CHAPTER IV
THE ROMANCE OF FINANCE
This work has been admirably done both at home and at the Front. Its spiritual and material value to the men lies beyond all reckoning, and the services of its personnel are deeply appreciated by the men themselves.—The Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, O.M., M.P.
On August 4, 1914, our plan for war work was ready, but the 'sinews of war' were lacking. Little could be done without money. In our extremity we laid the whole position before one of our most generous leaders and supporters, and told him of the opportunity we saw facing the Y.M.C.A. 'If we are to seize the opportunity,' we said, 'it is absolutely necessary we should secure immediately twenty-five thousand pounds!' He looked up and smiled indulgently—'Twenty-five thousand pounds!' he cried; 'you couldn't possibly raise three thousand pounds at a time like this; the thing's impossible!' 'Impossible or not,' was the reply, 'it must be done. We mustn't even stop to think of the future of the Y.M.C.A. Everything is at stake, and even if we have to sell every building and every stick of furniture we possess we must go forward now!' That very day a large number of telegrams and letters were sent out from Headquarters to friends all over the country—the first war emergency appeal of the Red Triangle—and within a few days the whole of the twenty-five thousand pounds had been raised, and we were appealing for another fifty thousand pounds, until at the time of writing, in August 1918, the war fund has reached the total of nearly two and a half millions sterling. That is a small sum compared with the amounts raised for Y.M.C.A. war work in the United States. Their first appeal brought in five million pounds, the second more than twelve millions, and their appeal a year later, in October 1918, is for twenty millions sterling. Our American friends gave us a hundred thousand pounds from the amount raised by their second war work appeal, a generous and much appreciated gift. People who know little of the facts are sometimes inclined to criticise what they regard as the huge war expenditure of the British Y.M.C.A.'s, but a moment's reflection will make it clear that it has been little short of a miracle of finance to carry out such an enormous programme of work at a total cost of only about one-third of the cost to Britain alone of a single day of war. We have always been short of money, have always had a big overdraft at the bank, and that largely because we have had to finance a huge business concern without capital. Our war fund has been secured partly as a result of skilful advertising, partly through personal solicitation and in response to postal appeals. Flag Days and Hut Weeks also proved valuable agencies for raising money. The full-page Y.M.C.A. advertisements in The Times and other papers were something quite new in religious and social work advertising, though the method has since been widely adopted by other organisations.
Many touching stories are told concerning gifts to the war fund, gifts, many of which have not been secured as a result of cleverly drawn advertisements, but because the contributors have been touched directly or indirectly by the work itself. A boy wrote home from Flanders, 'Tell Dad if he has any money to spare to give it to the Y.M.C.A. as a thankoffering for what they are doing for us chaps out here.' One of our centres had been nearly destroyed by a Zeppelin bomb. It was rebuilt and the day came for the reopening. A lady was present and expressed herself thus: 'I wanted to be here to-day, if only to thank you for what your Association has done for my boy. When the war broke out,' said she, 'he went to the Crystal Palace for his training, and found the Y.M.C.A. there an inestimable boon. He was sent to Blandford to complete his training, and the Y.M.C.A. was there. He was drafted out to Gallipoli, and to his amazement he found the Y.M.C.A. on the Peninsula. He was wounded and sent to Suez, where once more the Y.M.C.A. was a great help to him, and yesterday,' she continued, 'I received a letter from him from Alexandria saying he was convalescent, and spending the whole of his spare time in the central building of the Association.' It is that personal touch that has made the appeal of the Red Triangle one of the most popular appeals of the war.
A lady called one day with a novel suggestion. She had been reading a statement attributed to the Kaiser, in which the All Highest is alleged to have said that if the worst came to the worst every dog and cat in Germany would be armed in defence of the Fatherland. 'If the dogs and cats of Germany are going to do that for their country,' she said, 'why shouldn't the dogs and cats of England pay for one of your huts?' Quite frankly there did not appear to be much money in the scheme, but it could do no harm, so we encouraged it! Imagine our surprise when a few days later the same lady walked in with a cheque for four hundred and fifty pounds. There was one gift of five pounds, all the rest had been given in smaller amounts, and altogether upwards of two thousand dogs and cats—or their masters and mistresses—had contributed. A few weeks later the fund was closed, at just over one thousand pounds, and there has been no more useful centre of Y.M.C.A. war work than the 'Dogs and Cats Hut' at Rouen, paid for entirely by this fund.
