A Journey Through France in War Time | Page 8

a commission from Bordeaux came out in a tug boat to meet us. This delegation consisted of the prefect of Bordeaux district, the mayor of the city and other notables. They boarded the boat and we entertained them with a dinner party. We reached the Bordeaux dock about ten o'clock on Sunday evening, but did not land until the following morning.

III.
BORDEAUX AND PARIS
Upon going ashore, we discovered on the docks a number of stalwart laborers. We wondered why they were not in the army, but were told they were Spaniards. The docks were covered with motor trucks from Cleveland, piles of copper bars, and also very large quantities of munitions and barbed wire made by The Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company and the American Steel & Wire Company. We also saw on the docks steel bars furnished by our own Brier Hill Steel Company.
We were first impressed by the very large number of women employed. We visited several telegraph offices and all were "manned" exclusively by women. We also saw women driving large army trucks and milk carts, and women selling newspapers, some of them anywhere from seventy to eighty years of age. Newsboys are apparently unknown in France.
We were given a reception by the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce, and quite an address was delivered by the president.
We then visited the docks, which are extensive. The improvements contemplated will make Bordeaux one of the great world ports. In going about the streets we were struck by the number of women in mourning; in fact I can hardly recall any women, except the servants in the hotel, who were not in mourning. The shop windows were filled with mourning goods and people passing on the streets were either women in mourning or soldiers home on leave of absence, many of them crippled.
We were next taken to the prison camp where the prisoners of war were held. We happened to reach it when the prisoners were having a siesta. There were about four thousand in the camp, some hired out to contractors. We talked to some of these contractors, who in turn had talked with the prisoners, and were told that a great many of them were such voluntarily; that is to say, they were very glad to surrender when the opportunity presented. The prisoners were mostly Germans, but there were some Austrians and a few Bavarians. The French people never speak of them as Germans; they always call them "Boches", which, rendered in English, means vandal. They were fat and healthy and apparently contented.
[Illustration: Grand Theatre, Bordeaux. Closed until the War Ends.]
In the evening at Bordeaux a banquet was given in honor of Monsieur Gaston Doumergue, Minister of Colonies. All the commissioners were invited. On my left was Monsieur Etienne Hugard, Vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and a soldier who had been in battle within a week previous. On my right sat Monsieur G. Chastenet, Senateur de la Gironde. Very choice wines were served and the champagne was reserved for the last. There was a speech by the Mayor and a response by the Minister of Colonies. We were given information as we went along and some of this I will record. We were told that a great many submarines had been captured by the French in nets. The popular impression is that when captured the submarines are left under water six or seven days, then brought up to the surface and the bodies of the officers and seamen, who in the meantime have died, are either burned or buried. The submarine is then manned by a French crew and thus turned into the French service.
We made some inquiries in regard to the labor situation and we were informed that before the war a common laborer received four francs per day, about eighty cents of our money, and that they are now receiving five francs. The women received two francs before the war and they are now receiving three. There are no labor unions in Bordeaux or in the vicinity.
We had here our first visit from newspaper correspondents. A number of important Paris papers were represented, with the New York Herald, the Chicago Tribune and other leading American papers. We met the general of the Gironde and the marine official. We were told that at any of these functions we were not to mention the names of the officials to whom we were introduced, and this enabled us to talk quite freely. One of the generals whom I met at this banquet said that the war would end in December, 1917.
On Tuesday, September 5th, the Bordeaux Fair was dedicated. The commission was invited and we took part in the exercises. These fairs are an annual event in many parts of France. There is a very large theatre in Bordeaux, which