Oates Family Relieved
to Learn William is German Prisoner, Not Dead as Feared, 1918
“Lieut. Wm. Oates, German Prisoner, Writes Parents,” from the
French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, Thursday, Oct. 17, 1918.
Lieut. Wm. Oates, son of Mr. and Mrs. R.M. Oates of
Hendersonville, writes from a German prison that he is “very well treated.”
There was anxious suspense for a few days when Lieut. Oates
was reported missing. It was feared that he had been killed. Later reports
stated that he was a prisoner in the hands of the Germans
Lieut. Oates’ parents have recently had communication with
him.
-=-
“Letter from Marion Walker,” from the French Broad Hustler,
Hendersonville, Thursday, Oct. 17, 1918.
Friends of Marion L. Walker, who until he entered the
service last spring was a clerk for the Bland Hardware Company, will be
interested in the following extract from a letter from France to the editor of
the Hustler relative to his army
work:
“The three delights of a soldier are mail, mess and pay day.
“I am still well and getting along nicely. I am now on duty
in the forward area on one of the big fronts. I like the work of the Military
Police over here very much. Am glad I was assigned to that branch of the
service.
“Over 50 per cent of the boys in my Company are from North
Carolina, the remainder are from South Carolina and Tennessee.
“Yes, I am getting the Hustler over here and look forward to
it with a great deal of pleasure.”
-=-
Letter from the war in France from Major Dan Morgan Smith, 358 Infantry,
as printed in the French Broad
Hustler, Oct. 17, 1918
The country has been destroyed—and they smile, churches
burned and they smile, children burned and they smile, children murdered, men
tortured and women ravished and yet the French smile.
God! What a people.
We thought them frivolous, but no, they are simply sweet
people who smile in the face of disaster.
We of the army call the English cousins now, for they call
us cousins. It is good. But we call the French brothers, for we are proud to be
their brothers.
Some fighting over here and no one fights better than our
American soldiers, so say the English, so say the French, so say the Germans.
Over here we learn to hate—one cannot help it—even I have
learned to hate the boche so I could cut a throat without worry. Talking to
refugees makes one so—seeing the wounded and dead makes one so.
Wish you could see this country all checkered with tiny
farms. Every color of grain and forest on the sloping hills, and little
villages nestling between. Beautiful! Yes, and wonderful. I have been where
Caesar raised h--- on Saturday nights, where the Hun met the defeat he deserved
in the long ago, where the three parts of Gaul met.
I am writing from a house built in 1200 and look out on
field under cultivation since 100 B.C.
Trenches here often disclose pieces of pottery made long
before Christ, and here are the old women with bundles of fagots on their back
just as were pictured in the old blue back speller; and the old tread mill, and
wooden shoes, and men doff their hats to the old, the young say [can’t read
word], and all are polite.
The greed for gold is unknown and life is beautiful only for
the Hun, like a cloud he has darkened the lives of all; like a plague he has
devastated the land.
-=-
Miss Uranah C. Johnson, 84, is Real Patriot
From the French Broad Hustler,
October 17, 1918
Here’s a real example of patriotism.
Clarence Latham in reporting the Liberty Loan work done on
Tuesday thrilled the committee when he told of the genuine patriotism of Miss
Uranah C. Johnson, aged 84 years.
When approached with reference to buying a bond Miss Johnson
said that she had purchased Thrift Stamps to the extent of her financial
ability and therefore was unable to buy bonds. The conversation in behalf of
bonds continued.
She deliberated briefly and said, “I have some money in the
bank I put aside to bury me and to buy a tombstone to mark my grave, but our
boys are dying in France and being buried without coffins and tombstones, and
if that will do for them, a pine box will do for me, and I’m going to invest
this saving into a Liberty bond for my country to help the boys in France.”
And she subscribed for a Liberty bond.
Henderson county would never suffer the humiliation of not
being able to do what is expected of her if this commendable spirit of
patriotism and self-sacrifice were general over the country.
-=-
“Can Uncle Sam Pay the Debt?” from the French Broad Hustler,
Hendersonville, Oct. 17, 1918. Six
billion dollars was a huge amount of money in 1918 dollars, but the nation was
at war and that was the cost of that war. So how was the United States going to
pay it off? Through another issue of Liberty Loans, the bonds that Americans
bought to support their country. This is how American used to manage huge
debts.
Six billion dollars! Never before in all history has any
Nation undertaken to raise that much money by the sale of one issue of bonds.
