Newspaper Page Text
Nov. 14, 1917.
SOCIAL EVIL RAVAGES
TROOPS
Dealing frankly and boldly with the so
cial evilas a menace to the nation’s mili
tary efficiency, Josephus Daniels, sec
retary of the navy, in an address before
the clinical congress of surgeons of North
American appealed to the medical profes
sion "to end the false double standard
that decreases military effectiveness.”
The profession, he asserted, must share
its part of th£ blame for the “unpardon-
Able prudery that endured a festering evil
rather than have it exposed and eradi
cated.”
"There is not an army in the field
whose effectiveness is not reduced by rea
son of immoral disease.” said Secretary
Daniels. "The navy suffers likewise and
business halts because venereal diseases
destroy the manhood of workmen and
fighters. During the last statistical year
men of the American navy lost 141,378
days’ sickness from a small grbup of ab
solutely prevented diseases or rather dis
eases contracted by sin. This means
that every day throughout the year there
were 456 men disabled by this disgrace
ful malady. Add to that number those
required to care for the disabled and we
have enough men on the non-effective list
each day to man a modern battleship.
And this does not count those who, though
diseased, were not disabled or the evil
of the loathing danger of contagion to the
clean members of the crew.
How Army Checked Disease.
"In the navy in 1915 there were ad
mitted for treatment for venereal dis
eases 112 persons in every 1.000 and in
the army 84 for every 1,000 the number
in the army having decreased from 145
to the 1,000 after the passage of an act
stopping the pay of all soldiers admitted
for treatment for a venereal disease.
The new navy law stops the pay
of men so afflicted and probably will
reduce the number to the army ra
the pay of men so afflicted and probably
will reduce the number to the army ra
tio, but these figures show a condition of
immorality upon the part of the minority
in both arms of the service that chal
lenges the thought of Die authorities.
"In civil life the number afflicted is
<iuite as large proportionately as in the
military service. It has been printed
that, Hecht of Vienna stated that at one
time the equivalent of three entire Aus
trian divisions of 60,000 men was under
treatment for venereal disease, while the
German army in Belgium, representing
only a small part of the total German
forces, is reported during the first five
months of its occupation to have furnish
ed 35.000 such patients. Canadian and
Australian officers have deplored the rav
ages of this disease. The Jate figures
from the British army gave 78,000 cases,
and all other countries have also been
weakened.
Menace in War and Peace.
“Sir William Osler places these infec
tious diseases at the top as a menace in
war and in peace. The time has come to
realize that this subtlest foe of humanity
must be conquered, and.it cannot be con
quered by denying its existence, saying
it is a necessary evil or applying palia
tives. It is deadlier than smallpox or
cancer or tuberculosis. A Canadan au
thority says: ’lts ravages today are more
terrible for Britain and Canadia than
Vimy Ridge, the Somme and Lens.’
“The. remedy? There is but one—con
tinence. It must be preached in the
home, in the school, in the marts of trade
in the pulpit and military camps and
among shipmates afloat. The eradica
tion of the evil effects must be thorough,
but the teacher who will be heard and
heeded when the teachings of all others
will fall on deaf ears is the word of au
thority from the medical profession
Young men expect ministers of the gospel
to call them to clean living, souls, and
too many youths hardly realize they have
a soul. But they know they have bodies,
and the doctor is the man to whom they
trust the treatment of their bodies. When
he preaches continence as the only rule
of life to young men and points out the
dire penalty for lapses his words have a
weight no other admonition possesses.
"Tell Our Youths the Truth.”
"You gentlemen of the medical pro
fession deal with life and death. You
bring the bodies into the world, and you
close the eyes of the dead. Yours is
the ministering function, the intimate
touch, and out of such realtion you can
enjoy an amazing power of suggestion.
It is this power that America calls upon
you to use. Tell our youths the truth.
