The Monticellonian. [volume] (Monticello, Ark.) 1870-1920, 1919-09-05
THE Y. NJ. G, 4. At
NJ
THE FRONT

been denounced as an imprac-
ticable idealist and worse, NJ
Hoover as being in league with
the meat packers. the Red Gross
of misappropriating funds. the
Knights of Columbus of proSely,-
ing.
But the organization that his
suffered most in the estimation
of the public as a result OF tbs
campaign of criticism Is the \.
NJ. C. A. Particularly has this
been true with respect 70 tn
overseas service OF the ASSoeia-
ton, its mistakes having beer
magnified and lis real work min
imized.
In view Of al this. j, VIII De q
interest 70 hear something On
the other side. We give below
an extract from s letter written
from Luxembourg ~ : solder u
the Army q Occupation:
Mother. the first hand CLASP
received when / struck Eng
land was that q 5 y man. All
the first good work Was from tfe
same source Was pretty
lonely and discouraged boy
about then. TOO. The first good
American voice ! heard il
France ar La-Hayre waS the Y
man there. It's been The same
all the way through, the y men
are working their heads OF for
US over here. and 81 the credit
in the world IS coming 10 them.
What the \ is doing in 81
States, | don't know. and | don't
care. but over here they are 90
ing their bit and doing i vel.
and have been. I'm for the !.
NJ. c. A. strong and no one IN the
States can tell me different. be
cause I'm here, I've seen il 4
thousand times and I'm seeing
it today. While I'm writing this
letter I'm smoking a Y cigar,
this morning | ate Y candy and
cakes, and I've got Y gum in my
pockets. and Y tobacco for my
pipe. I'm using Y towles and soap
THE Salvation Army, X. of c.
and others did their part; |
wouldn't for the moment belittle
their efforts, because they have
done well, but the whole 9Th Div
ision, and they are $4,000 strong,
will back they against them ALL.
There is of course no doubt
that some mistakes were made
by the Y. NJ. c. A. in its oversee
work. Not all of the secretaries
were what they should have
been. In order to carry on its
extensive wartime program the
Association was forced to take
into the service many men with
out giving them the very careful
training required of its workers
in peace time, and still other re-
quirement were waived as the
need for workers become con-
stantly greater. 1t was much
the same problem as that faced
by the Government in getting
officers for its army.
Some idea of the immense
scope of the work can be gained
from the following Official
figures. The Y. NJ. c. A. had
over 5000 secretaries in France
and operated 1880 units. In the
French Army 1,0S6 Foyer du
Soldats Y. NJ. c. A. units were
operated with l,103 secretaries
337 American women as canteen
workers served in these units.
There were 200 American sec
retaries in Italy along with 600
Italian Associates and 100 sec
ertaries served in Russia.
Now that the war work is
about over the Y. NJ. c. A. is TAX
ing up its home work with
greater enthusiasm and broader
vision. The Arkansas State
Committee proposes to raise
100000 for this work, and are
now taking steps preparatory TO
the fall drive to raise this
amount. 1t is a great move
ment and should receive the sup
bort of the rnonio If ~ ..n.