Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1919-05-14
'YWORK DEFENDED
GEORGE w. PERKINS TELLS OF
THE ASSOCIATIONS GREAT
RECORD IN EUROPE,
FAILURES REALLY WERE FEW
Troubles Caused by Canteen CHARGES
Were Due Mainly to Difficulties of
transportation - Organization Did
Its Best and Never Shirked.

transportation - organization Did
Its Best and Never Shirked.
New York, May What the Y. M.
9. A. accomplished in Europe. the
dlfflculties it encountered and the rea-
sons why it has been subjected to crit
lclSm are made clear in the report of
George w. Perkins, chairman of the
finance committee of the organiza-
tons war work council, which was
given to the public today.
First explaining the difficulty of Sc
curing efficient workers and the care
exercised in the selection of the II ,229
persons who were sent abroad. Mr..
Perkins says:
Much has been said about the in
efficiency of some of these workers,
and, without doubt, a number of them
were inefficient. In any form of or
ganization in civilian life, whether it
be public schools, chain stores or cor
porations, if 80 per cent of those
originally employed make good, the
result is regarded as highly satisfac-
tory. If 10 per cent of the 1929
people operating in France for the
Y. NJ. G. A. were inefficient it would
mean that there were 1,122 men and
women who were more or less of
failure. 1 do not believe that any
thing like this number of people were
unsuccessful; but if under the close
scrutiny which the soldiers give these
welfare workers even per cent Of
them were failures, it would have put
a large. amount of criticism in circula-
ton, and the work of the 95 per cent.
who were successful would be forgot
ten in the publicity given to the 5
per cent who were unsuccessful.
"That the workers as whole were
brave and unselfish is shown by the
fact that IA Y. NJ. G. A. secretaries
were killed and 126 others were
wounded"
Why Canteen Prices Varied.
The report relates the troubles and
expenses met by the Y. M. G. A. after
it undertook the management of the
army canteens at the request of Cen
eral Pershing and the confused cOndi-
tons that made it impossible to arrive
at an average cost price of the goods
sold to the soldiers. 1t continues:
"The Y. NJ. c. A. never solicited
money for the purpose of giving away
it's canteen supplies. If the Y. NJ. c. A.
had given away canteen supplies in
France on the scale of its sales, 1t
would have spent in this activity alone
at least as much money as its entire
expenditures in France for all its ac-
tfvities. The constant policy of the
Y. M. c.. A. was to sell canteen sup
plies at as nearly cost as possible. and
to bend every effort, when fighting was
in progress, to furnish the men at the
front with supplies free of charge
where it was at all possible to get the
goods to them.
"Some have criticized the Y. M. G.
A. for not giving away more articles,
such as cigarettes, chocolate, etc. It's
policy has been not to give away gen
erally. but only in special and needy
cases. From June, 1918, to April, 1919,
the Y. M. c. A. handled in France
alone upward of 2,000,000,000 pack
ages of cigarettes, 100000 bars of
chocolate, 100000 cans of smoking
tobacco. 100000 cigars, 6O,OOO,OOO
cans of jam, 29,O00,000 packages OF
chewing gum, and 100000 packages
of candy. These are only few of the
items handled, but the size of these
figures should convince anyone that 1T
would be financially impossible for the
Y. M. G. A. to give its supplies away
generally. Furthermore, the army
does not favor any such policy. Ii
thinks that it is far better for the men
70 spend their money on such articles
as these than to spend it in other
WAYS. For the most part the men hold
the same view"
It's Varied Activities.
Tn considerable detail Mr.. Perkins