The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1918-02-02

few miles Of their borders made a d.
rect appeal TO the business magma
ton! Think of the millions of pounds
of supplies to be sold to the canton
ments! Think of the thousands of dol
lars of soldiers money to be spent In
the nearest town. The prospect was
dazzling. Every community that sought
an army cantonment sought 1t on this
basis of financial good to the town,
and when the sites were announced
there was jubilation in the 16 towns
selected-joy over the prospect of easy
money. But today these 16 towns have
a very different conception of a SOL
brings responsibility as well as money.
They have found that their W town
standards must be improved
Millions Spent by Communities.
More than three million dollars is
being spent in these communities to
provide co~nyeniences for the soldiers.
And every cent of that money has been
raised in the towns themselves. The
soldier wants good eating places, good
moving-picture theaters with attractive
programs, well-managed pool rooms,
and places where he can rest and write
and read. Some of the community
work done by the little towns would
put a big town to shame. Gettysburg,
Pa, is a town of only 1000 people, and
it will have this population increased
by $4,000 soldiers. 1t has fitted up
two big, centrally located recreation
rooms with pool tables, reading and
writing materials, and music. The col
lege there has turned over its athletic
field to the soldiers with tennis courts,
baseball diamonds, running track, GYM
nasium, and a hall for dances, enter
tainments, and movies. There was no
swimming pool for the soldiers. The
citizens raised $500 and built a dam
in a nearby stream. Junction City
and Manhattan, Kan, are even smaller.
They raised $4,000 for a soldiers club
in Manhattan and $500 for another
one in Junction City. The school play
grounds ad college athletic field we're
turned over to the soldiers. Then a
CohAlhAJ SuAfOJ VI lhO lily was iiouCj
classes in French provided, and finally
these typical small American towns
did a typical American thing-famlies
invited individual soldiers to dine with
them in their homes.
Training camp experts have found
that when the soldier first comes to a
community the people of that COM
r1ITnifu anTa ha ! SciEn6 in fhT.nn
groups; known as the sentimental,
avaricious and the resentful. Many of
the sentimental are women, naturally.
They flock around the youth in uni
form, persuade him that he is a hero,
and thrust upon him attentions which
quickly spoil him. They break down
his self-respect, pauperizing and giving
him false ideas of his wv family.
There are sentimental men who do him
as much harm men of greater means
than his own, who entertain him in
ways that give him false ideas of life
with which to go back home.
Soldier Makes His Own Way.
The avaricious group is made up of
practical citizens, who exploit the sol
der by overcharging and cheating him
and appealing to his baser desires. The
%resentful group is made up of people
who hate the idea of war. To them
the soldier ~perSOniies war, and they
take it out maliciously on the innocent
kid brother who is doing his bit the
best he knows how, and who is ten
times the man and the citizen that
these busybodies imagine themselves
to be. But when the soldier comes
he makes his own way. He is clean,
moral, strong, and enthusiastic. He
has his work and his play in camp, and
looks to the town only for a reasonable
amount of amusement of some other
kind. The experts who organize the
soldiers play also organize the town.
They show the people that this boy in
uniform is still a human being entitled
to human ties-friends, church, fra
ternal groups, the companionship Of
good women. He is neither to be pat
ronized nor sighted, pauperized or ex-
plotted. He was a civilian yesterday,
and he will be tomorrow a better civil
ian for his military training and the
service he has rendered his country.
Even the %resentful group changes. They
see that opposition to the soldier must
surely react upon their community. If
they evade their responsibility to him
the result will be broken homes, vice,
disease, EQUALIZATION, and lower COM
munity standards. If they meet the
responsibility by constructive commun-
ity effort they protect themselves and
the soldier and benefit their COM
munity.