Part II, State Organizations,
Chapter XVI. Alabama, Arkansas and Arizona
CHAPTER XV
PERMANENT ORGANIZATION
How the great permanent organizations of women turned to war work-General Federation of Women' Clubs, Daughters of American Revolution, Colonial Dames, United Daughters of Confederacy, Council of Jewish Women, Y.W.C.A., Navy League, Congress of Mothers, etc.
The declaration of war in the United States found the women of America thoroughly organized and each of the great women's organizations immediately offered its services to assist in the prosecution of war.
The General Federation of Women's Clubs, with a membership of approximately 3,000,000, and complete working organizations in every state in the Union, formed one of the largest and strongest of the women's war machines, and was one of the first organizations to offer its services to the Government. The Federation of Women's Clubs had already been doing a valuable work in studying the Department of Agriculture and other branches of the Government as they are of interest to women. The survey made by the special committee from the Federation included the following subjects: To what extent will the Smith-Lever Bill benefit the women on the farms? Who are entitled to its benefits, and what do they have to do to secure this aid? What are the objects of the Bureau of Markets? How far does Federal inspection safeguard our meat supplies? What does the Department of Agriculture do to insure safe milk Is this work carried on in this Department, or by the public health service ? What work is done in the Office of Home Economics
The committee that was sent to Washington to answer these and questions of like character was composed of: Mrs. Elizabeth Claypool Earl ( Mrs. Horace Mann), Harriet C. Towner (Mrs. Benjamin W.), Anna L. Corkran, Miss Helen Louise Johnson, Chairman.
The Government Departments represent a vast storehouse of practical, scientific, authoritative material along the lines of work represented in the General Federation, as defined by Mrs. May Alden Ward: "To use our united strength to obtain better homes, better schools, better surroundings, better citizenship, and better laws; to work together for civic health and civic righteousness, to preserve our heritage, the forests and the natural beauties of the land, to procure for our children an education which fits them for life, the training of the hand and the heart, as well as the head; to prevent the children not our own being deprived of their birthright of natural childhood, to obtain right conditions and proper safeguards for the women who toil."
The committee reported on the Children's Bureau, the Public Health Service, Government Publications and the work of the Department of Agriculture including the Office of Information, the States' Relations Service, the Department of Home Economics, Bureau of Markets, Bureau of Animal Industry, Federal
Meat Inspection, Bureau of Chemistry and the Smith-Lever Bill.
It is easy to see that having made this survey and digested the report of the committee the General Federation of Women's Clubs was quite ready to take up any duties in connection with the war that the government might see fit to assign to them. Sometime before the organization of the Woman's Committee the General Federation, realizing the need of a register of its women, had begun a systematic registration among its own members. When the official registration was undertaken by the Woman's Committee, as described in a previous chapter, the Federation stopped its registration and assisted in that undertaken by the Woman's Committee.
In October, 1917, the Federated Clubs opened a Service Office in Washington, to be maintained during the period of the war, and also moved the editorial offices of the Federated Clubs Magazine to Washington so that the National organization might keep in close touch with national affairs at Washington and disseminate among its members such information as might be helpful to them in their war work. The Service Office is in charge of Miss Helen Louise Johnson and is located in the Maryland Building.
Another great organization of women that early offered its services to the Government was the Daughters of the American Revolution with its 3,000 chapter and 1,000,000 members spread over the whole of the United States. In order to carry on its war work more efficiently the National Society formed a War Relief Service Committee composed of: chairman, Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, Washington, D. C.; vice-chairman, Mrs. Albert S. Burleson, Washington, D. C.; director of publicity, Mrs. William H. Wait, Ann Arbor, Michigan; secretary, Mrs. Howard I. Hodgkins, Washington, D. C.; directors: Mrs. James Benton Grant, Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Fred H. H. Calhoun, Clemson College, South Carolina; Mrs. Frank D. Ellison, Belmont, Massachusetts; Mrs. Thomas A. Edison, Orange, New Jersey; Mrs. James Lowry Smith, Amarillo, Texas; Mrs. Frank Wm. Bagnsen, Rock Island, Illinois.