The Boys and Girls fund has reached upwards of twenty thousand pounds. We had been speaking to the boys at Harrow School, and the suggestion had been thrown out that it would be a good plan to have a 'Harrow' Hut at the Front. At the close of the meeting the headmaster, supporting the suggestion, said he would give the collection in chapel the following Sunday to the fund. The head boy approached him afterwards and said, 'I think, Sir, it would be a mistake to make a collection for the Y.M.C.A. on Sunday. If you do the boys will think they have done their bit, and won't bother any further. Won't you let us make a whip up round the houses and see what we can do?' Thus it was agreed, and the five hundred pounds, which in those days was the cost of a hut, was raised in less than a week. We have seen that hut in France, and know how much it was appreciated. During the German advance in Picardy it had to be temporarily abandoned, but fortunately was speedily occupied again.
In the early days of the Euston hut, the vicar of a neighbouring parish was keenly interested, and told the children in his day school what he had seen in the hut. At the close of his address a deputation of the older children waited on him and told him they were interested in what he told them, and would much like to help the Y.M.C.A. in its work for the soldiers. 'You help?' queried the vicar; 'how can you help?' He knew how poor they were. To his surprise they had their scheme ready, and their plans cut and dried. 'This time every year,' said the spokesman, 'we put by our pennies and our ha'pennies for our annual treat. We don't feel like having a treat this year when all this terrible fighting is taking place. We would rather give the money to the Y.M.C.A. to spend on the soldiers and sailors.' A few days later, the leader of the Euston hut was sitting at a table in the central hall when his attention was attracted by a group of ragged children, standing round the entrance. Curiously they would peer inside and then step back, until two or three bolder than the others walked right in as if the whole place belonged to them. That was too much for the leader. He went up to them and cried, 'You must run away; this place isn't for boys and girls, it's for soldiers and sailors.' Looking up into his face a little ragged youngster retorted, 'Please, sir, we've given our money towards this show, and we want to see how it's run!' On inquiry, it was ascertained that the children belonged to one of the poorest of the schools in the north of London, and out of their poverty they had given no less than thirty shillings, nearly the whole of it in pennies and farthings. Many memorial gifts have been received, and a hut that will be an inspiration and help to tens of thousands, is surely one of the most suitable of memorials.
A REFUGE FOR THE REFUGEES
Business firms and merchant princes have given their thousands; others, with equal generosity, have contributed shillings. In the Channel Islands, there was a fish-hawker, named Richards, who eked out a slender livelihood by selling fish on the streets of Jersey. The coming of the war hit him so hard that he was compelled to leave for France to seek other employment. He got a job under the contractors who were building the hutments in the Harfleur Valley. He did well, and eventually returned home to Jersey. The Sunday after his return, his minister was taking up special collections for the hut fund. Richards had found the Red Triangle huts at Havre a great boon, and on entering the church at the evening service, handed his minister a little paper packet containing coins. The padre fingered the parcel and said to himself, 'He has given six pennies, a generous gift, too, under the circumstances!' Imagine his surprise on opening the packet to find there six half-crowns. He said, 'You ought not to give so much; you can't possibly afford it.' 'When I remember all the Y.M.C.A. did for me when a stranger in France and homeless,' was his reply, 'I can't possibly do less, and wish I could give more.'
Y.M.C.A. MARQUEE IN THE SHELL-SWEPT SOMME AREA
A flower-seller at a popular seaside holiday resort for many months has given to the local Y.M.C.A. hut a shillingsworth of flowers each week, as a thankoffering for what the Association has done for her husband and son.
