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Show Social Agencies Plan Recreation For U. S. Soldier Club Houses to Entertain And Help Utilize Their Idle Time. (Released by Western Newspaper Union.) WASHINGTON. Six of the country's coun-try's leading social and welfare agencies will utilize their combined resources to combat undesirable in- ! fluenccs arising in army camps over the country. President Roosevelt has urged all Americans to support the movement which is known as U.S.O., United Service Organization for National Defense. A fund of $10,765,000 must be raised to carry out its program and the campaign is already under way. Agencies participating in the work are the Young Men's Christian association, asso-ciation, National Catholic Community Commu-nity service, Salvation Army, Young Women's Christian association, Jewish Jew-ish Welfare agency, and the National Travelers Aid association. Their aggregate experience in this kind of service is 317 years. The YMCA has been active in army and navy j social and welfare work since 1861. I Others since 1017. i The program is being carried out from closely co-ordinated plans, approved ap-proved by the government, which will prevent the overlapping of social so-cial club houses, supplies, entertainment, entertain-ment, etc., common in the past when co-operation was lacking among the various agencies undertaking this work. Few new positions will be created as the agencies will draw heavily on their own carefully A i Thomas E. Dewey trained personnel to insure the best in service. It was decided to weld the agencies into one huge unit, by the President, cabinet members, state governors and other officials because of requests from thousands of parents and because it was believed be-lieved too big a project to be handled han-dled by any one agency. Woman Defense Workers. More than 350 clubhouses will be completed and staffed just outside army and navy bases. Military influence wanes when soldiers are beyond military boundaries and one object of the program is to give the soldier and sailor respite from military mili-tary discipline. And the opportunity to enjoy social activities in preparation prepara-tion for the stern duties that may lie ahead. Another feature of the U.S.O. will be the home hospitality, locally, where friendly family reception recep-tion will be fostered. It will also cope with the living and welfare problems of women in defense industry. in-dustry. Business and government leaders are backing the program with enthusiasm en-thusiasm and help. James A. Farley, Far-ley, former postmaster general, said: "It's our chance to show we are solidly behind our first line of defense. We can't afford to fail." Walter Hoving, business executive execu-tive and head of the Salvation Army Association of New York City, is president of U.S.O. District Attorney Attor-ney Thomas E. Dewey of New York county is U.S.O.'s national campaign cam-paign chairman. Co-chairmen of the national Woman's Executive committee are Mrs. F. Louis Slade and Mrs. Eliot Cross. Mrs. Slade is a national director of the girl scouts. Mrs. Cross headed the women's bureau of the YMCA in Paris during the World war. Health of Workers. Dr. Ira S. Wile, noted psychiatrist, told U. S. authorities that "homesickness," "home-sickness," the scourge of the new soldier, will be greatly minimized by the program. He stressed the importance of maintaining the "sound and healthy minds in healthy bodies," for men and women in our defense forces. The U.S.O. will be non-sectarian and devoted exclusively to providing places of clean entertainment and fun for men and women of all faiths and beliefs, say officials of the program. |