Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-11-10
SPIRITUAL RESOURCES

WHEN men debated the possibility of
world war, in the years before
August. 1914, they usually closed dis
cussion with the sententious remark that
the bankers would not permit II. Some
times they said that business and In
dustry, combined or separately, would in
q few months either break down under
the strain or rebel The discussion al.
most invariably hinged on material con
alterations. as IL banks and factories
were kept going by soulless creatures
from another world and not by human
beings who cherished hope, pride and
honor. As it turned out, the men Of
business and industry proved to be as
loyal TO noble principles as anybody.
In those days, when a far.seeing man
did admit that material resources and the
men who chiefly controlled them would
stand for a great war, he usually stopped
'Have we built up an organization to
work behind the firing lines and keep up
the spirits of millions of soldiers, put
them in touch with home, strengthen and
maintain their morale?" If any one had
said that the Young Mems Christian AS
ISOLATION would be vital factor In war
he would have been told that he had
lost his sense OF proportion and was
talking of nonessentials The Y. NJ. C.
A? To many 1t seemed little more than
An aggregation Of amateur athletes and
neighborhood clubmen.
association there was being built up by
quiet, patient workers through the long
years OF peace a tremendous spiritual
resource that now Is working wonders
behind the Allied lines and in all the
American cantonments. 1t is not simply
q question of supplying the soldiers with
rooms where they can relax, talk sing,
write letters. read newspapers buy re-
freshments and enjoy that social com.
munion with his kind which man, the
social animal, needs as insistently as
food and drink. 1t is even more than
that. 1t is a question of keeping the men
alive to the great Christian purpose Of
our cause, to the fact that we fight with
O hatred of sins and not a hatred OF men;
that we fight to crush injustice and not
TO crush a nation. Even those few un.
orthodox thinkers who fancy that Chris.
tianity is nonresistant and who with
hold full sympathy from our war effort,
fearing that It will brutalize our instincts,
must desire to aid force which daily is
driving home to every American soldier.
here and abroad. the truth that fighting
Is indeed brutalizing unless it is done with
. pure heart. in a manly fashion and for
. high cause.
Disaffection, once started, spreads
rapidly through an army unit Dsaffect.
ing forces are especially to be guarded
against In a country where many spies
are seeking opportunity to plant poison.
Gus ideas. BY keeping our men closely in
touch with the thought and feeling of
their home communities we can save
them from the distracting and depressing
effects Of lying rumors of doubt or dis.
aster.
It is the guardianship over the morale
and comfort of the nations defenders
that is the special work of the Y NJ. c.
A. The association is worthy of sup
port. 1t asks this city for 81 300, 900 of
the s35.O0O,oOO it expects the nation to
give. Even those who would prefer that
some other agency, in no way connected
with religious organization, were doing
the work must admit that it is this asso-
ciation which is ION the job" that its
feld secretaries are actually helping
wounded men and prisoners and that TO
withhold support from it is simply to
withhold aid from men who are doing
eur fighting for us.
We have not been found wanting in
Gpiritual resources-they are the 10.
sources without which truth and Justice
oannot conquer The Red Cross is one
g them. The young mems great brother.
hood 10 another. 1t Is a brotherhood in
whose work every one OF us can share.