"A Square Deal for the Men at the Front"
We should show our respect for the
men at the front by more than mere
adulation. They are the Americans
who have done most and suffered
most for this country. It was
anounced in the press that in many
cases they and, the families they have
left behind have not for months
ceived their full pay. This is an outrage. All civil officials are paid. The
secretary of war is paid and he ought
not to touch a dollar of his salary
and no high official should touch
dollar of his salary until the enlisted
men and junior officers are paid
every cent that is owig to them and this payment should be promt.
There is literally no excuse for even so much as three days delay in the payments. Moreover, these men at great cost to themsevles in paying everything including, 50,000 or 60,000 cases, their lives, have gone to one-fifth as great as that of their
companions who stayed behind have
received during the same period. They
enlisted to do a specific job. They
made the sacrifice in order to. do that
job. We on our side should see that.
just as soon as the job is done the
men are taken home, allowed to leave
the army and begin earning their
livelihood and take care of the wives and chidren that married ones among them have left behind.
Recently in the public press there
have appeared various articles and chatty statements from the state, war and navy departments that our men may be kept in Europe to do general police work and might not be brought backl here until the summer of 1920. There are three types of soldiers on the other side. There are the regular army men, who have enetered the regular army as a profession, and to whom it is a matter of indifference whether they stay in Europe, come back here, go to the
Philippines or do anything else. That
is a small proportion of our force on
the other side. The bulk are divided
between volunteers, who enlisted in
the national guard or sometimes in
the regular regiments to fight this
war through, and the drafted men
who were put into the army under a
law designed to meet this war and
this war only.
Not one in 10 of the volunteers would have dreamed of volunteering
to do police work in European
squabbles. Not 10 congressmen would
have voted for the draft law if it was
to force selective men to do police
duty after the war was over. All
these men went in to fight this war
through to a finish, then to come
home. It is not a square deal to follow any other course as regards them. The minute that peace comes every American soldier on the other
side should should be brought home as speedily as possible. Save, of course, the regulars who make the regular army their life profession and any other
men who choose to volunteer to go
over, or who can with entire
properiety be used for gathering up the
loose ends.
The American fighting man at the front has given this country a square deal during the war. Now
let the country give him a square deal by
by letting him
and get out of the army and go to his
home as soon as the war in finished. The Red Cross had done wonderful workin taking care
of the dependents of these men peding settlement by the govenrment.
But the government should not be content to rely on any outside organization to make up its own shortcomings.
