THE CAMP OF THE PRODIGALS
We are in a natural amphitheater of the forest, near a big base
hospital, about seventy miles behind the lines in France. Always in
the stillness of the woods, even at this distance, one can hear the
intermittent boom of the big guns at the front, and the air is vibrant
on this summer evening. Beyond the wood lies the old drill ground of
Napoleon, which is used today as a field for final training for the
reenforcements for the front line.
In this wide open space in the woods at sundown the patients of the
hospital in their blue uniforms are gathering for the meeting. It is a
picturesque sight to see about eight hundred of them seated on the
grass, while an orchestra composed of their own men is playing before
the opening of the meeting. Who are these men before us? They are not
the wounded who have fallen on the field of honor, but the sick, and,
quite frankly, they all have venereal disease. The war has dragged
this moral menace so into the light of day that the times of prudish
silence and of fatal ignorance should have passed for all who are truly
concerned for the welfare of the soldier and who want to know his
actual conditions. We shall, therefore, in this chapter call a spade a
spade.
The eight hundred men gathered here are a small part of some thousands
of similar cases in France. The _London Daily Mail_ of April 25th,
1917, referring to the report of the military authorities to the House
of Commons, stated that there had been some two hundred thousand cases
of venereal disease in the British Army in France alone. This does not
include England or the men on the other fronts. The British Army is
not worse than others. Professor Finger, at a meeting of the Medical
Society in Vienna early in the war, estimated that over 700,000, or
some ten per cent of the Austrian troops, had contracted venereal
disease. More ominous still is the fact that in almost every place yet
investigated the majority of the men were confessedly living in
immorality amid the temptations of the base camps in France.
As we visit the hospitals in France, we are saddened by the fact that
for one of the two venereal diseases no cure has yet been found, that a
large proportion of these cases suffer a relapse, and that over seventy
per cent will develop complications. As one Commanding Medical Officer
said, "There is enough venereal disease in these military camps now to
curse Europe for three generations to come."
One young major said: "Every day I am losing my boys. I've lost more
men through these forces of immorality than through the enemy's shot
and shell." The recent report of the Royal Commission shows the grave
menace of the disease to Britain, where twenty per cent of the urban
population has been infected. Flexner's terrible indictment in his
"Prostitution in Europe" proves how particularly dangerous and
pernicious is the system of inspection and regulation which legalizes
and standardizes vice as a "necessary evil" and spreads disease through
the false sense of security which it vainly promises. Even if the
inspection and regulation of vice were physically perfectly successful,
it might still lead to national degeneration, but instead of being a
success it has proved, especially in France, a miserable failure. We
cannot place all the blame upon local conditions, for the presence of
an army in a foreign land in wartime creates its own danger.
Among the men in the venereal hospitals of France are musicians,
artists, teachers, educated and refined boys from some of the best
homes, and in another camp we find several hundred officers and several
members of the nobility. What was the cause of their downfall? A
questionnaire replied to by several hundred of them revealed the fact
that six per cent attributed their downfall to curiosity, ten per cent
to ignorance, claiming that they had never been adequately warned by
the medical authorities, thirteen per cent to loss of home influences
and lack of leave, thirty-three per cent to drink and the loss of
self-control due to intoxication, while the largest number of all, or
thirty-eight per cent, attributed it to uncontrolled passion when they
were unconverted or had no higher power in their lives to enable them
to withstand temptation. But perhaps the chief cause of the spread of
immorality is the unnatural conditions under which the men are
compelled to live in a foreign land in war time.
Donald Hankey, the brilliant young author of "A Student in Arms," who
fell at the front, speaks thus of the moral problem in the soldier's
life:
"Let us be frank about this. What a doctor might call the 'appetites'
and a padre the 'lusts' of the body, hold dominion over the average
man, whether civilian or soldier, unless they are counteracted by a
stronger power. The only men who are pure are those who are absorbed
in some pursuit, or possessed by a great love; be it the love of clean,
wholesome life which is religion, or the love of a noble man which is
hero-worship, or the love of a true woman. These are the four powers
which are stronger than 'the flesh'--the zest of a quest, religion,
hero-worship, and the love of a good woman. If a man is not possessed
by one of these he will be immoral. . . . Fifteen months ago I was a
private quartered in a camp near A----. . . . The tent was damp,
gloomy, and cold. The Y M C A tent and the Canteen tent were crowded.
One wandered off to the town. . . . And if a fellow ran up against 'a
bit of skirt' he was generally just in the mood to follow it wherever
it might lead. The moral of this is, double your subscriptions to the
Y M C A, Church huts, soldiers' clubs, or whatever organization you
fancy! You will be helping to combat vice in the only sensible way."
We agree with Donald Hankey that the appetites hold dominion over the
average man, whether civilian or soldier. We do not wish to make any
sweeping generalizations or accusations. We have no means of knowing
how many men are immoral in peace time, as we have in war time. We
only know that conditions of ordinary times are intensified,
aggravated, and multiplied; and they are revealed in war time as never
before, and thrown upon the screen of the public gaze. The writer also
desires to guard against any possible impression that the British army
is worse than our own or any other. It is too early to know what
record our men will make, but we find it difficult to believe that they
could have maintained a higher standard if placed in equal numbers in
the same circumstances.
