Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 254, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1918 — Page 3

What Y. M. C. A. Is Doing in Field to “Keep the Soldier Human”

By LORD NORTHCLIFFE.

scraps of old paper, how they enjoy anything fresh which will “take them out of themselves” for a little while, I couldylescnbe from personal experience and illustrate by many a pathetic anecdote, but there is no need. You can imagine it. And then you can go on to imagine also the gratitude which the soldier feels.to the Y. M. C, A s for the loan of books which he can put in his pack and take with him mto the line to help while away the weary hours of which there are so many in war. I have Aeen men come into a Y. M. C. A. library and tell the librarian that his books have saved them from going melancholy mad. Next the soldier is for a time “in support,” that is to say m trenches and dugouts A short distance, behind the front line. Here he may begin to be indebted to the Y. M. C. A. for other advantages. I have known Y. M. C. A. canteens to be established actually under the enemy’s fire for the benefit of the men in support. Here they can buy cigarettes, chewing gum, biscuits. They can drink a cup of tea or coffee. They can feel, that there is a link between them and the world behind the lines. How much that means only those who have been in the trenches can appreciate. , Then comes a spell of being “in reserve.” This is passed in some ruined town or village or in a camp of tin huts. The soldier now has plenty of leisure —what can he do with it? You know that one of the pleasures of life is shopping. This is supposed by many people to be a woman’s pleasure, but my experience is that men enjoy shopping too. In ruined villages, in Yin-hut camps, there would be no shops just as there would be no cases, no libraries, no writing rooihs, if it were not for the Y. M. C. Ask any soldier how the army would get on without the Y. M. C. A. He will tell you that it would* get on very badly indeed. Go into any Y. M. C. A. canteen at any hour of the day and you will undejy stand why. ’ : ■ They are at the same time clubs and stores. They offer refreshment both for the body and the mind. They are well stocked with useful things, such as soap, toothbrushes and other simple toilet necessaries. They offer also a wide choice of more attractive purchases from canned fruits to picture postcards. And when the soldier has bought what he needs or fancies, or merely looked around and kept money in his pocket, he can sit down, order something to drink, meet his friends, read the papers, write letters. A soldier said to me once, “It’s the Y. M. C. A. that keeps us human. ’ It does what no other organization is doing or could do. Amid the dreariness of the. war zone, in the monotonous life of the troops in the field, the Bed Triangle shines with steady, comforting glow. There could in my opinion be no better way of spending a hundred million dollars than giving the Y. M. C. A. the fullest opportunity to make the soldier more comfortable and more contented with his lot

Don’t Let Silent, Ghostly Hun Sentiment Find Lodgment in Your Brain

By C. M. WRIGHT,

The Hun fights wherever there is a chance to break down civilization’s resistance. And one of those chances is among the folks at home. If the will to win breaks down in the homes and shops and mills at home the boys at the front will have a much harder time holding back the Hun army. It is as dangerous to have Hun sentiment get a footing back of the lines as it would be to have an armed Hun force execute a flank movement and get in behind our fighting lines. So look out for the Hun at honle. Be a traffic cop to help steer the attacking current as it should go. And don’t stop at watching the Hun sentiment of the noisy, blatant kind. Watch for the silent, ghostly Hun sentiment that worms its way in and out, elusive and treacherous. There are ghost Huns, as well as heavy-browed flesh-and-blood ones. The ghost Hun is an idea; an idea that gets into the heads of careless persons, warping their thoughts, coming from perhaps nowhere in particular but creating havoc as it goes. Keep your head straight. Keep your country’s ideals before > you and plug for them; plug hard for victory. Don’t let a ghost Hun find lodgment in your brain. Keep liberty’s blazing torch in view and liberty’s flaming, inspiring purpose before you. \

Reconstruction Period Will Place Heavy Demands on Youth of Today

By LELAND S. PARKE,

A reconstruction period of stupendous proportions is ahead of us. It will place heavy demands on our youth of today. Since our entrance into the war necessity has forced us to accept modem science in many phases. Almost unbelievable progress in more than a thousand ways has been made. To hold the ground gained and to make it secure for aH time to come means that we should “speed up” and “tunfe up” our educational machinery in every possible way. The training of the young, ambitious youth, with his plastic, responsive mind, is without doubt our best'means for guaranteeing such security. The world is looking up to America today. Our ability to do big. things in a big way has been an “eye-opener’* to every nation on the globe. With America on the crest of world progress not a stone should be left unturned to keep her there for all time to come. Thanks to the foresight of our leading educators, who are bending every energy to give our boys and girls every advantage that modern science and modern thought can afford.

