CHAPTER XXVI
OKLAHOMA, PENNSYLVANIA, OREGON AND RHODE ISLAND
Oklahoma women wide awake---Work to eliminate
commercial waste ---Efforts in interest of families of enlisted men---Pennsylvania
wonderful record in war work---Chester County model for the nation---Women'
organizations in Oregon constitute Woman's Committee---Club women active---Rhode
Island women distinguish themselves by taking military census.
Oklahoma. "The Oklahoma women are very
wide awake and are doing their 'bit' with willing hands and happy hearts
in the service of their country," said Mrs. Eugene B. Lawson, of Nowata,
chairman for Oklahoma.
Practically every county in the state is organized. Besides a chairman
in each county, there is a vice chairman located in Oklahoma City, Mrs.
E. Z. Wallower, Miss Gertrude Strahl has charge of Muskogee and Mrs. C.
E. Lahman of Tulsa; Tulsa and Oklahoma City established exchange markets
which were strikingly successful.
Books and magazines were sent to the soldiers in training at Fort Sill
(Lawton) Oklahoma, and in each county the soldiers who have left for training
have been given entertainments, equipment kits and everything that seemed
due them in recognition of their patriotic undertaking.
At the state and county fairs patriotic demonstration day was observed,
with patriotic speaking, etc., and the Council of Defense and the Woman's
Committee worked very harmoniously over the state in perfecting the organization
of defense work.
Oklahoma has done exceptional work along four lines as follows: (a) food
production and conservation; (b) publicity for patriotism; (c) maintaining
school standards; (d) Liberty Loan. The work is financed by the State Council.
Particularly effective was the work of the women of Oklahoma City under
Mrs. Wallower. The establishment of a central market where unsaleable supplies
were sold at a very low figure to people of small means, and aggressive
steps to eliminate commercial waste, were among the early enterprises of
the Oklahoma City women. All of the wholesale and retail stores of the city
were canvassed. Surplus fruit and vegetables which otherwise would be thrown
away, were procured at a time convenient to the grocers, when a committee
of young women, headed by Miss Ethelyn Johnson, called in their automobiles
for the produce and took it to a central place. There the food was sorted
and arranged and sold one evening of the week at a very low price. The growers
were asked to cooperate in this plan which was designed to aid them also.
Farmers who had fruit and vegetables spoiling on the ground, and who were
willing to donate them, were asked to notify the Committee.
In connection with the elimination of commercial waste, a committee made
an investigation of the sale of bread in Oklahoma City. This information
was requested by Dr. Stratton D. Brooks, the federal food administrator
for Oklahoma, who in turn passed it on to Mr. Hoover.
It was ascertained that the prevailing loaf size by weight is supposed
to be a pound, but it varies from 14 to 19 ounces, and that this loaf sells
for 10 cents. A larger loaf varies in weight from 20 to 23 ounces. It is
known as the pound and a quarter loaf and sells for 15 cents retail. There
are no chain stores or department stores selling bread so far as the committee
could ascertain.
The dispatch and thoroughness with which the Oklahoma City women organized
is inspirational. The city committee is organized along the following lines:
finance, economics and food conservation, registration and war relief work.
One of the most interesting and important of its enterprises was the establishment
of an educational department and food facts bureau, to fill a practical
need. To carry on this work, Mrs. Wallower selected officers-an executive
board, consisting of chairmen of various committees. The committee encouraged
the planting of community gardens, the utilization of vacant lots and home
gardens in back yards. It established canning stations throughout the city
to care for vegetables that otherwise might be wasted, and to comply with
President Wilson's call to use what is grown near by and thus to save transportation,
and to have food to donate this coming winter where there is a shortage.
These canning stations are open to the farmer, the amateur or the professional,
who may bring food there to be canned. In the work of food conservation,
the city is divided into neighborhood districts under the leadership of
a committee of chairmen, of which Mrs.
Thomas G. Chambers is the head. These centers are presided over by local
chairmen, who, through a house-to-house canvass, draw in the unorganized
women until each center is thoroughly representative of the locality. These
workers acquaint those not already informed of the world situation, and
particularly the food shortage. They tell the people definite things to
do, and wherever possible, show the uninitiated how to do them. District
meetings are held to which women from the central bureau will go to give
short, interesting talks, and when possible, practical demonstrations are
added. In this capacity, the committee sought the cooperation of the board
of education, in order that the schools with their domestic science equipment
might be available.
The war relief committee was formed through the agency of the woman's
committee. This committee undertook to make a list of the married men who
are in active service, so that any of their families left without support
might receive assistance. Relief is also given visiting soldiers who may
be stranded.
The state officers are: chairman, Mrs. Eugene B. Lawson, Nowata; vice
chairman, Mrs. E. Z. Wallower, Oklahoma City; vice chairman, Miss Gertrude
Strahl, Muskogee; vice chairman, Mrs. C. E. Lahman, Tulsa; secretary, Mrs.
J. A. Burns, Nowata; treasurer, Mrs. Lee Clinton, Tulsa. Information and
Publicity: Miss Edith Johnson, Oklahoma City; Registration: Mrs. Tom Hope,
Ada; Child Welfare: Dr. Leila E. Anderson, Oklahoma City; Liberty Loan:
Mrs. C. N. Ames, Oklahoma City; Home and Foreign Relief: Mrs. G. A. Brown,
Mangum; Finance: Mrs. Lee Clinton, Tulsa; Speakers' Bureau: Mrs. Tom Hope,
Ada.
Pennsylvania. The war work of the women of
Pennsylvania furnishes an exceedingly interesting chapter in the history
of America's war activities. There are a number of large well-organized
defense and war relief organizations in the state, each of which maintains
its individuality and all of which are coordinated under the Pennsylvania
Division of the Council of National Defense. One of the most important of
these is the Committee of Public Safety for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
the function of which is to provide for the safety of the Commonwealth in
time of war. Among other things it is to give aid to all forms of enlistment
for the army and navy; to bring about unified action in behalf of all nonmilitary
and semi-military organizations, and to consider with the utmost care the
state's industrial resources and transportation facilities with respect
to availability and importance to the nation in any crisis of its activities.
The Pennsylvania Division of the Woman's Committee of the Council of
National Defense has harmoniously and enthusiastically come under the plan
of organization suggested by the National Woman's Committee at Washington.
It has stated its particular function and the way in which these functions
will be carried out briefly and clearly and the information in printed form
has been broadly distributed to the women of the state. The chairman of
the Committee is Mrs. J. Willis Martin. The vice chairmen are: Mrs. John
C. Groome, Mrs. Edward S. Lindsey, Miss Ann McCormick, Mrs. John O. Miller,
Mrs. Thomas Robins, and Mrs. Edward P. Stotesbury, Mrs. H. S. Prentiss Nichols
is secretary and Miss Helen Fleisher is treasurer. The Department chairmen
are as follows: Registration: Mrs. Walter King Sharpe, Food Production:
Mrs. Louis Piollet, Food Conservation: Mrs. Charles M. Lea, Women in Industry:
Mrs. Thomas Robins, Child Welfare Mrs. Edwin L. Mattern, Maintenance of
Existing Social Agencies: Mrs. Helen Glenn Tyson, Liberty Loan: Mrs. John
L. Miller, Home and Foreign Relief: Mrs. Reed A. Morgan, Health and Recreation:
Mrs. John Gribbel.
Fifty-four counties in Pennsylvania have perfect working organizations
each county being organized under the same departments as the state. Chester
County is called the Model County of Pennsylvania and the chairman of this
county, Miss Martha G. Thomas, has done an especially valuable work.
The American Red Cross in Pennsylvania is divided into three main classes.
The Administrative Division includes the enrollment of members in all branches
of the service and also includes extension work for the Red Cross, such
as cooperation with other societies and the organization of branches and
auxiliaries. The Department of Military Relief covers the supply service.
The educational work includes first aid for men and women, home care of
the sick, etc. Another branch of this department has to do with military
units, including base hospitals, motor ambulances, training and sanitation,
etc. The Department of Civilian Relief is organized to provide for the dependent
families of enlisted men in all branches of the military service of the
country. There is also a Committee on Town and Country Nursing. In the work
of all these departments the women have, of course, had a very large share.
The National League for Woman's Service is strongly organized in Pennsylvania.
The chairman is Mrs. Edgar W. Baird, Mrs. James Starr, Jr., is vice chairman,
Mrs. William Gray Warden, secretary, and Mrs. Henry S. Jeanes, treasurer.
Mrs. Thomas Robins is state chairman for Industry. The activities of the
League are the same as those of the Leagues throughout the country.
Another organization doing extensive war work is the Pennsylvania Railroad
Women's Division for War Relief, of which Mrs. George Dallas Dixon is chairman,
Mrs. William Wallace Atterbury, vice chairman, Mrs. Lewis Neilson, secretary,
and Mrs. O. J. DeRousse, treasurer. The functions of the organization are
to organize the women of families of Pennsylvania Railroad employees, and
others for preparedness in the event of war; to be ready to work effectively
for the relief of suffering and to be ready, in so far as possible, to facilitate
the solution of the labor problems of such a crisis by being trained to
take the places of men employees who have been and may be called to the
service of their country. This work is being accomplished through eight
cooperating departments with a director for each. There are approximately
3,000 members. The work follows the lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad,
with units in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, and in the
cities of Washington and New York.
The Philadelphia section of the Navy League of the United States has
done a great deal of valuable work. The honorary chairman is Mrs. Alexander
Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Moncure Robinson is chairman, Mrs. Horatio Gates Lloyd,
treasurer.
The Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania, one of the most effective of the war
societies in America, has headquarters in Philadelphia and branches in various
parts of the state. It acts as a clearing house in Pennsylvania for relief
work at home and abroad, and was officially appointed by Governor Martin
G. Brumbaugh as agency to receive communications and supplies of all kinds
for the soldiers of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania has active representatives and working committees connected
with numerous relief organizations. Among these are the Allied Arts Committee,
Mrs. Edward K. Rowland, chairman; The American Ambulance Committee, Mrs.
George Wharton Pepper, chairman; The Armenian Committee, Mrs. George R.
Lorimer, chairman; the Belgian Relief Committee, Mrs. Bayard Henry, chairman;
The British Committee, Mrs. E. Burd Brubb, chairman; The British-American
Committee, Mrs. Robert E. Strawbridge, chairman; The Food Economy Committee,
Mrs. Charles M. Lea, chairman; The French War Relief Committee, Mrs. Cornelius
Stevenson, chairman; The Food for France Fund, Mrs. Rodman E. Griscom, chairman;
Home Relief Division, Mrs. John C. Groome, chairman; Italian Committee,
Mrs. Benjamin Miller, chairman; Montenegrin Committee, Mrs. John C. Groome,
chairman; Motor Messenger Service, Mrs. Thomas L. Elwyn, chairman; Overseas
Committee, Mrs. Edward K. Rowland, chairman; Polish Relief Committee, Mrs.
Robert von Moschzisker, chairman; Russian Committee, Mrs. William Ellis
Scull, chairman; Serbian Committee, Miss Nina Lea, chairman; Surgical Dressings
Committee, Mrs. Rodman E. Griscom, chairman.
Chester County, Pennsylvania, has been called the model county of America
so far as organization is concerned. The leaders in Chester County modestly
disclaim this title but the story is worth telling, and if other counties
in America have claim to this honor it will probably inspire them to come
forth and announce it. The story of the organization of Chester County is
best told by Miss Emily T. Hoopes, secretary:
It happened that an organization known as the Community Movement had
developed here, the plan of which was very similar to the Woman's Committee
of the Council of National Defense, so that last May when the State Division
organized we were ready to proceed at once under their direction.
The history of this Community Movement is interesting. We have here
at West Chester a County Fair annually in the late summer at which there
has always been a Day Nursery for the babies whose mothers could not come
to the Fair without them. In 1916 owing to the epidemic of Infantile Paralysis,
this tent was not needed for this purpose. Two or three of the progressive
women of the Community evolved the idea of using the tent for an exhibition
of the work of the women of Chester County. They therefore built booths
and asked every woman's organization to make exhibits of posters or any
visual demonstration of their work. A large number responded. Side by side
the Peace and Preparedness, the Suffragists and Anti-Suffragists showed
their activities. The women themselves were amazed to find all that was
going on in the County.
As a result they decided to have a series of "Get Together"
luncheons at which speakers from outside addressed from two hundred to
two hundred and fifty women, gathered from all over the County, on subjects
on which they could unite.
Great enthusiasm developed, the outcome of which was a Child Welfare
Week at the New Century Club House, West Chester. In the basement there
were again exhibits by thirty different organizations interested in welfare
work of different sorts. In the afternoons was held a series of meetings
addressed by speakers of national standing from the Russell Sage Foundation,
from the Children's Bureau at Washington, and in fact from any organization
which was doing the best work for the care of children.
Again a further step was taken and it was decided to keep a rather loose
organization with a permanent secretary and a chairman chosen at each meeting.
The residents of County Organizations of women forming the Council to be
known as the Community Movement. So many lines of work opened up that a
Field Secretary was employed for two months. We were in this state the
first of June, and because we so nearly approximated the Woman's Committee
of the Council of National Defense we dissolved the Community Movement
and reorganized under the Woman's Committee.
We are in the process of organizing the fifty-seven townships and thirteen
boroughs and one city into Units of this Committee. So far we have nine
boroughs, twenty-two townships and one city organized. We are rapidly completing
the organization and by the time winter sets in expect to have even the
remote townships organized.
The work multiplied so it was found necessary to take offices, to employ
a secretary and a stenographer. Several of the Departments already have
constructive programs in partial operation. The Food Conservation Department
was very active during the summer and we are now emphasizing the work of
Registration and Liberty Loan. We try to keep flexible yet active and the
fact that the Public Safety Committee of Chester County turned over to
us the Campaign of the Hoover Food Cards, and asked our cooperation when
the Food Conservation Train came to West
Chester that the County Superintendent of Schools has appealed to us
to help solve the serious problem of the decreased attendance of the rural
schools owing to the demand for the boys and girls on the farm, makes us
feel that heavy responsibilities rest upon us.
