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Show I JF77f 77f K47VZS 47 YAPHANK I ffW By T. L. HOLMAN I 9 llHr HP Btory soes tllat whon the In" iy', X dians, way back in the seven- K teenth century, sold the island IB' of Manhattan and most of tho region Mi surrounding to tho early Dutch set- bHL" tiers for tho magnificent sum of 12 or JSpf 14 dollars (I forget which), Long MB' Island was 'thrown in to hoot." At KKI, that, I fail to see how that would SH make the bargain more attractive, for BBS having traversed much of the island Bra some three hundred years later, I BHf must confess to having seen wide SHR stretches of virgin wilderness miles rapi and miles of jack pines and scrub oak M for which I could not possibly be SBJ induced to pay as much money as the PHifo old settlers paid, even at this late day n' and notwithstanding its proximity to iw the world's greatest metropolis. More- IjGiL over, I have a sneaking suspicion that IHe the hard-headed ol(i Dutch settlers Jro never bothered about this part of their Xm celebrated bargain, but turned their f enterprises in other directions and Wfc loft the wilds of Long Island to be Wk$i tamed by the more ventuiesorae and jSpr persistent colonists from New Eng- llffifc land who had become accustomed to jag" cultivating shallow and shallow soil. Ijgm Which is by way of saying that this yf' island as a whole is not the garden fliv spot that the stranger would imagine. T"i It is- just the oposite, but its history .y j and agricultural possibilities are aside from the real text of this narrative. ' In the very heart of Long Island a ' d year ago, some seventy odd miles i4 from New York City, stood the little JjB'P station of Yaphank. At various times f and in various localities I have seen 'pf "places tliat God forgot," but nowhere iin all America can one And such a God-forsaken region as this is, or was before Uncle Sam chose the spot for one of his greatest army camps. What has been accomplished here in less than twelve months beggars description. descrip-tion. I have seen other cantonments but none so extensive in area or pre- " tentious in acommodations as the one I4 at Yaphank, and none, I fancy, that J5 n called for so much enterprise and ex- X pese in the hasty establishment of a P modern military camp. Yaphank, or Camp Upton, as it is properly called, embraces an area 1 1 " sixteen miles square, of sandy soil and (L covered with stunted pines and oak I , brush. The clearing of this growth was no small-sized job itself, and the ift axes of hundreds of wood-choppers M F have been ringing incessantly during i( )', every hour of the daylight ever since IIIf, the first tree was felled. Close upon wV the heels came the carpenters and I'lipfcplumbers and electricians and ongi- ml neers and the others of the modern fiL "" construction army that were engaged m ? to build a city in an untamed wildor- ness. The work was done under con- n 1 tract with tho government by a New I kV-" York concern at a cost approximating S h , $7,000,000. , From June to Soptember MtjL of laBt year upwards of 10,000 labor- Wci ors and trained artisans were on the jf big job day and night pushing it to Ik' completion. By tho middle of September Septem-ber the cantonments were partially completed and prepared for occupancy. occu-pancy. Then tho new soldiers began arriving and they havo been coming into camp in ever increasing numbers. num-bers. All told, some 2,000 substantial frame buildings havo been erected, utilizing 30,000,000 feet of lumber cut and shipped from the forests of the south. The great camp is electrically lighted throughout, and some 500 miles of wire were used for this purpose. pur-pose. Over thirty miles of road have been built, the main streets or avenues ave-nues all being constructed of asphalt. A modern water system is installed, furnishing running water in all of the buildings and allowing 55 gallons per capita per day. A central and branch fire departments are maintained, manned and officered by men who have had experience In modern fire fighting in the big cities. The camp is well policed, the. force including over 150 former members of the New York City police department. The cantonment is in direct communication communica-tion with the metropolis and the outside out-side world by means of telephone and telegraph, with branch exchanges easily eas-ily accessible in any part of the camp. A big postoffice has been established with branches at several points and a full complement of carriers. Its laundry is said to be one of the largest and most modernly equipped in the world, and tho cold storage plant in size and appointment would reflect credit on any American city. Likewise, the big remount station and the Bupply depot. It is tantalizing to write thus without with-out being able to give the number of the horses and mules in the corrals, the number of motor trucks I hap-epnod hap-epnod to see together one evening, and an estimate of the number of troops, and to tell how they are handling hand-ling them in the matter of temporary and final disposition. But there are some things that Uncle Sam simply won't stand for these days, and so the best of this story Is lost. In certain respects, I am of the opinion that Messrs. Baker, Creel and associates are a little too rigid, but they ought to know what is best, and anyway, what they say goes. I had hopes to taking a few harmless pictures of camp life, bu the guards promptly relieved re-lieved me of my camera as I entered the camp, and I was very glad indeed to get it back when I left. However, I do not feel 'that I will be giving any aid or comfort to the enemy, or that