From the very day war was declared the Daughters of the American Revolution, through its War Relief Committee as well as through the individual chapters, has done practical war work of various kinds. The president-general, Mrs. George Thacher Guernsey, has given a great deal of her time to war work, and the success of every plan undertaken by the organization is largely due to Mrs. Guernsey's well-known efficiency and to the cordial and nation-wide cooperation she has had from her associates. The Daughters of the American Revolution were signally successful in selling Liberty Bonds, a branch of war work in which they have taken an especial interest. Secretary McAdoo appointed Mrs. Guernsey a member of the Woman's Liberty Loan Committee, and she has been untiring in her efforts in the interest of the sale of Liberty Bonds.
The plans decided upon by the War Relief Service Committee at its meeting on June 21, 1917, comprised four branches of usefulness, all of which eliminate the danger of misdirected energy and bear the stamp of government approval. These are: knitting necessary garments for sailors on United States vessels named for Revolutionary heroes; clipping bureau by means of which sailors will be supplied with magazines and news articles; preparing jellies to be stored for hospitals; the adoption of French orphans. The Secretary of the Navy endorsed the making of knitted garments for sailors, and commanders of vessels patrolling the coast have sent an urgent plea for a large supply to outfit the sailors during the first winter of the war. The Navy League published especially for the Daughters of the American Revolution a pamphlet containing the biography of the Revolutionary heroes for whom United States destroyers have been named, a description of the vessels, and the number of the crew manning each vessel. Perhaps the most interesting phase of war work undertaken by the organization is the adoption of French orphans. Thirty-six dollars and fifty cents is the sum required to support a child for one year. The names and addresses of French orphans may be secured by application to Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, chairman of the War Relief Service Committee, Memorial Continental Hall, Washington, D.C.
One service rendered the Government by the Daughters of the American Revolution is deserving of especial notice. The Council of National Defense needed a large tract of land centrally located in Washington upon which to erect its temporary headquarters. None was available. Hearing of this situation Mrs. Guernsey got in touch with her national board immediately and the handsome property adjoining that upon which stands the splendid Memorial Continental Hall was offered to the Council of National Defense. The offer was promptly accepted and in exactly fifty days the spacious temporary building was ready for occupancy.
Perhaps no national organization of women has been privileged to render to the Government in its time of greatest need a more beautiful service than has the Young Women's Christian Association. As soon as the country faced the possibility of an active part in the European war, the National Board of the Y.W.C.A. recognized its immense responsibility in helping to safeguard moral conditions in the neighborhood of training camps and providing for the welfare of women in special industries created by the war's demands. The organization also received requests for help in the constructive work the associations were undertaking in Russia, France and England. To meet the new situation a War Work Council was formed, which aims to use the resources of the Y.W.C.A. in helping especially to meet the needs which the war has brought to girls and women and which in many cases are very acute. The chairman of the War Work Council is Mrs. James S. Cushman, the other officers being, vice-chairman, Mrs. John R. Mott and Mrs. John Meigs, treasurer, Mrs. Henry P Davidson, secretary pro tem., Mrs. Howard Morse. Others serving as chairmen of committees are Mrs. E.R.L. Gould, Mrs. Francis De Lacy Hyde, Mrs. Robert Lovett and Mrs. Robert E. Speer.
The Patriotic League promoted by the Junior War Work Council of the Y.W.C.A., is described as "an idea and an ideal. "Girls of every race and creed are eligible on the signing of the following pledge: "I pledge to express my patriotism: by doing better than ever before whatever work I have to do; by rendering whatever special service I can at this time to my community and country; by living up to the highest standards of character and honor and by helping others to do the same."
The problem of girl workers is one with which the Y.W.C.A. is well fitted to wrestle, as they have had an industrial department for a number of years. In some of the factories, as for example at the clothing factory in Charleston, S. C., the women work in shifts of ten hours each in buildings that have not been equipped for their comfort. This factory is next door to the navy yard, and the commandant has worked in sympathy with the Y.W.C.A. officers, who have sought to provide better housing for the women, and have furnished them with a recreation house where women may meet their men friends under proper conditions.
The cafeteria is an institution which the Y.W.C.A.. has used and developed in a most useful manner, and their experience is being applied in war work.
