Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-02-24
THE SOLDIER AND HIS GIRL
By Frederic j. Haskin
w = AsHINGTON, D. c., Feb. 22.-Two
~ hundred and fifty pretty girls, prop
erly chaperoned, are delivered by rail
every Saturday night at Camp Dix, New


every Saturday night at Camp Dix, New
Jersey
The soldiers, the girls and all others con-
cerned hope that these weekly importat1ons
can be not only continued, but increased
For there are some 10000 soldiers at Camp
Dix, and they bank the gymnasium ten deep
when the girls arrive, each seeking what IS
SO hard for an enlisted man far from nome
to get--the companionship of g nice girl.
This movement to supply the army with
girls is a new thing, and it is in a critical
stage. The work is being carried on through
| the army organization known as the Blu
reau of Women's Relations. This bureau
establishes a club, or perhaps several O.
| them, in each of the camps which are oc-
lIcupied by our standing army Each club
| Is in charge OF woman whose duty 1t is
| to provide the men with entertainment by
giving dances and parties. The soldiers may
bring their women friends and relations,
if they have any, and it not the hostess
provides the girls The work is immensely
popular with he men and also with their
commanding officers. Generals Wood, Ed
wards and many others have Endorsed the
work, and even called it indisE ensable.
Their Endorsements are needed because
the work cannot go on unless congress ap-
propriates at least 5000, 900 for the purpose
It is a small amount, but small items are
just the ones that congress likes to. prune
out of an appropriation BILL Hence the
army is conducting vigorous propaganda to
convince congress and the people that this
Bureau of Women's Relations, which is now
being carried on with leftover wartime con-
tributions, ought to be made a permanent
part of the army. And their propaganda
brings out some interesting facts about our
| peace-time army, and about soldiers and
| girls
Student Army.
/ The first fact pointed out by Miss Phlpps,
who is one of the women leading the work, is
| that our present army is army of boys,
who have enlisted Cor the purpose of getting
an education. There are exceptions, of course
| The veteran ''hard-boiled" is still figure IN
the army. But the great majority Of the en-
| listed men are boys from nineteen to twenty
| two years of age, who have been attracted by
| the widely advertised educational opportun1-
ties which the army is now offering. These,
in word, are boys of college age, who could
not afford a college education, and nave
Joined the army instead. Many of them are
Young men who want education in mechanical
and engineering lines. Many of them are
young immigrants who want to learn the
language and the history Of their new coun-
| try.
| The point made by the army-as repre-
sented by Miss Phipps--is that in advertising
| itself as an educational opportunity, and
| thereby getting the services of a lot of am
bilious young men of the more formative age
| the army has assumed a new and heavy re-
| sponsibility. Those boys are going to be
no one will deny that the kind of feminine
society they enjoy is on important factor IN
| their making.
The commanding officers, while fully aware
| of this large, humanitarian view Of the SUBJ
/ iect are compelled to consider the practical
/ ph ase of the matter first. They are prlmar1-
| ly concerned with the effect of this hostess
work on the morale of their commands, and
| it is from this standpoint that they indorse
| it. Work of this kind both during the war
and since, has shown that it soldiers are pro-
vided with a normal social life-an oppor-
tunity to associate with girls at dances and
other gatherings under proper supervision
two great military evils markedly re-
duced. These two great evils are venerea1
disease and absence without leave. The SOL
der who falls into feminine company of a
sort which endangers his health often does
SO because it is the only kind of feminine
company he can find. And the soldier who
runs away from camp without leave usually
does so because he can no longer endure the
monotony and unnaturalness of a social life
in which a lot of men are herded together
without women
Social Life Saves Money.
| The hard-headed practical executives OF
| the army therefore favor hostesses and
dances and all that sort of thing because
| they save money in hospital costs and in
| time lost. by men through Interpretation and
| absence. The argument which has been made
by some objectors-that our soldiers should
not be coddled and that pink teas not nee
essary for fighting men, seems to them irrele-
want. They do not care whether you call it
| coddling not, as long as the result is a
gain in practical efficiency
| At Camp Dix, in addition to establishing
a hostess house and importing a bevy OF
girls every Saturday from Philadelphia, and
smaller beves on other days from neighbor-
ing towns, the bureau has also arranged a
unique club in Philadelphia for men from
Camp Dix who are on leave. In this society
they have been assisted by several womeR
| rominent in Philadelphia society. Mrs. George
w. Drexel has taken charge of the work and
Mrs. Hapgood has given largo residence to
be the home of the club. This club is cap
able of taking care of from sixty to one hum
dred men, which is about all the enlisted men
| that are to be found In Philadelphia from
| Camp Dix a given time These men GER
tainly re coddled, if you want to call it that,
| to Judge by II reports CHARTERED in one of
the finest residences of the city, they are
taken to dances, movies and the theater; they
| are introduced to pretty girls; they are in a
word, treated as guests at house party.
One result is that they have a good time
and decide that being in the army has it's
| compensations, even If 1t is life of much re-
straint. Another result is that they drink no
wood alcohol, get into no fights and fall into
the clutches of no vampires.
| On the whole the idea that a soldier
should not be shown good time seems to
fall to the ground. Especially when you re-
member that soldier Of the new American
army is a young chap, just up from the coun-
try, avid of life and knowledge, giving him
self for three years to his government and
trusting it for everything.