San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-01-21
Y.M.C.A, Tells
Of WORK Done
IN WORLD WAR
Thirteen Hundred Page Re-
port Deals With Human
Experiences Of Men.
4 SOCIAL STUDY
Edited by Board Of Promi-
nent Men Headed by Will
liam Howard Taft.
An original work in branch Of So

An original work in a branch OF so
cial science which has never before been
pursued to its depths as exhaustiyely,
is Service with Fighting Men" ioV-
mage report on the activities OF the
X NJ n A in the World War. The vol
luminous work was edited by a board
headed by William Howard Taft.
!. .The work deals with every phase Oh
SnYn welfare work with soldiers from
Its Introduction on the Mexican border
10 the care of prisoners of war. IL
beeau as a report on the Y. Nj. Z. a.
lin France and for this purpose, re,
norts. correspondence and date OF al
nature were secured and a large stan
set to work to examine the accumuia-
tion to classify it so that 1t could De
presented in an Ineligible manner.
FINISHED. the report stands as one OF
the greatest commentaries on welfare
work, especially with soldiers. Through
hut. the theme is the human expert
ence of the men and the adoption OF ma
terial and social resources to preserve
hornality. Special chapters deal Wlth
innovations or activities not usual 10
welfare organizations,
Starts With Crimean War.
In its Introductory chapter the re-
norris say: at is estimated that more
han 5OOO0,000 men answered the cail
TO arms in the World War. Practl-
rally every race of mankind was rep
Resented. Under the flags OF score
bf nations men fought on land and sea
n every part Of the globe. This tun-
iamental human ordeal, bound up with
series of tragic events, vital to ciyili-
Lation and world progress, constitutes
he primary interest of this book"
In taking UP the report the editors
first tell of welfare work in the GRIM
Fan war under the direction OF FLOR
ence Nightingale, saying that that hu-
man service on the battle field repre-
sented a turning point in civilization;
Il then shows what the modern method
bf fighting had to do with modern well
fare work and then picks up with the
story of the service rendered by the
h. NJ. G. A. The report deals with the
men who fought, soldiers in school, mo-
Dilization, the road to France, men in
action, welfare work in open warfare
PSYCHOLOGICAL effects of the Armishce,
ind after-war work in France. 4,
A large part of the first volume oil
he report is tahen up with work IN
he United States environment camps.
At the outbreak of the war, the Eu-
opean Y. NJ. G. AS undertook to serve
49, respective armies and the Amer
an association co-operated with all.
This service to allied armies is told IN
etail and it extended all over the
world. 1t contrasts include native
lack porters squatting before moving
icture screens in the forests and
wamps of German East Africa, and a
loating agricultural exhibition for Rus
ian peasants along the Volga river !;
istribution of supplies by dog sledge
rom Archangel and an ice cream cone
actory in Bagdad; barbering for Sikh
roops in Southern France and sight
eeing parties conducted to the holy
laces in Jerusalem; efforts to help
Russia, and cooperation with the gov
rnments Of Poland and Checho-Slo-
aka.
All through the book the human ex-
eriences of the men are treated with
nd underlying the report there is seen
he continual presence Of a home at
Iosphere under the most warlike con-
tions.
Concluding, the book says: "As the
ar fades slowly out of the vivid con-
,iousness of mankind its lessons are
ne by one forgotten. The purpose of
bis book will have been fulfilled IL II
Icceeds in recalling to the minds and
bnsciences of thoughtful Americans
bmething of the significance of the
reat experience through which we have
st passed. Beyond all the details, it
our duty to remember that our SOL
ers. sailors and marines once partici-
hted in a glorious campaign, and that
it'll them went an army of service rep
senting in the midst of the horrors
war the ideals of the land in whose
CHEST interest they were fighting.
"Ciyilian services were the visible
nbodiment of the nation behind the
hterprisc. a nation whose possibilities
r. future service TO the whole world
he beyond the power of pen to exag-
rate. The future is not a question
Eimarily of kings and statesmen, of
lance of power and ideal boundaries ::
n Il is a future of men and women
hose ways are human ways and whose
oblems are human problems: and in
e final issue, their men and women
II be set on the path toward a bet
society not by laws and regulations,
t by books or sermons. but by the
resistible force Of lives devoted with
t limit to personal service for man
nd