At Taunton a farm labourer called at the back door of the house of the president of the local Y.M.C.A., and said he wanted to help the war fund. It was the only thing he could do to help the men at the Front. He had tried to enlist several times, but they would not have him. He laid on the table fifty one-pound notes, and went back to his work on the farm. Inquiries elicited the fact that he had given practically the whole of his savings, and had done it in spite of his employer's urgent advice to the contrary.
At the close of a meeting held by one of our workers, an elderly lady came to him and said if he would go to her house she would give him a sovereign. He went, and she gave him the coin, and then closing the door of her private room, said, 'And now I am going to give you the most precious possession I have in the world.' Her voice choked with emotion as she proceeded, 'Years, many years ago, I was to have been married. The arrangements were made, the day fixed, and the ring bought, and—then he died!' And she sobbed as she spoke. Going to a bureau she took out a little box and, handing it to him, said, 'The wedding ring is in there. I have kept it all these years, but I promised the Lord I would only keep it until He showed me what He would have me do with it, and He told me while you were speaking. I give it to you for the Y.M.C.A. and for the boys,' and she turned away utterly broken up. Thousands of incidents could be related of equal interest to the foregoing, did space permit, and all these incidents combine to give a personal interest to the fund. We can only add that the greatest possible care has been taken to administer the fund wisely and so avoid waste, or anything that savours of extravagance. Of course, Y.M.C.A. finance has come in for criticism. Certain people who have visited the huts, and have seen the enormous business there transacted have come to the conclusion that either very large profits are being made, or that the business methods of the Association leave much to be desired. The question has frequently been asked, 'What is done with the profits?' and the fiction has got abroad that the Y.M.C.A. publishes no accounts and is amassing huge sums of money. The real position is easily stated:—
The Y.M.C.A. does not do trading for trading's sake, but because through its trading department it is the better enabled to meet the needs of the troops, and also because profits on trading mean further extension. So rapid has been the development of the war work of the Y.M.C.A., that not only has every penny of profit been spent on the maintenance and development of this work for soldiers and sailors, but it has been necessary to raise large sums of money in subscriptions to meet the ever-increasing demand for extension. Every new centre means, or may mean, an additional burden on the central fund or on the divisional funds for which the National Council is ultimately responsible. First, there is the cost of the hut, which may mean £750 or may run into thousands—it all depends upon size and site. The initial cost may be defrayed by an individual gift to the central war fund, but usually to make the hut large enough for its purpose, additional money has to be spent, whilst the furnishing will probably cost from one to three hundred pounds, or more. Also, it must carry stock to the value of a hundred pounds or possibly much more if it is a big camp. A very big turnover in a Triangle hut may represent a very small profit, e.g. there are enormous sales of stamps and postal orders, and all these are sold for actual cost, and, what is more, the Association has to bear the loss of shortages. Then there are the things the Y.M.C.A. does free of any charges whatever, e.g. there are no club fees and no charges for admission to concerts, lectures, or entertainments in the ordinary hut. Free writing paper and envelopes are at the present time costing more than £90,000 a year. Thousands of pounds are spent on cricket and football outfits, games generally, books, pictures, and literature for free distribution. Hot drinks and refreshments are given free to the walking wounded on a very large scale, and practically every one of the two thousand war Y.M.C.A.'s keeps 'open house' at Christmas. The work of the Y.M.C.A. for the relatives of wounded is very costly, especially in France, many hostels being maintained for that purpose. Motor transport is an expensive item for which there is no return, and very large sums of money are spent on lectures and educational work. It is estimated that the Y.M.C.A. educational programme in France alone may ultimately cost the Association fifty thousand pounds a year. When the request has come to open a new centre, the determining factor has been, 'Is it needed?' not 'Will it pay?' Indeed many huts in isolated centres cannot possibly be made to pay, and yet they mean everything to the men who use them. The spending department of the Association has been built up with the greatest care. A body of well-known business men meets for hours every week and watches expenditure as a cat watches a mouse. The Acting Treasurer of the War Emergency Fund is a partner in a big firm of Indian Merchants, and devotes himself with untiring energy and conspicuous ability to the supervision of accounts and to the expenditure. The accounts are audited by a leading firm of chartered accountants, and the audited statement of receipts and expenditure together with a balance sheet, is published in The Times and other papers every six months. In the canteens it is a matter of principle to give full value for money spent, but towards the war services the profits made have been equal to a sum of ten shillings for every pound contributed by the public. Owing chiefly to the enormous stores that have to be maintained in France and Overseas generally, the Bank overdraft of the war fund has often reached four and five hundred thousand pounds. It is thus not difficult to see what is done with the profits. The Y.M.C.A. might, had it so chosen, have feathered its nest during the war, but with a sublime, though by no means a reckless disregard of the future it stepped right into the breach, and went straight forward to meet the national need.
