Trench and camp., 1919-01-30
WHICH DID MORE
THE 'T OR ARMY?
Continued from First Paee.)

at liberty.
The cigarettes and tobacco were
really not excessively priced. In fact.
at Nice, in the "Y" canteen, one could
buy for one franc last December a box
of twenty of the brand that was ad-
vertising "a shilling and sXpence in
London, 80 cents here; that is, for
at the rate of exchange then prevail
boxes advertised in all the Amer
lean magazines were boxes of ten,
as every smoker of that brand
knows. Later at another camp near
ST Nazaire boxes of ten We're selling
for a franc. Even at that price they
were costing just about three-fifths
of what was being charged in the
States. Chocolate was hard to get in
France in the quantities that the SOL
diers demanded it, Nobody ever
knew before what candy eaters Amer
lean boys could become when living
an active out-of-door life and when
eating comparatively little sWeeten-
ing in their regular food.
The United States government found
1t necessary to take over the output
of at least one big chocolate manufac-
turing plant in France. The Y. NJ.
c. A., buying through the commits
sary, got some of this chocolate and
sold it to the American soldiers. when
the people of France themselves
couldn't buy chocolate in their stores.
l never knew of case of overcharg-
ing for chocolate by the Y. M. c. A.
] was able to get all that / wanted at
what | considered a fair price and at
price which | have since found COM
pares not unfavorably with that
charged in the States. Often ] have
heard the French bemoan the fact
that they could buy no chocolate, and
gift of even tiny section of one of
the ch-cOveted cakes of milk choc-
- -
lucky child who received it in smiles.
Gave to French.
There were two girl refugees from
northern France who used to come
to our camp to collect laundry for
the men, mere children, but one Of
them told about her four-ye old sister,
who would never eat the chocolate
that the Americans used to give
them, but would insist upon every bit
of 1T being saved to send to her broth
er, who had been a prisoner in Ger
many since 1914. In fact. the Ameri-
cans were so generous with their lux
uries supplied them through the "Y'
and other agencies that it was neces-
sary to issue an order forbidding them
to give or sell tobacco and cigarettes
to the French.
The stories OF the cigarettes pur-
chased through newspaper tobacco
funds finding their way into the Y. M.
c. A. through an error on the part Of
the quartermaster's department, has.
I think, been fully enough explained,
so that by this time nearly everybody
who had followed the controversy
knows where the blame for that mis-
take lies. / do know, however. that
one week our company was not issued
its regular tobacco ration but. in its
stead, received from the quartermaster
cigarettes, and that some of the men
who were on the ration detail that
day assured me that these cigarettes
came from a box marked Sun To-
bacco Fund" AS for free smokes from
the various tobacco funds that were
raised, ] received not one while /
was in France, and / was there long
enough to bring back one gold chew
ron on my left sleeve.
AS to the personnel of the Y. M. c.
A, ! was pleasantly surprised to
find it as good as it was. With all
the young men physically fit, except
the divinity students, caught in the
draft, and with only the older men
and the physically unfit to call upon
to do the work that involved some-
times from twelve to eighteen hours
behind counter and doing a rushing
business in foreign currency with
which neither buyer nor seller was
sure did draw some prizes. OF course.
in recruiting seven thousand men
they ma0e some errors. I remember
one of the association buildings in the
city which was the headquarters of
one of the American armies which
was far from ideally managed. The
canteen hours were brief, the whole
place was untidy, the opportunities
for reading were limited and not in
frequently the envelopes and paper
necessary for letter writing were
lacking.
many other huts that were admir-
ably looked after. In Anglers. the
first city in which I encountered the
association at work in France. the
"Y" quarters were two small rooms
in the brick barracks just opened for
the French and American troops.
Before / had been there month
big, new sectional building, costink
upwards Of $4,000 had been erected.
with a large auditorium and the
usual canteen and rest rooms. But
in their cramped quarters and in
the larger building the "Y" workers,
two college girls and an elderly man,
were untiring in their efforts to servS
the soldiers who hocked to the place.
/ never entered the "Y' hut to find
the young women too tired to greet
every soldier who came in with the
friendliest kind of a smile. never
knew the man to lose patience or to
reply with even a trace of rudeness
to any question put to him.
In fact only had one "Y' secre-
tary in all France treat me brusQuely
and he was chap in hut at st:
NaZaire who declined to serve a num-
Der Of the men in our company who
had entered the building cold and
hungry, just at the hour that the
canteen was closing for the day. l