Bisbee daily review., 1919-07-13
THEY. W. C.A. G|RLSD|DNOT SMOKE CIGARETTES; UNLIMITED PRAISE FUR
 THE AMERICAN RED CROSS GIRLS
General Pershing Lauds Welfare Organ izatiOns and Chairman FOsdick Suggests Plans for Future Conduct.

impossible to develop its specialized line of work in France.
 These organizations have been working directly under the admins tration section of General Pershing's staff Added to the tremendous pro- ject of education, athletics, and en- tertainment which the army itself Is conducting, the work of these socie- ties helps to form what is probably the largest and most comprehensive leisure-time program ever undertak- en. The effect of this work upon the future citizenship of the United States is incalculable.
 "Of the six organizations, the Y. NJ. c. A. is the largest Its budget con- stitutes 5S per cent of the money collected last fall It has received good deal of criticism from the sol diers. Some of this is merited; much of it is due. I believe, to misunder- standing. Probably the bulk of the criticism arises from the operation by the Y. M. c. A. of the army can teens. Personally I believe it was a mistake for the Y. M. C. A. to go into this business. The canteen has been an army perquisite by which company funds were increased, and the sol diers could not understand why it should be handed over to a private so- ciety which was raising millions at home for support.
 Moreover. the personnel of the Y. M C. A. was untrained for this kind of work. In the minds of the soldiers it became a commercial organization. and from this stigma it has never suc- ceeded in freeing itself It must be remembered that the Y. M. C. A. un- dertook this work as a service to the army command. The charge that it made money out of the canteen is er- roneous.
 Fine Character of Personnel
 Another ground for citicism may be found in the character of the per sonnel. While many of the men were excellently qualified, many others were utterly unadapted to the work, and had no common ground in mixing with our virile, red'blooded young sol diers. The Y. M. c. A. women in France were of an exceptionally high ,order, far better adapted on the aver age than the men. The Y. M. c. A. has 2,500 young women serving with the troops. Their work is beyond praise. The r. M. c. A. had the en- tire womanhood of America to draw from. whereas the best material among the men was in the army.
 "In discussing these circumstances one must not forget the enormous volume of creditable work which it has carried on. Its huts are to be found with nearly every unit of troops in the A. E. F. It's athletic department. its widespread entertainment facilities, it's admirable organization of the leave areas. the work which it did in forming the educational machinery of the army, are all on the credit side of the balance. and at General Headquar- ters found the iveliest gratitude for the Y. M. c. A.
 Y. w. c. A.
 "The work of the Y. w. c. A. covers two general fields: Providing proper accommodations for women employed both by the army and the welfare so- cieties, and providing rest and recrea- tion rooms for French women in war industries. The work of this society is of an exceptionally high character, and its willingness to accept respon- sibility. together with it's imagination in discovering and it's ingenuity in meeting the real needs among women workers, have had gratifying results.
 The K. C.
 The Knights of Columbus is carry ing on work largely similar in plan to that of the Y M. c. A It has a sub stantial number of huts and recreation halls, and it has done good work It has done much to stimulate the in- terets of the army in boxing and is taking generally prominent part in the interallied games at Pershing Stadium, near Paris. A legitimate criticism would be that the amount of it's work in France is not as large as the size of it's allotment in last falrs
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