Party_.—‘The Socialists of the United States would have no hesitancy
whatsoever in joining forces with the rest of their countrymen to repel
the Bolsheviki who would try to invade our country and force a form of
government upon our people which our people were not ready for, and did
not desire.’
“HERBERT HOOVER, _Former United States Food Administrator_.—‘The United
States has been for one hundred and fifty years steadily developing a
social philosophy of its own. This philosophy has stood this test in
the fire of common sense. We have a willingness to abide by the will of
the majority. For all I know it may be necessary to have revolutions in
some places in Europe in order to bring about these things, but it does
not follow that such philosophies have any place with us.’
“WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT, _Former President of the United States_.—‘I do
not fear bolshevism in this country. I do not mean that in congested
centers foreigners and agitators will not have influence. But Americans
as a whole have a deep love for America. It is a vital love that the
sensational appeals of bolshevists and agitators cannot weaken’.”
A yellowed and tattered cartoon that hung on a Company bulletin board
at 466 when the snow was slipping away.
“America Looks Mighty. Good After You’ve Seen Europe” is the title.
On the right stands the Bolshevik orator on a soap box. His satchel
bursting out with propaganda and pamphlets on Bolshevism from Europe.
In his hand he holds a pamphlet that has a message for the returning
doughboys. The agitator’s hair and whiskers bristle with hatred and
envy. His yellow teeth look hideous between his snarling lips. And he
points a long skinny finger for the doughboy to see his message, which
is, “Down with America, it’s all Wrong.” So much for the man who came
from Europe to wreck America.
Now look at the Man Who Went to Europe to Save America and is now back
on the west side of the Statue of Liberty. Does he look interested in
Bolshevism Or downhearted over America? No. In his figure a manful
contrast to the scraggly agitator. In his face no hate, no malice. He
does not even hate the self-deluded agitator.
His clean-brushed teeth are exposed by a good-humored smile of
assurance and confidence. He does not extend a fist but he waves off
the fool Bolshevik orator with a good-natured but nevertheless final
answer. And here it is: “_Go on—Take That Stuff Back to Where You Got
it—I Wouldn’t Trade a Log Hut on a Swamp in America for the Whole of
Europe!_”
We are thinking that the cartoon just about says it for all returned
soldiers from North Russia. We want nothing to do with the Bolo
agitator in this country who would make another Russia of the United
States. We let them blow off steam, are patient with their vagaries,
are willing to give every man a fair hearing if he has a grievance, but
we don’t fall for their wild ideas about tearing things up by the
roots.
[Illustration: Soldier standing erect on the left says “Go on—Take
That Stuff Back to Where You Got it—I Wouldn’t Trade a Log Hut on a
Swamp in America for the Whole of Europe!”
Orator is holding a paper saying “Down with America! It’s all wrong!”
Papers in orator’s sack: “Bolshevism from Europe” “East side of New
York propaganda.”
AMERICA LOOKS MIGHTY GOOD AFTER YOU’VE SEEN EUROPE.
—COLUMBUS EVENING DISPATCH.]
XXXIV
Y. M. C. A. AND Y. W. C. A. WITH TROOPS
Justice Where Justice Is Due—Summary Of Work Of “Y” Men—“Y” Women And
Hostess House—Seen Near Front—Devoted Women Stay In Russia When We
Leave—Christian Associations Point Way To Help Russia.
The editors have felt that “justice where justice is due” demands a few
pages in this volume about the service of our Y. M. C. A. with us in
North Russia. We know that there is a great deal of bitterness against
the “Y.” Much of it was engendered by the few selfish and crooked and
cowardly men who crept into the “Y” service, and the really great
service of the Y. M. C. A. is badly discounted and its war record sadly
sullied. We know that here and there in North Russia a “Y” man failed
to “measure up” but we know that on the whole our Y. M. C. A. in North
Russia with us, did great service.
