Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1919-07-31
Y.M.C.A. TRAIN
SERVICE Dept
Serves 749, 5S1 Members OF
A. E. F. i'm Four Months
Great Difficulty Has Been Expert
enced In Properly Housing Thre'
Quarters of a Million Men.

Boston, July-The train Service
Department of the Y.M.C.A. in Paris
served 749,581 members of the A.E.F
in the first four months.
On the Train Service Department
of the YM.C.A. devolves the duty OF
not only welcoming all members Of
the A.EF. upon their arrival in Paris
but being sure that they are properly
entrained and comfortably fixed at the
time of their departure. This Depart
ment Is being directed by James @
Connor, a newspaper man OF Phila'
delphia When taken over by him. the
personnel consisted of six workers
and Ford camionette, with capa'
city of twelve persons. Since thai
time, the work has developed so rap
idly that the personnel has beer
increased to thirty men, besides 4
Director and an Assistant, and twelve
large army trucks are necessary fol
transportation purposes.
The cares covered by the Trair
Service Department, are st. Lazare
Montparnasse, Austerlitz, Lyon, Or
say, Nord and Est. These stations
are covered by Y workers from
o'clock A. M. until IL Midnight anc
1t is the duty of these men to heartily
receive members of the A.E.F., botf
casuals and those on leave, direci
them to the Red Cross canteens at the
stations for mt. ais, IL they so desire
and place them on the trucks for trans
portation to the various Y.M.C.A. anc
Red Cross hotels located in Paris, fol
their stay while here. In addition Il
this work, the men have been dis
pensing cigarettes, chocolate ant
gum, which they have carried in large
quantities in musette bags, sellinl
them to the boys at cost price. and II
some instances distributing them gra
tuitously, when discretion premit'
them to do so.
These Y welfare workers are alsC
equipped to answer all sorts of ques
tons put to them by the members o
the AE.F. That an idea may be gath
ored of the fund OF information tina
they must have at hand, few OF tn,
questions asked might be mentioned
here:
Where can 1 buy Kodak filmsT
Where is Wanamaker'sT
Where is an American dentist7"
where is the Odd Fellows LEDGER
Where are the base hospitals?"
where is Tiffany's?"
What is the rate of German ex
changer
seuyba~a ~.p cbopga Cuiaw x,or
ey?"
What hours are the Louvre open p
In the past four months difRcult,
has been experienced In properl.
housing the three quarters OF million
men. Along these lines, Col L. II
McKinlay, Welfare Officer, u. S
Army, and Mr.. Conner, have worke,
out plan for the establishing of |
Central Regulating Bureau the pur
pose Of which will be to ascertain tn,
number of beds available at the y.M.C
A. and Red Cross Hotels in Paris, and
through an intercommunicating tele
phone system between the Directing
ONCE, Central Regulating Bureau, tn
RIO. Offices at the Cares and tn
Hotels keep a complete record o
such accommodations which will b,
corrected every two hours OF the tim
between A. NJ. and Midnight. 1t 4
thought that this regulating system
will do away with troubles hereto
fore faced by the "Doughboy" whei
upon arriving in Paris, he finds tina
he is unable to obtain sleeping quar-
tiers. Booths for the dissemination o
information have been established a
five of the seven Cares in Paris. Thes
booths are adequately equipped witt
all sorts Of literature bearing on tn
hotels canteens, theatres, places tina
the Y operates for the entertainment
of the boys, Religious Services, Sight
seeing Trips, md all other data tina
is of interest to the soldier VISITING
Paris.
The Train Service Department ha
been congratulated by United States
Army officials on the work 1t has car
ried out. Its Directing Office is a
45, rue Boissy-d'Anglas.