouses at the weather—bring
on the 0. D. Kidder! Let him turn loose all he’s got. The complainer
will retire under a cover-fire of grumbles, and ere long his lamp flickers
and goes out. When the Mess Kicker breaks forth, allow* the kidder
several seconds. t
“G’waif the only Waldorf you ever knew was Bill’s Free Lunch or the
Quick-and-Dirty on the corner. ’Mess! You never had a square meal in
your life till you joined the army.” That does the business, more effec
tively than a general order.
The kidder can stop up every alley of complaint quicker than a dec
laration of peace. «
The Conscientious Objector is his pet theme. And the C. O. rarely
loafs in the vicinity of the Company Barbed Wit. The Yellow-livered
specie loves nothing better than an argument, but The Kidder is beyond
that. He never argues. He loads his belt with ammunition and shoots
from a sniping post. And like all hyprocrisies. the one of conscientious
objection draws the shortest breaths and gets the least nourishment
from unanwerable, thirty-three degree, heel-and-toe ridicule.
May the kidder be always with us. An army of them would make •
healthy fighting force. And the German is the poorest kidder In the world.
He isn’t a sport, and he isn’t a kidder. His only wit is cruel. It has to
hurt—draw blood, so to speak—or it doesn’t qualify.
THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE
By F. O. BRAMHAIJ,
One especial bond of sympathy be-1
tween Americans and Frenchmen lies
in the fact that just as the United
States represents and maintains the
republican idea in the Western Hem
isphere, So France upholds it in the
Eastern. Yet Americans in France
will soon be struck by differences in
the forms and ways of action in gov
ernment. Not only will they find un
familiar titles for familiar things, but
they will occasionally find familiar
names applied to quite different
things.
The President of France, to begin
with, is a very different sort of officer
from the President of t'he United
States. Although he lives in greater
state and is surrounded with more
ceremony, his actual power is but a
shadow of that of our chief magis
trate. While the American president
wields the great powers of appoint
ment to and removal from office, di
rects and controls the great army of
federal officers, manages according to
his own judgment the foreign affairs
of the nation, and urges upon Con
gress and the country the policies in
which he personally believes, none of
these things are true of the French
President.
Cabinet Governs Country
It is in France the Cabinet, not the
President, which manages the affairs
of the Republic, and even though ac
tion is taken in the name of the Presi
dent, everybody knows that the Cabi
net is responsible for it. The Pre
mier is a much more powerful man
than the President.
Nor is the French Cabinet at all
like the American one. It is a group,
of about a dozen men, who are the
leaders of the Chamber of Deputies
(corresponding to our House of Rep
resentatives) and the Senate, and
who speak for the majority in the
Chamber. The Premier is chosen by
the President because he can speak
for that majority and because they
will follow his leadership; the Pre
mier chooses the other members of
the Cabinet. They stay in office and
direct the government until the
Chamber of Deputies, by vote, tells
them that it longer approves their
whereupon they must all re
sign anuTet a new cabinet take their
place. The Cabinet, therefore, is the
center of the French Government;
not, as in United States, a group
which the President may consult but
whose advice he need not follow, but
one which actually wields the power,
subject to the approval of Parlia
ment.
The Parliament is not unlike our
Congress in its general outlines. The
Chamber of Deputies is composed o*
601 members, elected by universal
manhood suffrage, each from a dis-
CHANGFS CONSIDERED
Announcement has been made by
the Quartermaster General that a
number of changes in the uniforms
of enlisted men are under considera
tion bilt no changes are contemplated
'in the uniforms of
trict of about 100,000 people. All
are elected at once, for a term of tour
years. The Senate has 300 members,
chosen in the 87 Departments of
France by electoral colleges, most of
the elector* being delegates from the
town or commune councils. The Sen
ators serve for nine years, and a
third of them go out every three
years. „
In the actual working of Parlia
ment, however, tbe American will
find many differences from that of
Congress; and those mainly because
France has not two great national
political parties as we have and as
the British have. Instead, we find in
the French Parliament a dozen little
groups, without strong party disci
pline, forming and dissolving combi
nations to support or to overthrow
Cabinets. Every Cabinet, conse
quently, must represent not a singly
party but a group of more or less
harmonious ones; and that makes it
necessary for a French Premier to
be a very skillful manager of men
if he is to last very long in office.
Departments Instead of States
Beneath the National Government
with Rs seat at Paris, there are, of
course, local governments. France
has, however, no States like ours,
with their distinct constitutions
which the central government can
not encroach upon. They are all cre
ated by laws passed at Paris, and
they are much more closely directed
and managed, all over FYance, by
national officers than our local gov
ernments are.
France is divided Into 87 Depart
ments, each of which is directed by
a Prefect appointed from Paris, with
large powers. Each Department is
divided Into four or five Districts or
Arrondissements, and they in turn,
into some or nine cantons; but'
neither of these plays any large part
in the Frenchman’s life.
At the basis of French Govern
ment, however, stands the most an
cient of French units of government,
the Commune. The Commune cor
responds pretty much to our town
ship. It may be a town or village
or city; it may be purely rural. It
may be a few acres, or many thou
sand in extent. It may have a hand
ful of people, or hundreds of thou
sands. Every one has its mayor and
its communal council, both directly
elected by all male French citizens
over twenty-one years of age, and
each is vested with the powers which
bring government closest home the
care of health, local orders, morality,
local public works and public utility
services. \
It is in the 36,000 French com
munes that French democracy finds
its most permanent expression.
ORIGIN OF "TANK”
The name “tank” was given to the
mighty British fighting machinea be
cause for Secrecy’s sake they were
known as “Water Carriers for Meso
potamia” while being shipped to the
Western theatre of WAX, .j
May 8
