Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-01-30

4 haven't seen bath in two weeks
said one worker.
1--WE slept in my clothes for month"
said another.
My feet are so blistered," a third
one told me, that when I take off my
socks / peel off the skin with them"
They joked about it, but it is no jok-
ing matter. Soldiers, when not on the
firing line, are not overworked, and
soldiers are not kept continuously on
the firing line. One of the few crit
icisns that I have to make against the
association is too fully developed New
England conscience in the matter of
expenditure for workers; another is
in regard to is failure to systematic
their time schedule. If it must have
money to remedy these things, then all
that | may say is that the money is
badly needed.
Not that there are any distinctions.
All suffer alike. When Bishop Luther
B. Wilson, the Methodist divine, sui
denly telegraphed that he would spend
the night at one of the camps asso-
citation centers there was not bed I'M
occupied, but every worker In the
neighborhood offered his own. A Sc
lection was made at last-it wasn't
much Of a bed, but it was the best to be
had-and all was prepared. Just as tina
bishops train steamed into tie station
the reception committee. itself so long
Injured to local conditions as to he gen
orally unmindfu1 OF them, remembe ed
something.
Dir you ever ask waitress at
country hotel to tell you what there
was to eat? l though of that when, in
an uncautious moment. l had inquired
as to the nature OF the canteen stock
thus to be transported. This was
the answer given me:
Candies, chewing gum, chocolate,
coffee, tea, gingerale, grenadine, grape
juice, lime juice lemonade sandwiches,
cakes crackers. jams, condensed milk
sardines, soap (shaving, toilet and
laundry, tooth paste, witch hazel, lis
terine, vaseline. razors razor blades
combs, brushes chair, bath, shaving,
tooth, hand, shoe) towels (hand, bath),
pens ink, pencils, writing paper, en-
velopes, shoe polish, shoe strings, nee
dies, thread, buttons, can openers, can
dies, matches, mineral water, blotters,
matted milk, handkerchiefs!
/ said I'd take a sample drink.
"Grenadine and lime juice mixed is
our most popular drink" the worker
assured me, We mix it in a new ash
can and sell it at ten cents a glass"
canteen isn't yet established"
"A canteen on wheels plies among
them"
/ wanted an example of the turn
over" at an established canteen.
In one camp of $500 men," / was
told, "the canteen does from 5000 to
10000 francs business per day, 1000
francs Of which is soft drinks
AT a profit?"
/ wanted to be sure OF this. wanted
to be sure that even in individual cases
here were no money making schemes.
The reply was straight from the
shoulder:
I'VE are running our canteens at a
loss On SO per cent. Of the goods sold.
Of the other SO per cent we can't be
certain, until we have chance TO
breathe-a chance to calculate the eX-
penses Of the long hauls involved over
dangerous seas in goods crowded boats
and then along the railways in war
racked and enemy invaded country.
III there shall then turn out TO pc a
profit it win be put into more nuts
for the men"
That statement I've taken some
trouble to investigate, and 1t is true.
Resides the centers established along
the main line of the camp, others are
spread through those remoter portions
OF France-the isolated spots where
special units of our troops are sta
toned. There is one at the aviation
grounds, more are with the artillery at
the base hospitals and still others have
followed the engineers; but in spite
of these there is sore need of six
times as many buildings and three
times as many workers as are required
at the conscript camps at home, and
this for the excellent reason that here
the soldiers are iiving in q land where
both language and customs are strange
! to them and where almost their only
wise social relaxation must be pro-
vided by the association.
And the demands from without con-
tinue. The army staff has lately sug-
gested-and the ''Y" has agreed-that
there be built on the fourth side OF
squares, otherwise occupied by army
base hospitals, an association club
one half of which may be the nurses
and the other half set apart for the
use of convalescents by day and or
derlies by night-a club with billiards
and reading rooms and a general con-
cert hall, in order, if only for the sake
n Il