The San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 20, 1918 Page: 25 of 44
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Sunday January 20 1918
tPU/mf Ls Watchword of "
Army " Y 5” Supply Department
tl. D. Shippee .Director o f Equiptment ano
Supplies. Southern Department Army Y.M.C.R.
Furnishing Candy Baseballs Stoves
Writing Paper Pins and Thousands
of Other Things to American Sol-
diers in France and in the United
States Is a Vast Business Undertaking
Which the Association’s Secretaries
Are Handling Successfully in Spite of
the Shortage of Transportation Fa-
cilities.
"Fifty tons of lemon drops! Fifty
tons of chocolate' Fifty tons of
Bumdrops! Rush!”
One hundred and fifty tons of
candy! And just a "drop In the buck-
et." The lemondrop factory's entire
output tied up for the length of the
war—about fifteen tons a month!
The boys In France want candy—-
must have candy and it is up to the
Army Y. if. C. A. not only to get
it but to get it quickly.
Rush rush rush! That's the one
big word emblazoned In red across
the Red Triangle of the Y. M. C. A.
’From the highest official of the
public carrier to the humblest ''bag-
gage smasher" of them all this cne
big imperative word stands out.
Freight clerks trainmen teamsters
ship captains- longshoremen —every
man and woman and boy and girl
who comes in contact with the ship-
ment of war necessities has felt the
commanding appeal in this one
word —Rush!
Candy is only one of the hundreds
end thousands and tens of thousands
of items being gathered from -he
four corners of the earth to be dis-
tributed out among America's sol-
diers by the "Y" secretaries of this
and foreign countries. Tents stoves
sugar syrup writing paper motion
picture machines automobiles
trucks baseballs and bats footballs
and volley balls quoits electric
lighting outfits ink pens pins—the
tens of thousands of things that sol-
diers cannot take along with fhem.
but which are absolutely necessary
for their comfort —and only the
Army Y. M. C. A. to supply them.
And all at the expense of the mil- 4
lions and millions of people back at
home who have put up their money
and made possible the organization
for their handling.
All Must Be Provided for.
Photographs on this page tell the
story more plainly than columns on
columns of type. Be it the army
cantonment on this side of the water
with its forty or fifty or sixty thou-
sands of souls to be provided for
the dingy little outpost on the bor-
der with its five or six or seven or
hundred or two hundred men. or be
it the growing thousands of khaki-
clad sons of American fathers and
mothers now in the trenches tr.
France —they must be provided
for.
In an atmosphere permeated and
surcharged with millions of minor
and major details P. F. Jerome.-.di-
rector of the equipment and mate-
rial bureau of the Army Y. M. C. A.
located in New York City sits with
his hand upon the electric key of
commerce and industry and by the
simple pressure of an ivory button
brings the commodities of the world
together with the ease and sureness
of a well-oiled machine. Supreme in
his command of the forces under
him unhampered by red tape and
backed by an experience that has
THE SAN ANTONIO LIGHT
marked him as one of the shrewd-
est purchasing agents in the country
Mr. Jerome has not hesitated to go
anywhere to get the most compe-
tent specialists to be had. And ring-
ing above the din of world outside
standing out in bold relief in the
mind of every man and woman and
girl in the offices of the equipment
and material bureau ft the omni-
present demand for not only ac-
curacy to the minutest detail but
never-slackening speed of action.
Tse Much Writing Paper.
In this country alone the soldiers
are using a million sheets of writ-
ing paper every day—all furnished
free for the asking by the Army
Y. M. C. A. With each batch of writ-
ing paper goes an envelope and
stamp the stamp alone being paid
for. But for the Red Triangle of the
Y. M. C. A. thousands of boys in
Uncle Sam’s service today would be
merican Y M.C A. Truck in Service Somewhere
IN FRANCE"
without available writing materials
and would take to the margin of
newspapers or even the backs of can
labels for their messages home. Sol-
diers and sailors have had to do this
in previous wars and they would
have to do it in this war. “When
have you written to mother?” —a
common wall sign in every “Y“
building and tent and hut in this
country and abroad —would carry
small meaning if there were nothing
upon which to write. Regardless of
supply or demand regardless of
freight congestion or the importance
of other matters pressing upon them
the equipment and material bureau
of the Army “Y” sees to it that the
boys of Uncle Sam are not deprived
of the means for communication
with their loved ones back home.
