Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-09-17
DEFENDS Y. M. C. A.
Addresses Large Audience
at Grace M. E. Church
'aa-.~ Night

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Grace Methodist church Sunday
night and a large audience wa.
much interested in his defense of the
Y. M. C. A. in the war. The singing
of var songs was abandoned, but T.;
finely executed solo was given by
Paul Farnham as an otfertory. II
presenting Mr.. Stiles Rev. George A
Martin called attention to the contri-
button which St. Johnsbury has made
in the war in the quality of the mer
and the women and their service at
home and abroad which has filled oul
hearts with n measurable pride. He
referred to Mr.. Stiles as one Of the
first to go and among the last to
come home, adding that the presence
of the large audience was an express
sion of their joy at his return.
Mr.. Stiles said he had been re-
quested by many of his friends to
to answer some of the charges made
against the Y. M. C. A. in the wal
and the major portion of his address
was along these lines. He said the
service of the "Y" was for the many
and not for individuals and that
there we're nearly four million soldier
boys to be helped. With only 1,4O0
secretaries to do this work it was
impossible to reach the individual
very often, The Y. M. c. A. secured
1,500 buildings in England, France
and Belgium, which was twelve times
more buildings than was owned by
all the welfare organizations COM
bined.
The Y. M. C. A. did not want the
canteen work, but it was thrust upon
them by the army who could not
handle it. The great criticism of the
"Y" was that it did not give its stuff
to the boys. They were ordered to
sell the goods and run the cantecn
on business principles, though Mr..
Stiles said it was worth remembering
that the Y. M. C. A. did business
of $300,0O0,000 during the 10 months
they operated overseas and lost in
that time $25,000,000.
Answering the charge that the food
and tobacco never reached the front
lines, Mr.. Stiles said it was not the
fault of the Y. M. C. A. as they pur-
chased 1000 automobiles for trans
portation and the army requisitioned
all of them for transportation Of its
own food supplies, ammunition and
men. These were taken over at the
most critical period in the history
of the war, but it greatly crampcd
the work of the Y. M. C. A. The
secretaries that reached the front did
heroic work a~.I three-fourths of
them were cited for bravery and dis
tinguished service.
Mr.. Stiles devoted the latter part
of his address to his work in the ex-
cursion business on the Rhine. He
was stationed at Coblenz where the
"Y" had chartered six steamers for
the excursion trade and where 1000
to 1900 soldiers were given daily
rides. Everything in the excursion
line was free and 100000 soldiers had
chance to see the most picturesque
river in Europe that would have cost
then $40 apiece. This scheme was fl
nanced by George w. Perkins of
New York and it cost the Y. M. C.
A. 100000.
Mr.. Stiles said the Y. M. C. A. was
always opposed to the use of ciga-
rettes, but it had to be adopted as a
war measure. He said one need not
worry that America would get the
cigarette habit, because thousands of
soldier boys were giving up the habit
now that the war was over.