don let the men crawl to the edge
of the bank, where he lifted them across without their having to stand
up and become targets.

Corporal Emile Laurent, 5302 So. Dearborn Street, Chicago, a member of
the 370th Infantry, had a busy time dodging machine gun bullets one
night near Soissons. Volunteering as a wire cutter, he crawled out with
his lieutenant's automatic in one hand and the wire clippers in the
other. Half a dozen machine guns were opened upon him as he sneaked
along the terrain. "Never touched me," he would yell every time a chunk
of steel parted his hair. He was out for three hours and cut a broad
line through the charged wire. Then he crawled back without a mark on
him.

Private Leroy Davis of the same regiment, won a decoration at the
Aillette Canal for bringing a comrade back under machine gun fire. When
he got back to his own lines he would not trust him with the ambulance
outfit, but carried him three miles to the emergency dressing station
and then he ran back to the canal to get even. This little stunt saved
his comrade's life.

Praise for the American soldier comes from Charles M. Schwab, the
eminent steel manufacturer, who was chosen by President Wilson to head
the Emergency Fleet Cororation, and rendered such conspicuous service in
that position. Returning in February, 1919, from a trip to Europe, Mr.
Schwab said in an interview:

"I have come back with ten times the good opinion I had of our
soldiers for the work they did. Everywhere I went I found that the
American soldiers had left a good impression behind and there was
nothing but the greatest praise for them.

"During the present voyage I have been among the colored troops on
board and talked with them and learned what American soldiering has
done for them. They are better men than they were when they went
away."

CHAPTER XXIV

THOSE WHO NEVER WILL RETURN

A STUDY OF WAR--ITS COMPENSATIONS AND BENEFITS--ITS RAVAGES AND
DEBASEMENTS--BURDENS FALL UPON THE WEAK--TOLL OF DISEASE--NEGROES
SINGULARLY HEALTHY--NEGROES KILLED IN BATTLE--DEATHS FROM WOUNDS AND OTHER
CAUSES--REMARKABLE PHYSICAL STAMINA OF RACE--HOUSEKEEPING IN
KHAKI--HEALTHIEST WAR IN HISTORY--INCREASED REGARD FOR MOTHERS--AN IDEAL
FOR CHILD MINDS--MORALE AND PROPAGANDA.

It has been said that war has its compensations no less than peace. This
saying must have had reference largely to the material benefits accruing
to the vict