Washington telegraph., 1918-05-10

| ~ HNA NiAi6 bilC pdob WCGh
as KIP" wish to assure the
folks back home that they are
not knights of Pythias," and
that there are no initiation fees
to the order. In fact, the order
Is not secret at all. In army
parlance it stands for Kitchen
Police, and the duties involved
are scrubbing floors, washing
dishes, peeling potatoes, etc.
AS a sample of the enormous
scale upon which the business
at Camp Pike is transacted it
might be well to cite the fact
that the new oat bins just being
constructed here are 62 feet
high, AZ feet in diameter and
the capacity of the two bins is
l25,OO0 bushels. Or that it re-
qulres the manufacture of 35,-
600 pounds of bread each day.
1t is distributed around camp
each day by trucks, and each
loaf weighs 2 pounds. The
bread is made of 80 per cent
wheat and 20 per cent corn
meal. All of the bread is made
at the camp bakery.
DR.. Milford Lyon, who has
just returned from several
months in France with the A.
mercan troops in the interest of
the Y. M. c. A. spoke recently
at a number of points in the
camp. He said he could not
emphasize toostrongly the work
the Red Trianglemen are doing
for the men abroad, and said
there would have been many
discouraged and homesick men
If it had not been for the cheer
and warmth of the "Y" huts.
He calls on the mothers of A
merica to write very often to
their boys in the camps, both at
home and abroad. Not Just
any old kind of a letter, but
cheerful and comforting ones
that will be like a breath of life
from the old home. And don't
send them money, especially to
the men abroad. They have
money enough to keep them
and every additional dollar will
mean additional opportunity
for trouble.
Baseball is the most demo-
cratic institution in America
and as a leveler of rank in the
army has no equal. officer
and private are on common
ground when it comes to root
ing for their company or reg
team, and of course
when they are playing on the
same team they have the real
fighting spirit. At Camp Pike
baseball is recognized in an Of
ficial way and each company or
unit is represented in the vari-
Gus leagues by order of their
commanding officer. There is
no more excuse for not playing
ball than there is for not drill
ing, but with most of the SOL
diers no order is necessary. The
greater portion of that extra
hour of daylight in the evening
is devoted at Camp Pike to base
ball.
No section of the camp re-
spends more quickly to the call
of the Y. M. C. A. than that oc-
cupied by the colored troops.
The seven colored secretaries
are among the busiest in the
camp and the buildings are
nearly always well filled. 1t is
interesting to note the number
who are trying to learn to read
and write, and they turn out
we'll for all kinds of entertain
ments and programs. Camp
Pike would be a rather tame
sort of a place if it were not for
the thousands of negroes with
their grins and their jokes. But
negro is a negro. The other
night one of them slipped into
the Y. M. C. A. building and
said: "Are you Mr.. Y. M. c.
A." "Yes." "Can you all let
me have some boxing gloves?'
He was given the gloves and
then he grinned and whispered
There's a mighty mean negro
up the street and l wants to