As a Y.M.C.A. we pride ourselves on the business management of our work. We insist on business methods being adopted, and we do not mix our business with philanthropy—the Association hut is not a charity as far as its business side is concerned. The average hut in a large camp is expected to pay its way, so that subscriptions from the general public can be applied to the extension of the work and to the maintenance of centres that cannot be self-supporting.
The War Office, in the early stages of the war, asked us to pay a rebate of 10 per cent. on the gross takings of the refreshment department. After full consideration, we came to the conclusion that we could only do this by extracting the money from the pockets of the men, who for the most part are miserably paid, by paying it out of subscriptions given by the public, or by limiting the extension of the work. Neither alternative seemed desirable or in the interests of the men, and after many conferences with the Quartermaster-General's department at the War Office, it was agreed, by mutual consent and at the suggestion of the War Office, to refer the matter for decision to the Secretary of State for War. It was at the time Lord Kitchener was in Gallipoli, and Mr. Asquith was personally in charge. At a conference at Downing Street the representatives of the Board of Control Regimental Institutes stated their case, and we had the opportunity of replying. Mr. Asquith took several weeks to consider the question in all its bearings, and ultimately gave the decision entirely in our favour, and decided for the duration of the war we should not be asked to pay the rebate. Later on, the matter was reopened by Lord Derby, and eventually it was found necessary for the Y.M.C.A. to pay 6 per cent. on their gross takings in huts on Military ground, to regimental funds, and this is a great tax on its resources. Most of the huts are loaned free to the Military for church parades and military lectures.
The figures of the Red Triangle are colossal, and yet figures by themselves fail to give an adequate idea of the magnitude of the work, and for obvious reasons it is impossible to make those statistics complete. On a given date it was ascertained that upwards of forty-five thousand workers were giving regular service to the war work of the Y.M.C.A. By August 31, 1918, 929,590,430 pieces of stationery had been sent out from Y.M.C.A. Headquarters in London for distribution amongst the men of His Majesty's Forces. The stationery bill by the summer of 1918 had risen to the rate of upwards of £90,000 per annum.
In two months one hundred and five tents were sent out to replace the huts and tents lost in Picardy and Flanders.
In eighteen months, Triangle House, London, the Headquarters of our Trading Department, sent out to the Y.M.C.A. overseas:—
| 875 | Gramophones and 8386 Records. |
| 322 | Pianos and Organs. |
| 572 | Billiard and Bagatelle Tables. |
| 1,341 | Sets of Boxing Gloves. |
| 108 | Optical Lanterns. |
| 10,188 | Sets of Draughts. |
| 1,335 | Sets of Chess. |
| 3,140 | Sets of Dominoes. |
| 4,263 | Footballs. |
| 1,080 | Sets of Quoits. |
| 657 | Sets of Cricket. |
| 4,992 | Extra Balls. |
| 1,540 | Extra Bats. |
| 1,798 | Hockey Sticks. |
| 520 | Balls. |
| 426 | Golf Balls. |
| 100 | Tennis Sets. |
| 330 | Tennis Racquets. |
| 2,364 | Tennis Balls. |
| 61 | Sets Bowls. |
| 358 | Badminton Sets. |
| 50 | Baseball Sets. |
It will be noted that the items in this list are not trading goods to be sold at a profit, but excepting in the case of some of the billiard tables, are non-remunerative, and provided absolutely free for the use of the men serving overseas.