Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 May 1919 — Page 2

Rebuilding of Devastated France

Ravages of Warfare and Deliberate Hun Policu of Destruction Make It the Work of- Years.

By LLOYD ALLEN, Special Staff Correspondent. Copyrtjrtit, 1919. by W<*terii Newspaper t'nton.) ARlS—France is beginning !° rebuild the scores of villages destroyed by shell fire during more than four j years of war. The task, is J » enormous; it will require || years of effort, hut it will J. he carried on by the *J French government with 1 J only a small amount of outside aid and a German fund, collected ns indemnity. It is impossible for outsiders to try to take on more than a relatively small part of the reconstruction work in France because first estimates show the total damage amounts to something like $13,000,000,000, or approximately the amoujjt raised by the first three Liberty Loans in America, It’s strictly a national job, this replacement of 500,000 wrecked homes, 100,000 of which are mere heaps of stones. America is going to contribute some millions of dollars worth of material to the rebuilding of devastated France through the American Red Cross. Our aid in this direction alone will be valuable. It will consist of the distribution of supplies bought Red Cross for the active war work it carried on, which are now stored in the Red Cross warehouses and not needed urgently by the American armies. Large as the Red Cross relief will be in actual dollars, it must still be viewed as first aid work rather than the taking on of a program of actual reconstruction, that is, the actual rebuilding of demolished cottages. The Red Cross policy is to provide, when It can. the necessary articles French villagers will need for starting life anew. During the winter months there was a big demand for stoves. Thousands were needed. With one stove a French family could manage to get along through the coldest weather while the home deserted during war days was made habitable. But there were not enough stoves available to supply one-tenth of the demand. When the Red Cross speaks of reconstruction work these days, it has In mind the providing of such necessities as stoves, medicines, and simple necessities. It does not mean, when speaking of reconstruction, to take any part in . the rebuilding of damaged homes.

There are several American organizations that will rebuild houses, but these groups are takftig on a very limited number of homes and are not endeavoring to house anything more than a small proportion 6 the two million French men. women and children that were homeless wjten the armistice was signed. You must ride' through northern France day after day and see the desolation of deserted villages in order to get an Idea of the wreckage. The damaged area covers fi/<OO square miles. Streaked through this land are the severely-shelled segments where the land has been so blasted by thousands of high explosive shells and by mines that the ground has been left absolutely too tom up to be cultivated. *lt Is officially estimated that 250.GOb acres of farm lands, through one of the most productive parts of France, have been ruined by artillery fire. Towns near’these spoiled fields are usually completely wrecked. There is not enough left In fh_e v way of shelter to house anything larger than a stray

BRIEF INFORMATION

The Omaha (Neb.) city council has passed an ordinance prohibiting, organization among city firemen. Steel truss poles rolled from single pieces of metal have been invented for electric lights and other similar purposes. The South African Geographical society has been recently formed. A wide range of activities has bepn oub lined lor it, including th» publication a'periodical-

cat. Malancourt. which I visited on the way to the forest of the Argonne, is just such a place. A few hundred yards away from the town is a noman’s land. Crown Prince’s Grand Stand. Behind the town, as viewed from the former allied trenches, is Montfacouh, from which the German crown prince, in a concrete and steel observation tower three stories high, watched the progress of battle. He could .see, among other things, the houses of Malancourt crumble day by day until former homes were stone heaps with protruding timbers that once held up roofs. Today Malancourt can be recognized only by a sign board. A few stray German graves are marked with carefully lettered crosses on which metal identification tags have been nailed. On up the road toward Germany, about three-quarters of a mile, Mbntfacoun today stands almost completely wrecked. -Visitors to this territory never miss seeing the crown prince’s safe shelter which was constructed inside the walls of a three and a half story house —the only four walls left standing in the town. How the house around the crown prince’s shelter escaped destruction is still a mystery. Several shells hit it and the roof is partly torn away, but inside concrete walls three feet thick, built during the actual battle, the crown prince had what was probably the finest ringside seat for the big fight that can be found anywhere on the long battle line from the North sea to Switzerland.

From the roadway in front of this ’house you have to look sharply to detect even a trace of the tower Inside. From a point 300 feet down the "road the tower is invisible. Varennes, on the old French frontier, is another of the more interesting French towns, probably 80 per cent i destroyed, even though the walls of ! many houses remain standing. Here It I was that Louis XVI. escaping from Paris and from the mob that finally executed him, was caught and returned. Where Louis XVT. with his queen, was recognized and arrested: Ameri lean negro infantryman were drilling j the day I passed through the . town. . Across the river on the ruins of housed ! a Y. M. C„ A. hut some hundred feet ! in length and 20 feet wide was in full operation, selling cigarettes and giving

Economy is claimed for an electric heater to be inserted in range boilers, as the water absorbs all the ‘ heat it radiates. A Swedish syndicate is planning to distill alcohol spirit from white moss, there being enormous quantities of it available. The consul-general of Japan at Honolulu has forbidden his countrymen to wear kimonos ,on the street. He explains order as being part of 4 campaign he is waging to induce his people to adopt American styles.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RE.NHSELAgR, IND.