To get a fair and succinct story, we wrote to Mr. Crawford Wheeler,
whose statement follows. He was the Chief Secretary in the North Russia
area. The first paragraph is really a letter of transmissal, but we
approve its sentiment and commend its manly straightforwardness to our
comrades and the general reader:
“This is written purely from memory. I haven’t a scrap of material at
hand and I have hurried in order that you might have the stuff
promptly. Please indicate, in case you use this material, that it is
not based on records,—for I cannot vouch for all the figures. However,
in the main, the outline is right. I wish the “Y” might have a really
good chapter in your book, for I always have felt, with many of the
other boys in our service, that we are condemned back here for the sins
of others. If the “Y” in North Russia was not a fairly effective
organization which went right to the front and stayed there, then a lot
of officers and men in the 339th poured slush in my ears. Were it not
for the rather unfortunate place which a “Y” man occupies back here,
none of us would seek even an iota of praise, for in comparison with
the rest of you, we deserve none; but I’m sure you understand the
circumstances which impel me to insert the foregoing plea, ‘Justice
where justice is due.’ That’s all.
“The Y. M. C. A. shared the lot of the American North Russian
Expeditionary Force as an isolated fighting command from the day it
landed until the last soldier left Archangel. It shared in the
successes and the failures of the expedition. It contributed something
now and then to the welfare and comfort and even to the lives of the
American and Allied troops both at the front and in the base camps. It
made a record which only the testimony of those who were part of the
expedition is qualified to estimate.
“When the American soldiers of the 339th Infantry landed in Archangel
on September 5th, 1918, they found a “Y” in town ahead of them. The day
after the port was captured by allied forces early in August, Allen
Craig of the American Y. M. C. A. had secured a spacious building in
the heart of the city for use as a “Y” hut. With very little equipment
he managed to set up a cocoa and biscuit stand and a reading and
writing room and the hall of the building was opened for band concerts
and athletic nights. It really was little more than a barn until the
arrival of secretaries and supplies in October made improvements
possible.
“A party of ten secretaries, who had spent the previous year in Central
Russia under the Bolshevik regime, landed in the first week of October,
having come around from Sweden and Norway. Two weeks later another ten
secretaries arrived from the same starting point. These men formed the
nucleus of the “Y” personnel which was to serve the American troops
through the winter and spring. They were sent to points at the front
immediately after their arrival, and more than a few doughboys will
remember the first trip of the big railroad car to the front south of
Obozerskaya, with Frank Olmstead in charge.
“The British Y. M. C. A. sent a party of twenty-five secretaries to
Archangel early in the fall and considerations of practical policy made
it advisable to combine operations under the title of the Allied Y. M.
C. A. To the credit of the British secretaries, it must be said that
they turned over all their supplies to the American management. These
supplies constituted practically all the stock of biscuit and canteen
products used until Christmas time, and British secretaries took their
places under the direction of the American headquarters.
“The “Y” was fortunate to have secured several trucks and Ford cars in
a shipment before the Allied landing, and they became part of the
expeditionary transport system at once. The Supply Company of the 339th
used one truck, and the British transport staff borrowed the other one.
Major Ely, Quartermaster of the American forces, got one of the Fords,
and another one went to the American Red Cross.
“By the middle of November the “Y” had secretaries on the river fronts
near Seletskoe and Beresnik at the railroad front and with the Pinega
detachment. Supplies dribbled through to them in pitifully small
amounts, usually half of the stuff stolen before it reached the front.
The British N. A. B. C. sold considerable quantities of biscuit and
cigarettes to the “Y,” both at the front bases and from the Archangel
depot. On the railroad front a really respectable service was
maintained, because transport was not so difficult. One secretary made
the trip around the blockhouses and outposts daily with a couple of
packsacks filled with gum, candy and cigarettes, which were distributed
as generously as the small capacity of the sacks permitted. Two cars
equipped with tables for reading and writing and with a big cocoa urn
were stationed at Verst 455, where the headquarters train and reserve
units stood. These cars were moved to points north and south on the
line twice weekly for small detachments to get their ration of biscuit
and sweets, small as it was.
[Illustration: RED CROSS PHOTO
_Christmas Dinner, Convalescent Hospital._]
[Illustration: U. S. OFFICIAL PHOTO
_“Come and Get It” at Verst 455._]
[Illustration: WAGNER
_Doughboys Drubbed Sailors.
