Major R. L. Foster's report of the work which is now going on in the American cemeteries in France has political as well as sentimental significance. The details, though interesting and necessary, are unimportant to the average American citizen. It really makes little difference whether the monuments be simple slabs, or Italian crosses; whether the graves be overlooked by chapels or water tanks. Work is being done--that is all that counts.
Purely as memorials to the dead which they contain, the cemeteries require attention. But they are more than memorials; they are American claims on France's affection. Neglected graves are soon forgotten, but fresh, well cared for ones can never be. Thirty thousand headstones, tended by native Frenchmen, should do more toward promoting peace than a dozen disarmament conferences. Major Foster says, "...Nothing could be more impressive than the peaceful effect of the modest white stones showing against the green turf under the shade of protecting trees." It is the French, not the Americans, who will be the more impressed. They will have the reminders always before their eyes.
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