Steady Trickle of Sapffiies
The one big problem that this
particular department of the Army
“Y” has to meet and overcome al-
most daily is that of transportation.
For many months there has been a
shortage of cargo space overseas.
The government gets the first call
on all tonnage and of course takes
the lion’s share. The little that is
left sells at tremendous rates. It
will nrobahlv about 1120 a ton
SouDIERS OUTSIDE- or
. FoYCR OU SOLD AT
Y.M.C.A. hut for French Army. I
to ship those fifty tons of lemon-
drops to France. But cargo space I s
scarcely to be had at any price and
the result has been that the Y. M.
C. A. has been forced to resort to
every kind of method imaginable to
get its supplies across and in spite
of this they have piled up and con-
tinued to pile up on this side. What-
ever has come- however there 1 as
been at least a trickle of supplies go-
ing steadily. American resourceful-
ness has manifested itself in many
ways to bring this about. Passengers
on a transatlantic boat are allowed
some three hundred poupds of hold
baggage. Y. M. C. A. secretaries have
been sailing for France sometimes
at the rate of several score a month.
By reducing the personal baggage of
each to an irreducible minimum the .
remainder of the hold baggage al- |
lowance has been used to send across .
the most essential supplies. But this .
will be changed soon even if the ।
Y. M. C. A. has to resort to the
running of its own ships. Then the .
supplies so badly needed “over there *
can go forward in adequate quanti-;
ties.
Some idea of the immense amofit
of merchandise handled by the Army I
Y. M. C. A. each month is given U
* - ------ —-
Receiving stationery amp fre.e _ •
Materials ay the. Rrmy YMCA- counTc-R—
Wagon lohd^of
* Paper ano envelopes for-
FREE OISTRiOUTION To SOIOIER-S
Corner of Madison Square Garden Army “Y"
YM.C fi uSEO As shipping Room for NATionai—-
war work council.
। the following figures taken from
' the budget for the month of De-
-1 cember representing only a small
I fraction of the grand total which
। amounted in dollars and cents t<»
'something near $600000 75000 t ns
’of canned fruit 480.000 dozen pack-
•ges of crackers 100 tons of cocoa
■md as much sugar three car loadr
of flour 400(> dozen tubes of tooth-
paste 300000 packages of chewing
gum 400 tons of chocolate (milk.
ut and sweet). 75.000 packages of
;cough drops 1.000000 boxes of
I. afety matches and so on. Being
■ hipped to France regularly each
month are eight million sheets of
I letter paper and four million en-
। \ elopes and the “Y” equipment and
material bureau has just bought 35-
000 cans of jam and 40.000 cans of
: icats 5000 sticky of shaving soap.
3200 dozen cans of condensed milk.
<350000 cakes of soap and even a
AlflO &
Lounge in Erckc Hut American Y.M.C.fi.auiLPiNG in London . Materials ano
_ Yr do Supplies From America
i larger supply of a light brand o?
. machine oil.
J Yeo Service Is Planned.
1 Most of these things of course are
< for the men across the seas where
► they could not be had were it not
t for the “Y” canteens. Supplies such
■ • as these are sold to the men in the
[base camps and behind the linos at
most reasonable prices but when
the troops are in the front trenches
: or fur forward the plan is to give
thing.* away—to furnish free hot
co< i'.l and coffee sandwiches and
chocolate. It means much to the
: men in the service however just to
be able to buy them for as is well
known to all who have relatives on
the other side it is next to impossi-
ble to buy many staple articles of
American manufacture over there
and even when they are found such
prices are charged for them as to
make them all but prohibitive.
Naturally one would think that
the problem of transportation in
this country would be much easier
than that between America and
in a measure it is. But even the
“Y” has suffered because of »hc
great freight congestion so great
that the country is now entering
upon a period of enforced “holid iys”
in an effort to conserve the supply
of fuel and big problems frequently
confront the shipping departments
since the “Y’’ is at work with en-
listed men in 450 different centers
in the United States.