But to return to our meeting. Every one of these eight hundred men in
this audience has a history. Tired or hardened or haggard faces are
relaxed as they join in singing the hymns on this Sunday evening,
"Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Lead, Kindly Light," "Tell Me the Old, Old
Story," and "Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight?" There is a tragedy in
every heart, and each man has experienced the bitterness of sin and
bears its scars branded in his body. Look into the faces of some of
these men. Here in front, this very first one, is an American cowboy
from Texas, Frank B----. As a "broncho-buster" he became the star
rider in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and was finally adopted as his
son. At the age of fifteen he started to go wrong in New Orleans. At
an early age he joined the American army, and later, at the outbreak of
the war, he served in the Flying Corps of the British army. Here he
broke a leg and was smashed up in action. After that he joined an
infantry division. In one of the meetings this week he accepted
Christ. He has since been standing firm and goes out tomorrow to begin
a new life. Near him is a young theological student with a sad look on
his face, who has learned here in bitterness the deepest lesson of his
life. Next to him is a heartbroken married man with a wife and
children at home.
After the crowd has assembled, we speak to them of Christ as the Maker
of Men. We tell them of the transformation of others like themselves,
of Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Loyola and the saints of old, of John
B. Gough, Jerry McAuley, Hadley, and the men of Water Street whom God
raised out of the depths, and of men right in their midst who have come
out for Christ in the meetings this week. After speaking for an hour,
we go into the Y M C A for an after-meeting.
We had a wonderful time with them here one Saturday night. Five
hundred of them crowded the hall and listened for an hour as we spoke
on the good news of the free offer of life. When the invitation was
given, over two hundred stayed to the after-meeting as desiring to
follow Christ. After we had spoken one of the men came forward and
asked if he could say a word. He had been an earnest Christian before
the war, and as he began to speak of his fall and of his trusting wife
and children at home, the poor fellow broke down in utter wretchedness.
It seemed to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of the married men
all over the room. Many a one buried his head in his hands and wept
bitterly. A second after-meeting was held and God seemed to be moving
in the heart of every man present. Man after man rose to tell of his
fall, or of his repentance, or of his new acceptance of Christ. The
feeling was deep but controlled. It was one of the saddest and yet one
of the gladdest meetings I have ever attended. One minister present
said he had seen nothing like it all through the Welsh revival.
During their stay in this hospital great changes have taken place in
many of these men. Here is Dan, a young chauffeur, a strong-willed,
self-sufficient young fellow who thought he needed no help and no
religion. He has a Christian wife at home to whom he has been untrue,
for the temptations of the war swept him off his feet like a flood. In
the meetings this week he turned to Christ and has been working right
and left bringing in others ever since. Beside him is a poor fellow
whom he has just brought to the meetings. He went on leave to England,
only to find his three children deserted by his wife, who had run away,
untrue to him. At last he found her, and brought her home. On his
return to the army, he finds that now he has to bear here in the
hospital the vicarious result of her fall. He came to me as a
non-Christian struggling with the problem of forgiveness. Could he
forgive her all this and his broken home? At last in Christ he found
the power to forgive and took up his heavy cross. He knelt at the
altar of the little chapel and yielded up his life to God. Tomorrow he
leaves the hospital to begin a new life.
Here is a young Australian who was untrue to his wife. When we first
saw him he was hardened by sin. That night he yielded to Christ. The
next Sunday we knelt beside him at the Lord's Supper. He was a new
man; his very face was changed. He said, "I have read of miracles in
the past, but there was never a greater miracle than the change which
has taken place in my heart and life. I am a new man. I can look any
one in the face today!"
Beside him at that communion table knelt a young gunner, "Joe," of the
Royal Field Artillery. He was a strong, red-cheeked six-footer,
winsome and good to look upon, the most popular man in his battery.
Away from home among bad companions he was swept off his feet and fell.
He has found Christ here among the prodigals in a far country. Before
leaving he came up to bid us good-by, saying, "I'm going out to warn
other men and to witness for Christ to the end of my days."
Here is M----, a young sergeant, who came up after the meeting, with
tears in his eyes. "Sir," he said, "I was never drunk but once in my
life, when my pals were home on leave, and that once, under the
influence of drink, I fell. Here I am in the hospital, yet I am
engaged to a little girl at home who is as white as snow. What is my
duty in the matter?" He has accepted Christ and is a changed man.
Oh, it is a wonderful sight to see men transformed by this inward moral
miracle, wrought by the touch of the living God. Here in the very
center of this venereal camp stands the Y M C A, endeavoring to meet
their every need, and even here the red triangle shines with the hope
of a new manhood for body, mind, and spirit. Every day at the hour of
opening there is a scurry of feet as the men rush in to the one center
in the whole camp where they can congregate. Martin Harvey has just
been here to cheer them up, and they were enthusiastic over a fine
lecture and recital last night on Chopin. The Colonel in command takes
particular pride in the Y M C A for his men, and states that crime
among them has been reduced ninety per cent since it started.
