Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-11-13
SOFT JOBS.

success Of their other plans.
SOFT JOBS.
A few days ago on street car in OF
tumwa. two men were discussing the
campaign which is under way to raise
money for the maintenance of Y. M.
&c. A. huts with the United States
army. This is what one of them said:
Such schemes as this are framed
up just to give jobs to fellows who
want something soft. They don't get
any money out Of me. They don't do
me any good"
And the shame and pity of it is that
the other man agreed with him, or said
he did, and added something more of
the same sort,
These men are ordinary American
citizens or think they are. They
would resent an intimation that
they are lacking in loyalty
or their realization of the duty they
owe to the hundreds of thousands OF
men who are in Europe or will be soon,
to fight with their last ounce OF
strength for the country to which they
owe no more than do the two men OF
the street car conversation.
Happily, these two are not ordinary
nor average citizens. Happily they
are of the small minority which de-
creases every day, but which neverthe-
less has not awakened to the con-
sciousness that America and every sim
gle one of her hundred million men,
women and children are facing the
possibility Of death, ruin, devastation
and desolation worse than that which
has blasted Belgium.
Today there is being repeated a
story to the effect that an Ottumwa
man is on his way to Europe to engage
In Y. M. c. A. army camp work at
salary of $4,000 year with all ex-
penses paid. This is as groundless as
is the declaration that this work is Gre
ated to provide soft jobs.
To you who realize what this war
means it seems incredible that such
things can be. 1t seems idle to call
attention to them here. But they are
cited now that they may be branded
with the proper brand of untruthful-
ness. 1t is not too much to say that
they are the invention of enemies OF
the nation, although they are repeated
by the merely thoughtless, whose dis
loyalty lies in ignorance but is dis
loyal none the less.
An Ottumwa man is on his way to
Europe now, to continue the Y. NJ.
C. A. war work which he has been do
ing in America. He is to receive
$1,000 a year-not $4,000. and with
that he must pay his own expenses.
He could make much more money in
America; he has interrupted special
university course to do this work for
which he is fitted. He is Drawing dan
gers the extent Of which neither he
nor we can know But he is making
and will make every needed sacrifice
cheerfully and periodically because he
is one of corps OF patriotic young
men who are enlisted in the war to
win it for you and for me.
II yoe want to know what soldiers
think of the Y. M. C. A. work with the
army, read what Captain Steller and
Lieutenant Younkin say about it. If
you want to know what soldiers think.
read the letter which was published
in Wednesdays Courier from Billy Ma
loney of Company G. II you want to
know what soldiers think. read Gen
ersl Pershing's comment. II you want
to know what the Y. M. c. A. war work
means to the man in the trenches. give
your imagination play and try to put
yourself in the place of one of the
soldiers whom you know and who is
over there.
Imagine yourself set down in
France, up in the noisome, filthy front
line trench, WITH death IN q hundred
forms stretching its fingers forth to
add you. another molecule. to the pile
of its victims whom il counts in mil
lions. Imagine yourself living through
those age-long hours of torment. each
of which brings its countless perils
amid DEVILS din to batter at your
senses. to dare your spirit. to break
your determination and taunt you with
your insignificance in the presence of
the world-consuming war.
Imagine. if you can, that you win
through those hours. that you are re-
lieved and permitted to seek compar-
alive repose outside the immediate
zone of constant horror but still within
reach OF the monster guns which send
their shells miles on their errands Of
devastation. Imagine the wrecked
state of your m md. the resistless long
ing for peace and rest. the aching need
for the ability to erase from memory
the terrible scenes of conflict. Imagine
the gnawing inconsistencies you would
feel and the hopeless desolation that
would be yours when, arriving at last
behind the lines you sought surcease
from your nightmare and found about
you only more OF your kind, more Of
that terror which you felt, more Of the
helpless longing to forget even for a
moment.
Imagine, then. that before you rose
a Y. NJ. C. A. hut. its door swung open.
its invitation always extended. its at
mosphere of quiet, its knowledge of
your WEAKNESS of mind and body and
its eagerness to bring you back from
the hell Of war to the happiness of life
as YOU knew it ages ago. back home,
Home-that is what the Y. NJ. c. A,
hut spells to the soldier: Home, and
America, and helpfulness. and peace;
Home. and kiddies, and hero's hon.
ors; Home. and loved ones devotion;
Home, and sanity. and newspapers.
and photograph, and a pipe; Home,
and happiness.
That is what the Y. NJ. C. A. is rails
ing money for. That is what you and