Save you £ver tried to picture for yourself the life of the soldier, in the field? Let me draw you an outline. What I describe I have seen during my many visits to the allied fronts. While he is “in the line,” as he calls it, which means holding the front positions, he is fixed to one particular spot. He has duties which occupy a large part of his time. His recreation is limited to smoking, chatting and reading. How the men in the line hunger for “something to read,” how they go through the magazines, daily and weekly papers, even through

American Alliance foe Labor and Democracy

, Sttte Cub Leader, Univenity of Arizona

, Editor of London Time

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER. IND.

VIEW OF METZ, WHICH THE AMERICANS ARE SHELLING

View of the city of Metz, which is now under fire of the American artillery. This is the most powerfully fortiiied city in the world. ,

TROOP SUPPLIES 3 MONTHS AHEAD

Tours. —The American army in Europe could be fed and clothed and all its creature comforts looked after for three months if not another pound of supplies was secured. This was the statement made here ipjf officers of the army which directs this mammoth work of supplies. It gives an idea of. the vast stock of reserve resources stored in the miles of warehouses stretching from the coast inland to the fighting line, and it is a comforting assurance, too, that this huge reserve will be kept up through the coming winter period, so that the American soldier’s warmth, as well as his food and clothing, will be fully looked after. Some Big Job. It is a huge undertaking to feed a million men even for a single day—a million men scattered to a thousandl points, in trenches, on battlefields and camps, along 300 miles of front and for a depth of 500 miles. And when 1 are added housing and clothing and the period is extended through the winter months of cold and frost, with the prospect that another million or two of men may be headed this way before long—with these elements one gets iome idea of the magnitude of the supply problem for a- million or more men'

Here at the center of the system, where the receipts are regulated and the distribution made, there was an opportunity of learning some of the details of how the system operates. Tn the food branch alone it takes over 4,000,000 pounds of food every day to feed the army. This prodigious daily consumption of'food xembraces 1,000 pounds of flour baked into a million pounds of bread every day, 875,000, pounds of fresh beef, 875,000 pounds of potatoes, 200,000 pounds of sugar arid 125,000 pounds of tomatoes. The pepper and salt for a single day is 42,500 pounds. Army coffee is roasted at the rate of 70,600 pounds a day, and it takes 20,000 pounds of solidified alcohol to cook this coffee through the month. The beef is the bulkiest product used each day, and occupies a daily space of 45,000 cubic feet, or about the dimensions of a business block, of solid meat. Flour comes next, VfequlrIng 25,000 cubic feet of daily and potatoes about the same.

A Few Daily Item*. These are only a few of the main items. But the list runs all through the many requirements of the oversea army ration, with vast quantities In each case. Here are some of the other daily items: Bacon, 225,000 pounds; beads, 75,000 pounds; rice, 50,000 pounds; onions, 250,000 pounds; evaporated fruit, 70,000 pounds; jam,. 70.000 pounds; milk, 62,500 pounds; vinegar, 40,000 pounds; lard, 40,000 pounds; butter, 31,000 pounds; syrup, 40,000 pounds. These being Included in the oversea ration, every one of the million

“Y” MAN NEEDS SLEEP

By E. M. BATCHELOR.

"No boys, I’m not so very tired," said the Y. M. C. A. secretary. "Just a little after a week of that,” indicating with a wave of his hand the country behind, from which came incessant sounds of artillery and machine-gun fire. But he was dead tirdd, and the ambulance driver who was giving him a ride knew it The secretary’s head bobbed from side to side as the ambulance thumped along the rough road. At intervals the Y. M. C. A. man slept roughly roused whenever a shell-hole jolt threw him against the side of the vehicle. » . . The ambulance was stopped by the side of the road so that the driver might tighten a loose bolt ' - "I guess I’ll lie down for a minute while you are working,” said the Y. M. C. A. secretary. In a second he was ■ound asleep by the road. An hour later the driver shook him.

men is entitled to his full allowance, and it must go forward to him wherever he is. So that besides the vast daily stock there is’the question of unfailing daily delivery, first by railways and camion trains, and then to the individual soldier. Besides this 4,000,000 pounds of food moving forward dally to the troops, each man "carries with him two days’ emergency ration, 5 pounds to the man, an additional 5,000,000 pounds of food for an army of a million men. Of the emergency ration, carried on the back, there Is outstanding every day 2,000,000 pounds of corned beef and 2,000,000 pounds of hardtack, 300,000 pounds of sugar, 62,500 pounds of coffee, 20,000 pounds of salt, and 500,000 pounds of solidified alcohol for heating and cooking while on march.