Brig. Gen. Richardson and Adm. McMully at Army-Navy Game._]
[Illustration: WAGNER
_Yank and Scot Guarding Prisoners._]
“Another row of cars was maintained at Obozerskaya, where the first
outpost entertainment hut was opened about Christmas time with a
program of moving pictures, athletic stunts and feeds. Shipments were
made from this base to the secretaries at Seletskoe, who did their best
to make the winter less monotonous and miserable for the second
battalion men stationed on that front. The “Y” opened a hut in Pinega
in early November, and by the middle of December had established a
point for the “H” Company men west of Emtsa on, the Onega River line.
“Meanwhile, the Central “Y” hut at Archangel had been remodelled and
fully equipped for handling large crowds, and it served several hundred
allied soldiers daily. Whenever a company of Americans came in from the
front, a special night was arranged for them to have a program in the
theatre hall, with movies, songs, stunts and eats on the bill. A series
of basketball games was carried on between the base unit companies and
other commands which were in Archangel for a week or more awaiting
transfer to another point. Huts were opened in the Smolny base camp at
Solombola, both of them barely large enough to afford room for a cocoa
and biscuit counter, a piano, and a reading room. Shortly after
Christmas another “Y” station was put in commission across the river at
the Preestin railroad terminal, where detachments and individuals often
endured a long wait in the cold or arrived chilled to the bone from a
trip on the heatless cars.
“About Christmas time twenty-five more secretaries arrived from the
American Y. M. C. A. headquarters in England, and with this addition to
personnel, it was possible to make headquarters something more than a
table and a telephone. A fairly efficient supply and office staff was
built up and with the landing of two or three belated cargoes, “Y” folk
began to see a rosier period ahead. But transport difficulties made it
almost impossible to get stuff moved to the front, where the men needed
it most. ‘When there are neither guns nor ammunition enough,’ said the
British headquarters, ‘how can we afford to take sleds for sending up
biscuits and cigarettes?’
“Nevertheless, by hook or crook, several convoys were pushed through to
Bereznik, each time reviving the hopes of the men in the outposts, who
thought at last they might get some regular service. Tom Cotton and
“Husky” Merrill, two football stars from Dartmouth, were in charge of
the “Y” points on the Dvina advanced front, and whatever success the
“Y” attained in that vicinity belongs primarily to their credit. They
ended an eventful career in the spring of 1919 by getting captured when
the Bolsheviks and Russian mutineers staged a _coup d’etat_ at Toulgas
and captured the village. Their escape was more a matter of luck than
of planning. They paddled down the river in a boat. In their hasty exit
from the village, they left behind all their personal belongings.
“At Shenkursk the “Y” hut and stock also fell to the Bolos, but the
secretaries got out with the troops. The column which made the terrible
retreat from Shenkursk found the “Y” waiting for it at Shegovari, with
hot cocoa and biscuit. Despite the congested transport, the service on
this line was kept up all through the winter and spring, “Dad”
Albertson, “Ken” Hollinshead and Brackett Lewis making themselves
mighty effective in their service to the men on this sector. Albertson
has written a book, “_Fighting Without a War_,” which embodies his
experiences and observations with the doughboys at the front.
“One of the best pieces of service performed by the “Y” during the
whole campaign was carried on at the time of the fierce Bolshevik drive
for Obozerskaya from the west in February and March. This drive cost
the “Y” two of its best secretaries, but service was maintained without
a break from the first day until the end when the Bolos retreated.
Merle Arnold was in the village running a “Y” post when the attack
occurred and was captured along with six American soldiers. Bryant
Ryall, who ran the “Y” tent in the woods at Verst 18, next fell a
victim to the Bolos, while on the way to Obozerskaya for more supplies.
Olmstead, who came from 455 to help in this desperate place, remained,
and as a result of his work at this front, received the French _Croix
de Guerre_ and the Russian St. George Cross.
“Other decorations were awarded to Ernest Rand on the Pinega sector and
to “Dad” Albertson on the Dvina front, both of them receiving the St.
