By Motor To The Firing Line; An Artist's Notes And Sketches With The Armies Of Northern France, June-July, 1915

By Motor To The Firing Line; An Artist's Notes And Sketches With The Armies Of Northern France, June-July, 1915, BY WALTER HALE. FOREWORD BEFORE the reader plunges into the following pages, it is only fair to warn him that the authors first effort as a war-correspondent was an unqualified failure. This was not alone the authors fault, since-though he be ever so ambitious--one cannot succeed ns a war-correspondent unless there be a war to correspond about. The scene of this fruitless endeavor was on the Venezuelan coast at the time when certain of the European nations sent fleets to the Spanish Main in an effort to collect sums of money, long overdue, from the Castro government. Germany, the most aggressive of the Powers involved, had threatened to land marines on Venezuelan soil. The violation of the Monroe Doctrine could lead to only one eventuality. In anticipation of this, correspondents representing the leading journals of the United States and Europe gathered at La Guayra and Caracas, rest- lessly awaiting the commencement of hostilities, like chargers on the eve of battle. But, for a. very good reason-and thats another story-Germany did not land marines on Venezuelan soil. The blockade was lifted and one by one the correspondents drifted back home to en- gage in more peaceful pursuits until the Russo- Japanese War again called them into action. If we who went to the Spanish Main found no war to write about, the correspondents who for some eighteen months have made Paris their head- quarters have been within a few hours journey of the greatest general actions in history with only an occasional limited permit to view their various phases. The old-time freedom of llle war corre- spondent has not only been curbed-it has been taken away from him and checked among the musty archives of the War Office. And with the with- drawal of many of his privileges, he has lost some- thing of his former camaraderie. . The men I knew in Venezuela mere working together in per- fect harmony if one was granted an interview or secured an important bit of information, he shared the story with the others. In the Great War, the tendency has been-in many instances-to beat out the other fellow, to be the first to reach a beleaguered city or to visit a certain battlepound or to explore exposed trenches close to the enemies lines. As a matter of fact, since the correspondents usually visit the front in parties of from two to five, it is almost impossible to obtain an exclusive story and I am reasonably sure that no privileges are extended to one group that are withheld from another. The War Office sends them into the same genera1 positions, but the War Office cannot discount the element of chance. There are some men upon whom fate smiles and for them what commenced as a good imitation of a glorified Cooks Tour may be turned at the psy- choIogica1 moment into a vivid and dramatic ex- perience. Bombardments have a habit of starting at unexpected tirxles ztlrl places and certain staff officers are more lenient than others about escorting their charges into dangerous salients. Once at the front, chance rather than privilege plays the more important part in affording the cor- respondent opportunities. For example, as I looked out over the Aisne vall- ley from a chbteau east of Rheims there was only an occasional puff of white or yellow smoke in the distance to suggest that anything unusual was oc- curring in this wide stretch of peaceful landscape...