Dry Guides

At the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan last week assembled 50 alert Army officers. From the whole service they had been selected for their tact, good morals and efficiency to guide the 4,000 Gold Star mothers and War widows the U. S. this summer is sending abroad to the graves of their sons, their husbands. Before these men at the hotel stood Major General John Lesesne De Witt, Quarter-master-General of the Army, spruce, military, full of last-minute advice. Gravely he informed them:

"You must remember that you have been chosen because of certain qualifications. The most important of these is sobriety. No officer in France must indulge in intoxicants. You will be subject to the most minute observation. Any officer who drinks will be immediately dismissed from the Service. . . . You must keep the temperament of the women and the spirit of the pilgrimage in mind. Many will be hysterical under the slightest provocation. You must be ready to meet any unusual condition. . . . You must exercise patience and forebearance and you must possess a sense of humor. If you are not a diplomat now, you will be."

Next day 23 of the officers, mostly captains, sailed for Paris aboard the President Harding while General De Witt, sure that his guides would behave themselves under any temptation, returned to Washington to complete arrangements for the wholesale excursions. The first group of 255 women, largely from Nebraska, will sail May 7. Eighteen other contingents will follow during the summer. Each group of 25 women (average age, 65) will be provided with an officer to conduct them to the military cemeteries, a trained nurse and free medicines to guard their health. The free trip of two weeks abroad represents a cost to the U. S. of $840 for each mother or widow. To insure a high moral standard on the pilgrimage, the U. S. barred Gold Star mothers living out of wedlock during the War, veterans' widows who had since remarried.

Protests refused to budge the War Department from its plan to send Negro Gold Star mothers and widows to France on two special segregated sailings.

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