Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1918-01-10
The Kid Brother IN Camp
How Uncle Sam Has OEeanized de Thinning Camp
ACTIVITIES 10 Provide Healu OuIe4s for de Sol Eneuy
By J.ne.HCoEas

Inc KID DrOther Is now In camp.
He went full of health and energy
the army surgeons have seen to that.
When he reached his National army
cantonment Uncle Sam Immediately be-
gan to put naore energy into him. He
will live outdoors 16 hours a day, and
get scientific physical training to tune
up every muscle In his body and make
it available for, endurance and hard
work. War is the most energetic ac-
tivity of mankind. They will fill the
kid brother full of the energy of the
athlete and give him the enjoyment
of properly trained muscles that comes
to the acrobat. They will do this and
then multiply him by 100000. and the
sum total of him will be 100000 Ameri-
can boys with more energy and better
ideas OF how to use it than have ever
been possessed by an equal number.
This energy is being generated to
fight the Germans. But before it can
be applied on the western front there
Is a problem even more serious than
fighting Germans to be solved. On
less you give that much energy an am
pie outlet it is going to wreck some
thing. IF it cannot find anything else
to wreck it will wreck itself.
About year ago in little town on
the Mexican border there were 5000
kid brothers in our National Guard
camp near town which had not even
a pool room, much less a moving pic
ture theater. The one organized out
let for energy there was a we'll
equipped, efficiently run redlight dis
trict. Many of those 5000 soldiers
did the logical thing to
wreck themselves. They were so sue
cessful that the war department hur-
riedly sent trained social workers to
see what could be done to stop the
damage, and one of these social work
ers who is now in charge in the train
ing camp activities of the National
army resolved as he stood in the desc
late streets of Douglas, Ariz., that If he
ever got chance to provide healthful
outlets for soldiers energy he would
| certainly do the best job that he knew
how. Today this man, Raymond B.
Fosdick, has charge of the training
| camp activities of our new National
army, and what sort of a job he is do
ing you may judge for yourselves.
May Think Time Lost.
The kid brother knows that when
he goes to camp Uncle Sam will have
provided for him a uniform, rifle, q
place to live and sleep, and proper in
struction in the soldiers discipline and
duties. He has probably seen some
figures of the food that he is to eat,
the millions of pounds of beef, and
beans, and jam; the trainloads of po-
tatoes and onions and cabbage. He
is willing to do this patriotic service
as q soldier. Yet he may also feel
that his period of soldiery, whether it
last one year or five, may be SO much
| time dropped out of his life, spent in
a sort of Jail far from the people and
| the things that he likes. If he has
heard anything at all about training
camp activities it is probably about
only that part of it which relates to
booze and vice. So much has been said
| about safeguarding his morals that he
may have good reason to think that he
| is going to have pretty dull, sissified
sort of a time.
Suppose the kid brother comes from
| some country town where good shows
| are seldom seen. If he got a chance
to see a real Broadway success under
| the management of a man like Marc
Klaw he would not let it get by. Well,
| he is going to a place where there will
| be q theater under the management
| of Marc Klaw, and will have a chance
| to see some of the real Broadway sue
cesses. Booze and vice have received
altogether too much publicity in con-
| nection with the soldiers training, Mr..
| Fosdick says-they are negative actfv-
| tiles in his job and also the least i'm
| portant and most uninteresting. Despite
a great public curiosity in this phase
| of the work there has been little
| difficulty in making the surround
| ings clean. The army has enlist
| ed local police officials in every train
| ing camp territory, and these terri
tories have been cleaned up. and vice
and booze are giving little trouble, and
that is about all there is to say of
| them.
Show Every Night.
The active work is much more inter-
esting. This is divided into work in
side the camp and outside in adjoining
cities and towns. Each cantonment
VIII have its own theater. seating $500
I people, and in these theaters every
night there will be shows given by pro-
fessional actors and actresses travelling
on regular circuits, far above the av-
erage theatrical amusements available
to 20 per cent OF the boys in their
home towns. Two weeks every month
will be given up to legitimate drama,
goods plays, and musical shows, cur
rent successes from the big towns.
/