OCR Text |
Show i PAGE TWO THE LEIII SUN. LEW, UTAH IT7T lAm wnu II C0ST$ 1 v wvlkj lie Ittustrations by IRWIN MYERS, D. S.C. By PROP. M. H Hm, "I: I ' . . (CHEVRONS . , . 1 - , . CHAPTER IX- Continued 21 "What' the matter with you menr demanded the bead nurse when she (could make herself heard, "are yon all crazy? What do you mean by breaking break-ing those plates? What do yon mean by yelling like this) I never beard of such a thing In my life I You, Forty, you've got enough chalked up against yon already to keep yon In the guardhouse guard-house the rest of your life ! Number One, you're always starting some Ming, you're at the bottom of this! Sou were the first man served! I'll report yon for this! What do yon means by making such a row?" t T've got ti right to make a rowP .replied Eadle hotly, ready to weep hitter tears in disappointment and rage. "What the h I do you mean by giving turkey to the prisoners and lyour bootlicking, camouflaging pets and putting out beans to the rest of ts? By G d, if you were a man I'd get right up out of this bed and take a round out of you, I don't care if my guts fell out and hung down around my feet I" i "Is that what the trouble is?" asked the head nurse. She laughed a little rippling laugh and the ward ground Its teeth at the sound. "The prisoners prison-ers and my goldbrlcklng friends get' turkey and the rest of you don't? But ron men ere nil on light diet. It's pnly the men on full diet that get turkey tur-key 'Ah, so that was U! Oh, bitter peeve I Dow well they remembered now, those men, that the nurse hod transferred this one and that one from full to light diet during the past Week. There had been no complaint, because the full diets ate heartily of bully, beef, hardtack-and canned hash, while the light diets had delicacies like canned asparagus, jam, and itewed chicken on Sunday night ; But now! Only the full diets to have turkey! tur-key! Wrath and foam. The men In v the ward could hear the head nurse strangling with, laugher in the office. Eadle lay down In his bed and covered cov-ered his head with the blankets. Ills plate lay on the bedside table untouched, un-touched, while his heart burned within with-in him. What did a man get for going go-ing to war? What did it get him to risk his life in battle? If be was killed, a hasty burial, and if he was .wounded, a trip to a hell like this hospital. lie had been treated much better the time he had been gassed, than now that be was seriously wounded. "What's the matter with you, ap-pendlcitis?" ap-pendlcitis?" "Goldbrlek, you haven't got any kind of a wound. Suppose you lost a leg or an arm V He was one man in a ward of fifty odd! seriously wounded, and the ward was one In not only a hospital, but a concentration of five similar hospitals, huddled in the cold mud of one of the most desolate sections of France. If he died he went to the morgue and if he lived and got well he would go out and spend the winter in a convalescent con-valescent tent A hand tngged gently at the blanket blank-et about Eadie's bead. Be put out onu eye and discovered his friend, the nurse, there, the one who had taken such good care of him when he first came to the ward. 'Tve been sick," said the nurse, "that's why I haven't been around to see yon before. What's the matter, aren't yon feeling well?" "NoJ" replied Eadle, -the head nurse put us all on light diet so we wouldn't get any turkey dinner. I dont mind a lot, because I was on light diet anyway, but it makes me mad to have a plate of beans shoved at me when I had my month all set for turkey." That old devil r mattered the nurse. "If I ever meet op with that disgusting woman after the war or somewhere where there aren't any witnesses, I'll certainly give her a piece of my mind and maybe haul out a few of her hairs for her! What a dirty trick! Sometimes. I wonder if she isn't deranged." "Well, hurray for Thanksgiving day, anyway. Maybe I'll get a good dinner for Christmas." "Now, there 1" exclaimed the nurse. "I forgot what I came over here for. 1 was np in the office this morning and I saw an order they were getting out Your name was on It "What for? demanded Eadle In surprise. sur-prise. "What are they putting my name on an order for?" "You're going back to the States on the first tralnload that goes!" -. "No! Is that a fact?" cried Eadle. "It certainly Is," said the nurse, "I saw the order myself." Eadie at once sat op in bed and looked about "Iley, orderly I" he erled, "who told you to take away that dish of beans? Bring tt back! I can make out a meal with it nowl" The sergeant's recovery after