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Show WHIT SOLDIER BOYS IDE SWING AS TO MEMORIAL Editor Standard: Saturday afternoon after-noon I slipped quietly ino Ogden and gave the folks a real surprise. They didn't know I was coming home so soon 1 was as glad to be bark as they were to have me home again. The old town sure does look good to me. I am proud and happy, too, that I have served my time in the army over there. Things were not always as pleasant as thev might have been and maybe the boys were sometimes tin-appreciative tin-appreciative of the tremendous task that Uncle Sam fared when he tried to. satisfy our little whims. It was sometimes hard to see Just how washing wash-ing the dishes and digging ditches had an) potent part in licking the kaiser, but it did Just the same. As a cold sbowerbath is, it is pleasant to look back upon one's experiences In the army. I'm not Just the same kind of a fellow fel-low that I was when I left tor camp a little more than a year ago. and 1 don't want to be. But the tendency is still with me and my outlook Is very discouraging. 1 used to spend much of my time and most of my money In pool halls and other places that did ine no particular j.ood. Then- was nothing else for a young fellow to do in Ogden l&v cry body teiia me i look so much better than 1 ever did before. Of course I do. So does every other boy who has worn the khaki or the blue. A fellow can't be made to exercise, exer-cise, eat, work, play and sleep regu larly and not look better than he ever did before At first I hated the time for calesthenics to come, but I soon learned the true value of regular exercise ex-ercise The Y. M. Ci I. athletic directors di-rectors have taught us many games from which 1 have derived a world of pleasure and benefit. Our army training train-ing has given us an Insight to a better bet-ter way of living and It is going to be hard to satisfy ourselves with such facilities as street corners and pool halls, where to expend our surplus energy. The tendency Tor a young fellow fel-low is to "da 'he wrong things-, but it Is a mighty easy thing to keep him on the right road when organized effort ef-fort Is to this end. Several weeks aro I received some clippings from The Standard that made me the more glad to get back. These articles were relative to a memorial to the boys. I began to paint mental pictures of a grand gymnasium up on Lester park having an auditorium, auditor-ium, swimming pool, showers, wrestling wrest-ling mats and all the thin-rs which I have longed for so lone, but because I lived in Oeden, I could never enjoy. It Is quite a s,hoek to get home and find that my hopes were all an idle dream. Call it what you will- a memorial mem-orial or what not it still remains a fact that a gymnasium for the schools and the public is the most needed building in the eounty. I I am told of plans to bond the city for over half a million dollars to erect a at a Itj and county building and no provision therein stipulated for any portion of the money to be used for B memorial If this thing goes through I Will kiss godbye any chanees oi ev r getting out of the county any money toward a public gymnasium. To me it would seem that the commissioners are taking advantage of the spirit of the times. 1. e., when the county and Icily would consent to build a fitting Memorial or at least some of the 1 many things that are needed. If 1'armlngton can afford a gymnasium, surely Ogden should be able to build one it i" ople can be bonded for such orth purposes anywhere, surely Ogden, where such an Institution is SO badly needed, can see Its way clear to erect a gym If tate money Is up propriated for purpose of erecting memorials, why does not Ogden get , Us share" Saturday night, after h;tving visited With the folks at home. I came down town to look up the bunch I met , main of them standing around on Twenty-fifth street and Washington and finally 1 found my way into the ; pool hall. Here was a bunch of the I boys in hented argument. Incensed at ' something that was going on at Glen wood Surely no thinking person I would oppose building play-grounds for the children! It was not that exactly. ex-actly. I heard many remarks about "pussy-footing politicians, promise bUSters, good bye memorial, no Y. M C A. -In Ogden. we can get along without a city and county building nn- til we get a place to take a bath we want a gym." and some other very uncomplimentary remarks before 1 .learned what It was all about. It seems that the onlv baseball park In town worthy of the name, is to be used for i other purposes "Ain't this town the bunk''" asked one of the fellows who had just fln- 1 ished his rebuttal. I ask you, Mr Editor. Is It quite right that our commissioners should plan a bond issue of such a large i amount that it Is sure to preclude any possibility of ever getting support for a memorial or a gymnasium and ut terly disregard the public sentiment I In favor of some concerted action In favor of it? Only a portion of that bond Issuo would be necessary to start a fund which will build for Ogden Og-den an auditorium and gymnasium which will do us proud. The reasons given by the commissioners for lack , of Initiative are not even poor excuses. ex-cuses. The city will have to give a 'site for any public structure. To Mayor May-or Ilrowninu I would say, ' NTot all the hoys arr coming back " More than I 90 per cent of the boys who entered the service have returned and have expressed their views as to a fitting and appropriate memorial, in terms that are plain to those wno would un- , derstand. Respectfully submitted by, ONE OF THE BOYS. |