Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1919-05-12
Eldora Man Says
"Y' Criticism is
Without Reason

possible.
/. 4 really am very much surprised
that you folks back home should asn
the question as TO why there shouiu
he criticism OF the Y. NJ. {. A. ! nave
felt that the motive back OF II all was
so self-evident that you would DE ao'e
10 get the real drift Of the conversa-
ton immediately. I do not feei Tree
to discuss this question In letter o.
this kind hut will enclose copy OF
q letter. which | am marking NO. J,
written by one of the men OF tne
Third army to DR.. Mott. trust that
careful reading Of this letter VIII
answer question number one 10 your
satisfaction.
9. ANY man who declares that ne
ever paid 40 cents Tor package OF
cigare,s or 81 for cigar Is either
woofullN ignorant or a malicious mar.
[ think in most cases the statements
regarding overcharge on cantcen sup
plies are due solely to the fact that
the men do not know the difference
between centimes and cents. Fatima
cigarets, for example. have for long
time been sold at fifty confines, when
in American money is approximately
9 cents. Camel cigarets have been
sold at from So to ~ centiines per
pack, depending on the rate OF ex-
change: and this likewise would be
only about cents per pack. Diner-
ent grades Of cigars were sold nj from
20 centimes to franc, being worth APP
proXimately 171a cents. Again as
sumo that the lad who told you he had
paid dollar for a cigar was unable
to distinguish between franc and a
dollar.
Repeated official investigations of
prices paid for tobacco OF all kinds III
our canteens reveal the fact that III
every case the prices In our canteens
in France were lower than those
charged in the regular tobacco shops
in the states and that most of the time
men were buying cigarets and tobacco
at three fifths the standard American
prices. When we could secure quar-
termaster supplies, We OF course, sold
at QuarieTfiaster rates. but because
Of the terrific shortage Of tonnage and
the absolute failure of the quarter
master to deliver in France even the
smailes. percentage Of the necessary
canteen supplies, our own agents
ScCuTeu lOHndse NlClCNCi ttCs SooAN'
paying frequently as high as $3.50 per
ton for ocean freightage. Even under
those conditions we did not cell in ex-
cess Of home prices and turnout our
entire post exchange experience the
association had to stand enormous
monthly losses because OF its effort to
get the men over here in France the
kind Of things they wanted at reason
able figures. No accusation that has
ever been made against any organi-
cation has been more untrue and more
unfair than the one which accuses the
Y. NJ. c. A. Of profiteering in any sense
Of the word in its post exchange
service.
8. Nothing could be more unfair or
more untrue than the statements
which are being made by some to the
effect that the Salvation Army and
the Red Cross were active at the front
and that the Y. NJ. c. A. never ap
peared. If that is the case, how do
you account for the fact that the Y.
NJ. G.. A. had nine men killed in actual
combat and more than fifty gassed and
wounded while there was not a single
fatality Of this kind in any other well
fare organization.
: I am enclosing a copy Of letter
written by the commanding general Of
the Goth division after the st. Mihiel
drive. and likewise O clipping from the
paper published by the 16Ith infantry
Of the forty-second division (the Ala :,
ba1na regiment Of the Rainbow Di-
vision) to give you some typical state
ments as to what men and officers who
really did the fighting over here think
about the Y. M. G.. A. mans contribu-
ton at the front.
One other thing In this connection
that has always been particularly dis
susting to me is that the Red Cross
rs continuing to permit the American
public to believe that it had anything
whatsoever to do with the hospital and
ambulance work with the American
army, especially at the front. The Red
Cross did open and did conduct. until
taken over by the army, a number of
base hospitals in and around Paris,
but they had positively nothing what
soever to do with the. dressing Of
wounds at the front or the helping OF
wounded men under fire. That notion
has grown out of the fact that all men
engaged in hospital work of any kind
whatsoever with any army wear
white arm band with a red cross in
sigma because that kind Of marking
can be more distinctly seen than any
other. hope that some day the folks
back home will discover that all the
thousands Of army ambulance and
sanitary train men were not recruited
not. in apv Wav pafd or u,,nniod nv
the American Red Cross. They are
part OF the American army and just
as much part OF the enlisted per-
sonnet as any men in either the artil-
lery or the infantry. do not In any
way want to depreciate the work done
by the American Red Cross in France
because they did do much actual work
for the civilians III the devastated sec
tons and for the wounded in some OF
the base hospitals. but any man who
says the Red Cross was active on the
American front simply does not know
what he is talking about.
In general it will be sufficient for me
to say that / regret very much that
there. should ever have been any criti-
cism Of the Y. M. G. A., but Lam
satisfied in my own mind that when all
the facts are known the Y. NJ. C. A.
will come out OF this present war a
much more powerful organization than
it was when it went in.
will be sending you within q very
few days a copy OF Cur Apr.! a:.t -e-
port which will give you little idea
as to just what the association IL do
IN q, for the man ~, born a., %bn rShtrS