It is a duty laid upon you, not by the
moral law alone, but by the law of self
preservation that opeiates in nations as
well as individuals. That dutv is im
perative upon you now as never before. If
you perform it and our young soldiers and
sailors heed your wise counsel—and many
of them will follow’ your teaching with
lasting gratitude—you will contribute
more to the winning of the war than man
ufactures of shells.
- "Continence is no longer a matter of
morals only, though it must be enforced
as the cardinal doctrine of morals. It
has come to be seen as having its base in
the great law of nature. New truths must
take the place of ancient lies. We know
now by the testimony of science that
there is no foundation for a double stand
ard for the sexes. To preach it is to
preach immorality and a lowering of man
hood. The lie that has lived so long
must be driven out by the truth
“Only God will ever know the’ toll in
Wood and tears that this lie has taken
from the heart of the world—the price
that the health of the race has been
made to pay for its submission to a
historic falsehood; young lives ruined, fu
tures cheated of promise, children called
upon to suffer for the sinss of the fath
ers, innocent women robbed of the right
of happy motherhood and the virility of
a nation sapped at its very foundations.
“Today as never before American
manhood must be clean. We must have
fitness. America stands in need of every
ounce of strength. We must cut out
the cancer if we would live.”
Caruso is on the job again at the
Metropolitan Opera House, New York,
and on Monday night, during the per
formance of "Aida,” startled the fash
ionable audience by appearing with
other noted stars between the acts,
singing "The Star Spangled Banner.”
It was his way of protesting against Dr.
Karl Muck’s attitude in connection
with his refusal to play the national
anthem.
All the Germans who escaped from
Fort McPherson have been cought.
TRENCH AND CAMP
SECRETARY BAKER SAYS:
“For many years the Y. M. C. A.
has been established as a prominent
feature of army life in times of
peace. The war, however, has de
veloped for it a degree of promi
nence far larger and a field of use
fulness far wider than even it's
friends could have hoped. Its ca
pacity for mobilization on a large
scale and the readiness with which
it has fitted itself to the needs of
the troops in training camps and
trenches in this great world war
make it an indispensable factor in
any future military plans. It pro
vides for the social side—the home
side—-of the. life of the soldier and
its influence in rationalizing the
strange environment into which
this crisis has plunged our young
men has been and will be most
beneficent.”
Soldier Writes to
Folks Back Home
Camp Hancock, Augusta, Ga.
Rev. S. G-. Buckner, November 9, ’l7.
Somerset, Pa.
Dear Reverend Buckner:
Captain Truxal handed me a telegram
today from Chas. F. Uhl, Jr., in regard
to the Y. M. Q A. War Fund. I note with
much interest that the good citizens of
Somerset are starting a drive to increase
this fund, and to indirectly give US
comforts and pleasures that would other
wise be foreign to us.
It gave me much pleasure to inform the
boys of our company what the people
of our home town are trying to do for
the best organization in existence, and
every last man of us will appreciate any
effort that any man, woman, or child yuts
forth to make this "Y. M. C. A. War Fund
drive a crowning success in our little
Mountain Town in Pennsylvania, because
every soldier and sailor in the service of
Uncle Sam will reap some benefit from
their work.
If all you folks back home knew of all
the comforts that we get from our branch
of the Y. M. C. A., I am sure that you.
would all “chip in the pot, and have it
running over in a very short time.”
The Y. M. C. A. is the most remark
able organization ever instituted, and if
anyone wants to be convinced of that
fact, just send them to some soldiers
training camp to see what they are ac
complishing in every direction that is
good, and I am sure that it would take
but a very short while to convince the
most pessimistic pessimist.
Every Monday and Thursday at the Y.
M. C. A. we have movies, and every other
night in the week there are lectures, en
tertainments, and various other kinds of
amusements too numerous to mention. Tn
fact there is something good before the
soldiers of Camp Hanpock at the Y. M.
C. A. at all times, and all we need to do
is to go there and enjoy ourselves, and
we do not experience any difficulties in
getting there.