But even greater than the privilege which the Association has in
ministering to the fallen, is its work of prevention in the other
camps. Just up the road is a swearing old major in command of a unit
which has always had the worst record for immorality and disease of any
camp on the plain. He finally came in and demanded a Y M C A hut for
his men. A few weeks later he came to the Association headquarters and
said, in punctuated language which could not be printed, "For a year
and a half my camp has led all the rest as the worst in venereal
disease, with some twenty-five fresh cases every week. The first week
after the Y M C A was opened we had only ten cases, the next week six,
the third week only two, and it has not risen above that since. Your
Association is the ---- best cure for this evil."
Nothing less than reaching the whole man can meet this gigantic
problem. You must take physical precautions and build up a strong,
clean, athletic body. Better than all repressive rules and
regulations, you must provide healthy and happy occupation for the
minds of the men. But beyond the reach of medical and military
restrictions you have got to grip and strengthen their spiritual and
moral nature. Otherwise, in the artificial and unnatural conditions
consequent upon a vast concentration of men in a foreign land, away
from all home influences, and in the poisonous atmosphere of a land of
"regulated" immorality, where the government still regards it as a
"necessary evil," you must see your men fall in ranks before the
machine guns of commercialized vice, controlled by the vested
interests, or fall a prey to the harpies who walk the streets. In the
face of all this we must lay bold claim to the whole of manhood for God
and for the high ends for which it was created.
The writer recently walked through a French street of licensed vice,
where strong young fellows were tossing away their birthright for a
mess of pottage. He passed on the main street of the city two young
Americans from a medical unit who were reeling along in the possession
of two harpies. They were shouting to all the passers by, trying to
hold up the carriages, and widely advertising their uniform and their
nation. We recognize the difficulty of maintaining a high moral
standard in a foreign land in war time, but we believe it can be done.
A plan has recently been suggested by the Association for dealing with
this menace.
First of all, it is proposed to conduct a campaign of education on the
highest moral grounds by a select group of lecturers, capable of
presenting wisely the danger of immorality from both the medical and
moral standpoints. This will involve the preparation of lectures,
charts, lantern slides, films, and everything needed for the effective
presentation both to the ear and eye. It is hoped that these lecturers
will be able to instruct chaplains, Y M C A secretaries, and all who
are responsible for the moral leadership of the troops, in order that
they may be better able to cope with the situation. It is proposed
that these lecturers conduct meetings for three days in each center,
with a parade lecture for each battalion and voluntary meetings in the
evening, which will include addresses on hygiene, lantern lectures, and
moral talks. Healthy literature will be prepared and distributed to
the men, and similar campaigns will be conducted in the camps in the
United States and on shipboard before the troops reach France.
Second, a positive program for the occupation and amusement of the men
will be provided. Athletic sports, games, tournaments, track meets,
and other events will offer adequate physical facilities. Amusements,
entertainments, concerts, classes, and lectures will be arranged for
the mental occupation of the men. Meetings, personal interviews, and
services will be planned to keep before them the moral and spiritual
challenge and the call for clean living. Special campaigns will be
carried on in all Y M C A huts from time to time.
Third, we would favor strict regulations and penalties to cope with
immorality. We are glad that the selection of camp sites for the
American troops in France is being made at places as far removed from
the temptations of the cities as possible, where the men will be kept
under closer supervision than could be done if the troops were located
near large centers of population. Other means are being provided which
cannot here be mentioned.
In the fourth place, we favor adequate medical provisions, coupled with
the highest moral restraints. We will take our stand against any
league with vice, against any recognition of immorality as a "necessary
evil." We will stand against all notices, lectures, or medical talks
such as are given in some quarters, which practically serve as an
invitation or solicitation to immorality. We would oppose any
provision on the part of the authorities to provide in advance for
immorality, to standardize it, accept it, and attempt to render it
safe, and we would oppose any mention of it which tends to advertise
and increase the evil. We would strenuously oppose the running of
supervised houses of prostitution by our own military authorities, as
was done by some of them on the Mexican border. Conceivably a system
of inspected government houses and of prophylactic measures might be
devised which would eliminate disease altogether, and yet demoralize
the young manhood of our nation by a cynical scientific materialism
such as we are fighting against in the powers that dragged the world
into this war. We are more opposed to immorality than to disease,
which is its penalty. We fear not only the impairment of the physical
fitness of the men as a fighting force, but much more the menace of the
moral degradation of the manhood of the nation, under the unnatural
conditions of wartime.
We believe that the hearty cooperation of the medical and moral
agencies and of the military and voluntary forces which have to do with
the men, can greatly reduce both immorality and disease. We feel sure,
moreover, that the solid backing of public opinion in America will
support every effort to surround our camps with a zone of safety and to
keep the men clean and strong in the multiplied dangers of a foreign
land, as well as in the military camps of our own country. It is
reassuring to know that our military authorities abroad have taken a
strong stand and that in no army in Europe are drunkenness and the
contraction of venereal disease more instantly court-martialled or more
severely punished.