Welfare Work in Iowa

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921. Excerpt: ... The Scope Op Welfare Work these were just common ordinary things in the army, not worth putting in a book at all.328 With such words a former Camp Dodge welfare worker closes a letter in which he recounts some of his experiences at the cantonment. Letter-writing and entertainments, French classes and athletic games were indeed everyday occurrences for the soldiers, but the very commonness which led these features to be considered merely as part of the day's program attaches to the whole a larger significance than isolated activities or spasmodic contributions could have commanded. That moving picture performances came with the same regularity as drill, that every day brought with it opportunities for recreation as well as service is the most important fact that can be included in a book on welfare work. It was a complex life which was so suddenly created out on the Iowa prairie, a life in which welfare work could not claim any preference. Camp Dodge was a military establishment and all other features were compelled to take a place secondary to the military activities. We are here to learn how to kill, declared The Camp Dodger in one of its early issues. There is nothing ladylike or dainty about it at all--it is brutal, serious business.327 Preceding pages have detailed the variety of service offered in the welfare huts, but that does not mean that the soldier had merely to scan the bulletin board and choose which of the attractions of the evening he preferred to attend. First, he must thoroughly scan the lists of names on the company board to see whether he was included among the various details called for guard-duty, kitchen police, or one of the many other routine tasks which seemed to return with such rapid regularity. Many there were whom fate d...