The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-04-21
EQUIPMENT NEED
OF FIGHTING men
Sports Makes the Boys For.
get That They Are Home
sick and Weary.

New York. April l3.--"Supply ex-
hausted of first base mitts: masks
! catchcrs' mitts. projectors. fieldcrs'
gloves and rules supply low. Spring
supplies should be rushed az rapidly as
possible on different ships. Increase of
athletic goods essential. Unexpected
needs at front require "a large in
crease"
This cablegram from France has
Just been received by the Y. NJ. G. A.
OF this country. 1t calls attention to
what our men overseas regard as one
great deficiency In the equipment Of
the United States troops. Baseball IL
stu our national game. even over there
In Flanders. and the basemen object TO
taking hard throws from across the
diamond with their bare hands.
Fighting men must have their play.
To the Y. NJ. &. A. the government
has intrusted the task of supervising
the athletic recreation OF hundreds OF
thousands of men. It's no small Job.
Athletic Equipment Needed.
Here Is an incomplete list Of the a,h-
letic material required to start tho boil
rolling among the men OF the expedi-
tionary force in France. Seventy
nine thousand six hundred and eighty
bascballs and $4,000 bats: 5000 fielders'
gloves and 1000 catchers' mitts: 11,200
footballs Of various kinds. 1900 sets Of
boxing gloves and 400 vollcy balls.
When the umpire calls Play ball.
American soldiers forget all about the
grim business Of war. A baseball game
for the company championship in a
concentration caKp is. for the time be-
ing. the principal object In life. The
game must be played with all the ma
tional enthusiasm. II must be played
right That's why they want more rule
books. The few that went over have
been thumbed SO much that the replen-
iShing OF the supply Is made "A part Of
cable message at so much a word
That is condition that stirs the
athletic authorities of the Y. II. e. \. TO
enthusiasm. Play makes the boys who
are fighting for democracy forget that
they are fighters and recall that they
are democratic. Old fashioned army
officers who were bitterly opposed 10
the Introduction of such fol de rol into
the training OF the greatest army the
United States ever has been called on
to raise, have rctracted their structures
against the innovation. In fact. they
state that they wouldn't think of try
ing TO prepare an army for the trcnch hes
without an intensive athletic program.
Field Games Compulsory.
| SO they rejoice when the supply of
mitts runs out and chest protectors and
rules are all but exhausted. DR.. George
J. Fisher Of the physical department OF
the Y. II. c. A. quoted the other day
the report Of the comma ndant Of a
| western camp who had just returned
from France.
| From now On athletics Is coinpuI-
| sorry in this camp" he ordered. What
I saw in the concentration camps o!
| France convinces me that the bes,
preparation we can give our men for
the military problems they must solve
in the trenches Of the western front IL
d plentiful supply OF athletics properly
supervised so that in a gathering of sc
many thousand virile young Americana
all may receive equal benefits"
There Is one camp in the United
States" said DR.. Fisher. where Their
are 400 basketball teams. II baseball