The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-07
Never sidestepped a Task.

bSe bttSh q lew udyS ago.
Never sidestepped n Task.
His report gives a picture Of an un-
dertaking whose every magnitude made
some mistakes inevitable. Mr.. Perkins
does not belittle these mistakes. Where
criticism seemed to him unjustifed he
says 80. and gives his. reasons. His
conclusion is:
"The Y. NJ. c. A. undoubtedly made
mistakes. but what 1t tried to do was
to respond to every call that the army
made on 1t. 1t never hesitated to tackle
any Job It was asked to undertake II
did not sidestep any task 1t was asked
to perform.
ut took the position that 1t was in
Europe to do all it could as best II
could that when It was called on TO
render service of any kind its duty was
to respond in the same spirit that the
soldiers did and not hold back because
adverse circumstances might make II
impossible to meet with maximum sue
cess. Surely every contributor of money
will approve OF the Y. NJ. C. AS course
in this respect"
He says that the aim of the investiga-
ton was ito look at the whole project
through the eyes of n contributor, for we
were deeply sensible of the fact that in
many cases contributions were made by
people who had to deny themselves in
order to give to this cause"
His report covers only operations OF
the Y. NJ. c. A. in France, England. Ger.
many and Italy and emphasizes the fac
that instead OF the work being curtailed
since the signing of the armistice It has
become more important than ever be-
cause of the much greater amount OF
leisure the soldiers now have. Its motor
transportation has doubled. its athletic
and entertainment activities have more
than doubled and its personnel has been
increased so per cent.
Speaking first OF the personnel Mr.
Perkins points out the early obstacles ir
the way OF perfection, such as the i'm
possibility Of taking men who were sub
ject to the draft or who were much
above the age Of As years and would
therefore find the task too hard. The
need of men was 30 great at first thai
there was not time to train them prop.
eriy, but later they were carefully
schooled before sailing. Arriving on the
other side they were scattered far ant
wide in foreign countries and often coulC
not communicate with one another.
1T will readily be SEEM" says the re.
port, that dlficulties. many Of which
were insurmountable, constantly pre-,
scented themselves and greatly hinderet
hensive organization"
Indicating the care with which mer
and women workers were selected, Mr.
Perkins says that 10000 candidate.
were scrutinized by district committee.
in various parts OF the United States
and by step by step elimination proc
ess 10000 were sifted out and seriously
considered in New York and OF these II
229 were finally sent to Europe Las
month the Y. NJ. C. A. had $3.50 worker:
In Europe-5.6s3 men and 2,657 women
Much has been said" adds Mr.. Per
kins. about the inefficiency of some O
these workers. and without a doubt /
number of them were inefficient. In an,
form OF organization in civilian life
whether 1t be public schools, chain store
or corporations II 30 per cent. of thos
originally employed make good the result
is regarded as highly satisfactory. I
10 per cent. OF the 1929 people oper
ating in France for the Y NJ C. A. wer
inefficient 1t would mean that there wer
1,122 men and women who were more o.
less OF failure. do not believe thu
anything like this number of people we-,
unsuccessful: but II under the clos
scrutiny which the soldiers give thes
welfare workers even per cent of then
were failures 1t would have put n larp
amount of criticism in circulation an,
the work of the s5 per cent. who wer
successful would be forgotten in the nub
hclty given to the per cent who wer
unsuccessful.