America is the only original breaker of records, and here is where she breaks
another. Between now and the 19th day of October this Government is
going to finish the Fourth Liberty Loan drive and when it ends more than $6
billion dollars’ worth of Liberty Bonds will have been bought by the American
people.
Some doubting Thomas asks, “Will the government ever been
able to redeem these bonds? Can Uncle Sam pay such an enormous debt?”
Can he? Why Uncle Sam can raise $6 billion any morning
before breakfast without hardly lifting a finger, if it is really necessary to
have that much cash in hand. Can he pay the debt? What is $6 billion to your
Uncle Samuel? Comparatively speaking, nothing. Why this season’s crop alone is
worth more than $6 billion, according to the latest estimate of the United
States Department of Agriculture. This year’s wheat crop, according to the same
estimate, is worth over $2 billion. This season’s cotton crop, if put on the
market right now, would sell for more than $2 billion. There is $10 billion,
not including the oat crop, the potato crop, the fruit crop, the barley crop
and last, but by no means least, the “lasses”
crop. [molasses was an important sweetener in the 1920s]
The man who questions Uncle Sam’s ability to pay this debt
is ignorant. That is all. Uncle Sam is rich beyond the dreams of avarice. It
has been estimated by the greatest financial experts that he could sell $100
billion worth of Liberty Bonds and pay for them without feeling it to amount to
anything. A Liberty Bond is a first mortgage on every farm, every factory and
every acre of land in the United States. And from all of these and more Uncle
Sam will take his toll in taxes when it becomes necessary to redeem these
bonds. If anything on the face of this earth is safe, it is a Liberty Bond. And
that is why no less than 50 million people of America are putting their
earnings and savings into these bonds—that and the knowledge of the sublime
fact that every bond sold helps America make the world safe for human liberty
and universal justice.
-=-
The following stories about organizations helping soldiers may remind
you of the U.S.O, but the U.S.O. (United Service Organizations) wasn’t
established until 1941.
“War Camp Community Service Provides Numberless Intimate Comforts for
Soldiers,” from the French Broad Hustler, Hendersonville, Thursday, Oct. 17, 1918
Club rooms for soldiers,
entertainments for the boys in khaki, outings for convalescent men back from
France, small but appreciated services to soldiers and their relatives and
friends—these are some of the manifold activities of the War Camp Community
Service.
The War Camp Community Service comes close to the intimate
life of the soldier and provides for his mental as well as physical comfort by
furnishing the facilities which make it possible for him to relax from the
strain of military training and the preparation for overseas fighting.
Its symbol is the red circle and its activities are an
unending as the circumference of its insignia. Thousands of soldier boys take
advantage of its facilities and other thousands of relatives and friends of the
boys in Uncle Sam’s uniform are daily benefited through its various avenues of
effort.
-=-
“American Soldiers
Anxious for Books,” from the French Broad
Hustler, Hendersonville, Thursday, Oct. 17, 1918
American Library
Association Providing Reading Matter for Boys on Battle Fronts
Despite the fact that the ocean transportation facilities
are being taxed to the utmost, the task of providing reading material for the
boys in the trenches is being handled with an efficiency and dispatch that is
surprising even to those who are closely in touch with the situation.
The American Library Association, which has shouldered the
responsibility of collecting books, magazines and newspapers by the millions in
every city and town throughout the country, is distributing this huge quantity
of reading matter to the men in France through the Y.M.C.A., the Red Cross, the
Knights of Columbus and the Salvation Army.
-=-
“Hut Service Provided for Men in Britain,” from the French Broad
Hustler, Hendersonville, Thursday, Oct. 17, 1918
Knights of Columbus
Establish Havens for Soldiers in England
London—The Knights of Columbus in Great Britain are making
remarkable progress in their efforts to provide facilities that will enable men
in the United States forces overseas to enjoy such social entertainment as will
help to brighten the routine of military and naval life. Up to the present
writing, they have established clubs at the following posts: 266 Edgware Road,
London; Market Drayton, Littlehampton; and Inverness. Temporary structures have
been erected in many of the larger camps, which are to be replaced shortly by
substantial huts.
To date 2,000 secretaries have been called for, and the
response is bringing splendid men of high principles and ready sympathies. Each
man is over 35 years of age and has placed himself unconditionally at the
service of the organization to whatever post of danger or hardship he may be
called.
No comments:
Post a Comment