Trench and camp. (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, May 29, 1918, Image 4

Trench and camp., May 29, 1918, Page Page 4, Image 4

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Newspaper Page TextI ' I mis wj JI iiW J* 1 A'&P jFW V \b ’ v Nut* I ' JJ < Page 4 TRENCH AND CAMP CAMP HANCOCK, Augusta, Ga. EDITION,"11,000. GEO. B. LANDIS. Editor. W. 4, Aiken, Associate Editor. Publshert wren the co-operaton of THE HERALD PUBLISHING CO, Augusta, Ga. ISSUED LVERY W3DN ISDAY. Vol. I—May "29, 1918.—N0. 34. Entered as second-class matter, Feb. 13th, 1918, at the post office at Augusta, Georgia, under the Act of March 3, 18<9. SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Trench and Camp will be mailed to any address in the United States at the following rates: Three months .. .. .. ....25c Six months .. 50c NOTICE. This edition of Trench and Camp Is, limited to 11,000 copies. An effort will be made to place one or more copies in every tent. If parties are desirous of other copies, application should be made to the nearest Y. M. C. A. building, where they will be gladly furnished as long as they last. As the edition is limited to 11,000 copies, please do not throw your copy away, when you are through with it. Pass it on to some other fellow. News items, personals, programs, meetings, announcements, etc., from all the units in the camp will be welcomed by Trench and Camp and printed as far as space per mits. These communications can be left with secretaries at any of the Y. M. C. A. buildings and will be turned over to the editors. All copy should be turned in as early as possible. No copy can be hand led later than Monday noon, pre ceding date of issue. Trench and Camp will be issued every Wed nesday by CAMP HANCOCK ARMY Y. M. C. A. From the Office of The Augusta Herald T errorization A current rumor, apparently well grounded, noises that the next Hun chief for the expected drive will be Von Bulow. Under his orders two hun dred and fifty civilians -men, women and children — were killed by the Ger mans at Andenne on Aug. 2<Fand 21, 1914, and 50 at Seilies on the opposite bank of the Meu|e. A hundred and fifty-three houses were burnt at Seil les, and 37 at Andenne. It is not true that the Germans were attacked by the civil population, or that they re ceived any provocation whatever. The inurdtr and arson were started in cold blood, at a signal, the object was to give point to such a proclamation as this. As a warning to Liege, however, the atrocities at Andenne were superflu ous. The Liegtols had already had personal experience of German terror ism, for on that very night of Aug. 20, again at a given signal, the Germans had burnt 55 houses at liege and mur dtred 2 civilians —shooting some, bay oneting (others, and burning others alive. Following is a copy of a poster dis played to the people of Liege, signed by Von Bulow: ORDER. To the People of Liege. The population of Andenne, after making a display of peaceful intentions towards our troops, attacked them in the most treacherous manner. With my authorisation, the General com manding these troops has reduced the town to ashes and as had 110 persons shot. I bring this fact to the knowledge of the people of Liege in order that they may know what fate to expect should they adopt a similar attitude. Liege, 22nd August, 1914. GENERAL VON BULOW. The Danube a German River The peace that has been forced upon Rumania is essentially German peace. The treaty which the King of Ru mania signed was brought about by the rattling of the Hohenzollern and Hapsburg sabers, and its terms are a crushing indictment of the rapacious policy of the Central Empires. Lust for territory, greed for conquest, and the extinction of national independ ence have been the invariable accom paniments of a peace effected by a tri umphant German militarism. They are stamped all over the terms enforc ed upon Rumania. Under, the threat of vassalage to the Berlin government, TRENCH AND CAMP ject of converting it permanently into a French river, his despotic act would have constituted a prolific source for war with more nations than Germany. "Die Wacht am Rhein” means, if it means aything at all, that Germany will never relinquish the provinces and th elast obstacle in the way of converting the Danube into a German river was removed. Napoleon aimed at the control by France of the greater part of the river Rhine. Had he succeeded in his ob that make that watercourse a German river without the ordeal of the sword; while the watchword "Qui vive?” on the statue of the Place de la Concorde has for years constituted a dedicaiton of France to the recovery of the lost provinces and free access to the great stream. But to give up Alsace-Lor raine would imply for Germany the abandonment of decade-long policies which, if unchecked, may end in the political annexation of Holland, the guardian of the mouths of the Rhine. Now, the supposititious history of the Rhine is the momentary history of the Danube. By the stern logic of facts, it has admittedly become a German river, from its source in the Black Forest of Baden to the Black Sea, for Austria’s control is but that of an obe dient vassal, whilst the subjugation of Serbia and Rumania, through which it flows is complete. It is well to pause and consider the full significance of this conquest of Central Europe’s greatest river, the navigation of which, by the treaty of Paris in 1856, was declared free to all nations. The river is 1,750 miles long, and is the main artery for the enor mous commerce represented by the MittelEuropa scheme of the Central Powers. Before the war the stream war, for Germany, comparatively use less. But the conquest of the Bal-? kans undoubtedly opened up fresh vistas of unlimited economic and po litical power. Already communication between the Danube and the Rhine was possibly by means of the Ludwig Canal in Bavaria, which connected the Altmuhl with the Rengnitz, a. con fluent of the River Main. To the Ger mans this canal meant that an unre stricted commerce by river could be carried on all the way from the Rhine to the Black Sea. But this possibly represents merely one of the details of Germany’s "Drang nach