The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-08
VI C. A. HUT is
AHEAVEN TO The
TRENCH SOLDIER
Henry j. Allen Tells of Work
Being Done in France.
Fighters Made To Forget Wild
Animal Savagery.
ASSOCIATION MORALE BUILDER
80 Per Cent British Efficiency
Due to ''Y" War Work.
500 Hear Wichita Editor Open
$4,000 Campaign Here.

Ninety per cent of the British eff
ficiency in the trenches is credited to
the Y. NJ. c. A hut" Henry ]. Allen,
of Wichita, said this noon in opening
the $S5, 900 Y. NJ. c. A war work cam
paign in Shawnee county. And the
French hold the association as anoth-
er blessing that the United States has
bestowed upon it's shattered soldiers, -
he continued.
This was the official opening of the
$35, 1000 war work campaign in Shaw
nee county. Active work on the cam
paign will start Monday morning at
O'Clock and will run thru next week,
closing Saturday night.
The first touch of home to the SOL
der comes to his dulled mind when
he approaches the Y. NJ. c. A hut
and there sees a homely little steel
mud scraper. It is the first bit of hu-
man nature that he has seen for forty
eight hours. He enters the hut and is
welcomed by a hearty happy worker
not with the religious slogan of How
is your soul?' but with the human
query, How are your socks p
This was the way Henry Allen drove
home his pleas for subscriptions to
the Y. NJ. c. A. war work campaign
that is to be started next week.
1T is the human side of soldier life.
1t is all that he has to remind him of
the man and to make him forget the
animal of war. He is dulled by grim
death, by blood curdling fighting and
by miserable life in the trenches, knee
deep in freezing mud.
Morale Means Much.
"It is the only restorer to life that
the soldier has. After fighting in the
trenches for forty eight hours expect
ant of the attack of the hated Ger
mans, he is worn to a fragile, nervous
to the limit and nearly an animal in
tent upon killing and defending
Never before has the morale of
people meant so much to the world
The morale is all that the soldier has
to enjoy and to cultivate. It should
be protected now as never before.
The same, jolly, hearty Y NJ. c. A
worker who has welcomed the tired
soldier to the Y. NJ. c. A. hut, asks in
a spirit of fellowship What have you
on for tonight?' The response is al
ways the same: Nothing
1T is to this end that the Y NJ c.
A. huts are serving. To give to the
tired nerve wrecked soldier something
with which to mething by
which his mind may be relieved from
the inhumanity of the war.
Hundreds of thousands of letters
are written home to fond parents. Ev-
cry letter is written on Y. NJ c. A. sta
tionery and each letter is a MESA ge
of the work being done by the Y. M.
c. A. The reading rooms, the gym
nasiums, the lectures, the concerts and
all the activities that tend to brinc
back the human side of the worn out
soldier are given to the soldiers.
500 at Meeting.
Horrid deeds of German brutality
We're pictured to the audience of 500
persons that attended the opening
meeting of the campaign at the city
auditorium this noon. Deeds that can
hardly be imagined by the sympathetic
American mind were told of. Never
could American people feel the hor-
ror of ravages and dastardly deeds so
inhuman until the actual scenes are
visited. All these were related by
Allen, who has for three months been
travelling in the warning districts of
Europe in the interest of the Red
Cross society.
A. A. GODDARD. chairman of the war
work in this district, gave a brief re-
view of the Y. NJ. c. A. work and
campaign that was to be conducted in
the United States-in every town and
communicate next week
The state has been divided into
fourteen districts for the work, To
peka being the fifth district. Topeka
and Shawnee county are to raise S35.-
600 of the $35, national cam
paign to be devoted to overseas work
Kansas is to raise $525,000.
The machinery is all set and ready
to go, Wiley declared. Never has the
Y. M G. A. had such a firm grasp
upon the approval of the American
public as it has gained thru the boosts
to the association work given by thou
sands of men now in the trenches and
thousands more that are still in train
ing camps.
School Children to Help.
One hundred Thousand school boys
over the United states have been
asked to raise ten dollars apiece be-
tween now and April, 1918, to give to
the Y. NJ. c. A. war work fund. Even
the children have taken an interest
in the work. Practically every bust
ness man of the country has volun-
teered to give the youngsters work and
encourage them in their kindness.
The amount to be raised by the
American school boy will total more
than S1,000,000, or one thirty-fifth of
the total campaign figure. The re-
nainder will be pledged next week
from business men and women thruout
the country.