A Big Bi^lnras KntcrprLMc.
Just as the overseas and national
supply problems are tremendous so
is the Southern Department supply
business of such magnitude as to
keep a large force constant!}’ busy.
With six states—Texas Arkansas
Louisiana. <^lahoma Arizona and
New Mexico- under the supervision
of the Southern Department whose
offices are located in the Bedell
building. San Antonio and with two
hundred buildings and stations in
operation the Army Y. M. C. A. I
equipment and supply organization
are equal to the activities of the
largest commercial institutions in
the world.
J. D. Shippee is the director of
equipment and supplies for th*
Southern Department maintainin
his offices at the general hoadqunr-
ters in the Bedell building. Like
other Army “7” executives he gave
up his commercial connections to
engage in the war work having en-
tered it with Executive Secret A*
Wiiman E. Adams with the begin-
ning of the border difficulties a few
years ago.
The number of buildings tents
and stations under the direction of
the San Antonio offices is < onstunt-
ly increasing and as the preparation
for the great war goes on will be-
come of much greater proportions
than now. The work is being done
on a scale commensurate with the
Classified Real Estate
needs of the situation and when ths
day of accounting conies the Army
Y. M. C. A. expects to be able to
satisfy the American public that the
fifty millions of dollars and any
other sums entrusted to it in the
future have been wisely and eco-
nomically expended and that the
greatest possible return has been se-
cured for each penny invested.
Performs the “Impossible.”
When the Southern Department
of tlie Army “Y” began to reach
such great proportions. Supply and
Equipment Secretary Shippee was
told that it would be impossible for
him to secure any great quantity of
supplies this side’of the great East-
ern manufacturing centers. Espe-
cially was he warned that he would
have to go outside of the state for
his printed matter because of the
great quantities of letterheads and
noteheads used in the Southern De-
partment totaling about 3000.000
noteheads and 1500000 envelopes
each week.
”1 am not only getting these mil-
» lions of noteheads and envelopes
from Texas concerns.” said Mr. Ship-
pee “but 1 am getting them prompt-
ly and saving thousands of dollars
in the difference in prices paid and
reight charges from the East. San
Antonio and Dallas printing houses
ire taking my orders in batches of
twenty-five to fifty million lots and
I their work is highly satisfactory.”
' But noteheads and envelopes are
only a few’ of the things bought by
I .Mr. Shippee. In the Southern De-
; partment for instance are more
than one hundred motion picture
machines and these which are being
added to daily are furnished by a
I Dallas concern. Motion picture
• booths are also being made in Texas
iat a financial saving and in the
i matter of athletic goods practically
•all of which is bought of San An*
I tonio concerns approximately $30.-
; 000 has been expended by Mr. Ship-
I pee in the last few months. About
sixty heaters for the new buildings
| going up oxer the Southern Depart-
: ment are all being bought from San
’ Antonio and Houston concerns. Mr.
Shippee is now assembling the equip-
ment for forty-three additional build-
ings in the Southern Department
land in so far as possible h?
। fining his purchases to San Antonio
and at least to the state of Texas.
Favors lakml Concents.
“I have two reasons for buying
| everything I can in San Antonio and
1 other Texas cities.” said Mr. Shippee.
! both of which are important. In th®
' matter of price I find that nearly
j everything I need can be had hers
land at practically no greater cost.
1 and many articles are actually
cheaper hero than elsewhere. I not
it
I every time I buy in San Antonio it
preference to some other city and
I particularly in preference to New
1 York or other Eastern markets. I
leave just that much freight tonnage
for the necessities of life and com*
' merer. The delivery facilties. or
j course are much better here than .
I when I have to risk a long shipment
!• > the rails. Everything considered
even if an article costs a bit more
: i find it much more satisfactory to
confine my purchases as close to
•
| San Antonio business men have m«n-
-| iTested a disposition to gixe tno
I Anny "Y" a square deal in \ry
j transaction.
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Diehl, Charles S. & Beach, Harrison L. The San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 38, No. 1, Ed. 1 Sunday, January 20, 1918, newspaper, January 20, 1918; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1614649/m1/25/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .