Y.M.C.A. WORK

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 240, 4 July 1919, Page 7

Y.M.C.A. WORK

WORLD'S LEAGUE PROPOSED ,

WAR GIVES ASSOCIATION GREAT FILLIP

In voforring to tho work' of the Y.M.CA. in tho war, Mr. W. H. George, commissioner, states that whilst he will leavo that work to bo judged by tho returned soldiei, a* Se, boforo all others, knows what was done, thero were certain critics of the J.11.C.A., and indeed of other organisations, who mado statements without a Knowledge of the facts. Tho Salvation Army, for example, did simply splendid work in connection with tho troops with their hostels in London, and one of tho finest hostels was tift Army one in Southampton Road; but outside tho base camps, right up in the fighting zone, thoro was only ono organisation working, and that was ' the Y.M.CA. The association, ns most peoplo knew, was actually mado a. unit of tho forces, and was as much under the commands of £Ke General as any other unit, but the General himself had said that thejr could not have half a (tan organisations working up in the front lino. Tho two great social wings were the Red Cross for sick and wounded men, and the Red Trianglo for men who wore well. Both had worked in conjunction with tho padres, and in perfect accord. Whilst thero might bo criticism at homo, there was no kind of friction at tho 'front—there was too much work for everyone to do. What tho Y.M.CA; had done it could nover have done without the good will of General Russell. Tho Red Triangle was utterly dependent on the Army. How could tho comforts have been goU up to the front lino without the assistance of tfie jftuiy Sorvice Corps? Where the R-ed Triangle scored was in its capacity to think ahead and to take a sano view of the chances that wero oti'oring. By so doing it was ablo to.move off nfter tno troops quickly, sometimes a Ijood deal more tjaickly thiin the canteen .■itself., In the big advance the Germans destroyed all 'roads by blowing hugo holes in them, ami fraoEuring every joint in tho railway lines, eo that when, the troops followed up rapidly they winetimes found themselves as much as 30 it 40 miles beyond their nearest railhead, where at_ times they were without even ammunition, let alone supplies, owing to the difh'onltie3 of transport. Therf was , one occasion when nearly the whole of tho division, who were on the rush, wero without oigarettes for throe days. Then the Y.M.CA. was able to come to tho resono,

Mr. George says that the Y.M.CA. employed no fewer than 0812 men in France, which gave an idea of the tremendous ground . that had to be covered. ,Tho American regiments wero not allowed to have padres of aU religions as were ours. They only had the two organisations at work in the Army, the Y.M.CA. and the Knights of Columbus (a Roman Catholio body), both of which bodies did good work in their respective spheres. To give an idea of what tho Y.M.CA. had done, Mr. George said that probably in the first years of the war, before the Americans camo in, not more than .£1,000,000 was subscribed for Y.M.CA. work,- but in the last year the amount reached the colossal sum of -£30,000.000, of which the Americans subscribed It was not generally known that the .. American Y.M.CA. met all our transports at Newport News and on the Canal and supplied the men with comforts. They had told the American association that tho cost of anything so supplied would be refunded. Latterly the local association had sent one of its own 6ecietarios to the Canal zone to attend to the needs of those on the transports on their way home. Speaking about what is being done' for tho transports, Mr. George said that aa soon as the boats bogan to leave for New Zealand aftor the armistice- they decided to put a complete kinema outfit on each vessel, and actually arranged for fresh stocks of fiEm. to be 6uppliod tho vessels at Colon. "We got some away, and they proved a great success," said Mr. George, "but the underwriters got to hear of .it,- and absolutely blocked Uβ on the score of the extra risk from fire. To my. great surprise, when I got on .the Olympic, the biggest of tho WhitStar liners, carrying 5500 Canadian troops, there was a kinoma show going from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. without any intermission, so when I got to New York I wrote to Mr. Massoy and Colonel Hall asking them to inquire concerning tho discrimination shown by the underwriters of onr vessels and those carrying Canadian troops.

"1 consider the kinema the greatest power in education at the present time, and look forward to tho time when every Y.M.C.A. will bo equipped with a plant, not to show those extravagant and often unwholesome dramas 'that are so often shown, butgood, healthy, robust stories, travel, scenic, industrial, nnd commercial pictures that will tench young men to be good citizens. We used occasionally to get somo of those pictures, but lately they do not 6eem to figure in vhe programmes. Fancy how easy it would be for the. physical instructor to show what ho wsnted when he haj a life-size picture to illustrate his idea. So it is in trades, art crafts, sports, etc. It will cost a lot of money—the. plants'are expensive, and so is the film—but the idea is too good to be neglected." Finally, Mr. George mentioned that it was the intention of tho American Y.M.C.A. to call a conferfince, to be held in New York, with a view to linking up all the individual associations in the world. At present these act independentlypretty well on the same lines, but often with different working ways of achieving the one end, and it would be for the conference to seize upon all that was best in /each association, and draft a policy to be followed by the federation, which would be something like the League of Nations.

"I believe that the Y.M.C.A. hut, as the result of the war," said Mr. George, "is destined to be an integral part of tli6 social scheme of every country. India, China, and Japan are calling out for more hute, and their value as a social centre for the youth of a town can scarcely be over-estimated. The world is growing smaller every day and each day we are getting closer in tonch with one another, and it is that which euKffests the co-operation the coming conference will seek to bring about. Already there are 1500 Foyers des Soldate in France, which are simply the T.M.C.A. But idea, eo that the hut idea has come to stay, you mark my words, and if you had seen some of our Irate you would not wonder nt it."