The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-08-09
FUNNY NOTIONS
ABOUT YIN. CA.
The. Canteen Produces a Strange
Crop of Fables-Ludicrous
Misunderstanding.

The war has brought the Y. Nj. 4.
A. into world prominence. Because or
this prominence, constant questions
have arisen with reference to it in
the minds of the uninformed- and
some most ludicrous statements have
been passed about.
For instance, we have 1t on the
word OF good friend. former secre'
tary of the Y. M G.. A., that soldier
in one of the southern camps came
10 him TO express his appreciation OF
all that the had done for him. and
said that he was doing all he could
to help the "Y." Some one asked him
what ne was doing. and his reply wa,
that he bought all his postage stamps
there, and Ii developed that he really
thought the Y. NJ, c. A made profit
from the sale OF postage stamps
which they sold in such enormous
quantities to the soldiers as matter
81 convenience.
Another ridiculous assertion on the
part of men who have come In con-
tact with the Y NC. A for the first
time. emanates from overseas, and
we hear the statement. in all serious
ness by somebody who processes to
know. that the Y. M c. A. Is making
great deal of money from its can
teen and is even over charging the
soldiers. OF course. the story would
mot be complete without inventing
some way Of utilizing these alleged
large earnings from Gle canteeri In
some cases the story goes that the
local Y. NJ G. AS back home receive
the profits from the canteen. in other
cases the story has been solemnly
assed about that the Y. M. G. A was
great stock corporation and that
its stock was paying big dividends,
on account Of the caHteen earnings
The inventor of the story did not, of
course, understand the difference be-
tween voluntary religious corpora
ton and stock corporation for bust
ncss purposes.
On the other hand some of the folks
back home have Contributed to the
first Y. NJ. G. A drive. expecting that
the Y. NJ. O. A. gave away everything
the soldier needed. failing to realize
that the sums contributed TO Y. NJ c.
A, war work If used in that way
would be but proverbial drop in the
bucket. The Y. NJ. G. A. did give
away vast quantities OF supplies
such as tobacco, hot cocoa. chocolate,
etc, to men in the front line trenches
and those coming back from battle,
but the great bulk of the money con-
tFihuted was used for the wonderful
service program of the Y. NJ C. A.
The -canteen received none Of this
money that department being han-
Cled entirely for the government on
borrowed capital on a fiat cost turn
over basis. as q convenience to the
men who could not get those supplies
in any other way.
Another strange statement was to
the effect that "Y" secretaries did not
brave the dangers of the front line but
stayed safely in the rear OF course
they we're in the rear, because that
was where most of our army was.
They were. however, in the front line
and went over the top with our boys.
Witness the hazards that have over
taken some OF our own New England
men. Remember the story of Edward
Sherman of West Roxbury, who
served in the "Y" outfit OF the Second
Division, who saw his bunkie, James
Birchby. given his orders to go West
by a machine gun bullet Sherman.
Himself, sampled two kinds of gas.
and lay in hospital for weeks Harry
Chase of South Braintree just re-
turned from France with the marks of
exhausting service and exposure to
the acids of war in his face. 1t was
arsenic gas that almost finished his
career as a "Y" secretary. In the
October drive he was driven back by
she'll FIRE from taking supplies to an
ether secretary who was killed in
the same drive. Voorhees, Of Hart
ford came. home to die OF his wounds.
Scion Borglum OF Connecticut. and
titNGH OlnCA ultll iONtANtu tub
Croix de Guerre. and two more were
cited for that decoration Henry
Smith of Beverly, Mass. was badly
wounded on October 16; Rev Joel
Metcah OF Winchester. Mass, with
the 3rd Division, was gassed the
same day. We wonder where these
''Y" secretaries met up" with the
bullets. gas and shells II not in the
danger zone.
Perhaps the funniest part of all
these ludicrous Misunderstanding is
the fact that some of our most intelli-
gent people here at home. hear them;
accept them without question and
pass them on.
This is funny world.