The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1919-01-30
By WILLIAM E. SWEET of Denver
Divisional Secretary in France


There has been so much criticism by
some people OF some phases OF the
Y. NJ. C A War Work that thought
would Ike to get at the facts. both
for myself and for the readers of The
Record. So l asked Mr. William e
Sweet OF Denver. TO tell us what he
knew about the matter. Mr.. Sweet is
a big broadguaged business man who
has given thousands of dollars 10 this
work He spent six months as div
isional secretary in France at his own
expense. He knows the situation and
has no reason to apologize for errors
or nlisdeeds of anybody. You will
find Mr. Sweets story frank and in
teresting- G. u h
Widespread publicity has been given
by the press TO the shortcomings of the
Young Mems Christian Association and
a large number of returned soldiers
have also severely criticised the As
sociation for its lack of efficiency In
handling the canteens.
So far as I am aware. the Associa-
tion's failures are confined almost en-
tirely to this phase of our work To
these criticisms l would say:
First. We admit that the cantecns
have not been perfectly handled and
there has been inefnciency. The An
months. to mobilize thousands OF men
and women for overseas service The
qualifications for this service were
exActing-good health. pleasant per
sonality. age above the draft. expez-
ience. adaptabiiity for the work. in
litiative of q high order and character
above reproach- It would be fmpos-
sible in the selection Of $500 people
not to make mistakes The sitting pro
cess was as complete as II could pos
sibIy be. Local boards In the various
states passed upon these applications,
then the regional boards passed upon
them and they were finally cleared
through New York city Despite
these methods, a good many were ac-
cepted who were not fitted for the ser
vice Furthermore. when the need was
greatest. the Government changed its
method Of issufng passports. and hun
dreds of our representatives remafped
for weeks In New York. unable to- 80
overseas. All this affected the quality
of the canteen service ~
Second. Another reason for failnre
In the canteens was matter over
which the Association had no control
whatever namely that of transportation.
The Army demanded. as II should.
every truck and automobile convey
ance which IL could get for transporta-
tion of men. ammunition and supplies.
When the Associations transportation
broke down. as IL frequently did. II
took days and days to get the condi-
tons remedied because the Army trans
portation had to be repaired first The
-. dsaff
far beyond their capacity to execute
their work and the demands of the As
ISOLATION had to be met us they best
could. The break down of transporta-
tion in France at critical points had
more to do with the lack of efficient
service than did any other one thing.
Soldiers who were billeted at outlying
points had a right to expect that their
cantecn would be well supplied and
when II was not, they did not stop to
reason why. but vented their criticism
upon the organization which was re-
sponsibie for this service.
Third. The accusation that we
lovercharged soldiers in France is cor
rect up to the middle OF last summer.
The cost OF transportation to the Gov
ernment was nothing The cost of
transportation to the Association ran in
10 hundreds OF thousands of dollars
and this we tried to make mp in the
charge for our canteen goods This
was mistake We should have sold
the articles at the same price the
Army charged and stood ~, loss. The
American people would have been glad
to pay this.
Any organization in the Army which
attempts to sell goods to the soldiers,
whether Il Is a part of the Army or
not, will come in for severe criticism.
This has always been the history OF
the commissary department of the