The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-20
FUNNY NOTIONS
 ABOUT Y.M.C.A.
The Canteen Produces g. Strange Crop of Fables-Ludiorous
 Misunderstandings.

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 The war has brought the Y. M. c. A into world prominence. Because of this prominence, constant questions have arisen with reference to 1t in the minds of the uninformed and some most ludicrous statements have been passed about.
 For instance, we have it on the word Of q good friend. former secre- tary of the Y. M. c. A, that 8 soldier ill one of the southern camps came to 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 was that he bought all his postage stamps there, and it developed that he really thought the Y. M. c. A. made q profit from the sale of postage stamps which they sold in such enormous quantities to the soldiers as a matter Of convenience.
 Another ridiculous assertion on the part of men who have come in con tact with the Y. M. c. A for the first time, emanates from overseas, and we hear the statement, in all serious ness by somebody who professes to know, that the !. M. c. A is making a great deal of money from its can teen and is even over charging the soldiers. Of course, the story would not be complete without tnventing some way of utilizing these alleged large earnings from the canteen. In some cases the story goes that the local Y. M. c. As back home receive the profits from the canteen, in other cases the story has been solemnly passed about that the Y. M. c. A. was a great stock corporation and that its stock wRs paying big dividends, on account of the canteen earnings. The inventor of the story did not, of course, understand the difference be- tween a voluntary religious corpora ton and a stock corporation for busi pess purposes.
 On the other hand some of the folks back home have contributed to the | first Y. M. c. A. drive. expecting that the '. M. c. A. gave away everything the soldier needed, failing to realize that the sums contributed to Y. N. C.. A war work if used in that way would be but a proverbial drop in the , bucket The Y M c. A did give away vast quarrIuioD uI suppIeS, l such as tobacco, hot cocoa, chocolate, 1 etc, to men in the front line trenches and those coming back from battle, but the great bulk of the money con- tributed was used for the wonderful service program of the Y. M. c. A.
 The canteen received none of this money, that department being han CIed entirely for the government on borrowed capital on a fiat cost turn over basis. as a 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 ir the rear. Of course
 +bev were tp the rear. because that was where most of our army was. , 1,hav wer4, however, in the front line and wet over the top with our boys.
 Wftnsss the hazards that have over 1 taken some of our own New England men, Remember the gtory 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 6 hospital for weeks. Harry Chase of South Braintree iu~t re- turned from France with the marks of exhausttng service and exposure to the acids of war in his face. It was arsenic gas that almost finished his career as ''Y" secretary. In the October drive he was driven back by shell fire from taking supplies to an- ether secretary who was killed in the same drive. Voorhees, of Hart ford came horne to die of his wounds. | Solon Borglum of Connecticut, and eleven other '"Y" men received the CToix dc Guerre, and two more were . cited for that decoration. Henry Smith of Beverly Mass, was badly wounded on October Is; Rev. Joel Metcalf 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 if not in the danger zone.
 Perhaps the funniest part of all these ludicrous misunderstanding is the fact that some of our most inteli- gent people here at home, hear them: accept them without question and pass them on.
 This is a funny world.