Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-11-16
(By James n. C0lIins.)

Right on the heels of the firs; Liberty
Loan came the Red Cross asking foI
| ~I0O. 900. 600. And close behind the see
ond loan. which ran into food uledge week,
comes the y. VI. G.. \. asking for 49,, 600.
600. which seems to show that in war
times there there i, something goinc on all
the while.
Just 4 few months ago the u. NJ. Il. \.
asked for 5000, 600 and got il. 50 tins
new campaign raises two questions which
The average citizen may reasonably ask
before writing out the check Tor IN CON
tribution.
FIrst-Nhy So. 600, 900! AMI, second,
What did they 40 with that $4,000 ,oeos
Let a. see il We can answer ..he last
question fir~t-perhaps the answer 10 one
will he the answer to the other.
An excited salesman. tearing up the
street the other day in New York, ram into
4 friend.
II i've Just landed 4 hg order he sand.
sold $500 worth of letterhcads Ia the
y. NJ. c. A."
He : connected with a biz photographic
concern. Both of them thought that a
pretty big order. for II will keep the
presses busy for week. But It \ only
part III the total letter head order Of the
Y. VI. {. y. Tor in camps today some
thing like one million sheets Of letter paper
are used IN the soldiers and sailors every
day.
one thing i fundamental about the sol
der everywhere. lie likes IL receive let
tiers and he wants to write home. tie has
mietv few facilities for writing. because
he cannot carry paper and envelopes with
him. and postage stamps would be spoiled
in hi, pockets in a day. and there i NO
place around an army cantonment for HIM
to write even iii he had stationery. except
the Y. VI. 4. A. tent or building. Soldiers
have written letters ON the backs Of labels
soaked from beef cans, and on the mar
GINS Of newspapers, or any other old soap
Of paper that they could lay their hands
on. 20 one Of the best examples Of how
the Y. VI. Ii. A.. spends money i found IN
thi, letter writing service for the soldier,
which i, only one Of il many activities.
| A million sheets Of paper daily calls for
half 4 million envelopes and 4 million
postage stamps. suppose YOU got ~ close
a price ~ a quarter of 4 cent per sheet
If letter paper for per envelope. That
would amount TO between $1,000 and >ooo"
Il dav. or ~l,500.00 4 year, not counting
Sundays.
II takes time 10 print all TIN, stationery.
ship it to the different camps. Consider
able supplies have 10 he carried ahead.
Probably there i, 100000 tied up IN sta
tionerv all the time. Then there are the
~pn,taue stamps. From r3 e. 500 worth
Of postage stamps are sold daily m each
Y. VI. { a. building III "a biz cantonment
and a. some of these environments have ~lX
To ten seperate buildings the daily sale run
from 2OOO Ia 5000. At the very reason
able estimate of II worth of stamps sold
daily in 500 Y. NJ. g.. A. buildings there
4, 800 600 involved. Which j, money tied
M permanently. for Uncle sam giving no
credit on passage stamps and several day
.%uDpIic> must he carried ahead.
The Y. NJ. G. \. has "A whole division de
voted to the purchase and distribution OF
supplies and equipments 10 ~ 900 build
inc, IN thi, country. and IN immense floor
spacc i'm Madison Square Garden, New
York. ha. been used for storing and >erN-
ing ont the stuff. E-rh buildin. or tent
must have an outfit. consisting OF nearly
100 SEPARATE items .uch az 1T stock oil
paper. stamps. pencils, pens, postcards,
pocket te,tament> and other things sold
or ciyen To the soldiers and also a piano., a
moving picture mainline, monographs ana
other fixtures.
Then there are buildings. an item calling
for a huge initial investment. July So
600. 900 have been spent for buildings ana
tents by the association of army canton
ments the past summer and upon their
cauipment. The association l. working az
234 different places where soldiers ana
sailor, are camped IN the six great depart
ment> scattered over the country. III mas
l57S separate units in these places, a unit
being either a building or IA tent loo build
ingS have been opened and l16 tents open,
IL more authorized and 81 buildings oper-
ated in combination with the government.
In the big southwestern department of the
army. 100 buildings have been erected