that was rapid. His friend the nurse had predicted that it would be, for a belly wound either killed a man or be recovered re-covered from it, one or the other, and it took very Uttle time for either. The tubes were removed from the wound in a few days and after he could sleep all night he rapidly gained strength. By LEONARD NASON Be bad to learn to walk all over again like a child, but he bad plenty of time. The week before Christmas be was still in the ward, with every prospect of not leaving It for anything better than a convalescent tent He bad been Issued a uniform, such as it was, but he bad bis collar ornaments and his whistle, and his faithful friend the nurse bought him a set of sergeant's ser-geant's stripes and two very glittering glitter-ing wonnd stripes. Twol There weren't many that could spoil two. One morning Eadie finished his breakfast and was in the midst of his bi-weekly shave when the head nurse came fluttering up to bis bed. "Hurry up and get that finished and get ready to get out of here t" she said. "Are you going to run me Into a tent?" asked the sergeant with a sinking sink-ing heart. "No, you're going to leave the hospital. hos-pital. Go up to the office." The ward was very quiet while the nurse Informed three more men that they were going Four men, that was all, and the rest of them must wait another month or so. There was no laughter. The men watched sadly while Eadie did his packing. This con sisted of wiping his face and his razor, I putting the razor in his musette, and taking his overcoat over his arm. . lie traveled light. Then be went down the ward to soy bis farewells. , They looked at the sergeant pathetically, pathet-ically, for he was going home, and they were doomed to stay In the ward and fight with the 'head nurse. Two weeks from now, Number One would . be at home in the States, at borne where it was warm, and a man might eat thick steak three times a day If he so willed. He would be among people who were all "mister," where if a man was insulted there was nothing noth-ing to hinder him from poking the in-suiter in-suiter in the nose. He Would have a civilized bed. In which a man could turn over twice and not fall on the floor, and in which he could sleep twenty-four hours of the day with none to hinder him. Ah, to go home! What else did life hold but that? Eadie shook bands with them all, the Regular, the Marine (he was a good guy even If he was a leatherneck), leather-neck), Roaring Forty, Twenty-Eight, even the newcomers and the goldbrlek friends of the head nurse. lie was tempted to shake bands with the prisoners, too, but It might not do, and then be knew no German with which to explain his action. "Good-by, nurse," said he to his old enemy, the head nurse, "when I'm in New York around New tear's, Til think of you. When I ride up Fifth avenue on the bus, I'll think of you wading around la the mud here." "Do that will you?" asked the nurse pleasantly, "and when you get to wherever you're going, remember that I was the one that sent you there.' "A lot yon bad to do with sending me out of hospital," scoffed Eadie. "You'd be surprised 1" replied the nurse. "By golly, If I dared to believe you I'd forgive you for all the stuff you've pulled on us the last few months." "Good-by," said the nurse suddenly, and slammed the office door In Eadie's face. At the loading platform the men gathered, two and three from each ward, pallid with their stay in hospital, hos-pital, each one hunched .In his new overcoat, and each one with the little canvas bag the Red Cross bad given him over his shoulder. The men were loaded in, some of the hospital personnel per-sonnel went along the train and distributed dis-tributed cans of bash, bully, tomatoes, and jam, with a loaf of bread to each compartment the doors were banged. and the train began to rattle its way to the seaboard. Dome! The first stage of the jour ney I The cars were cold and the seats bard and uncomfortable, but the men were going home and they would have gladly walked to the sea, weakened weak-ened as they were, or crawled on bands and knees. Home I That was the place for a man. Next day the train stopped and the men were ail bandied off and on to another. They, ate supper from the cans of food they had with them, and spent the night trying to be comfortable. comfort-able. The secood day the train wandered wan-dered its way across France, all the lime In the flood plain of th Loire, a fiat desolate muddy section that stretches without a break lu Its monotony mo-notony clear across France. That night they rolled Into a station marked