In response to the requests of the commandants and the Federal Commission on Training Camp Activities fourteen hostess houses have been established and four more are under way. These form a social center for relatives who come to visit the men in the camp. Sometimes the houses are inside the grounds, as at Plattsburg, and sometimes they are outside, according to conditions. A tent was opened for "hospitality service" at Camp Mills, L. I. This not only provides for temporary needs, but enables the workers to study the situation and decide how many houses will be needed.
Some of the smaller houses have been put up at a cost of $500; those at the larger cantonments will cost from $15,000 to $20,000. The one at Ayer, Mass., is about three times the size of the one that was used in Plattsburg. In addition to affording a meeting place for the men and their families and friends, there is a check room, secretary's office, rest room for women, small nursery for children, and a kitchen and arrangements for serving light refreshments.
Some of the camps are so far from the towns that women who have come from a distance would be greatly inconvenienced if there was no such place to give them information, refreshment and help. For the camps where the distance is greatest, as in New Mexico, it may be found necessary to provide places where the women may stay over night.
Search is being made for suitable persons for the foreign work which the Y.W.C.A. is undertaking. Two women have already gone to Russia, two others are on their way and five others will soon follow. The work in Russia is largely an industrial problem. Wages are high, but the purchasing power of the money is less. Food is scarce and high. Miss Clarissa E. Spencer, for the last three years acting secretary executive for the Foreign Department of the National Board, is a linguist and a woman of experience in several foreign countries. With her went Miss Elizabeth Boies, a graduate of Smith College, who acted as hostess and adviser to thousands of girls in the amusement and refreshment concession at the Panama Exposition in San Francisco. When the American troops were sent to the Mexican border,
Miss Boies was sent to investigate the work for girls in Texas and Arizona.
In France, Y.W.C.A. workers have responded to the need for help in the housing, long hours and other industrial conditions that have come up with the war. Mary A. Dingman is carrying to France the experience of industrial members in the American associations. Visitation of factories, organization of clubs and councils have been efficient means for American cooperation. Investigation and experiment will show how the women of France who are working in munition factories and other unusual employments can better their conditions, and one young woman will look after the interests of the nurses near each American base hospital.
As one of the eighteen national temperance organizations comprising the United Committee on Temperance Activities in the Army and Navy, of which Miss Anna A. Gordon is vice-chairman, the W.C.T.U. has been assigned the work of providing sixteen stereo-motorgraphs, one for each of the army cantonment. This is its share of the $100,000 fund undertaken by the Committee. Among the slides which these machines automatically display are cartoons and patriotic posters covering different phases of the liquor question in its relation to the individual as a man and a soldier. The cost of the machines is $500 each and they are purchased by state W.C.T.U. organizations. Two white-ribbon ambulances have been presented to the Red Cross, one for service in France, the other in Russia. Systematic effort is being made to find homes in American families for orphaned French and Belgian children.
The W.C.T.U., both as a national organization and through its individual members, has subscribed generously to the Liberty Loan. Its national president, Miss Anna A. Gordon, is a member of the advisory committee of the Woman's Liberty Loan Committee.
State and local organizations responded enthusiastically to the call of the National W.C.T.U. to patriotic service under the following ten divisions: Nation-wide Prohibition as a War Measure, Soldiers and Sailors, Relief Work, Moral Education, Women in Industry, Americanization, Cooperation with the United Committee on Temperance Activities in the Army and Navy, Community Interest, Finance and Membership.
The 400,000 white-ribboners of the country are cooperating through various departments with the war emergency plans put out by the government. This world war is emphasizing the fact, as other events have emphasized it in lesser degree, that the W.C.T.U. is equipped for any emergency. Its "do everything" machinery never stops. The engineers need only turn on a little extra power, to set the wheels whirling and the pistons pounding with a speed and efficiency that is the wonder and envy of organizations whose scope is necessarily more limited.
