The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1917-05-22
TREMENDOUS TASK
OF Y. N. c. A. IN
WAR Isl OUTLINED
A. B. Dale Points to Great
Work That is Necessary
Among the Soldiers
WORLD WIDE IN
IT'S SIGNIFICANCE
Fargo and Cass County Ex-
pected to Contribute to
National Fund

Three millions of dollars to be ex-
pended under the direction Of the
Young Mems Christian association in
caring for our soldier boys.
A gigantic work of conservation Of
the young men of the army which is
being raised to fight the battles Of a
world wide democracy.
A task which is great in conception
and great in its possibilities for good,
carried out under the most efficient
organization which the world has ever
seen for such splendid work.
That in short was what A. B. Dale,
speaking at the First Presbyterian
church Sunday morning, outlined as
the part the Y. M. G. A. is to play in
the struggle into which America has
been precipitated through war with
Germany.
Doing Things On Big Scale.
In his opening remarks Mr.. Dale
called attention to the tendency to do
things on a large scale which is
characteristic of modern affairs, illus
trating his point by reference to the
transportation systems of the country
the evolution from numerous small
railroads to vast networks of allied
lines stretching from east to west and
north to south, and to such business
organizations as the Standard Oil, the
United States Steel corporation and
the International Harvester Co., all of
which represents the modern idea of
business operation.
The world war he characterized as
something beyond the comprehension
of the average individual who has
given no special study to the enormous
numbers Of men, the vast quantities
of munitions and the marvellous scale
upon which its operations are conduct
ed. The greatest war in history, so
gigantic that the minds of men fail
to grasp the full meaning of its vast
ness-battle fronts in the west--in the
east, millions of men actually at war
or in preparation for it-casualties
which daily equal in number the
population of cities Of the smaller
size.
Flower of Country's Manhood.
Into this struggle the United States
has been forced by the acts of a war
mad system, and the men who go to
fight on the battle front are the flower
Of our country's population. 1t is the
part of the government to arm and
equip them-train and prepare them.
Upon its own shoulders the Y. M. G.
A. has taken the, burden of preparation
for their spiritual needs and to provide
the touch of home life and home as
sociations which they will so sorely
crave when the days of inevitable
inconsistencies come upon them.
Mr.. Dale's address was in the nature
of preliminary to the big drive which
will be made this week to raise funds
for the war-work of the Y. M. c. A,
by which $3,000,000 is to be raised in
the United States for the care Of the
boys in khaki. $4,000 of which has
been appointed to North Dakota, of
which Fargo's quota is $4,000 and 1t
brought home to his hearers the con-
crete facts relative to conditions which
must be met because of participation
of our own boys in the struggle which
has heretofore been carried on by our
neighbors in Canada and the European
allies.
War on Unheard Of Basis.
He characterized the war as a part
of the present era of magnitude, some
thing transcendentally great, war on
an unheard of scale, involving stu
pendous cost in men and money, the
cost in men averaging $4,000 daily, a
total to date of 100000 military
graves iand 100000 inmates of mill
tary or naval hospitals, while the
money cost amounts up to the tre- |
mendous total of $105,000,000 daily.
Quoting Dr. John r. Mott on his
return from second trip to the war |
fronts in Europe Mr.. Dale gave the
figures furnished by DR.. Mott relating
to conditions in Russia. In Moscow
with it's 1900 hospitals 100000 patti
snts have been cared for while in one
day he learned of twenty-si trains of
twenty cars each, loaded to capacity |
with wounded men which had been
there.
These men said Mr.. Dale represent /
homes which have been bereft, men
who have been brought to the front
to meet conditions heretofore unknown |
and who are thrown into situations
which make the work of the Y. M. G.
A., peculiarly necessary, and that as
ISOLATION, side by side with the Red |
Cross, is now recognized by all the ma
tions as entitled to entry upon the field
as an element of conservation of the
better things which may be brought
into the lives Of men at the battle
front.
According to DrNMott as quoted by
the speaker there are under arms or in
for war by the nations
other than the United States the fol-
lowing number Of men: Russia La
100000; Germany 12,000,000; England
|, 200, 900; France 5,000,000; Italy S,O00,-
900 a total of 43,500,000 men either
directly engaged in war or in prepara-
ton for 1t, involving two-thirds of the |
ably great as to baffle belief, and to
the task for caring for these men and
those who are later to enter the war
the efficient organization Of the Inter- |
national Z. M. G. A. has been dedlcat-
ed.
Already great things have been done
in Europe and Immediately upon the
severing of relations with Germany a
council of men made up of the lead
ers in religious, social and business
affairs in the United States began
comprehensive program with the aim
of sending to the front when our own
boys go an organization which will
give them what the mothers and faith
ers of those boys want them to have
in as full measure as possible.
Astonishing Results.
Astonishing results have been OBJ
tanned in remedying conditions in the
prison camps of the different nations.
On DIR. Motifs first visit he found great
masses of men penned into enclosures,
shut off from the world, driven by
solitude, inactivity and brutal condi-
tions to insanity and suicide. Franco
and England had early thrown open
their prison camps to the workers Of
the Y M G.. a., the hardest struggle
being to secure entry into those main
tanned by Germany, where DR.. Mott
found in one camp $4,000 Italian
prisoners and in another $4,000 Rus
slams, men herded together without |
suffering with scuryy and
held enclosed In yards surrounded by
wire barricades charged with cleo
Ericity 50 that to touch one Of them
meant instant death.
Through DR.. Motifs effort Germany l
and Russia agreed to open three camps
each and the best trained men in the L