Saint Pierre des Corps, where trains for Tours leave the main line. The night they spent in the Caserne Lafayette In Tours. The landscape along the track was the same old country that Eadie had seen so often. Sheets of rain, swollen brooks, muddy cart tracks crawling up green hillsides, small dirty houses, wayside stations, targe towns where the train changed engines, and demobilized de-mobilized French soldiers stood on the platform with their hand9 In their pockets and Idly watched the train. "1 know this country," observed Eadle. "We must be going home from Bordeaux" "Ch huh!" agreed the other men. They bad been herded up and down the United States and all over France now for going on two years, never knowing where they were going, and having little Interest In their desti nation anyway. "Well know where we're goln' when we get there." was their motto. Another train, another new set of companions the next day. The men were from different hospitals now, even from as far away as Contrex-vllle. Contrex-vllle. The country changed, Poitiers, Angouleme, LIbourne. , Bordeaux at last the great plat form of the Gare du Midi dimly lighted light-ed by the afternoon sun and crowded with American and French soldiers. The men all descended from the train and began to gather In groups, according accord-ing as their names were culled by two officers who had been In charge of the train since Tours. Eadie, being a sergeant ser-geant bad his name toward the bead of the list and so was called early. "No, You're Going to Leave the Hospital. Hos-pital. Go Up to the Office." About thirty men were finally grouped around him and the officer, counting them marched them across the platform plat-form to another train. "Where does this go?" Eadie asked the trainman as he got on. "La Teste and Arcachon," was the reply. "La Teste!" shrieked Eadle. "Why, we can't be going to Le Cornean 1" . The trainman shrugged his shoulders, shoul-ders, ' "I do not pretend to know," said he. Eadie leaped down from the step and frantically sought the officer. "HereT he cried. "Are we going to Le Cornean?" "That's what" replied the officer. "Le Cornean 1" cried Eadie, so that ail the men turned to look at him. "There must be some mistake. Why, I'm just out of hospital. They told me I was going home 1" "There's no mistake," observed the officer. He got out the order to make sure. "Yes, here it is; Eadle, Robert, Sergeant 'A, Seventy-ninth Field Artillery, Ar-tillery, and at the top of the order you see, 'The following named enlisted enlist-ed men to report to commanding offl- ixix-;'XxX'xx-Mxxixxxi-MxMi.M.:.r-:x-iT. Venetians First to After visiting the University exhibition exhibi-tion In Rome, with its quaint and magnificent mag-nificent collections, says a correspondent correspond-ent of the Baltimore Evening Sun, there can remain no doubt in one's mind as to the fact that Italy has been the mother of spectacles. Professor Albertottl, a professor at the University Univer-sity of Padua and dean of the oculists of Italy, collected a number of ancient and modern books 'about spectacles, and illustrated thi3 valuable materia! in a treatise which he dedicated to Senator Isidore del Lungo. The latter had attributed the Invention of spectacles spec-tacles for short-sighted and longsighted long-sighted persons to the Dominican monk. Fra Alessandro delta Spina, of Pisa. ' . But Professor Albertottl, whose authority au-thority In this matter is unchallenged, Is of the opinion that the glory of first making spectacles must be attributed to Venice, the home of glass and pure crystal. From the codex of the "Ca- , "Sea Desert" In the south Pacific ocean has just been discovered the most desolate spot In the world. According to Dr. Austin H. Clark, who helped chart It tor the Smithsonian Institution, the place is devoid of any kind of life, either In the surface waves or at the bottom, says Topular Science Monthly. Month-ly. No region on land Is comparable with Its lifelessness. Ear bones of whales and teeth of sharks on the red clay bottom are the only remains of sea monsters that strayed Into the "sea desert" and perished. cer, P. A. B. B. U Cornean Giro- uuuvt -J" muttered Eadie, M.i,- tno it nil the time." Then be mounted the train in silence., CHAPTER X Home From a little way south of Bordeaux Bor-deaux almost to the Spanish border stretches a desolate waste of sand, forested with pitch pine. Shepherds live there and gatherers of pitch, and a few fishermen, and during the war the French established training camps for their Senegalese and Annamite battalions among the pines. The poorest, poor-est, most out of the way, and the worst constructed of these camps was Le Corneau. Senegalese had been there, and after them the Russians, and after the Russians mutinied, bad been subdued, and taken away, the camp was turned over to the Americans. Ameri-cans. Row after row of dirty, whitewashed white-washed huts, sand, black with the filth and dirt of Its" thousands of former occupants, a brick guardhouse with no windows, and the dreary stretches of the forest, such was the camp. A man stood at the main gate of the camp In the early hours of the morning, watching the details going out to work and the companies being marched to "drill. The man was Sergeant Ser-geant Eadie and it was the morning after his arrival at Le Corneau. It was cold, a damp raw wind that kept the thermometer hovering around the freezing point drove before It a cold rain, and the marching men bent their head3 against It What a useless thing an overseas cap was in a rainl Eadie had breakfasted on sour bash and bacon, with a cupful of coffee grounds to wash It down with. He bad slept in his clothes and overcoat, but even then he had been cold. First call for drill had blown, and then assembly, as-sembly, but Eadle bad not assisted at roll call. He had been in his camp before and knew that it would be several sev-eral days before his name would ap pear on the roster. He had also gone away from his camp the last time without the formality of a travel or- der. "I think I'll do It again," muttered the sergeant "It's cold, though, now, and the trains don't run to the front any more. Where would a ?uy go?' Yet why rush away? He had only been here a few uours. They might be going to send him home from here after ail. Le Corneau was the artil lery replacement camp .for the A. E. F. and would be the logical place to send an artilleryman who had no out fit He couldn't expect to go home all by himself like a returning tourist, And his nurse friend had said she had seen his name on the order to go home. Yeh, but when? The whole A. E. F. was going home some day. Eadle faced the other way and looked at the wall of forest across the road. The last time he had been here he used to go Into those woods every day and He up under the pines until the hour for drill was over. It had Deen summer then and warm. The pines looked dreary enough now. drip ping with rain and swaying In the wind. Still the sergeant had better be getting under cover, for a man standing about with no evident Dur pose would be the prey of the first of ficer that went by In search of some one to cut kindling wood or dig a lat Restore Fading Sight pltolari della Art!" of the state of Venice, dated 1201, it is found that severe penalties were applied to dishonest dis-honest spectacle makers who used simple sim-ple glass Instead of pure crystal. Another document proving the antiquity an-tiquity of spectacles is a portrait of Cardinal Hugh, of Province, painted by Thomas of Modena, In the chapter of St Nicholas at Treviso. In which the cardinal Is represented as wearing spectacles. The minister of education Signor Fedele, also lent a rare picture by the Umbrian painter, Niccolo Alun-no, Alun-no, representing the Virgin and Child with St Jerome, who is reading n book with a large pair of spectacles across his nose. Automatic Telephoning The fundamental Idea of automatic telephony was conceived D lSS'j bv AhnoD B. Sirowger. While the system sys-tem continues to bear bis name Its successful development Is chiefly" due to the continued efforts of the enrf neering staff of the Automatic Electric Elec-tric company, under the leadership of the group of pioneers who took Strow ger's idea and gave It practical form! The first public automatic exchange was Installed at Lnporte, bad, in ir It was a somewhat crude arrant ment and had a capacity of only im subscribers. Nevertheless, compared to other types of switchboards of the time, it wat a distinct Improvement! Those Who Count The men behind an executive can help to put Lin to tta front-Forbes Magazine, , . CopyHf ht br i Ocorf H. Dorin Company. WNU Srrlc Hne. no matter if the man had as many stripes as a zebra on his arm. Eadle turned and moved out of tha gate to the road, where he stopped to consider the best route to take. "Get the h lbackinsiaetnai gaier Eadle turned. There were two horsemen there, that, riding on tha grass beside the road, had approached without his hearing them. They were armed with pistols and had rifles In their gun boots. I 'Gwan!" 6narled the man ' again. "G d d n you, get the h I back there! Where the h 1 do yon think you are, anyway?" , Eadle still looked at the two men. They were not military police, for they wore no brassards. They had campaign hats, with red hat cords, and must be a part of the permanent personnel of the camp. They bad heavy, unintelligent faces ana cruei mouths with tobacco-stained lips. One of the men spurred his horse toward the sergeant and kicked at him savagely sav-agely with his spurred heel. Eadle turned and went back Inside the gate. What good would It do him to stay in the road to resist those two brutes? The guardhouse, perhaps. . Even sur pose he hurled a rock at one of them, the other would shoot him down. Killed by accident," the casualty list would read. A fine ending to a military mili-tary career. The mounted men looked at him a minute or two and then rode on. "They're a fine pair o' birds, ain't they?" Eadle tyrned. Another soldier stood beside him, a red-faced man, older than Eadie, and this man also wore the campaign bat that marked blm as a member of the camp personneL "Them kind o' guys are springin' up all over France," observed the man without waiting for Eadie's answer. "The war is over an' they ain't afraid of bein' sent up to the lines any more. War Is hell, but It ain't got nothin' on peace." "I'll say," agreed Eadie. "I've seen bard-boiled M. P.'s in my time, but I always knew that under his hard-boiled hard-boiled skin the M. P. was Just a soldier sol-dier trying to keep himself out of the guardhouse like the rest of us. But those two slave drivers ! They're brutes, that's the word. Imagine Americans putting thugs like that to guard other Americans !" "How long yuh been here?" grinned the other man. "I've just come," said Eadie. "I was here last summer and went over the hill to get away. I'm going to do it again." -, - "Don't" said the other man" sober ly. "The guys that's A. W. O. L. is S. 0. L. now. The first thing they do when they catch yuh Is to pass yuh a beat In. There was a buddy o mine that went up to Bordeaux an hadn't more'n got off the train before they had him. - He was In the Casino de Liias a month, luggin rails all day. Then he got sent down here an' got three months more for bein' absent In Bordeaux. It didn't make no difference differ-ence that he was in the mill ud there: he was gone a month an' that was enough." "Well, .what do they do with the men here now?" asked Eadie. "How long do they keep a guy here? They used to send up replacements everv wepk but they don't need replacements any more." "They send wounded men here for ciassincation, said the other. "A guy in a class goes back to his outfit B gets duty In an office or gets a Job In a camp like this, C gets convalescent camp, an' D gets sent heme right off, xou i oe goln' over in a day or two if you come In yesterday. The doc looks em over. , "Suppose a guy gets D class, how long oerore bed go home?" "Ob," said the other, "if von ent now you ought to be home for Fourth of July. How long did It take to Pt the A. E. F. to France? Nigh to two years. How they gonna get 'em home any quicKer?" "That's right," muttered Eadie. "It looks as If I was to spend some time in this hell hole after all. Well, how do they eat here?" The other man's face darkened! "Well, HI tell yuh," he said "bitterly, "It would puke a buzzard 1" "I guess it's going to be a hard winter!" win-ter!" remarked Eadie sadly. "It Is that." agreed the ether, "but If you go tryin to get away an' get caught MI be lots harder 1" Eadie went back to the cold barracks. bar-racks. The huts were unheated ' and, in addition, open to any wandering breeze. The weather was Just cold enough to be raw and uncomfortable, like a rainy day in late September at home. Men sat about on the double deck bunks, their hands plunged Into their coat pockets and their heads sunk Into their coat collars. Tbey were all strangers to each other and no one felt like making friends with his neighbor. Each wanted to be alone with his own black thoughts. There were a lot of men In the huts, men marked sick in quarters, men beating drill, special duty rwE whose duty was not pressing for the moment newcomers who, like Eadlt weri awaiting classification. (TO Bfi CONTItfCEiU Those Who Do Not Feeu i axes RE taxes felt only bv tt, pay them? It is trLZr A that those who have W minium o property or such . Income as not to be subject IT atlon escape the ordeal of bei . t dened by taxes. Freammti. , . IS COB. taXDDVPr .v . r allowed to vote when expend, 7 funds is involved, since uuv 10 iooi tne bills ln taxe, w Those wbo pay taxes certain,, them in a definite, tangible 2? they are forced