The sun., 1918-09-11
THE WAR CHEST FOR THE
SEVEN.
Mr.. George w. Perkins. for the Young
Mems Christian Association. States
the Facts About the Coming Joint
Campaign 10 Raise Sf7O,5OO, 900.

I
To THE EDITOR OF THE SuN--Sir: Re-
plying to your inquiry regarding the
great drive about to be undertaken
by the seven organizations engaged in
war work submit the following:
Napoleon is credited with having
said that in war the value of morale
Ii as three to one Maintaining morale
in Napoleon's time was very different
from maintaining IL now. Napoleon
had no submarines, aeroplanes, gas OIL
| modern artillery constantly harassing
and shattering the nerves Of his men
TO maintain morale in the face OF
| these modern methods Of warfare Is
very much more difficult than it was
| In the days of Napoleon. The nerve
| strain or this war is far greater than
1t mas ever been in any preceding war
ana 1t Is therefore of the utmost i'm
portance that everything possible be
| done to relieve this strain and keen
the minds OF the soldiers as nearly
| normal as possible. This is the great
service that the Y. NJ. C. A. in its war
work Is trying to accomplish. Sim
liar work has been undertaken by the
Y. w. c. A. the War Camp Commu-
nifty Service, the Salvation Army. the
Catholic organizations. the American
Library Association and the Jewish
| Welfare Board.
President Wilson recently requested
that these SEVEN organizations Join in
a single campaign to raise the funds
necessary to carry on their work this
coming winter and into the new year.
Prompt response was made to his re-
quest through the formation Of a
committee representing the seven or
ganizations in thia country that are
engaged in serving our men in service
and an arrangement has been con-
cluded by which these seven organiza-
tons will have 4 joint campaign from
the 18th to the 18th of November for
the purpose Of raising s170, 500, 900
for the work they have in hand BY
unanimous vote DR.. John r. Mott.
general secretary of the Y. NJ. c. A.
was made director-ge of the cam
paign. The money raised will be made
to go lust as far as it possibly can.
Now s170,500,000 is a very large
sum of money, and many people will
naturally wonder why so large a sum
Is needed for this work. The reason
is found in the large number of things
that these societies are called upon to
do. which in a word embraces sup
plying. in various camps in this coun-
try and Europe, the things which the
have through his home, his church,
his theatre and his club. The more of
this work that is done the more normal
will be the life led by the man when
he Is not actually fighting, and this it
has been found helps most in MAIN
tanning morale.
The supplying to a million and a
half men the articles necessary to
play various outdoor games alone re-
quires several million dollars. The
value Of this sort of service is per-
haps best illustrated by an incident
told in n letter recently received from
Y. NJ. c. A. secretary operating a
hut near the front line trenches. He
wrote that number of men had come
marching back from the fighting line
the day before. and on reaching his
hut had stopped to rest and get some
coffee and sandwiches. They threw
themselves down on the ground not
in groups but singly, and did not at
tempt TO talk with one another Their
faces had very drawn and far away
expressions, and the secretary could
not interest them in ANYTHING or
arouse them in any wav. A counle
of hours later n Y. NJ G. A SUNNY
wagon drcw nm IN tho but and a,norg
other things urloaded n hoy of hats
and balls. The SECRETARY tool, the
box out into the feld rinned II oman
and threw the hats ana. balls IN the
men. who immediately iumned for
them. laid o,t n rude diamond and in
n feu ninutes vere deenly ,pterested
in n game of American baseball There
probably could no, no a better illus
trntion OF what IL needed I'm modern
warfare 70 get the mems minds awav
fror, tho awful c,rropa +be,, ,,,tnsss
when actualIv engaged In lighting
Another very imnortopt reason vby
II Il necessary To do evervthinp nos
sih,o IN ra,,eye tho str,i, an orr ,,er |
"a th.t thew canno, gnt hon,s for fur-
,ouvhs as the Frsnch and Eng,I.b |
soldiers 40. To trv and make I'm In !, |
vneasure for this a larpa p,nb.r ~
Inc bipgest hotels I'm southe,p Fr,nce
and Switzer,and Is ,,e heen TALON o,,sr
bv tho war worl, Courci, ~ tho v NJ |
r A and arc heiny used n, recr.o+,or
csrtra, for the soldiers, co thot on
n fnr,ouph man con On
don-, ,hora for oa.io,, I'D go