The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1918-10-24

YOUR SOLDIER
(By Mortimer L. Schiff>

(By Mortimer L. Schiff) !,
One hundred and seventy million
five hundred thousand dollars is the
sum asked from the American people
by the seven great organizations
working in cooperation for the well
fare and happiness of the men in our
army and navy. With this sum these
agencies now associated in war service
can carry on their great task of
bringing fellowship and a touch of
home comfort into the lives of those
who have left home and dear ones to
fight for their country and the cause
of democracy.
At first glance it seems a tremen-
dous sum, even in these days of gen.
erous giving. But considered in terms
of the task confronting US and the
number of men to be benefited, it is
ridiculously small. Next year our
armed forces will include in the neigh
borhood of five million men, and d.
vided among them these millions will
amount to less than ten cents each a
day.
Ten cents day to bring comfort
and happiness to each soldier and sal
lor! That seems little indeed to give,
Ten cents day for the man who laws
his youth on the altar of his country's
need! Ten cents day for our best
and bravest who have answered the
call to defend the liberties of the
world! Ten cents a day to send the
sustaining advantages of wholesome
fellowship and good cheer to the boy
who went so valiantly into that grim
but necessary business overseas!
This titanic world struggle has in
volved the use of such huge masses of
men that the problem Of looking after
their welfare and morale requires
leadership of the highest order and
organization problems of the highest
complexity. Our own fighting forces
during the months to come will COM
prise fully five per cent of the popu-
lation. These men are drawn from
every branch of our citizenship, from
tenement and palatial residence, from
the desk, the loom and the pillow. They
include New Englanders and southern
boys whose ancestors hewed out the
narrow beginnings of America from
the hostile primeval forest, and those
citizens drawn to our land of free
dom from every corner of the earth
whose American traditions are only
a few years old.
All these diverse forces have poured
into the great melting pot of the army
and navy, and been sent far from
home into new and unaccustomed sur
The grim game of war is
really stranger to Americans than to
the men of other nations, because
we have had no larger ar
mics. This fact has made all the more
the work of great organi-
cations to extend a friendly hand to
our fighters in alien fields so far away
from home. The least the stay-at-
homes can do is to bring a touch of
home comfort to the trenches. The
purpose of the United War Work
drive is to furnish the means for that.
The seven organizations that act as
substitute fathers and mothers to the
soldiers and sailors are the Y. M. C.
A., Y. w. C. 4, Catholic War Coun-
Gil, Jewish Welfare Board, War Camp
C Community service, American Library
Association and Salvation army. AS
soon as the boy leaves his home he is
welcomed by the sheltering arms of
these agencies, not in cold. imper-
sonal way, but in a spirit of warm
hearted, comradely helpfulness. They
minister to his wants all the way to
the front line trenches and beyond, for
even if a soldier is captured and in a
prison camp the long arms of these
reach out to him thru
the aid of neutral agencies. In camp
and on the line these organizations
are on hand to meet his needs, wheth-
err he wants cigarettes or a religious
service of his own faith. They give
him, club rooms, food, music, clean
amusements. books educational in
struction. They make him feel at
home in every city, both here and
abroad, and their huts rise like magic
palaces of good cheer in the wrecked
villages just behind where the great
guns are pounding their relentless
messages.
It is this work, carried on By thous-
ands Of splendid men and women, who
labor often amidst conditions of hard
ship and dangers, that keep the army
happy and spiritually fit for it's task.
AS a New York Jewish boy, writing
home from France, and referring par
ticularly to the cordial welcome he
had received at huts maintained by
the Y. M. C. A. and the knights Of
Columbus, expressed it, ut makes you
feel that Uncle Sam is patting you on
the back all the time and saving I'm
with you, kid"
If ten cents day per soldier and
sailor can make the boy feel this way,
he would indeed be a poor citizen who
would begrudge the total of $170,50O,-
900. It will be a matter of honor for
US to 60 over the top and send a good
round sum in addition for good meas
ure.
There is further factor in this
United War Drive which l firmly be-
lieve is of the utmost significance for
the future of our country. Here we
have seven great organizations, Pro-
Catholic and Jewish, that have
obliterated their religious
and merged their effort
for a great national service. Just as
the boys of these three faiths are
fighting shoulder to shoulder in this
great war for Justice and human lib
erty, so these organizations represent
ing diverse creeds are cooperating
heartily for the fullest measure of
Of course it is a great crisis in hu-
man affairs, stern call to duty, that