The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1918-07-20

the British Y. NJ c. A. in Flanders
and Picardy during the recent drive OF
the enemy
Tremendous responsibilities have
been shouldered upon the Y. Nj. c..
A." says DR.. Motifs statement. 1T
is a marvelously comprehensive thing
we have been asked to do over there.
We have not only been sent over
there simply TO represent the ministry
OF the Y. NJ G. A. as We understand
IL in this country. That is the small
est part of our task.
1T would be a great thing TO ex-
tend the ministry OF our association
TO the men OF our own country and
OF those of other lands who are in
France. but we have been asked TO
do more than that--we are TO repre-
sent all OF those American sons and
brothers not only the Y. NJ. c. A. OF
America, but we are to represent &c
them and be TO them for the time be-
4 ing, the American home, and this Is
a tremendous responsibility. We are
10 represent TO them the American
school and college. We are to repre-
sent 10 them the best phases OF Amer
lean club life and all that Is best OF
the American stage. We are to rep
resent to them the American churches
land what a great responsibility
that is! 1t is a comprehensive min
istry."
LET me give you additional rea-
sons why we need so much money to
continue our war work"
1.-The first reason is that we are the
only agency able to do this work on
any adequate scale. We have TO do
"over there" to a large extent. what
twelve or fourteen agencies are try
ing to do on this side Of the Atlantic
1.-THE second reason is that over
there forces are scattered. Over here
we are familiar with the great canton
ments where 10000 or 10000 or 10000
men are massed in each You will
find in France a division OF less than
10000 scattered in SO to GO villages.
heard OF two divisions that had ar
rived in France and the association
had only one secretary to place at
their disposal. These soldiers are
billeted in small groups all over the
villages. One bitter cold day forty Of
our boys were assigned to hay loft
The floor OF the stable that the cat
tie had occupied was cleaned up and
100 more were put there. The chicken
house held seven more and the car
penter's shop a dozen more. Eight
hundred boys were parceled cut in
that particular manner. The father
or mother Is not In this land who, L
he or she had been with mo and haC
seen their boy. as I have seen him
would not be willing to mortgage
house or land, IL necessary. in order
that tho Y. M. c. A. might be establish.
ed in that particular section. He or
she would say. you have got TO get
down to the unit OF 800. and not stoI
with serving large units OF 1000 o.
over"
Another reason why We need
large sums OF money is the constant
shifting that Is being done "over
there" In six months one division
OF our army had to shift four times
was put In five different positions
That means greatly increased cx-
pense. In this case II meant opening
up huts in thirty different villages
successfully for five times, OF to-
tai OF 100 villages
Another reason Is the broken
down means OF communication. All
the French railroads are worn out
saw the splendid double line America
has stretched almost across Franco,
and saw what America is trying 70
do with some of the French roads
But II we had not established our own
transport system we would not be IN
COS places now We have our own
canton and our own automobile SER
vice. But IL Is expensive. when you
think Of the prices we have TO pay.
However, without that service we
couldn't extend our ministry to the
boys. And we have got to increase
this service four-fold before we can
serve adequately the first million men
overseas
Another reason why IL is going to
cost so much is that prices are far
higher over there for everything than
they are here and they are constant
ly rising. Apparently this will con-
tinue to be the case for the duration