the army nuthorities will object, if I proceed to relate certain cer-tain experiences and impressions that came to me during a two-day visit. Catching an early Sunday morning train in New York we reached Camp Upton about noon. From the station it was a good twenty minutes walk to the barracks whene I found an old friend, a newly commissioned second lieutenant who was officer of the day of his company. We had lunch together togeth-er in the officers' mess hall. The bill of fare that day was ample for all purposes and most appetizing. There was the regulation plate heaped high with roast chicken, dressing and gravy as tasty a dish as one could wish. Then the side dishes contained new potatoes and peas, string beans, buttered but-tered beets, lettuce and tomato salad and celery. One had his choice of coffe, tea and milk, and the dessert consisted of a choice of lemon custard and raisin pie. Of course this was at the officers' mess, but after lunch I walked over to the company mess and found that the rank and file had fared just as abundantly. The company mess sergeant was a splendid fellow, in love with his work, and cheerfully guided me about tho kitchen and storage rooms, taking great pains to explain every detail of the company mess. It was all a revelation to me, everything modern and kept in a shape that would shame most of our high class city restauants. He informed me that he was feeding his men at an average daily cost of 46c per capita and yet they seemed to be living off of the fat of the land. We accepted his invitation invi-tation for supper, lined with the boys, ate the same "chuck" as they in similar simi-lar fashion, and even cleaned our own mess kit after mess, and it certainly was great. After this experience I became be-came convinced that our boys are faring far-ing splendidly at the table and surely this is just what every good citizen wants. It was also good to find tho boys housed in most comfortable barracks, well heated, lighted and ventilated, each having his own individual army cot and pair of blankets. I was permitted per-mitted to sleep in the barracks one night and can testify to the comfort of these accommodations. In fact, these barracks have all the conveniences of a modern home, carpets and wall paper pa-per excepted, but then they have shower show-er baths and other facilities that are as yet uncommon in the home of the average American. Then on every hand outside the barracks one could see evidences of an attempt to start lawns and gardens and to otherwise beautify the landscape. There is great rivalry among the companies in this respect and were the soil only a bit more fertile, there is no telling what the boys might have accomplished in this direction. As it is, they have done everything possible to give the barracks bar-racks a touch of home and I shall always be sorry that I was not permitted per-mitted to take a few pictures of tho small beauty spots I found about the camp. In many respects, aside from the absence ab-sence of trees and grass, the camp grounds remind one of a college campus. cam-pus. There are several baseball grounds and countless tennis courts, all well patronized. Sunday afternoon ' fl I saw several spirited ball games in fl progress, with thousands of the boys j H for spectators and they seemed just J as happy as though they were at home. I But in the life of this camp, recrea- 1 M tion Is not confined to outdoors sports. M There are two big theaters at Camp H Upton, the one with a capacity of close M to 4,000 and the other seating 2,500. At- H tractions are provided as a rule by 1 New York talent, who run down at night to entertain the boys. On this 1 particular Sunday night the "Lambs 1 H Gambol" was staged in the big Buffalo i H theater. Some fifty or more famous M members of the celebrated Lamb's club M of New York came down to camp and M put on a unique production. There H was an improvised minstrel sketch of It I military flavor in which Dewolf Hop- 1 fl per, William Collier, Raymond Hitch- HI cock, Donald Brian and some thirty 'H others appeared in black face, and it ,1 was great. A famous musician ren- JH dered several selections and there was I'M a pair of dancers who have taken little H old New York by storm. Then George tH McManus and T. F. Outcault drew car- H toons for the boys, and there were JH other sketches and comedy and more LlM music. All told, it was one of the 4H greatest aggregations of talent ever nfl assembled on any stage, and the boys k'lfl had the time of their lives. A nomi- j&l nal admission was charged at the fill door; the actors contributed their jf H service, and the money taken in at I fl the window all went to the camp well m I fare fund. JSElfl Which brings me to the welfare i&fl work that is being done in camp. And !w right here I am free to say that I ivfl shall never again sneer or scoff at the w H Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. or any M kindred organization. What is being frl accomplished by these and' similar HI movements in the army camps simply S staggers the imagination. How many P Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. buildings X have been erected at Camp Upton I Mil cannot even approximate, but one sees V "raM them on every hand and it is esti- VjH mated that there is at least one of ' 91 each for every four thousand men in mm camp. Then, too, the Knights of Col- Vm umbus organization is keeping close & pace with the others in point of build- m ings erected, and the Jewish welfare wj movement is making its presence felt K in camp. Happily, these several or- m ganizations are all working in liar- M ' mony and with the same