The Committee on Patriotic Service of the National W.C.T.U. consists of the general officers and the superintendents of departments. These are: president, Anna A. Gordon, vice-president-at-large, Ella B. Boole, corresponding secretary, Frances P. Parks, recording secretary, Elizabeth P. Anderson,: assistant recording secretary, Sara H. Hoge, treasurer, Margaret C. Munns, superintendent of legislation, Margaret Dye Ellis, superintendent of soldiers and sailors, Ella Hoover Thacher, superintendent Flower Mission and Relief, Lella M. Sewall, superintendent of moral education, Mary E. Brown, superintendent of temperance and labor, Lucia F. Additon, superintendent of foreign-speaking people, Ella B. Black.
In April, 1917, the National Congress of Mothers inaugurated the movement to enlist mothers for service in the vicinity of army and navy camps to extend as far as possible the home influence to the boys who are there.
The Mothers Army and Navy Camp Committee of the National Congress of Mothers was organized, and the work immediately begun to arrange for the comfort of the enlisted men when off duty and visiting the near by towns. The Congress of Mothers has established United Service Clubs under the management of leaders in the Congress, and is arranging for comfortable lodgings, recreation rooms and reading and writing rooms, having mothers in the building to welcome and personally interest themselves in these boys. In Philadelphia the largest Club has been established. In the month of October, 1917, over six thousand enlisted men enjoyed the Club House. There are accommodations for three hundred men to sleep in the building. From one to two thousand boys every month avail themselves of this privilege. Arrangement also for the mothers who wish to visit their boys is made by a Mothers ' Annex. The mothers of enlisted men in the city are being entertained weekly, and organized for the mother work that only mothers can do.
A similar club has been opened in Baltimore for the use of the men in the camps in that vicinity. Waukegan, Illinois, has established one. Mrs. Kate Waller Barrettwas appointed chairman to organize the Camp Committees in connection with all of the cantonments, and has visited all of the camps in the southern states with this in view. The national president, Mrs. Schoff, has also visited many of these camps, and clubs for enlisted men are being established in the vicinity of all of the cantonments.
"We are not doing work in the camps," says Mrs. Schoff. Our work is the work of extending welcome and providing a clean, wholesome, happy place for the boys who, by hundreds, are given leave of absence. Our belief is that if we organize the forces of good we shall do more to counteract the effort of the evil women who are organized to tempt to vice, than can be done in any other way. We recommend to the members of Parent-Teacher Associations the following as war measures:
"Frequent meetings of Parent-Teacher Associations through the summer as well as when schools are in session.
"Taking a census of children in homes from which members are enlisted in military service.
"Providing when possible a Director of Children's Activities and Amusements, and enlisting all children in activities or occupations suitable to their age and interest. "
Providing a committee of women qualified to help erring children by personal influence and friendly help when called on for this service
"Encouraging and aiding children in home garden work.
"Encouraging and aiding children in habits of thrift, in showing girls and mothers how they may utilize old garments in making many useful articles
"Aiding mothers by showing how to provide nourishing diet for their families when so many of the usual articles of food must be eliminated, owing to their prohibitive prices
"Providing wholesome entertainment for youth.
"Encouraging patriotism and loyalty to the high principles of democracy, and inculcating a spirit of personal responsibility as a citizen in the hearts of parents and children.
"Providing opportunities for non-English speaking mothers to learn English and other things that aid them in understanding American life and customs, and making good citizens and inducing them to make use of these Opportunities.
"Holding frequent and regular meeting for mothers of little babies where the babies may be examined by physicians or nurses and the mothers advised as to their care.
"Keeping the school building open for such service as the community may require during the War. "
The New Jersey Congress of Mothers has presented an ambulance as its service in the war, and is cooperating with other organizations in the work to make the soldiers happier who are in the camps in New Jersey.
The National Congress of Mothers is mobilizing all of the mothers of enlisted men for this special service and is meeting with a very cordial response.
The Navy League was an outgrowth of the Spanish-American war and was organized in New York in 1902. It was soon after the organization was perfected that Miss Poe, a newspaper woman of New York, and her sister, asked permission to form auxiliaries, which was granted to them, and thus the Woman's Section of the Navy League came into existence. The women have assisted in the various phases of work undertaken by the Navy League but have centered their interests largely in knitting garments for the soldiers, and in working in the camps. When war was declared their work in all lines was intensified and extended and, inspired by the new and larger duty, they set about to increase their membership and their usefulness.
The Comforts Committee of the Navy League, which has done so many things for the men on the battleships, originated with a sewing party at the residence of Mrs. James Carroll Frazer, of Washington, D. C., in March of 1917. Only twelve women were present at this little sewing party but the seed of a great work had been sown, and very soon after that the Comforts Committee of the Navy League was organized with Mrs. Frazer as chairman. Since that date over $500,000 has been furnished and more than 300,000 women have worked in the interest of the organization. Garments have been furnished to the Army and Merchant Marine as well as to the Navy. This Committee equipped the first destroyers, and furnished two thousand seven hundred sweaters to the first marines who went abroad-and this in ten days after they received the order. Wool has been furnished to women who intend returning the finished garments to the Committee at sixty-five cents per hank, and to others at one dollar per hank. The Committee has a very efficient office system, all material being indexed as it is received and consigned. It is estimated that the amount spent in the work of this Committee approximates $1,000,000. The Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames, and other large national organizations of women, have cooperated in the work.
The second encampment of the National Service School of the Woman's Section of the Navy League was held at Little Falls and Conduit Road, near the District (of Columbia) line, during the month of April and May, 1917. The main object of the school was to give an opportunity to American women to acquire special training to be of national service during war. The classes included home care of the sick, first aid, dietetics, preparation of sick diets, signal work, wireless, scientific bed making, the making of surgical dressings, and other ways in which women can be of real service.
The National Service School in the nation's capital-the first of its kind in the world-has inspired the opening of similar schools throughout the country where American women can fit themselves for the part they must play in the national service of good citizenship and patriotism. A popular feature of the National Service School was the afternoon lectures by noted men and women, experts in the topics discussed.
In December, 1917, the Woman's Naval Auxiliary to the Red Cross was organized and much of the work that was being done under the Navy League was coordinated under the new plan. The Advisory Committee of the Woman's Naval Auxiliary to the Red Cross consists of: Mrs. Edward T. Stotesbury, Chairman, Philadelphia; Mrs. J. Ogden Armor, Illinois; Mrs. Walter B. Brooks, Jr., Maryland; Mrs. George Barnett, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Frederick Courtiss, Chicago; Mrs. George Dewey, Washington D. C.; Mrs. George K. Denis, Los Angeles, Cal.; Mrs. Charles Dana Gibson, New York; Mrs. Cary T. Grayson, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Charles S. Hamlin, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. Bryan Lathrop, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. E. T. Meredith, Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs. Henry Morganthau, New York; Mrs. Henry R. Rea, Sewickly, Pa.; Mrs. Matthew T. Scott, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. James M. Thompson, New Orleans, La.; Mrs. French Vanderbilt, Newport, R. I.; Mrs. Otto Wittpen, Hoboken, N. J.; Mrs. John Holiday, St. Louis, Mo.
The League of American Pen Women numbers among its members some of the best known women writers of America. It is one of the great permanent organizations of women that immediately upon the declaration of war turned its full power to war work. Through its National Aid and Defense Committee the organization has accomplished much. "The chief part that the League of American Pen Women must play to help win the war is one of education," said Mrs. Isaac Pearson, president of the League. Headquarters of the organization are in Washington, and the officers are: president, Mrs. Margaret E. Pearson, 1785 Lanier Place, N. W.; first vice-president, Mr. Theodore Tiller, 1356 Montague Street; second vice-president, Mrs. Helen Nelson Dooey, 13 Thirteenth St., N. 1.; recording secretary, Miss Dora Simpkins, 2811 Central Ave., Woodridge, D. C.; corresponding secretary Mrs. Gertrude Buckingham Thomas, 1231 Girard Street, N. W.; assistant corresponding secretary Miss Elizabeth A. Hyde, 2947 Tilden St., N. W-; treasurer, Mrs. Mary St. Clair Blackburn, 3313 Seventeenth St., N. W.; auditor, Mrs. Philander P. Claxton, 1719 Lamont St., N. W.; librarian Mrs. Emma M. V. Triepel, 2516 Seventeenth St., N. W.; historian, Mrs. Virginia King Frye, 301 S Street, N. E. The officers of the National Aid and Defense Committee of the League are: chairman, Mrs. Richard L. Hoxie, 1632 E St., Washington, D. C.; vice-chairman, Mrs. Anna Bogenholm Sloane, 800 Madison St., Washington, D. C.; vice-chairman for Pacific Coast, Mrs.. Bertha Lincoln Heustis, 418 S. Normandie Ave, Los Angeles, Cal.
