The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-05-17
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
IN F o R M A TON
Blu RE- U
Washington. D. C.
SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS.
Washington. D. C.

| SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS.
| Washington, D. c., May 14-What
can the American citizen do for the
American soldier to make his life a
normal one, and to, compensate him
for the great sacrifice he is making
| to serve his country?
| That question just now is very
much to the front. A large proper
ton of all the people in this country
have their relatives or friends at the
generously eager to do something
| for them. The way in which this i'm
pulse Of friendliness and sympathy is
applied will be no small factor in the
| making Of our army.
This problem of the relation be-
tween the army and the civilian popu-
| lation is as old as war. The placing
| of great bodies of men under arms
| has always generated new and pow
| erful emotions, dislocateds long stand
/ ing family and social relations. There
| have always resulted a good deal of
social Reorganization and disorder
1 The United States government in
this war has faced this problem scien-
tifically. Instead of leaving its solu-
| ton to chance and nature, the secre-
tary of war has appointed a special
| commission on training camp activi-
| ties to solve it, One branch of this
| commissi- N, the war camp community
service, is devoted wholly to the prob
/
tween tae soldiers in training camps
and the civilians of the surrounding
| communities. The result is that an
enormous mobilization has been car
RED out with a minimum of disorder
and friction
| Some disorder and some friction
have been inevitable. Some well-in-
| tentioned persons have blundered, and
some critics have misunderstood the
policy which the government is pur-
| suing. 1t has recently been stated,
| for example, that our soldiers are be-
| ing entertained too much, that they
| are being lured away from the grim
| business of war into the ,enervating
| atmosphere of social pleasure. 1t has
also been charged that they have been
| overloaded with CONNECTIONS, verbal
| and edible. 2
| The war department agrees that
doleful and sentimental letters are not
| good for soldiers. 1t believes that every
soldier should have frequent letters
from home, but these should be cheer
! full, and should not deal with the hor-
rors Of war or the sufferings of those
left behind. 1t also frowns upon the.
| 'godmother idea" whereby women
correspond with soldiers whom they
do not know, and for whom they have
1 no real social responsibility. The send
ing of perishable dainties has also
been somewhat overdone, and so has
I
| forts which he does not need.
| But the war department emphatic
| cally does not believe that soldiers
are being entertained too much. 1t
follow a "hands-off'' policy with re-
gard to the men in training It be-
lieves that cordial and pleasant rela-
lations can exist between the civilians
and the recruits. and the war camp
community service has been organized
i f1of lot he 4
and maintained.
There are two reason why men in
| training camps should not be cut off
from the usual social relations and
| habits of their civilian life. In the
first place. these men have a certain
amount of liberty of action; they go
away on leave and on furIo. 1t is a
fact which has been proved by every
mobilization in history that the SOL
der on ieave is unusually subject to
the temptations of dissipation. Re-
leased from a peculiarly monotonous
and exleting occupation, he is deter
mined TO find amusement II he can
not find it il. a desirable environment,
he will find it in an undesirable one.
Social diseases never fail to spread
and gain Roadway during war. They
| have crippled every army that has
ever taken the field. There was never
any army more free from these dis
day. Since the war broke out, the
4 amount If venereal disease in the
American s'my has been cut down so
i per cent, and that is almost as impor-
tant saving of human material as
tho casualties on the front had been
health and life is attributed by the
war department to the fact that
American soldiers have been encour-
aged in every way to take up their
- - II
vate homes and clubs and dances.
They have been provided with a nor
NAL social environment and therefore
have not sought an abnormal one.
1t appears that the 'hands-off-the-
soldier policy is not practicable
one, even if it were desirable For
. soldiers have leave, and they have a
right to leave. They cannot be kept
always IN barracks rs animals are
kept in cages. When a soldier gets
leave lie goes to the nearest city or
, town in search of diversion. feminine
companionship and charge CT fare
, Ir Atlanta Ga for ex~--p'e. wf'rN is
/ within reach of almost half a million
, soldiers, there is rea-iv always a
, floating population of from three to
five thousand soldiers on leave.
: Under the supervision of the war
camp community service, and thanks
!, to the hospitable spirit of Atlanta's cit
izens these soldiers are to be found
taking dinner with various citizens.
) attending dances. amusing themselves
in clubs. taking automobile rides, go
, | ing to theaters and concerts. All of
these things are arranged for them.
The war camp community service has
|, organized Observation-Disclosures
: ldinner-movement" in almost every
: city near a cantonment; it has solicit
ed Invitations of all kinds for the men
n The invitations have been generously
o extended and promptly accepted. II