Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1920-05-09
[E,f. LEFT TRAIL
 f BOOKS THROUGH 1 WHOLE OF EUROPE
I.vwhere Soldiers Passed,
 2, nooks Remained, Says Association

vorl May 5.-The rise ana
 ew iUa"t pa thaki flood in France IS
 fatesa the he Library War Service of
 o, or;can car Library assoclatlon' pre-
 lh,e, n., Burton E. Stevenson, novel
 oy yrnronean nr,o director of the
 ho Although still supplying Amer e.l f.soldiers on the other sioe "ltn
 Ure sO,u the report is preliminary
 etufv, Which will practically wind
 he association's wartime actlvl- As +he association has left behind
 nne sne an American library where i " can be obtained the latest
 ;aan u"n hooks and papers and in-
 ea t;"n recarding this country.
 |a renort stated that the peak of
 1. was reached in May and June |st year, after which the men be- o so return to their native land. Etevenson said that it. had been |3ter M of pride to hold on just as as there was any need or serv- a Zone area after another was |ed of American troops. and as area closed our work closed also" he said. "In more than Instance the American Library 1 Ration hut was open after all 1 activities closed"
 ! last of the American forces i from Brest for home on Janu- inc port was closed as an army End the transport service switch Antwerp. How fast the soldiers France after the returning move [was begun was shown, he said, kp fact that magazine distribu- from total of 262,- hapazines in June to 36,742 in hber. l, our work throughout the field |ally closed, extensive salvaging kions were undertaken, to make khat no books in usable shape b be destroyed or thrown away" ! eport continued. "These opera proceeded with surprising Illness and efficiency, and when closed and the salvaging opera closed we had shipped back to lea more than 12,000 cases con- I |g approximately million vol B was carried through without : kpenditure of cent for trans < (ion charges, the military au- ,, lies furnishing both the trans . (ion by rail in France and that :. bter to New Tor. ter the books had been sorted !, remained a considerable num- | Nightly soilcd and scarcely in | Eion to warrant their return to ,, lea, yet far too good to be ! . away. A gift of approxi- ? y 40,0O0 of these books was K to the International Y. M. c. A.,
 placed in the French Foyers du | , and we have had many ex- | ons of appreciation as to their a It's were also made to many ! organizations and institutions. J 200 cases--all we could get C yh-were sent to Gen. Haller's ' army, in which were many Il cans; collection was placed n of the N. c. W. c. centers op- in France and Belgium, and
 he Y. M. c. A., Y. w. c. A. and p organizations working in o !, Italy, Poland and Czecho- |" put 2,5OO,000 books were sent b 'nce. Many of these, of course, il
 reached us; some were sunk W
 sea, and many were dissipated s' transports. wastage was very great. 'ver an advance was ordered our |,
 were inevitably left behind. ,!
 tne trenches and dugouts be- . t. Mihiel, and through the Ar {:
 our books may still be found . ea Tn the mud; indeed, they /: ! m every place where the . . can army passed. There are : T three thousand in French .
 where American troops were 2 a. Many village teacher . y displays shelf of A. L. A. 2
 which he has gathered from . mes of his nairhb bon, =