The Camp Fire Girls of America, 100,000 strong, have been doing effective work for their country since war was declared. On April 19, seventeen days after the declaration of war, President Wilson wrote to Dr. Luther H. Gulick, the national president, as follows: "I have read with close attention and very great interest your telegram of April seventeenth and want to say that it seems to me to embody an admirable program. I hope that it will be carried out by the Camp Fire Girls, and I admire very much the spirit in which it has been conceived."
The Camp Fire Girls were very helpful in bringing the food pledge cards to the attention of the housewives of America. The girls divided up the territory and went from house to house well equipped to talk with the women as to the best ways and means of carrying out Mr. Hoover's instructions. At the request of Miss Julia Lathrop of the Children's Bureau the girls were also very helpful in caring for children while their mothers were engaged in gardening or other patriotic service. A large number of the Camp Fire Guardians have taken regular Red Cross courses and thousands are cooperating in local units with Red Cross Societies in all branches of their work. They are running errands, picking oakum, rolling bandages, making surgical dressings, taking courses in nursing, dietetics, etc., and giving demonstrations in parades or Red Cross work. Thousands have had gardens in their own homes and many others are giving voluntary service to charitable institutions.
In a letter to the girls of America the national president, Mr. Luther H. Gulick, said "Most of the homes of America have girls in them. Fifty per cent of the money paid for food is wasted in America. We waste as much of the fats as we use. We pare our potatoes and so lose much of the nutritive portion. Girls can save much of this waste. Saving one cent a day per person would be 10,000,000 dimes, $1,000,000, or $365,000,000 in one year. Girls use enough candy, sodas and chewing gum to support 20,000 soldiers."
The Girl Scouts of America, under the leadership of Mrs. Juliette Low, of New York, with a nationwide organization and a fine spirit of patriotism, have given greatly needed assistance along many lines. They have sold Liberty Bonds, distributed food pledge cards and have volunteered their services and worked cheerfully, singly and in groups, in every state in the Union. They have made scrapbooks for the hospitals and especially have they contributed most generously in furnishing Christmas cheer to the soldiers in the camps here and in Europe. In Washington, D. C., especially, the Girl Scouts have initiated many novel and practical ways of doing war work. Under direction of Mrs. Edna M. Colman, field secretary, the girls made hundreds of comfort bags and at Christmas time they sent attractive packages to soldiers encamped at Camp Meade.
Ever since war was declared, Woodcraft Girls have been hard at work doing their bit. Aside from the special work started by Headquarters there has been no lack of spontaneous effort on the part of the girls and their guides. Knitting and Red Cross dressings have had such a prominent part at the meetings and through the week that the girls in some instances have sacrificed time that would have otherwise been devoted to the acquiring of the much-coveted Woodcraft honors known as coups and degrees. To give some recognition to this form of patriotic service, the Girls' Work Committee has been asked by some of the guides to recommend the adoption of new honors suitable for war time.
The distinctive work for Woodcraft Girls, however, has been found in the Potato Clubs formed by the Woodcraft League. Membership was not restricted to members of the organization and to those under eighteen it was free. Girls-and boys too-in thirty-five states enrolled as "Potatriots" to the number of more than 2,100. Some formed clubs, others worked alone to win the silk American flags offered as prizes, one for the largest crop raised from twenty-four hills, and one for the largest potato.
One energetic club was composed by the Woodcraft Girls at Rosemary Hall, a school at Greenwich Conn. These girls were fortunate in securing some land lent for the purpose by Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Thompson-Seton, The girls not only did the planting but the much harder work of plowing, and they gave their free time to do it. When the summer came and many of the girls were scattered over the country, they arranged to have girls who lived near by care for the plants until their return, thus showing skill in organizing as well as in farming. Their work was well rewarded by the fine crop they harvested this fall.