George Cross. The British military medal was to have been given
Albertson, but technicalities made it impossible. Several other
secretaries were mentioned in despatches by the American and British
commands, all of them for service at the fighting front. It was the
policy of the “Y” from the start to send the best men to the front,
rush the best supplies to the front, give the men from the front the
best service while at the base camps, and do it without thought of
payment. It is a fact that the Archangel ‘show’ cost the “Y” more per
capita served than any other piece of front service rendered overseas.
The heavy cost was accentuated by the immense loss to supplies in the
supply ships, warehouses and cars or convoys, from theft and breakage
and freezing. The totals of the business done by the “Y” up in the
Russian Arctic area are astounding, when the difficulties of transport
are considered More than $1,000,000 worth of supplies were received and
distributed before the American troops left Archangel. This included
twenty-five motion picture outfits, everyone of which was in use by
late spring, a million and a half feet of film, fairly large shipments
of athletic goods, baseball equipment and phonographs, and thousands of
books and magazines, which filled a most important part in the program.
Until early spring the “Y” bought most of its canteen supplies from the
British N. A. C. B., through a credit established in London. These
stocks were sold to the “Y” virtually at the British retail prices and
were resold at the same figures, with a resulting loss to the “Y,” as
the loss and damage mounted up to forty per cent at times. In May,
several shipments of American canteen stocks arrived at Archangel,
which enabled the secretaries to cut loose the strings on ‘ration
plans’ before the troops started home.
“A hut was opened at the embarkation point, Economia, in the early
spring, and troops quartered there had a complete red triangle service
ready for them when sailing time arrived. A secretary or two went with
each transport, equipped with a small stock of sweets and cigarettes to
distribute on the voyage. Most of the American secretaries did not
leave, however, until after the troops departed. Some of them remained
until the closing act of the show in August. Two more were captured
when the Bolos staged their mutiny at Onega. All these men eventually
were released from captivity in Moscow and reached America safely.
“The Y. M. C. A. received hearty co-operation from the American Red
Cross, from the American Embassy, and from the American headquarters
units. Sugar and cocoa were turned over frequently by the Red Cross
when the “Y” ran completely out of stocks and an unstinted use of Red
Cross facilities was open at all times to the “Y” men. The embassy and
consulate transmitted the “Y” cables through their offices to England
and America and co-operated with urgent pleas for aid at times when
such pleas were essential to the adoption of policies to better the “Y”
service. The headquarters of the 339th Infantry and the 310th Engineers
responded to every reasonable request made by the “Y” for assignments
of helpers, huts or other facilities in the different areas where work
was carried on. The naval command showed special courtesies in
forwarding supplies on cruisers and despatch boats from England and
Murmansk and in permitting the “Y” men to travel on their ships.
“Altogether more than sixty American secretaries took part in the North
Russian show. About eight or ten of them, however, were on the Murmansk
line, and were said by the American command to have done good work with
the engineers and sailors in that area. Whatever record the American
“Y” made in North Russia, it can in truth be said of the secretarial
force that with few exceptions they gave the best that was in them and
they never felt satisfied with their work. The service which Olmstead
and Cotton and Arnold and Albertson and Beekman and a dozen others
rendered, ranks with the best work done by the Y. M. C. A. men in any
part of the world. Correspondents from the front in France and members
of the American command who arrived late in the day, expressed their
surprise and gratification at the spirit which animated the “Y” workers
up in the Russian Arctic region. But the best test is the record which
lives in the hearts of American soldiers, and on their fairminded
testimony the “Y” men wish to secure their verdict for whatever they
deserve for their service in North Russia with the American soldiers
fighting the Bolsheviki.”
TO OUR Y. W. C. A. AMERICAN GIRLS
In that old school reader of ours we used to read with wet eyes and
tight throat the story of the soldier who lay dying at Bingen on the
Rhine and told his buddie to tell his sister to be kind to all the
comrades. How he yearned for the touch of his mother’s or sister’s hand
in that last hour, how the voice of woman and her liquid eye of love
could soothe his dying moments. And the veterans of the World War now
understand that poetic sentiment better than they did when as
barefooted boys they tried to conceal their emotions behind the covers
of the book, for in the unlovely grime and grind of war the soldier
came to long for the sight of his own women kind. They will now miss no
opportunity to sing the praises of their war time friends, the
Salvation Army Lassies and the girls of the Y. W. C. A.