Permit me to enumerate a few things
that we find at the Y. M. C. First, as I
have already told you, we have all sorts
of amusements, and in addition to that,
we have writing tables, writing paper,
envelopes, brooks, magazines, newspapers
from all over Pennsylvania, entertainers
from the best lyceum circuits in the
country, and a hundred other things that
go to make things pleasant for us.
To maintain an institution such as the
Y. M. C. A., takes considerable money,
and heaps of work, so if you folks back
home don’t mind furnishing the money,
and doing, a little work to help the great
est cause of the day along (we will see
to the fighting of the Germans) in our
spare moments we will reap the benefits
of your labors, and the money you so
generously give to help the Y. M. C. A.
War fund.
Wishing you the greatest success pos
sible in your drive, believe me.
Very sincerely,
JIMMIE CADDELL.
Clerk, Co., “C,” 110th Inf.
GAMBLER QUIT CRAP
One of the Y. M. C. A. men was ap
proached at the counter recently by a
young fellow, who said:
“I want to send S4O home. Do you
have express money orders?” ’
The secretary at once flashed the
money order book on the counter and
said: .
“That’s fine. I’m glad you're send
ing your money home, old man.”
The young fellow replied: “Gad, it
I don’t send it home now, I’ll lose it
all in crap. I lost $6 ten minutes ago.”
Then the man opened his heart to
the secretary and said:
"Do you know I never worked in
my life until I joined the army. I’ve
been a gambler all my life. I never
went to.church in my life. My father
was a gambler and never did any
thing else all his life, so you see the
gambling instinct is strong in me. But
the other night I was passing j’our
Y. M. C. A. and heard the singing ana
went in. It was the first time I had
ever been at a religious service and it
was so different from what I had ex
pected, I went again. I’m going to
try to cut. out the craps and poker and
live straight.”
The secretary encouraged the man
and a few days later, the former
gambler met him in the building and
said:
"Say, I’m still holding out, and on
Sunday night I went to church in Au
gusta—the first time I was in church,
in my life. I’m going down town to’
church every Sunday after this.”
And the secretary expects to lead
that confessed gambler to a Power
greater than himself.
Seventy-five slackers will be tried
before the federal court at Augusta
next week.
The Rockefeller Foundation has
promised to give $1,000,000 outright to
the war fund of the Y. M. C. A-, and
in addition ten per cent of the entire
amount raised, the total contribution
not to exceed $3,500,000.
SCHAKE SCHMITT WRITES
TO HIS COUSIN HANS
To My Cousin Hans:
State of United, January Twenty-Two
Mine Dear Cousin Hans:
I now take my pen and ink in hand
und write you mitt a lead pencil.
We do not live where ve used to live,
ve live where ve has moofed.
I hate to say it, but your dear ole aunt
vot died vid new monie that you lofed so
veil iss dead, she died wid new monie on
New Year’s day in New Orleans, at thir
teen minutes in front of five. Some peo
l>le tink she had the population of the
Hart.
The Doctor gave up all hopes of saving'
her, ven she died all her breath leaked
out. She leaves a family of two and
two Cows. They found SIO,OOO sowed up
in her bustle—it vas a awful lot of mon
ey to leaf behind—she willed it all to the
two boys—if they died it all goes to the
C.ows.
Old Mrs. Schneider iss very sick—she
iss chust about death’s door —the doctor
thinks he can pull her thru—she has such
a nice little boy—he la chust like a hu
man beast. I took him up to the hos
pital to see' the sick peoples—we had a
lufly time.
Your brother, Gus, took our dog, Fido,
down to the S;w mill the other day to
have a fight—he runned up against one
of the big round saws—he only lasted
one round. All the Schmitts around here
have the mumps find are having a swell
time.
xj am sending your black overcoat by
express—to save so much express
charges I cut off the buttons—you will
find them in the inside pocket.
Ve sent Hilda over to Mister Rogers to
see if he had some Pigs’ feet—she cum
back and said she didn’t know because he
had his boots on so she couldn’t see
his feet.
I got a jopp in the liberty stable as
stenography—taking hay for the horses.
Louie Spriggle vos sick. The Doctor
told him to take someding so he vent
down the street —he met a Junk dealer
and took his votch—the Junk man got
him arrested un got a lawyer—the lawyer
got the case—but Louie the works.
There iss lots of peoples dying around
here vot never died before.
Oh, ho wl visit we were closer apart. I
am so awful lonsemoe since we are sepa
rated together.
Your brother, Francis, is getting along
fine mid de small-pox und he hopes this
will find you the same.
Hoping you will written sooner than I
did, I vill remain here.
Yours Cousin,
SCHAKE SCHMITT.
P. X.—ls you don’t get this letter, let
me no und I vill write again two times.
P. X. —Have chust received that $5.00
vot I owe you, but has closd up the let
ter and can’t get it in.
NOTED TAPTISF
MINISTER IN CAMP
Dr. Kerr Boyce Tupper, a Baptist min
ister of Philadelphia .spoke Suday night
at the regular service of the Army Y. M.
C. A., in building' No. 76. He lectured
on "The Right Side of Life,” at the same
place on Monday evening.
Dr. Tupper is a cultured and gifted
gentleman and for many years has been
on the lecture platform, to the great sat
isfaction of large audiences, both in the
East and in the West. His lectures will
both interest and entertain the men of
tho camp.
Tonight he leads the religious service
at building No. 79, Wrightsboro road, and
on Thursday night at the Y. M. C. A. tent
in the Ammunition Train. On Saturday
night he lectures—a return engagement—
at building No. 76, and on Sunday eve
ning next he preaches at building No. 77,
Wrightsboro road and Post Office street.
enc o uragTn gteLeg RAM.
The following encouraging telegram was
received by Secretary Walter Hunter, of
the Augusta Y. M. C. A., with reference
to the $35,000,000 campaign fund of the
War Work Council of the Y. M. C. A.:
New York headquarters wires this
morning they are sure of one subscription
of $1,000,000, three subscriptions of $500,-
000 each, and several $250,000 subscrip
tions. The Mayor of Columbus, Ga., has
asked all business houses to decorate in
honor of Red Triangle week and name
of local boys who have enlisted, to be
posted in public square.
C. A. ROWLAND,
Director Georgia Campaign.
Athens.
APPREC lAT E ~ FRME NDLIN E SS.
Camp Hancock, Nov. 8, 1917.
Gentlemen of the Y. M. C. A.:
As I was sitting a the camp fire of
the Artillery Range on November 8, an
idea came into my head to w’rite and
say how the Y. M. C. A. treats the
men.
The Y. M. C. A. opens at eight
o’clock in the morning and closes at.
ten p. m. They have reading rooms
and writing rooms which are occupied
at all times. The men are also sup
plied with all the necessities of sports.
In the evening they interest the sol
diers by having moving pictures or
an evening entehtainment. Friendli
ness of the men of the Y. M. C. A.
is certainly appreciated by the sol
diers at Camp Hancock attached to the
One Hundred and Eighth Field Artil
lery, Medical Corps.
PRIVATE HARRY HA EBERLE,
Medical Corps, 108th Field Artillery.
President Wilson delivered a won
derful speech Monday night before the
American Federation of Labor at Buf
falo. Read it. Said he: “We must
stand together, night and day, until
this job is finished.”,
BUY A COPY OF
HISTORIC AUGUSTA
Read it. Keep it for reference, and send a copy
to your friend. Price 25c.
A. W. DELLQUEST BOOK CO., Publishers.
Leonard Building. 213-215 Seventh St. Augusta, Ga.
GENERAL HONORS
PRIVATE OSBORN
Before the war cross, awarded by the
French government to Paul Osborn,
the American ambulance driver killed
in action, was placed on the coffin,
General Baratier, who presided at the
funeral, paid his tribute to this Mont
clair boy and member of the Dartmouth
College Association:
In the name of the One Hundred
and Thirty-fourth Division, 1 salute
Soldier Osborn who came at the out
break of the war to aid us to win right,
liberty and justice.