The club of Monmouth County, New Jersey, under the leadership of Mrs. Philip Lewisohn, closed the season with a fine record, not only for raising potatoes and other vegetables, but also for canning. Mrs. Schoenfeld, chairman of the cannery, reports that $1600 was cleared. The club published a pamphlet of recipes and used a Woodcraft label on its canned goods.
The League has as its slogan "The Hoe Behind the Flag," which appeared not only on the club button but was used by other organizations throughout the country to arouse enthusiasm for work on the farm.
The Green Bough is an international fellowship of children to afford aid and relief to one another especially from the happy, well-fed children of America to the starving children of war-stricken Europe. Individual children may become members by sending ten cents to the central organization, for which a button will be sent and by agreeing to make some contribution to the welfare of children less fortunate than themselves. The honorary chairman is Mrs. Stephen Millet, and the national headquarters are 119 East 19th Street, New York City.
The Green Bough is affiliated with the International Child Welfare League, which is another of the great permanent organizations that has only had to intensify the great work it was already doing to be one of Americas most effective machines for work valuable in the prosecution of war.
No organization is doing a more valuable work in a specialized field than the Associate Collegiate Alumnae. This organization held its general convention in Washington three days after war was declared and a War Service Committee was appointed. By resolution the services of the organization were placed at the disposal of the Government. It is to the credit of the Associate Collegiate Alumnae that it was one of the first organizations to agitate for the correction of conditions about the training camps on the Mexican Border. Through its efforts a large number of petitions were secured from women's organizations, and the Associate Collegiate Alumnae received personal expressions of appreciation directly from the President and from the Secretary of War.
The organization issued to 10,000 college graduates a statement concerning the demand for trained stenographers and secretaries and has also made vigorous efforts to induce college women to enter the nursing profession to meet the increased demands in that field. In addition to this practical work a large number of the 100 branches of the organization are supporting one or more French war orphans.
A very interesting plan has been launched through the War Service Committee, which consists of President Thomas, of Bryn Mawr; President Pendleton of Wellesley; President Woolley, of Mt. Holyoke; Mrs. Lois K. Mathews, Dean of Women, University of Wisconsin, president of the Association; Miss Caroline L. Humphrey, former president; Mrs. Raymond B. Morgan, president of the Washington Branch, and Mrs. Gertrude S. Martin, executive secretary. The plan will concentrate the efforts of the whole association upon patriotic education. A Speakers' Bureau will cooperate directly with the Speaker Division of the Committee on Public Information. The purpose is to carry into the remotest regions of the country the message of the necessity for this war and the peril of a premature peace. Conferences of college women have been called in many states and speakers are provided with such information as may be available. Eminent men and women will also be brought from abroad to present the point of view of our allies to the school, colleges and normal schools of this country. The plan is an ambitious one and is deserving of the heartiest commendation.
The Colonial Dames, under the able leadership of Mrs. Joseph R. Lamar, of Georgia, who is also a member of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense, have been actively engaged in some form of constructive war work since the beginning of hostilities and are planning still more ambitious work for the immediate future.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy, first under the presidency of Mrs. Cordelia D. Odenheimer, of Washington, and later under Miss Poppenheim, of South Carolina, have worked in various fields in every state where they are organized. The chapters in the various states have undertaken many novel kinds of work with great success and plans for the future call for an expansion of present activities.
A complete account of what the various women's organizations are doing to help in the prosecution of war would not be possible. There is not a single organization, from the largest to the smallest, that is not doing its utmost. However, no mention of the work of the women's organizations of America would be just that did not include something of America's greatest organization The National Council of Women, which includes practically all of the organizations of women in this country. Mrs. Philip N. Moore, of St. Louis, is president of the National Council of Women and among its officers are some of the most prominent women in the country.
Through the many strong organizations composing it the Council is sharing in the great task that confronts the women of America and at the national meeting in December, 1917, resolutions were adopted which set forth the Council's active interest in all of the great movements that tend toward making the world better and spreading the gospel of the sisterhood of women.