upon thJ ! k parently nothing given In return. Z do not others in the end, help to coup those who make the filrectli ment? W A man may possess ho rni but few there are who do not Uw a house or part of a house for w they must pay rent The owner of S .v, ... u, UUiei ttOSt DST taxes upon It since it is a part of hi. property. To him the tax u 1 2 of his cost and be wnnirt Bn been willing to have spent his in the construction of the buildlnmi i"s reui were enongn more : wjc m4 lu uci mm a iair return. Ifo man who pays rent on a building uciyiug io pay me owner's tax. uuinc ycuyie wuo own no property buy cigars and cigarettes. The main, facturers- have been required to buy r tamps and place them upon the Dark. ages. It is undoubtedly true that the' price of cigars and cigarettes is higher because of this tax, and he who ban them is helping the manufacturer paj his tax. When one numbers those who buy groceries, meats, clothing, and the many other things which satisfy out daily wants, the great mass of Die people is accounted for. Whether these pay taxes directly or not, they buy from those who are taxed. The grocer either pays taxes on his storeroom store-room or else pays rent to ths owner out of which taxes must be paid.. The same is true of the butcher, the baker, the clothier, and the jeweler. Since the taxes are a part of costs to Ml these business men, It means that, ln order to receive a fair return on the 4 investment, the price of products to the consumer must be higher than would be if no taxes were levied. Who are those, then, wbo do not feel the effects of taxes? Certainly not those who buy goods Into the cost of production of which a tar has entered, en-tered, for this is reflected In a higher price. It Is only safe to say that those who do not buy goods, those in the in?ane asylums, prisons, and almshouses', alms-houses', do not help to pay the some $S.OOO,000,000 annual tax burden In tie United States. The Failure of the General Property Tax ; WHO has. not paid a property tail Those who support state and local governments doubtless have, for these governments have relied rtniltr nnnn nronertv taxes. The principle has been that the amorat of property of an Individual is ai indication of his ability to pay taxes. In order to levy a tax on the value of property, the value must be ascertained. ascer-tained. The task of doing this has usually been placed In the hands of i locally elected assessor. He Is usually usual-ly expected to complete bis task to few weeks' time, while tne pay n sufficient to attract the most capawe mon ti.o tnt thnt the assessor mis flpnpnrl nnnn the VOfeS of those K assesses, has often resulted In fa' itism in assessments. Most states 'have passed stringen laws In order to make the nssessmert of property effective. In Bllnois, example, the assessor must take owj give bond, and Is subject to fine an imprisonment if he does not vame property at its full value. The t-sessed t-sessed must take oath as to tfle curacy of the list given to the sessor, and Is subject to fine a J prlsonment should be falisfy. dition, provision is made for the tjj lication of the assessment usi for boards of review. . A few figures taken ttm sessment list, will show how oner, this stringent legislation has ;tw in the assessment of all P?" Cook county, the county to Chicago is located, there to the assessor in 1926, 17.M0 auto mobiles valued at $202 eacn, fire and burglar vaults valued at enieS clocks valued . . j lotrolrV vaiu each; diamonds auu j"--;- toct! at. $202,000; and bonds ana aiued at $1,407,000. !lar to : This condition Is not pe Cook county. Illinois, bu t U 'the wherever an attempt is maoe sess all forms of property, i m is there more than a very sraai lion of the money, stocks, J0 gages and other personal pw-placed pw-placed upon the tax boots. This condition has causea rf deal of injustice. The pn some may be In the n and easily listed; some norant of how the y'e , through this ignorance turn erty to the assessor: some tm absolutely honest that to ej ftnse falsify a return, even to se against those who oe "fL been aot.y -'VJ1,? eral property tax J3gU lesp. the Ignorant, and tuej " wi . . IKS. Western tUt 1 thinks Tb basebc the coi iports Mr. B bd eas; baseba next y ternal bard t figure Tl that 1 league becaui of luc beaut to be the n penec then those we v have i supp Wha light bigg sine iHalf- In v! S is inte men be edged 3 1SS5. The ! mark A half ii ten ye a dual C. and I York, Colleg ; 1 min It v Septei hi, an cut tl onds Olym 1 mit years perfo nell mont! Otto prese secor elect i U :? Ir u h S b |