GET WRITING CRAZE

Yankee Fighters Heap Troubles on the Censor. When Out of the Trenches He “Telia ’Em About It” in Reams and Reams. . Paris.—The letter-writing craze has struck the American army. Just as soon as he gets out of the trenches the doughboy washes up, scurries around for pen and paper and sits down to tell ’em all about it. And he tells ’em in Teams and reams. “Well, let’s see,” he says, ,as he meditatively kicks his steel helmet

PAL TO TOMMY ATKINS

• Only a little wiry, French terrier, but a pal to this lonely Tommy out on “No Man’s Land.” Picked up between the lines during a raid the little dog and great big man have become inseparable. The terrier has at last found a peaceful home even if it is only in a tin hat of a British Tommy.

“Sorry to wake you up,” he said, “but I absolutely must be getting on. I’m likely to be court-martialed now for being so long on this job, but I would rather take a ‘month and a month’ than have robbed you of that sleep. I decided that the war could go on for an horn* without me, while you tore off 40 winks." This is just one of many instances showing how the Y. M. C. A. stands with the army. That driver had voluntarily • risked getting Into trouble with his commanding officer because he knew the Red Triangle man needed sleep.

Wants Twins in Same Company.

Topeka, Kan.—Martin Lltke, a farmer of Council Grove, does not ask exemption fofhls twin sons, George and Jerry. All he wanted of the district draft board was that they shpuld go tb war together. The board granted the request

SAILOR SYMPATHIZES WITH LORD BISHOP

, Queenstown.—The Right Reverend Doctor Browne, Lord Bishop, is a person of consequence, as his title might indicate. He had settled himself comfortably in the corner of a first class compartment when, just as the train pulled out, a happy and carefree crowd of American sailors piled into the compartment. They were on leave and everybody’s friends. “Are you a priest?” asked one. “I suppose I was at one time,” was the good-humored reply of the man who was known throughout the land as “his lordship.” “Well, I was a chief gunner at one time,” the Jackie replied, “but I have .been disrated also — through booze!”

under his cot “I’ve got to write to ma and pa, Kittle and Johnny Boggs over at Canton, O. Then, I owe Nell Johnson a letter. And I’ve got to scribble a few lines to Uncle Abe and Aunt Minnie. After that I’ll answer those letters of Bill and Tom.” Writing materials —paper and envelopes—are not always plentiful where the doughboy is stationed, and for a while It was doubtful whether the last of his correspondence list would receive their letters, for the supply in the small town stores yvas soon exhausted. But the Y. M. C. A., learning of this scarcity, soon arranged to supply all contingents. It sent' out seven million sheets of writing paper and some 3,500,000 envelopes a month. With the tremendous growth of the expeditionary force, orders have been increased and the estimate for next year is 120,000,000 sheets of paper and 60,000,000 envelopes. This means that the Yanks will use about 720 tons of writing materials—--720 tops of news and comfort for the folks at home. And when the censor officers stop to consider it they grow weak, for it is their duty, along with everything else, to censor the letters and see to it that the soldier usA discretion and doesn’t mention things of military importance.

TWO CHAMPIONS ARE WED

Best Dishwasher and Best Cook Ought to Make Useful Combination. Kansas City, Kafi.—Two Kansas champions, the best pastry cook in the state and the best dishwasher in the state, were married here recently. Francis A. Davis, seventy, a veteran of the Civil war and chief pastry cook at the Soldiers’ home at Leavenworth, Kan., and Mrs. Ida N. Wilson, fortynine, a widow employed as a dishwasher at the home were the parties.

YANKEE BAPTIZED ON A RUN

Made Chaplain Hurry Because He Wanted to Catch Up With x His Company. With the American Army at, the Marne—A long line of dust-covered Yankees were pushing their way through a shell-battered village near Chateau-Thlerry toward a ridge of hills from which came the rumble of artillery fire. At a crossroads they came upon a chaplain, waiting beside a broken-down sidecar. One of the doughboys fell out of line and walked rapidly up to the crossroads. “Say, Chaplain, baptize me quick, will you?” he urged. “We’ll be in the line to-night I” * - The chaplainXrilkfed away from the sidecar. “Do you believe” he began. “Yes, sir; I believe everything!” interjected the boy; “but I’ve got to catch my company. Can’t you make it quick?” In less than a minute the ceremony was over and h« was running up the road. -v • \ .