object in m view. No discriminations are made and there is a glorious intermingling m of the creeds. The interior of the 'M buildings of each organization are of mt similar design and arrangement. One W finds reading rooms and writing tables ji in abundance; stationery is furnished Mm free of charge; the atmosphere is that Wm of a free and easy club life, less the wRi smoke and booze; services are held Sat at appointed times; all sorts of enter- $m tainment are provided; and during lt i HJ ' their leisure hours the boys spend HL much of their time here. Each place c is provided for showing moving pic- 1 tures and these are the chief delight Hl of the boys. On the night I was in H , camp it was estimated that no less H than two dozen movies were in oper- H ' ation. In fact, the only criticism one f ' y hears of these places is that there are t not enough of them. Attendants claim t ' that in the evenings the boys go from llj house to house until they can find ad- Hf mission. H Another thing that surprised me Hj was the central library. This was a H i building of frame, about 100 by 60 feet H in floor spaco, and well lighted and Hj ventilated. It was substantially con- H structed, the interior being wains- H coated and then finished with a com- H position wall surface above, all stained H in green and brown colors. The JB shelves were stained in old Mission j and arranged after the fashion of a Sj modern library. On every hand were M writing tables and easy chairs suffl- Hj cient in number to accommodate two H hundred patrons at one time. The H chief librarian informed me that the H library contained upwards of 50,000 H volumes, contributed largely by the H great-hearted American people. In H fact, in this library I believe all, but H the books dealing with scientific and H purely technical subjects were donat- H ed; these latter were purchased out H of the funds of the American Library H association, under whose auspices the H camp libraries are operated. During H a somewhat cursorary examination of H the books on the shelves, I found books H , covering the whole range of human H thought and action books on history, H fiction, science, philosophy, biography, H fine arts, religion, ethics, political econ- H omy, army and naval science, and the H volumes dealing with law, medicine H and the sciences comprised almost H complete libraries in themselves. B Then I was more than surprised to H find a big department store in camp, H covering a ground area of about 150 by H 100 feet. In this store one could buy H almost anything except dry goods. To H one side was a nicely appointed grill H room and a quick lunch counter capa- H ble of serving some six hundred H guests. These places fairly swarmed H with soldiers during my visit; I doubt H that I was ever in such a jostling, H good-natured crowd in my life. Like- H wise in the "Hostess Houses" operated H by the Y. W. C. A. could meals be ob- H tained cafeteria style at reasonable H prices. These places had cheerful and Hj commodious reception and lounging H rooms and are operated largely, so I H understand, for women who visit the H camps. And I almost forgot to say H that in almost every social place in H camp, no matter what organization op- H erates it, one finds a piano, and some- H times a Victrola or similar instrument, H and always a fine old-fashioned fire- H place that makes you think of home. mm Surely these several organizations are H engaging ina wonderful work with the M boys in uniform, and I look to see the H day when their influence will trans- H cend all the creeds and churches H throughout our entire domain. At least, M it is safe to say that when the boys HBHf JT-raflltafftiffi II T I1TJ 'U1IH. come home the Red Triangle and the lied Cross and the K. C. and Jewish camp insignias will hold first place in their hearts. And it is right that this should be. And what about the boys themselves? them-selves? Well, it was my privilege to talk to scores those who had volunteered, volun-teered, those who had been drafted, boys Trom the Far West, from the South, from the farms of the East and from the Bowery, boys from everywhere every-where and from all sorts and conditions condi-tions of American life and I found them pretty much the same. Some are inclined to take the life in camp more seriously than others, as is quite natural, but they average up pretty much alike in their attitude to their new state of affairs. They are anxious anxi-ous to get on, of course, and hope to rise rapidly in the service and their great common, burning desire is to get to France at the earliest moment. The majority take to the uniform and army discipline like a duck to water and the life make a strong appeal to them. I fancy that for many of them the experience ex-perience is similar to that encountered by those of us who first went away to college or a big university. After all, the American boy, no matter where he hails from, is the same wherever and however you find him always ready to take a chance, always willing to try anything once, a true sportsman and a gamster to the core. He is always al-ways at his best in the face of adventure adven-ture and, given a fair opportunity to develop his inherent qualities, he has the stamina and the courage and the courage and the self-confidence to meet any emergency. All other results aside, this war, in what it will bring to our American boys, will compensate the country many times over in the years to come. To spend a few days with the Yanks at Yaphank is indeed one of the most stirring experiences that can come to any civilian, especially if he still feels pretty much like a boy himself. |