away some of the finest hot chocolate In France to a crowd of infantrymen—another of the American outfits quartered near the hut, all anxious to catch a steamer home, ny the way. The chocolate can, a ten-gallon affair with a big brass spigot, was placed on an empty padking case. Around the can were discarded condensed milk tins—-the only cups available because this hut was just starting operations. And every infantryman was supposed to drink as much chocolate as he desired. Coffee could also he had. A small sheet.iron stove, with a pile of kindling chopped from timbers of ruined French homes, warmed the whole place. There were no negro troopers in the hut at the time. But the Y-workers evidently had a system of providing for the comfort of both blacks and whites without jarring the susceptibilities of either. I saw such an arrangement working smoothly In a Y-canteen In Verdun —the only comfortable spot In blocks of ruined houses. It was where the allied and German troops stood opposl/e each other, month in and month out during the days of strictly trench warfare, that villages were completely wiped out by intense and terrific bombardments. But when either side was making a rapid advance the destruction of property was considerably less. For instance, in the great German drive of September 1914, when the kaiser wa» striking at Paris, very little destruction was caused, except at the places where the terrible fighting took place during, the first battle of the Marne, that is. along byj»,Meaux, Sezanne, Vitry-le-Francois and Revigny. In other words, the destruction was worst at the points where the battle was turned, the scene of the fiercest fighting. Along the Somme and the Aisne, the saafte conditions prevailed. Here the destroyed area is from 10 to 12 miles Across, in many places.

Then there was another kind of destruction —the willful kind, wrought by German troops in some of the big retreats. All through thg war. even to the final fights of 1918. the Germans consistently wrecked property rather than let it revert to the French in a fair state of preservation. Willful destruction in France, as a German policy, started in the spring of 1917. about the time America came into the war.

Caught on the railroad track at Ellendale, Del., with a fast freight approaching, the two-year-old baby of William Masen had a miraculous escape when it fell down, the engine and whole train passing over it without touching it. “It may seem absurd," says an official of the National Paper Trades association,. “but the amount of paper used for wrapping gifts and food and/ mall matter andMent abroad has been one of the greatest causes of the taxin? of naoer mills’ outwit."

EXPERT VIEWS ON BEST POSITION TO PLAY RUTH

Says Jimmy Connor of the > Philadelphia Ledger: ) . With otjr usual enterprise, :*!' * belt at no great expense, we are i able to give our readers expert J views on the controversy as to i the,proper position in wtiicl) to ’ play Babe Ruth: Connie ijack—Somewhere In ' France. ’ Clark Griffith—-On the bench. ’ Lee Fold—Outside the'park. ’ Miller Huggins—ln the grand- , stand. Kid Gleason —Don’t play ’im j anywhere. : Hughey Jennings—Play ’im s safe. | Jimmy Burke —Play ’im in the : St. Louis outfield. Ed Harmw—Play ’im across t the board. j

WORLD SERIES HERO IS SOON FORGOTTEN

All Major League Clubs Waive on Outfielder Whiteman. Player Who Made It Possible for Boston Red Sox to Win Championship by Spectacular Playing Not Wanted. Baseball heroes are soon forgotten. Now comes the news that waivers have been received from all the major league clubs by Manager Edward Barrow of the Boston Red Sox on Outfielder George Whiteman, the hero of the 1918 world series, who made it possible for the Red Sox to cop the championship. In the first game of the 1918 world series “Big Jim” Vaughn, of the Cults, opposed “Babe” Ruth in one of the closest pitchers’ battles ever contested in the big series. George Whiteman was the only player who succeeded in getting two hits. Twice he saved this game by great catches. Whiteman's three-bagger to the Centerfield fence in the second contest scored the lone tally made by his team in that game. The third game

George Whiteman.

of the series was featured by George’s playing. He scored one of his team’s runs and in the fourth inning ended Chicago’s rally by a spectacular play. Up until the fourth game of the series Whiteman had hit safely in every contest arid, while scoring in this one. he failed to get a safe drive. Whiteman featured thp fifth game by another clever catch and in the sixth inning his perfect throw to the plate prevented the Cubs from scoring. In the final game of the series Whiteman's playing, enabled his team to cop the world’s championship.

MILWAUKEE SIGNS ED WALSH

Former Idol of White Sox Fans Is to Be Given Trial to Come Back With Brewers. Ed Walsh, onfce idol of White Sox fans, will bend them over for the Milwaukee team this season.’ President

Ed Walsh.

Clarence Rowland made the announcement at a dinner given him- by the Rowland Booster club. Rowland expects the big fellow to work regularly.

FROM KNOTHOLE TO OWNER’S BOX SEAT GEORGE W. GRANTS RISE IN BASEBALL

New Owner of Boston National League Team.