In his person I salute the army of
the United States which is fighting
with us. The same ideal that inspires
and leads up onward. We are fighting
to save the liberty of the world. Sol
dier Osborn, my thoughts go out to
your parents who on the other side of
the ocean, will learn of the grief that
has stricken them.
I know that words have no power
to lessen a mother's sorrow, but I
know the ideal Which she inspired in
the heart of her son, will be able, if
not to dry her tears, at least to trans
form them, for it is through these
teams, the tears of all mothers, of all
women, that victory will come —that
victory which will assure the peace
•of this world, which will be theirs more
than any other, since they will have
paid for it with their hearts.
Soldier Osborn, sleep on in the midst
of your French comrades fallen glori
ously like you. Sleep on. wrapped in
the folds of the United States flag in
the shade of the banners of France.
“FIGHTING MIKE”
Rev. M. S. Rice, of Detroit, relates the
following incident:
“After the meeting was over in the
Y. M. C. A. building and the crowd had
been dismissed, a big Irishman, six feet
and four inches tall, asked to see me
alone. We had a most interesting time
of it in matching the call of Christianity
against his ideas of a vigorous fighting
career.
"He promised to be at our next meeting.
I saw him sitting before me when I be
gan to speak, and put all I knew into
the appeal of Christianity to the most
virile side of a man’s life. Mike .was
caught with interest. When the decision
was called for, he came with many others
to get a card, but won id not sign it. We
went aside to tai kagain. He said: ‘Mr.
Rice, I am a fighter. They call me “Fight
ing Mike.” If I was trying to be a Chris
tian and some little fellow made me mad,
I would knock his block off.’
“I said, ‘Now, Mike, are you really a
fighter or just a bluffer?' He said quick
ly, ‘Ask the boys here,’ and I knew his
case very well! He has long been the
fighter of the battalion. So I said, ‘Now,
Mike, suppose some fellow made you real
mad, and you would double up your great,
big mawl of a fist square against his lit
tle nose, and say, "You poor little mite,
I could flatten that nose all over your
face, but by the grace of God I am not
going to do it.” What do you suppose
he would think?’ The big fellow looked
at me a minute and then said, ‘That
would make a. hit, wouldn’t it?’ Taking
his card he signed it with grim purpose.
“The next day he marched away to
France with a big draft of fellows for
the front trenches. As he came by our
‘Y’ Hut, he lifted his old ha tand started
a cheer for the Y. M. C. A. We last sight
ed his high held head in the dust way
down the road as he went to his grim
duty.”
AT CAMPSHELBY
Melvin W. Sheppard, the famous
track star, has been assigned to Camp
Shelby, Hattiesburg, Mid?., by the
Commission on Training' Camp Activ
ities.
At Camp Shelby there is an athletic
council and at a recent meeting, every
man in the camp was assessed 25 cents
for the athletic fund, which will be
used to promote divisional athletics,
football games, etc. Several of the
college footbal teams have been en
gaged for games.
Shelby has a Y. M. C. A. secretary
at the base hospital.
One hundred thousand dollars above
the allotment was the Liberty Loan
record of Camp Shelby.
BITSOFJHRAPNEL
Following the capture of Beersheba and
Gaza, in Palestine, the British armies
united and the Turkish troops are now in
retreat northward. It looks as though
Jerusalem will soon be restored to Chris
tians. What a nice Christmas gift to the
world that would be!
Townsend Martin and Charles B. Hall,
Americans, have been awarded the French
War Cross for bravery for removing
wounded men under heavy fire.
Canadian plants will produce for the
United States, 7,000,000 shells for French
75s during the first seven months of 1918.
Samuel O. Livingood, a private attach
ed to the aviation camp at Princeton, N.
J., was acquitted of the charge of having
a deadly poison in his possession with in
tent to injure his comrades, according to
the findings of the military tribunal which
heard his case at Governor's Island four
weeks ago.
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