The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-02-26
Editor Palladium:

dllduluLu.
have been very much interested in
the articles by Victor Mcknight now
appearing in the Palladium and deal.
ing with various topics, of interest
in connection with the war. But par
ticularly was / interested in the one
entitled "Y. NJ. c. A. in France" which
was run on the editorial page in the
issue of Tuesday, November Is.
In this article Mr.. Mcknight gives
seven different counts on which the
Y. NJ. G. A. has been indicted by the
Doughboys.
In other words, seven different
things that the Y. NJ C. A. has done
or has not done that make the organ
ization thoroughly unpopular with the
soldier. He then follows this with a
sort Of defense of the "Y"-presents
the other side of the case, as it were.
He does not, however, draw any con-
illusions either for or against the "Y".
The reader is still left in the dark.
Believes Them Misleading
Further, while both his arraignment
and defense of the "Y" are true to
fact, they are both misleading.
Personally know very little about
the American Doughboy in France, but
l do know something about the Great
American Gob'-the enlisted man of
the Navy, who will try anything and
succeed; fight anybody and win, and
his activities in European waters and
shore stations and do not believe he
differs materially from his land-fight-
ing brother, the "Doughboy."
Because feel that the Y. NJ. c. A.
as an institution is not the property
Of its secretaries and directors, but
rather that it belongs to all of us
(nearly everyone has contributed to
its support and all are to some eX-
tent Influenced and affected by it,
am taking the liberty of endeavoring
to throw a little light-reflected light
to be sure, as you will later see-into
the darkness left by Mr.. McNaught's
article.
Refers to Article.
In the March issue of the Cosmo-
politan there is an article by Judge
Ben. B. Lindsey. entitled the Dough
boys Religion" Everybody in the
United States ought to read it. 1t gets
at the real truth and I am going to
quote from it a little further along in
this letter
That the Y. NJ. C. A. was partly gull
ty of the charges made against it by
the Doughboys to Mr.. Mcknight, there
is no question.
Likewise there is no question but
that on some counts it was entirely
innocent. But even if it were guilty of
all, that would not be sufficient to ac-
count for the existing animosity of the
Of no nd
Navy, and when you discover that
after you have proved to the Cob" or
"Doughboy" that his criticisms are un-
founded or that he has condemned the
entire "Y" for the faults of few and
yet his luminosity still persists. you
begin to realize that there must be
something more radically wrong with
the "Y"-something that the Dough
boy himself feels in sort Of sub-con-
cious way-but feels most strongly,
nevertheless.
What is 1t?
In the following QUOTED from Judge
Lindsey / believe you will the an
swer.
What was really wrong?
Discovering the Truth.
THE truth became apparent in "a
very curious way. Some of the sY'
workers proposed that the soldiers at
the "Y'' meetings should be asked to
answer a QUESTIONABLE In which they
should give the three cardinal sins
that were most abhorred by the sol
der. The average answer was to be
taken as a message" from the dough
boys in France to those back in Amer
lea. And, of course, it was hoped that,
after all the crusading that had been
done against drinking, gambling, and
the boys would line up
solidly against those three vices.
THE result was startling. No mat
ter where the vote was taken, and no
matter how the question was asked,
the soldiers answered invariably that