In North Russia we were out of luck in the lack of Salvation Army
Lassies enough to reach around to our front, but in that isolated war
area we were fortunate to receive several representatives of the
American Y. W. C. A. Some were girls who had already been in Russia for
several years in the regular mission work among the Russian people, and
two of them we hasten to add right here, were brave enough to stay
behind when we cut loose from the country. Miss Dunham and Miss Taylor
were to turn back into the interior of the country and seek to help the
pitiful people of Russia. We take our hats off to them.
What doughboy will forget the first sight he caught of an American “Y”
girl in North Russia? He gave her his eyes and ears and his heart all
in a minute. Was he in the hospital? Her smile was a memory for days
afterward. If a convalescent who could dance, the touch of her arm and
hand and the happy swing of the steps swayed him into forgetfulness of
the pain of his wounds. If he were off outpost duty on a sector near
the front line and seeking sweets at a Y. M. C. A. his sweets were
doubled in value to him as he took them from the hand of the “Y” girl
behind the counter. Or at church service in Archangel her voice added a
heavenly note to the hymn. In the Hostess House, he watched her pass
among the men showering graciousness and pleasantries upon the whole
lonesome lot of doughboys. One of the boys wrote a little poem for _The
American Sentinel_ which may be introduced here in prose garb a la Walt
Mason.
“There’s a place in old Archangel,
That we never will forget,
And of all the cozy places,
It’s the soldier’s one best bet.
It’s the place where lonely Sammies
Hit the trail for on the run,
There they serve you cake and coffee,
’Till the cake and coffee’s done.
And they know that after eating,
There’s another pleasure yet,—
So to show how they are thoughtful,
They include a cigarette.
There’s a place back in the corner,
Where you get your clothing checked,
And the place is yours, They tell you,
—well—Or words to that effect.
There are magazines a-plenty,
From the good old U. S. A.
There’s a cheery home-like welcome
for you any time of day.
Will we, can we e’er forget them,
In the future golden years,
And the kindness that was rendered,
By these Lady Volunteers?
Just as soon as work is finished,
Don’t you brush your hair and blouse,
And go double-double timing,
To the cordial Hostess House?”
One of the pretty weddings in Archangel that winter was that celebrated
by the boys when Miss Childs became home-maker for Bryant Ryal, the “Y”
man who was later taken prisoner by the Bolsheviki. She was within
twelve miles of him the day he was captured. Doughboys were quick to
offer her comforting assurances that he would be treated well because
American “Y” men had done so much in Russia for the Russian soldiers
before the Bolshevik debacle. And when they heard that he was actually
on his way to Moscow with fair chance of liberation, they crowded the
_taplooska_ Ryal home and made it shine radiantly with their
congratulations.
But it was not the institutional service such as the Hostess House or
the Huts or the box car canteen, such as it was, which endeared the “Y”
girls to the doughboys as a lot. It was the genuine womanly
friendliness of those girls.
The writer will never forget the scene at Archangel when the American
soldiers left for Economia where the ship was to take them to America.
Genuine were the affectionate farewells of the people—men, women and
children; and genuine were the responses of the soldiers to those
pitiable people. Our Miss Dickerson, of the Y. W. C. A. Hostess House,
was surrounded by a tearful group of Russian High School girls who had
been receiving instruction in health, sanitation and other social
betterments and catching the American Young Women’s Christian
Association vision of usefulness to the sick, ignorant and unhappy ones
of the community. Around her they gathered, a beautiful picture of
feminine grief in its sweet purity of girlish tears, and at the same
time a beautiful picture of promising hope for the future of Russia
when all of that long-suffering people may be reached by our tactful
Christian women.
In this connection now I think of the conversation with our Miss Taylor
the last Sunday we were in Economia. She and Miss Dunham were staying
on in Archangel hoping to get permission to go into the interior of the
country again. And it is reported that they did. She said to me:
“Wherever you can, back home among Christian people, tell them that
these poor people here in Russia have had their religious life so torn
up by this strife that now they long for teachers to come and help them
to regain a religious expression.”