The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1919-05-26
OFFICIAL ORGAN CRISP COUNTY.
MORE ABOUT THE y. M. c. A

MORE EBrUT THE Y. M. c. A.
The unfortunate misunderstanding
that have developed regarding the
Y. NJ. c. = in the w2r have brought
ont some lons Giscorrses and eXplana-
tons, charges and counter charges,
Here is Jew making explanations
that are splendid defense of the "Y."
1t is Il most remarkable thing, since
II has been charged that the Jews
and the Catholics had their full swing
and the Trotestants we're shut out.
You should read this breif portion
OF what DR.. Marcuson of Macon
writes about the true situation in the
Y M. G.. A. II is worth considering;
am sure il was done inadvertently
and that there was no intention On the
part of the President of the United
States. But he invited the Y. NJ. c. A.
to take charge of all the welfare work
Of the camps and excluded all other
organizations from the camp Now
let me not be misunderstood | am =
friend OF the Y. NJ c. A. and think
they have done magnificent work dur
ing the war. But the Y M. c. A. is a
Protestant Christian organization to
which only Professionals can belOng
And the religious services such as are
And the religious services carried on
in the shaCkS were services such as
are carried on in every Protestant
church.
When the attention of the War De.
partment was called to the glarine
violation of the religious rights of the
rest of the soldiers the War Depart,
ment first sought to compromise by
permitting the Jew and the Catholic
to put worker of their falkland at
their own eXpense-into each Y. NJ. c
A. hut. 1t must be said to the credit
of the leaders of the Z. NJ. c. A. that
they did everything in their power to
make this plan success but it would
not work. | can only give my own OK
perience but l could quote the expert
ence of dozens of others and it was
all the same. The Jewish boys want
ed services on Friday evening-their
Sabbath eve. Now Friday night was
the one night that the Y NJ. c. A. put
on special entertainments. The huts
were the only place that the men had
for recreation and song. The result
was that we conducted our religious
services to the tune of "Oyer There"
or some other popular melody sung by
the soldiers or played on the Victrola
in the same hut. After a lot of
Wrangling the War Department de-
tided to eXterd the same privilege 20
the Catholics and the Jews which it
mad already extended to the Protes-
tants through the Y. NJ. c. A., namely
the right TO erect huts and carry on
their work independently
/ KNOW il was impossible fer the
bis to get a rabbi into any of the
camps, They were referred to the
Jewish Welfare Board, and the Jewish
Welfare Board replied that they were
organized to do welfare work and not
religious, and there you were We
were told the chaplains were the only
one who were authorized TO look after
the religious needs of the soldiers
And here comes in the tragic part OF
the situation. The editorial stated
that the chaplains should have been
chosen proportionally and allotted to
the army Bless you, Mr. Editor. they
We're. and with 100000 Jewish boys
in the army there was not a Jewish
chaplain. Where was the trouble?
The wonderful rule of the War Depart
ment that the chaplain shall be chos.
en- according to the religion of the