Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-05-09
WORK
FOR ARMY ABROAD
Report of George w. Perkins on
Activities of the 0rgani-
cation in Europe.
CRITICISMS WERE NOT JUST
Arose Usually From Difficulty of Sc,
curing Competent Workers and
From Confused Conditions of
Observation-Disclosures Few,
Practically Unavoidable.

FFaCLlcally UNAVOIDABLE.
New York, May I'm a report made
public today George w. Perkins, chair
man of the finance committee of the
Y. NJ. G. A. war work committee. tells
of the results of his recent investiga-
ton of the work which the Y. NJ. C. "A.
has done in Europe.
First explaining the difficulty of Sc
curing efficient workers and the care
exercised in the selection of the 1929
persons who were SEN abroad, Mr..
Perkins says:
Much has been said about the in
efficiency of ONE of these workers,
and, without doubt, a number of them
were inefficient. In any form of or
g~anizatiOn in civilian life, whether it
be public schools, chain stores or cor
porations, if 90 per cent of those
originally employed make good, the
result is regarded as highly satisfac-
tory. If 10 per cent of the 11,229
people operating in France for the
Y. M. G. A. were inefficient it would
mean that there were 1872 men and
women who were more Or less of a
failure. / do not believe that any
thing like this number of people were
unsuccessful but if under the close
scrutiny which the soldiers give these
welfare workers even 5 per cent Of
them we're failures, it would have put
a large amount of criticism in circula-
ton, and the work of the 90 per cent
who were successful would be forgot
ten in the publicity given to the 5
per cent who were unsuccessful.
'"That the workers as a whole were
fact that IA Y. NJ. g. A. secretaries
were killed and 126 others were
wounded"
Why canteen Prices Varied.
The report relates the troubles and
expenses met by the 7. NJ. G. A. after
it undertook the management of the
army canteens at the request of Gen
eral Pershing and the confused condi-
lions that made it impossible to arrive
at an average cost price of the goods
sold to the soldiers. 1t continues
"The Y. M. G.. A. never solicited
money for the purpose of giving away
its canteen supplies. If the Y. M. g. A.
had given away canteen supplies in
France on the scale of its sales, it
would have spent in this activity alone
at least as much money as it's entire
expenditures in France for all its ac-
t~fvities. The constant policy of the
Y. M. C. A. was to sell canteen sup
plies at as nearly cost as possible, and
to bend every effort, when fighting was
in progress, to furnish the men at the
front with supplies free of charge
where it was at all possible to get the
goods to them.
"Some have criticized the 7. M. @.
A. for not giving away more articles,
such as cigarettes, chocolate, etc. Its
policy has been not to give away gen
orally, but only in special and needy
cases. From June, 1918, to April, 1919,
the 7. NJ. G. A. handled in France
alone upward of 2,OOO.OOO,OOO pack
ages of cigarettes, 100000 bars of
chocolate, 100000 cans of smoking
tobacco. 100000 cigars, 6O,000,O 900
cans of jam, 100000 packages Of
chewing gum, and 100000 packages
of candy. These are only a few of the
items handled, but the size of these
figures should convince anyone that 1t
would be financially impossible for the
Y. M. g. A. to give its supplies, away
generally. Furthermore, the army.
does not favor any such policy. It
thinks that it is far better for the men
to spend their money IN such articles
as these than to spend it in other
ways. For the most part the men hold
the same view"
Its Varied Activities.
In considerable detail Mr.. Perkins
relates the varied and extraordinarily
extensive activities of the Y. M. G. A.
abroad, including the manufacture of
much of it's supplies, the establishment
Of many hundreds of huts, with ath-
Iotics moving pictures and various