WHAT APPEALED TO CHINESE

Consideration Accorded Women by British Authorities Evidently Made Deep Impression op Native*. ■ “If one. were’to. ask a native of Wef-haf-wei what were the characteristics of British rule that he most appre-dated,-one would perhaps expect him to emphasize the comparative freedom from petty extortion and tyranny, the obvious endeavor (not always successful) to dispense even-handed justice/ .the facilities for trade, the improvement of means of communication. It 'Was not an answer of tMs kind, however, that I received from an intelligent and plain-spoken resident, to whom I put this question," R. F. Johnston says in “Lion and Dragon in Northern China." “ ‘What to' it we like best In our British.rulers? I will tel! you,’ he said. 'Our native roads are narrow pathways, and very often there Is no room for two persons to pass unless one yields the road to the other. When our last rulers —the Japanese—met our small-footed women . . . along such a path they never stepped aside to let the woman pass by . . . An Englishman, on the contrary, whether mounted or on foot, always leaves the road to the woman. He will walk deliberately into a deep snowdrift rather than let a Chinese woman step off the dry path. We have come to understand that the men of your honorable country all act In’the same way. and this Is what we like about Englishmen.’ ”

WHY THEY ARE “DOUGHBOYS”

Origin of Nickname Applied to United States Infantrymen Traced to Mexican War, The term “doughboy” as a nickname for the American infantryman is a very old one, dating back to the Mexican war of 1846. In that year the United States regular soldiers firsts made acquaintanceship with the hohses of mud-colored, sun-dried bricks that are seen everywhere, even today, in New Mexico, Arizona nnd the southern part of California. These bricks are called by the Mexican adobes (pronounced “dobies"). a term also applied to the small, squat, flat-roofed houses built with them. When the American Invaders entered what was then Mexican territory, the infantrymen found these dwellings—mostly deserted by their panic-stricken Inhabitants —handy as billets, and promptly occupied them as such. But the cavalrymen, who had to be near their picketed horses out on the open prairie, were unable to avail themselves of similar accommodation, ’ /-ia Partly in envy, and partly in goodnatured chaff, these christened their more fortunate comrades “dobie dodgers,” afterwards shortened to “dobies,” a good, round-sounding nickname that was bound to stick, and which in course of time became corrupted into “doughboys.” •

John Burroughs’ Rabbit.

In July the woodchuck was forgotten in our Interest In a little gray rabbjt which we found nearly famished, writes 'John Burroughs. It’was so small that it could sit in the hollow of one’s hand, -. . . We had to force the milk Into its mouth. But in a day or two it began to revive, and would lap the milk eagerly. Soon it took to grass and clover, and then to nibbling sweet apples and early pears. It grew rapidly, and was one of the softest and most harmless-looking pets I had ever seen.. Tor a month or more the little rabbit was the only company I had, and It helped beguile the time Immensely. In coming in from the field or from my work, I seldom failed to bring it a handful of red clover blossoms, of which it became very fond. One day it fell slyly to licking my hand, and I discovered it wanted salt. I would then moisten my fingers, dip them Inttf the Salt, and offer them to the rabbit How rapidly the delicate little tongue would play upon them, darting c»it to the right and left of the large front incisors, the slender paws being pressed against my hand as If to detain It.

Trl- Color Not of Equal Proportion.

It is evident from the appearance of the French flag as a pictorial decoration that many artists are unaware that the tri-color does not consist nf the three colors, blue, white and red, tn equal proportion. When the famous flag was adopted in the year that gave the United States its Constitution. 1789, it was complained* that due to an optical illusion, the white, in the middle, looked narrower at a distance, than the h’ue, which is next to the staff, and that the red, on the fly end of the flag, looked narrower than the white. After numerous experiments, the proportions of the colors were Or- , dered to be. as they are now, “in every 100 parts, blue to be 30, white, 33 and red 87.” - ■ ' r'i-' r 'I

Ladies Shave in Japan.

There are many things the Japanese do differently from ourselves. For Instance, ladles sit with-their hands folded palms upward in Japan. They all shave. They never brush thefr hair, but only comb it. For the English “a thimbleful” the Japanese speak of “a sparrow’s tear,” and instead of talking of putting a thing on the fire to cook, the Japanese speak of putting the fire through it A man* never wishes his wife good morning first—a truly oriental touch. She greets him and he replies. A woman never speaks of her husband as such. She speaks of “the house.”