Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-14
El1fntng Gl1at

1
soldiers and sailors for the making
of the history of the keystone State
In the great war and in q short time
II is expected that a complete rec
ord of the men who went out with
the National Guard units to Camp
Hancock will be in hand. Then the
compilation of the enlistments in the
Regular Army. the Navy and the
Marine Corps will be sought through
washington and each local draft
board will be asked to furnish names
OF men inducted from it's official rec
ords. The Adtutant Generals De-
partment is in charge of the collec-
ton OF the names of the States Mill
tlamen who were mustered into Fed
eral service and in addition has COM
piled extensive information about
Mexican border service. The other
information will likely be gathered
through the committee of the State
Historical Commission on the state
history and the state draft head
quarters will have the records of the
operation of the selective service law.
Experience with the records of mon
who served in the Civil and Span
ish wars has enabled a system to be
worked out and with the draft head
quarters records it is believed that
the information will be available in
much shorter time than after pre-
ViouS wars.
The Rev. DR.. Robert BagneIl, pas
tor of Grace Methodist Church, who
spent three months in France and
England on tour to American troop
camps and army bases, has a num-
ber of interesting stories of the eff
fective organization and work of the
Y. NJ. c. A. One soldier to whom no
spoke said These ~ fellows GER
tainly are on the job. Why I be-
lieve If a German bomb would blow
me hundred feet in the air I'd find
a " secretary up there with a cup
of coffee to hand to me-" Speaking
of the work of the Y. M. C. A. in
small French villages where Ameri-
can troops are quartered for short
time and then move on, DR.. Bagnell
said the secretaries are always ready
when the men leave and go right
with them. "As soon as the order
comes to pack the worker gets his
equipment together, goes right on
with the men and as soon as they
reach their next stop for camp he
is on the Job. Sometimes the same
night the boys reach another town
, where they are to stay for short
period the secretary communicates
with headquarters and sometimes
u has a concert company or some 9TH
er entertainer or speaker sent out at
once. That the boys appreciate this
:. service is seen everywhere. None
;, ever had anything but praise for
5 5 the Y. M. c. A. work"
In London the Eagle" hut is the
leader DR.. Bagnell said. This is the
: largest one in the world and mas
Il many buildings all connecting with
central one. There are rest rooms.
e billiard rooms, reading rooms, big
n auditorium, restaurant, in fact every
= thing a soldier can want Every ef-
l. fort is made by the Y. M. c. A.
o workers to get the boys there when
Q they come to London on leave. They
Q are told in the camps in England
}. about the hut and secretaries give
e them directions to 1t so that if sol 4
n dier once gets to the hut there is
n little danger of him meeting any
r temptations in the largest city in the
= world. At the Eagle" hut there are
: two women fully acquainted with
= the city. One of them is a noted So
cial worker When a soldier on leave
= arrives and wants to go sightsee-
g ing or visit certain places these two
o women map out his tour and in case
|. a group of men are going a "Y"
o worker is sent along. In this man
: ner soldiers on leave can see the
g most in the shortest possible time.
every city. and there are many pit
falls for the soldiers. DR.. Bagnoll
I told of the system which has been
| developed in London. Workers pa
] troll the streets at nights and when
they see a soldier or sailor they stop
him and inquire what he is doing.
| In case ne has no mission and is
Just wandering around he is taken
to hut. Frequently men on leave
are found at night under the in
fluence of liquor. They are taken
to the hut also and kept there until
. morning.
During his visit in the battle zones
DIR. Bagnell met Representative NJ
Clyde Kelly, OF Pennsylvania, who
was with the party of congressman
who went to France. DR.. Bagnell
| explained that he did not take time
to visit the front line trenches in the
battle area because of the time
which he would have lost in max
ing the trip.
While Dr. Bagnell did not go to
-. Italy he had an excellent oppor-
- tunity to study the Italian situation
he said. He did not give any further
explanation, but in speaking of hia
o experiences mentioned that on
0 one part of the tour he had a fire
view of the Alps. 1t was suggest
ed that he must have been in South
ern France. He only smiled. DR..
Bagnel1 was under military regula-
tions during his entire trip and is
yet so far as making any public
statement of the places he visited.
He gave that as his reason for not
mentioning any towns or villages.
Some people are easily satisfied.
A short time ago man in New Jer-
sey wrote TO Deputy Attorney Gen
eral William M. Hargest for the
laws of Pennsylvania relative to
marriage, Mr.. largest replying that
they were TO be found in seven VOL
umes of a standard digest The Jer-
| seyman ut orce replied with thanks.
saying that the information was what
he needed and suggesting that the
laws be at once placed at every
courthouse or place where person.
b would be likely to ask question.
e about them. He did not want other.
r to be as inconvenienced in getting
information as he had been before
writing to Mr.. largest. Just wha
l. the others of whom he was so solicit.
tous would think of wading through
Q seven volumes is little hard to worl
T out.