The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-05-24
Help the Army Y. M. G. A.

ally by Kenosha people there is no
question but that Kenosha people are
doing their share to support the noble
work that is being done to curb suf-
fering which is following the world
war Remember that it is our war and
that the call for personal sacrifice to
help those that are suffering now has
personal side to it. The money going
to the Red Cross and the French front
I is going to care for wounded American
soldiers Maybe your boys, your faith
{ers or your brothers. 1t is that personal
iside Of war now that leads us to make
as strong an appeal for the further
sacrifice that the army work Of the
Young Men s Christian Association may
be properly supported.
Speaking in Milwaukee the other
night the Rev. Gustave Stearns, Lu-
theran minister whose patriotism and
religion have been tested out with a
year Of campaigning as Chaplain of a
Wisconsin regiment of the Wisconsin
National Guard said: "FThere are some
4 things in war worse than bullets" He
meant what he said and he knew what
he was talking about. He had seen the
immoral conditions about army camps;
he had been in towns where it was a
mark Of dishonor toewear the uniform
of a guardsman in the service of the
United States-he had seen young men
who left home clean and wholesome de-
graded simply because Of the fact that
a young man with a perfectly healthy
mind wanted something to do beside
soldier--he appreciated the fact that
the powers which degrade had been
quick to grasp this fact and quick to
commercializp it,
He knew tat the thing that was
worse than bullets was the infestious
moral degradation which turks about
every army camp. The boy who falls
fighting heroically for the flag he loves
and the nation which gave him birth
may be gathered to his fathers with
all the honors of the soldier but the
boy who falls before that other enemy
of the army--vice and RIGHTEOUSNESS
comes home not hero but a worthless
man, robbed of all of that best in him
which he possessed when he marched
off proudly to the accompaniment of
your cheers and mine. The moral nour-
ishment of the boys who 90 from Ke-
nosha and other cities to do their bit
in the army is just as necessary as the
other kind of nourishment which
comes in the form of canned beef, can
nee soup and hampered vegetables. 1t
is more important. The loss of one
win only starve the body Of the man
but the failure to provide the other will
starve his soul. The Y M G. A. army
fund is being raised for just one pur-
pose and that is to have your boy come
back home body whole and without
a smirch upon his soul There is no
greater work in all the work that is to
be done in connection with the army.
is grand to have young men dedicate
their lives If necessary to the cause of
the nation but it is criminal for the
nation to ask these men to make a use
less sacrifice of all that is best in them.
The Y M. G. A. is going to be the home
guard of the boys on the border and
in The trenches It is going to be a
beacon light at every army camp where
boys are going to serve. 1t is going
to give them some of that Influence
some of chat tenderness that you would
like 10 lavish on them. 1t is going to
make clean life moro attractive than
dirty life--it is going to be the cor
respondence room where the boys may
write to YOU at home. Of course, you
stingy fellows who haven t a grain Of
self sacrifice in you can hide under the
old question g. Am My Brother S
Keeper" Tt may be that you are not
but If you are willing to have a man
fight for your national life you ought
to be willing to put up just little
money to help experienced men fight
for the clean manhood that the boy is
entitled to- The Y NJ G. A. comes to
the soldier when he needs a friend
more than he ever needed one in his
life. The boy going away with the
army is at the parting of the ways. He
is going to come back man. What
we want him is to come back man
with the right kind of AZ character.
Kenosha has been asked to raise $500
for this fund 1t is not to be raised in
thousands but in dollars and quarters
anC dimes and nickles--yes, in pennies,
if you please. It is call to the men
of red blood to do their little part for
the proper protection of the men who
are fighting for them. Don't forget
the Red Cross, the French front or any
Of the rest of these noble causes. but
dom forget either the most worthy of
all of them--the one that is going to
fight for soldiers with unsmirched
souls.
Another way TO be patriotic is to quit
~ L.