Do you remember t lie time the Gainsboro Giants came over to play your own home-town i#ne for the county championship {(nd how you had the knothole in the ballyard fence, from which you were to witness the decisive contest, picked out several days ahead, and how you got up early on the day of the game so as to be sure another kid did not beat you to that same knothole, and how on your arrival at the park you discovered to your dismay that the groundkeeper had, carefully covered every knothole with tin, and how the fence, was unshinnable, and how you resolved then and there to some day own a ball club and let all the. Rids in free and bar the groundkeeper, even though he paid five hundred dollars for a ticket? Of course you remember. But then as the years passed you forgot your boyhood resolutions and decided to become the town’s leading lawyer or doctor? Grant Didn’t Forget. George Washington Grant, who recently purchased the Boston National league teain, was one who did not forget. Diamond destiny had marked him for its*very own. A rabid fan from boyhood, he witnessed many games through a. knot hole. George’s baseball experience started in Cincinnati, his boyhood home. He lived near the hotel where the big league? players

Umpire Evans Suggests Needed Changes in Rule

Billy Evans, baseball umpire, when asked what in his opinion was the most unfair rule In baseball, replied without one moment’s hesitation: “The section that covers Interference on part of the catcher. A wise catcher can secure a decided advantage for his club. ———_—. “When a catcher interferes with a batsman, it gives the batsman the right to first base, but'no runners can advance'unless forced. “At a critical moment all the catcher need do is interfere with the barman, and he makes void anything that is about to happen on the bases. “Runners should be allowed to advance on such an interference, whether forced or not. That would take away the premium on such a move.”

SAM CRANE MADE HOME RUN

Incidentally His Hit Caused Summary Release of Pitcher Sweeney of Cardinals. Samuel Crane, the veteran baseball writer and former infield star, is famous for having brought about a pitcher’s release by hitting him for a home run. Sam was a great fielding second baseman, but no terror with the mace. While playing with the Detroit Nationals in 1886 against St. Louis Sam made one of the seven home runs which the Tigers hammered that day off Charles Sweeney of the Cardinals. Sam was pretty well pleased with himself that night, and. puffing a big cfgar, he sauntered gayly down Wbodward avenue. There he met Sweeney, who immediately started to give Sam a terrible pawling out. “Why, what is wrong, Charlie?” said Sam. • 1 . “Wrong enough,” replied the pitcher. “You had nft* fired this afternoofi. Henry Lucas said to me, ‘I don’t mind regular batters hitting you Tor home runs, but when Sam Crane knocked you for that hdmer it was the Straw •hat broke the camel’s back. z You’re fired." "* X, ■ ■ / ■ 7 . •' It might be remarked that Sam batted ninth on the Detroits, below the pitcher. - .

stopped while in tovyn. and it was his proml and exclusive privilege to ride in the bus which carried the -players to the ball park for morning practice. . In the afternoons-he sold newspapers in the vicinity of the park and between sales watched the games through ti knothole. His specialty was baseball editions.

Time passed and young Grant emigrated to New York and became one of the pioneers in the motion picture g'ame. He was enjoying a degree of prosperity which at that time came ’ in no small measure to those whd had ground-floor connections in the motion picture enterprises. He then to London, where he became a leader in the new industry. Bought Boston Braves. Though many miles of water separated him from the States his interest in baseball never waned. On two occasions he came back to the United States for the sole purpose of seeing the world series games. Mr. Grant was now rated as w millionaire, and when the opportunity presented itself he purchased the Boston club for a price said to be $500,000. His boyhood ambition realized, he now watches his own team play from the owner’s box instead of from the knothole in the unshinnable fence. And he hasn’t forgotten his resolution to let the most loyal of rooters, the knothole spectator’s, in free.

INTERESTING SPORT PARAGRAPHS

John McGraw is trying to land Rogers Hornsby for the Giants. * • * Rube Benton says he feels five years younger than he did a year ago. ** • / Walter Johnson will open another season in the American league for the Nationals. • * • Manager Griffith thinks that Ed Hovllk will prove a valuable twirler this season. Connie Mack is going along with Griffith in doing a “rob the cradle" act this season. ♦ ♦ • Ed Matteson ought to be a great relief pitcher this season, according to Manager Griffith. • • Pitcher Cal Crum, formerly with the Boston Braves, has signed a contract with Indianapolis. • * * Larry Doyle lost no time In 'hooking up with the Giants, once he got loose from the shipyards. * • • George Cheney of Baltimore, isn’t having any trouble booking bouts since he got out of the service. Scrubbing floors and peeling potatoes in the navy did not ruin King Lear’s hands for piano playing. * ♦ * The New York Yankees have released Pitcher Cliff Markle to the Salt Lake City club of the Coast league. « « • Cornell university recently opened a new armory where basketball and other sporting features can be run off. .♦ ♦ ♦ Joe Leonard will get a chance to show if he can make good as a shortstop. He may be seen there when the season opens. • • ♦ Lavene Fabrique, infielder, and Abe Bowman, pitcher, of the Toledo, A. A. club, have been sold to the Seattle club of the Pacific Coast league. •• • • Lieut. Johnny Norton, holder of the world’s record for the 220-yard hurdles on a curved truck, 24 T-5 seconds, will represent the Olympic club of San Francisco this season, having been discharged from the service.