The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-31
DENIES REPORTS
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treme courage. Thirty-five "Y" secre-
taries paid with their lives during the
war, he declared.
He declared that, despite Iknocks
and criticism aimed at the association,
II made splendid, an enviable record.
How could they do otherwise" he
wanted to know. when they were the
fathers and uncles and elder brothers
of the fighting men themselves"
| He, himself, he declared, was at one
| time within two Kilometres VI the Ger
man guns. so close that the army kitch-
ems were not permitted to make fires
for fear the telltale flames would re-
veal the position of the army to the
Huns.
II was deeply mortified" he said.
! when, upon returning to this country,
to learn that the work of the " over
seas was being SO severely criticised.
over there we knew our work was not
perfect i admit that we made some
mistakes. that our organization was
not 100 per cent efficient
F.; He excused this by saying that the
organization was compelled to operate
! at a distance of from Tour TO six miles
from its base of supplies. Everything
considered. he thought the work of the
~" was splendid SUCCESS.
The measure of success OF the work
overseas will not be diminished among
fair-minded people who refuse to be
Influenced by statements of the misin-
formed or those who purposely con-
/ tort the facts, he declared.
/ Marshall Eoch and General Perehing.
| he said. both have commended the
work of the "Y." He thought this
should be taken as authoritative and
should be sufficient to convince doubt
1 ing Thomases."
n
has heard, he said, was that the "Y''
/ profiteered. that 1t overcharged Ameri-
| can soldiers in It's eanteens. He said
| hs visited hundreds of "Y" huts aud
! talked to thousands OF soldiers "over
! there" and heard mot word about
protiteering or dissatisfaction with
! prices charged. He had TO come back
| to the United States, he said, to hear
, the charge.
! Ills only solution of the matter. he
| said. was that the average American
, soldier does not understand the value
of French money and. as rule. cam
! not reduce it TO American money
Forty or forty-five confines for a
package of cigarettes gbunds like
forty or forty 1--we cents. he said,
whereas in reality It is only eight or
nine cents. much less. he said, than
the same package of cigarettes can
be purchased in America.
profteeriug. he declared A canteen
secretary could not have proiifed by
such practice, AS the books OF the or
ganization were periodically audited by
the United tSates government and the
~ in every instance. he declared, had
been given clean bill.
Returning soldiers who have spread
reports of unfairness on the part of
the organization either were mistaken
sats ts.ra hky&k
were not true, he said.
The ~" he said. issued monthly
price lists. which were available TO
the soldiers. 1t would have been an
easy matter to report worker FOR
overcharging and have him court
nardaled, he said
THE trouble is he said, II an,
afraid our boys expected too much
Mr.. Long left for overseas last july
and was over there" eight months.
The transport on which he went over
zigzagged It's course across and landed
safely. No German submarines were
encountered, but evidences OF the
work of the E-boats, he said, were
visible on every handkerchief life
boats. portions of wrecked vessels.
driftwood, and on one occasion the
dead body of victim OF Hun fend-
ishness, with a life saver arouut 1t.
floating on the surface of the water
When he arrived In England
!, matches were selling for cent
apiece, and often none were to he
had. There was no butter or sugar
ana restaurants and other places were
} serving chocolate ice cream without
sugar People carried saccharine
tablets around with them and used
the sweetef1ing instead OF sugar. Milk
was available only for babies and in
valids. Ablebcdicd people caught
8 drinking the tactical fluid were fined
$2o.
He did not like his first job--that
of clerk in the counting house of The
~" headquarters in France--al-
though ne enjoyed conversing daily
with the great bankers Of the French
capital
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