Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-14

unfair implications the entire self-sacri
hcing work OF the representatives OF thi;
| organization.
! Complaint is entered against tn,
prices charged by the " it has been
explained many times that the prices
never exceeded, and often failed "a
cover, the cost Of the supplies and theii
, transportation. This was n business
proposition, run on these lines with the
approval Of General pershing. Ncverthe.
/ less. the Y. NJ. G. ~ lost Il great deal
of money In these transactions and al
! the front with the wounded ii lavishly
gave away supplies OF all kinds. In
deed. with our own division, We were
able to keep the men at the front abund-
antly supplied. When you lind soldiers
up there discriminating between differ
ent brands of cigarettes and asking you
when one kind Is offered as n free gift.
Tor another make which better suits their
taste, then YOU know that they are not
suffering from lack OF cantecn supplies.
why Prices Were Not Uniform
Through want of information, some
have severely scored the Y. NJ. G. \. for
; railing to keep in touch with the sick
and wounded In hospitals. The reason
FOR this is that, in order to avoid dupli-
cation OF effort, the Y. NJ. g. A. agreed
10 leave tho care of the wounded and i'll
In the permanent hospitals entirely to
the American Red Cross. The secretaries
Nftt Nui Ell uAlE instructed 10 pDStTNb llllS
rule. on the other hand the Y was con-
cerned with the wounded at the front.
Personally I have worked in the field
hospitals, in make-shift hospitals be-
hind the lines, in dressing stations a few
hundred yards from the front, have car
ricd wounded In my ~ car. and have
served in first aid stations in the very
front line where we were cut off from
food and water supply and from stretcher
bearers by extraordinary shell fire. 1t is
such locations that account for the num-
ber Of secretaries killed, wounded and
gassed. as the result OF exposure and
ONerworl5
1T has been charged that the prices at
different V. NJ &. A. Canteens were not
always uniform. ] know Of instances
in which this was true, but quite justif-
able. Consider two ~ secretaries serv-
ing i'm different villages with parts of
the same division. one OF them has sold
his stock more rapidly than the other,
4 certain article must always be sold
at the figure at which IL is billed t. him
when delivered from the div isional or
regional warehouse. This warehouse,
in turn. is supplied from Paris head
quarters. When his supplies are cx-
hausted, he is brought another load from
the warehouse In this new load par
ticular articles have been billed at a
lower price, They are part Of new
just received from Paris,
on which the ~ has been able to cut the
figure. Quite naturally, this secretary
starts TO sell his new stock
of this article al the new and lower price
at which 1t is billed TO him. The secre-
tary in the next village, however, having
his store of canteen goods,
has not exhausted his supplies. Conse-
quently he does not receive his share of
these newly rated articles until a few
days later. Then he is quite right, so
long as he Knows of no alteration in
price. in continuing TO sell this article at
the old price at which it had been billed
to him.
Some soldiers. however. passing from
one village 10 the other and visiting both
canteens, might notice the discrepancy
In the prices asked for that article If
he should be reasonable man. he would
make good-natured inquiry If, as is
sometimes the case, he should be a
chronic Crouch with chip on his shoul-
der he might take pleasure in spreading
abroad the report that a certain ~ sec
retary was overcharging and giving the
soldiers a raw deal.
"The y. ". &. A. did not have SUM-
Client transportation. The cantecn un-