Osten” policy. Today she is aiming at converting the Black Sea into a German lake, and the permanent occupation of Odessa, Ba tum, and other Black Sea ports, in order to control the grain trade of the Ukraine and the oil fields of the Cas pian. Dominating Central Europe and the Near East, Germany would thus hold the strings of a huge com mercial monopoly, operating on inland waterways, and quite secure against hostile interruption from her present enemies. She would command exclu sively the shortest water route from east to west, and be at the head of an economic empire the possibilities of which the imagination can now scarce ly grasp. A German Danube is the key to a German Asia, and, with Turkey an obedient slave, the river is the high way to a German-controlled Mediter ranean. Thus, the need to defeat the forces aligned on the side of "Schreck lichkeit.” to champoin successfully the cause J enslaved nationalities, to Tes tify fi f tiers and vindicate the right of nations to self-determination, be comes more and more insistent as the war proceeds and the multifarious ramifications of Pan-German polioy are revealed. The vital and serious problem of the Rhine and the Danube will then solve itself. • Instruction of Non-English Speaking Population There were "hay-foot, straw-foot” squads in the Civil War. There are "awkward squads” today.. In part this is due to lack of general education, in part to the need of technical t v . ining. It surprises some to realize that of all the soldiers drafted by the United States, 700,000 cannot read or write the English or any other language. Some camps have had as many as four or thousand such men. Camp Hancock has had but few. These men cannot understand the SOLDIERS’ MAIL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK • Enclosed please findfor months subscription to Trench and Camp, The mailing address is as follows: Name Street and No Town or City State Place change or stamps with this blank in envelope and seal Ad dress: Trench & Camp, Y. M. C. A. Headquarters, Camp Hancock, and deliver to the desk in any recreational center. Mail Rates to Soldiers—3 months, 25c; 6 months, 50c; 1 year, SI.OO. commands of their officers much less their technical insti'uction. They can not read the notices on the bulletin I ards at the head of company streets. They cannot sign their names to mus t< r roll or payroll. The manual of arms is a Greek text book to them. Why, they cannot read their letters from home nor write to home folks or sweethearts! “Oh, yes, Y. M. C. A. secretaries and Red Cross men and nurses in the hospitals must often act as amanuen sis for some strapping illiterate sol dier and st down in cold ink the burn ing words of love and devotion which the big fellow can feel but can not express on paper. These soldiers and prospective sol diers of limited English education nat urally divide into two groups. One —■ the foreign-born man, who may be well educated and may be able to use his speech fluently. The other—the illiter ates who were born and reared in the United States. For the latter, we as a people are responsible. Too often our school laws are inadequate or are not enforced. Some states have no < m pulsory schooling laws at all. Some neglect the blacks —-others make no provision for the education of the for eign-born people. Pennsylvania, with excellent school laws still has 10,- 000 one room school houses. However startled we may be by the illiteracy in the army, the situation is no better in the remainder of our adult population. Os all our people, twenty years of age or more at the census of 110, four and a half millions were illit erate — a number equal to the total population of twelve of our sovereign spates. Half of this large number was white persons and of these one and a half million were native born illiter ate whites. As for the foreign-born, America has been called the "melting pot,” re fining all that is cast into it. America is an army soup caldron into which everything goes and out of which comes a rich, palatable, wholesome “slum” —the army stew. “E pluribus unum” may mean from many races one people. Discovered by English. French, Dutch and Spaniards; colonized by these aYid also by swedes, Irishmen, Scotchmen and German rede.option ees, America has welcomed to her shores a polyglot population. The Irish fleeing in great numbers from the fa mine were here saved from starvation to become policemen and politicians. The .Welsh became bosses in the coal mines. The Norwegians became sub stantial farmers in the great north west. The Germans made Milwaukee famous. The oppressed Jews found a haven, if not the new Jerusalem in America’s great cities, while Italians, Austrians, Slavs and indeed Syrians and black Africans have found profit able employment in the great indus trial centers. Non-English speaking foreigne; : and illiterate natives above school age should at once be gathered into classes for instruction in reading and writing the English language. Attendance should be compulsory. No m .e pat riotic service could be undertaken by any community, but such instruction should not be left to local initiative. The federal government should organ ize and supervise these classes on a comprehensive scale and be respon sible for the ' utcome* It is too late to wait until- these men have been drafted, called and assigned to some unit. Os course even then, chaplains, the young men’s Christian association and other organiza tions may give intensive training in elementary English, but under very adverse conditions. Let America wipe out adult illiter acy and provide adequate education for every child and young person. The good intentions of the electo rate are sometimes thwarted by lack of information. Patriotism is weaken ed by ignorance. Illiteracy is a subtle foe of democracy and must be exter minated. G. B. L. CURRENT EVENTS —By— Frederick B. Heitkamp ABOUT FIVE MONTHS ago the gov ernment took over the management and control of tthe railroads systems of the country, amounting in all to one hundred and sixty-four lines. The control of the individual lines was left in the hands of the presidents then holding office. It was thought that this would be the