New Britain herald., 1919-01-21
ST. MARKS RECTOR
DEFENDS Y. N. c. A.
Explains Tobacco Charges and
Also Truck Shortage

At the Fellowship supper held at
the Y. NJ. G. A. last evening, Rev.
Samuel Sutcliffe, rector of St Mark S
church, defended the Y. M. c. A.
overseas work and explained very
successfully the basis for the criti-
cism which is being directed against
that department of the y. M. Z. "A:
organization. Mr.. Sutclltte is Wen
qualified to speak on this subject as
he was very active in the war WORK
drives and spoke at many or the ldl6e
meetings in this city and IN o'her
places in the interest OF the ca
paigns He has made careful St'dy
of the subject and in ms talk laS'
evening. made strong impression on
those who heard him.
Criticism Il Very Natural Trait.
Mr. Sutcliffe explained that one of
the most characteristic traits III the
Anglo Saxon's character is IN his
,ova of freedom of speech and he feels
absolutely free to criticise anything
and everything that comes to his at
tention. This is especially true of the
English and the American soldier,
who will criticise their officers, their
food and the routine Of their life I'M
til it comes time to get into action.
"beefed" while inactive, the speaker
said The normal corrective of demo-
cracy is criticism and it is natural that
some criticism should be directed
against an organization as large, and
operating under the conditions that
confronts The Y. NJ. G. A.
Mr.. Sutcliffe stated that he felt in
clined to criticise the organization
when he first heard some of the
stories brought back by overseas men,
but he realized that there are two
sides to the question, and after care
full investigate he came to the con-
c!usiOn that while some mistakes had
undoubtedly been made, they were
mistakes of commission rather than
omission, and that for the most part
the organization did splendid work. or
course it is easy to understand that
when some imperfection in an organ
ization affected an individual 1t seemed
a very important thing to him at the
time and overbalanced all service that
had been rendered to him by the 'Y'
heretofore, Mr.. Sutcliffe remarked.
The criticism that has been direct
ed against the Y. NJ. c.. A. mainly
concerns the canteen work. The gov
eminent had conducted canteens with
practically 40 overhead expense, such
as freightage, carriage, taxes and clerk
hire AT the request Of General
Pershing the ''Y' took over these
canteens in order that the men serv-
ing in them might shoulder a gun and
be relieved for line duty.
Mistake In Judgment.
When this change was made no
provision was made by the govern
~ +o1r Nf +Jon {1-oN,c n,~f0
ton charges nor for the expense of
hauling goods from seaports to points
Of distributor The mistake that the
Y. M. c. A. made in the canteen work
was q mistake Of Judgment in not
making provision in it's budget in the
war work drive to care for the deficit
that would naturally arise if it sold
cigarettes and tobacco at the same
price which was charged by the quar-
department. Another
factor that entered into the canteen
problem. and which was the founda-
ton for the criticism that is some
times directed against this work was
that ~ supplies were scarce and
men could not obtain, even when
they had money, sufficient quantities
of cigarettes to meet their demands.
The "Y" bought 100 trucks and sent
them to France and when they were
taken off the boat at Brest the gov
eminent Communicated IS, the
speaker said in explanation of the
truck shortage.
Some complaints have been heard
the lack of 'Y" men to
care for the wounded. The Red Cross
and the Red Triangle laid out def
mite lines of work for each organiza-
ton The Red Cross was to care for
the sick and wounded while the Red
function was to provide for
the we'll and healthy.
Mr.. Sutcliffe stated that there are
no complaints about the work which
the "Y' originally set out to do. Its
athletic program was carried out on
a gigantic scale, it's recreatonal
work brought to the men the best
talent from the stage in America and
it's social centers provided in rest
areas and in the cities, were most
satisfactory.
Attacks Have Been Too Severe.
General Pershing did a good thing
for the army when he turned the
canteen work over to the Y. M G. A,
but as it has worked out, it has
provided some grounds for criticism
which have often been too harsh and
unjust for an organization which was
one Of the first on the field to care
for the men, and which has really
done a very splendid piece of work
Cigarettes were very important, but
fighting men ready for service in the
lines were more important, and by
taking over the canteen, hundreds of