The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-04-19
Didn't Win the Whole War
Not on All Fronts.
sTrish Catholic" Writes to the
Stars and Stripes.
TELLS OF THE y. N. WORN
Y Men and Women Had Not an
Easy Task.
Plenty of "WiIburs" Who Did
First Aid Work.

To the Editor of the Stars and Stripes:
| I am not the guy who really won
the war, nor did I see ali the fronts,
but there are q lot Of other birds in
this outfit who didn't get as far to-
ward Berlin as yours truly. Having
! introduced myself to my enthusiastic
| readers, stand back and allow me to
begin.
| My subject tonight will be few
words about the Y. M. G. A. Some OF
the lads don't seem to like it. and have
started to make the crowd back home
think it's false alarm. Now, Ed, you
| know that it's an easy thing to scatter
vitrioi here and there, and there is
would rather do it than eat I'm one
of those people who like to crab lit
tie myself; it's a habit 1 learned
around the scuttle but task the COB
what I mean), but these yitriol boys
are on the wrong track this time
They are citing isolated cases that
have happened during this year and
half, and making mountain out OF a
| molehill. This puts the entire Y. M
G. A. onsthe witness stang 1i,,n IN 5 5ha7
! should not be-. Let's drop off few
points, jibe, and look around. What
do we see. mate?
Unselfishness of Secretaries.
| We see hundreds of men who could
have kept the home fires burning in
the U. S. A. and earned a good wage
along with the slackers and the genu-
i inc nom drafted men at any number or
good paying positions. What did they
| do? They came to France and kept
on the job morning, noon and nlgnt
| every day of the week. They kidded
the brawny fighters in the S. Q. s.
with movies candies, cigarets and de-
| cent words.
| 5000 hours, more OF less, you begin
to get sick Of it. Back in the S. o. S.
the transportation was available, ana
the supplies came into the canteens.
But up at the front when you were
| lucky to get clothes and chow. 1t was
a pretty tough proposition, and what
ever did Abme up to the Y. M. c. A;
was nabbed by the guys on the special
details and various trains back with
division Some of it did get up to
| the front. but not enough 10 create q
panic. But that wasn't the fault OF
| the Y NJ. c, A, it was the inevitable
! result of a constant forward moves
ment in open warfare. I suppose some
of our heroes wanted to get hot choc-
| olate dropped on advanced outposts by
airplaneS. It's too pad ABOUT those
| kids.
Since I've been up with machine
guns I've never seen anything or TINS
| chocolate ration that the Q. M. corps
| serves out troops, diiu ooh 1920
| to do SO either. Nor do 1 feel any
anguish because the Y. NJ. c. A. didn't
F, feed me in a fox-hole. especially when
| L know who had the monopoly on
available transportation.
| A Typical Case.
| There was a lad named Wilbur who
| was the secretary assigned to our bat
| TALON. He had beenturned down for
| the army because he had one eye. so
he sought the lucrative and luxurious
| life of the Y. NJ. c. A, thus hoping to
| be of some service to his country.
When he found that it was impossible
to drag chocolate bars and cigars over
the top with machine guns, he gave
| first aid to the wounded under shell
| fire He had the time of his young
life, and no one had anything on Will
| bur when it came to courage. the
| boche winged him up at Blanc Mont
| in Champagne, and he got blighty.
! There were lots of Wilburs in the
Y. NJ. c. A. if you start investigatins
them. I hate to see lot of crabs
ignoring them, too.
| When we started on our marathon
via France, Belgium, Luxembourg and
Germany, we were lucky to have our
emergency rations keep up with US.
kThen we settled in various castles on
the Rhine, and the crabs began to
| scream for the Y. M c. A. Where
was ii? Ask the army about that
ask why the trainloads of stores were
sidetracked so that more important
| things could come up. But now our
soldier boys are getting enough candy
to make each and everyone sick and
enough cigarets to totally destroy the
lungs.
Work of Women.
I have purposely failed to touch
upon the work of the women in the
| Y NJ. c. A. because / couldn't ade-
quately express the appreciation that
we must all feel for their sacrifices
and their infinite patience with US
They come from the best American
womanhood, they are the finest type
possible to obtain, and their refining
| influence among us has been evident
| in every camp that they have graced
| by their presence. They have been an
! inspiration to many of US, conscious
or unconscious of that inspiration tho
we may be.
Just consider what they have given
up at home to come over with US and
to slave for US, yes. slave for us. Do
| you think it easy to put up with our
general indifference and constant de-
mands and continual kicks and to
smile and be pleasant and truly SYM
pathetic? Well. il isn't easy. and If
| we try for moment to put ourselves
| in their place and cater to the A. E.
! F., we shall get the point.
"Ain't It Awful. Mabel
Amt it awful. Mabel, did you hear
that the army is going to try three
secretaries who stole money? We
don't call that saliva ging, do we? No.
we don't. Three out of how many
haven't the figures at present-but I'll
| bet my steel Stetson that the percent
! age is negligible. On the other hand,
how many of our crusaders have got
ten the yellow ticket for the same
| thing. commissioned and otherwise?
! Oh but now Won are alta ciling our set.
and that isn't fart
Well here's one old-timer who got
a square deal from the Y. n. c. A.
and it's an Irish Catholic who says so.
| Take a straw vote and see what the
conservatives think about it.
SILENT SUFFERER. q. S. NJ. c.
St Hoe Insaa Cluh Hon