nost ef ficient means of handling the difficult sit uation, but the working out of the plan has shown that the spirit of co-operation of the lines for the most speedy and short routes of shipment has not been of the best. Therefore Director General McAdoo has sent out an order relieving the presi dents of their control and creating in their stead a board of directors. In those cases where the presidents have been efficient they will be the most probable men to fill the office of manager or federal director. There will be a limitation as to the sal aries paid, the maximum being fifteen thousand dollars. That is small when compared with the hundred thousand sal aries received under private management; but it is in the eyes of the government a sufficint amount. INCREASE IN PAY for all of the em ployes of that government-controlled rail road lines has gone into effect. The step will be retroactive and will provide for back pay to the extent of one hundred and fifty million dollars. In the future it will mean a three million dollar increase year ly. This action is a direct result of the recommendations of the recently appoint ed wage commission and ks indicative of the government’s policy of fairness and desire to have its employes receive just treatment. ONLY ONE investigation of the aircraft charges will be conducted. That has been definitely decided by the Congress this past week. Ex-Justice Hughes will have a free hand to carry out his investigations as he deems fit. He promises to make his discoveries absolutely public and to expose to the public the inefficiency which may develop as a result of his probing. EX-PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT has made charges against the present admin istration, and directly against the Post office Department, of which Mr. Burleson is the head, to the effect that partiality has been shown in the suppressing of pub lic news and information. He claims that week papers such as that at one time published by Mr. Tom Watson of Geor gia, and which was not entirely patriotic, have been suppressed, but that the anti- American and even pro-German spirit of some of the Hearst papers has been con doned by the administration. Mr. Rodse velt is pleading for open and just criti cism of the inefficiency of any of the de partments of our government. To with hold or to check such righteous criticism is to defeat teh very purposes of the gov ernment which is seeking every means of becoming efficient- and publicity of inef ficinecy is one of the best means of secur ing efficiency. THE THIRD TROOP SHIP to be sunk has been recorded this week. The ship Moldavia, on its trip across the English Channel, was sunk on a moonlight night by a submarine. The loss of life for us amounted to fifty-three men. It is not strange that we hear of instances like this, but it is encouraging to know that the value of the submarine is fast de creasing. Isolated cases of such sinkings need cause us no great concern. LLOYD GEORGE feels confident that the submarine is being foiled in its activ ities. "We, the Allies, are building ships faster than the submarines can sink them; and we are sinking the submarines faster than Germany can build them.” So it is evident that we are draining the barrel at both ends. JULY FOURTH is to mark the launch ing of a great many ships now under con struction in our numerous shipyards. Word has been sent by Mr. Schwab to the laborers asking them to make special ef forts to have their ships ready by that date so that we mav have a special “ship launching” celebration. Daily the papers give account of new ships finished and soon we need have no fear for the ship ping problem of our nation. RECENTLY Secretary of War Baker made the suggestion that the ages of men for enlistment should be raised to fifty five years for the home and non-combat ant branches. In that way the younger men would be relieved for more active service at the front, and the older men, with more experience and skilled in their line could assume the vacant positions. WITH REGARD to the draft a state ment was issued by General Crowder that all men conscripted would either have to work or fight. This was taken by some sections of labor as an indication that there was to be conscription of labor. Secretary Baker denies that any such ac tion will be considered; rather that the men who are accepted will be more ef ficiently classified so that they may con tinue to work at those trades with which they are most familiar. STATE number twelve to come in line for prohibition is Arizona. Thirty-six states must give their assent before the act becomes a pdrt of our organic law. THE RED CROSS drive has been most subscribed its amount and the nation as a whole raised over one hundred and forty four million dollars. With reports still coming in it looks' as if the amount will be over-subscribed fifty million dollars; which gives the best proof possible that the nation is true to its men at the front. THE INCREASE in passenger and freight rates has come at the same time as the increase of the wages of railroad employes was announced. An increase of twenty-five per cent, of freight rates and of the passenger rates to three cents a mile has been declared by Mr. McAdoo. FURLOUGH rates on all railroads have been lowered. As soon as the necessary forms and applications can be made out the rate will be one cent per mile. This may be secured by showing the ticket agent a form which must be signed by the proper commanding officer. "ADDITIONAL REVENUE must un doubtedly be provided for,” said President Wilson on Tuesday as he appeared be fore Congress urging legislation which would raise funds by taxation. -The loans have been more than successful; but it is essential that the increased expense be met by taxation on luxuries and incomes. Complying ith this plea of the President Congress will give up the idea of a sum mer recess and ill continue in session all summer. “All our pi-ograms, bur ship pwrogram, our ordnance program and all others, are not programs, indeed, but plans on paper unless we are to have an unquestionable supply of money.” Thi, Congress will endeavor to do by the pass* ing of a new taxation bi IL May 2&.