The project is financed privately as there is no provision for the Woman's
Committee. The effort is to secure contributions of a moderate size from
a number of people scattered throughout the County for the first year.
After that time some plan for regular income will be made if we prove,
as we believe, that we are needed in times of peace as well as in times
of War.
Oregon. Presidents of all women's organizations
in the state constitute the executive board of Oregon's Woman's Committee
of the Council of National Defense. The organization is on a good working
basis and there has been a hearty response to every appeal the committee
has sent out.
Within a short time after war was declared The Oregon Federation of Women's
Clubs, Mrs. Charles H. Castner, president, sent out letters to the clubs
of the state and received responses from over 140 clubs. This letter was
in the interest of food conservation. This work of the Oregon women presented
an interesting phase of war work. The State Agricultural College made a
complete census of the labor requirements of the farmers of the state, and
enlisted all school boys not of military age, or not possessing military
qualifications, in a working reserve, known as the United States Boys' Working
Reserve. The plan was to place these boys on farms as they are required,
and as conditions warrant. The State Federation was assigned an important
part in the work, in that it was asked to check up on housing, living and
general conditions existing on farms where these boys are to be placed.
This is to give to their parents the assurance that they will be well cared
for. The work was a very important one and the Oregon women did it with
pronounced success. A committee was named in each county. A number of reliable
and efficient women were appointed by the president of each club at the
request of the state president, and these women placed themselves at the
disposal of the county agriculturist. The Federation pledged itself, when
war was declared, to do any service within its power and the pledge was
conscientiously kept.
When the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense was organized
in Oregon, Mrs. Charles H. Castner was made chairman and she immediately
sent out a stirring appeal to the women in her state in the interest of
registration, Hoover pledges, and other lines of work suggested by the Woman's
Committee at Washington. The Committee received financial assistance from
the State Council of Defense. The Women' Christian Temperance Union of Oregon
has done especially effective war work.
The officers are: chairman, Mrs. Charles H. Castner, Hood River; 1st
vice chairman, Mrs. Jennie M. Kemp, Portland; secretary, Mrs. C. F. Fisher,
Portland; treasurer, Miss Julia Cogswill, Portland; vice chairmen, presidents
of all women's organizations of the state.
Rhode Island. The women of Rhode Island distinguished themselves
and rendered valuable patriotic service in the taking of a military census
of the state. The National League for Woman's Service was organized early
in April, 1917, with Mrs. Rush Sturges as chairman. On April 22 this organization
received a letter from Colonel Webb, who had been appointed by the Governor
of Rhode Island to direct a military census which the Legislature had by
vote decided to take. This census was planned to include all men sixteen
years old or over and it was thought such a census would be of value in
checking up conscription figures. In his letter to the League Colonel Webb
asked the women to assist in taking this census and stated that 2,500 census
takers would be needed. The women were quite willing to accede to his request
but they asked that women also be included in the military census. The work
proceeded on this basis, the state authorities paying all expenses, printing
blanks, etc., and the women organizing and taking the census. The state
was divided into districts, 200 enumerators being allowed to each section.
The women in charge of the census selected the best organized women's organizations
in the state and asked their active cooperation, which was cheerfully given.
These organizations were the Congress of Mothers, the Federation of Clubs
and the Suffrage League. These organizations in turn selected from among
their own leaders women whom they knew to be efficient and capable and by
this means the very best women of the state were in charge of the work.
The census was taken on June 11, 1917.
The appointment of the Woman's Committee in Washington and its subsequent
organization by states came when the women of Rhode Island were in the midst
of preparations for the census. They wisely concluded not to interrupt the
organization under which this work was being done so effectively until the
completion of the task in hand. Later, however, the National League for
Woman's Service, of which Mrs. Rush Sturges was chairman, voted to coordinate
its work under the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense,
Mrs. Sturges having been made chairman of the Rhode Island Woman's Committee.
The state is well organized under the Woman's Committee and a great deal
has been accomplished in food conservation and other war programs outlined
at Washington. Mrs. William M. Congdon, of Providence, is secretary of the
organization. She was formerly president of the Federated Clubs of the state
and has brought experience and sound judgment to the newer organization.
The vice chairman is Mrs. Horace G. Bissell, the 2nd vice chairman, Mrs.
E. S. Moulton, and the treasurer, Mrs. Clara E. Craig.
As evidence of how the men at the head of important affairs connected
with war work depend on the assistance of women, the letter from Colonel
Webb, referred to above, is interesting. This letter was received by Mrs.
Hollister, Secretary of the National League for Woman's Service for Rhode
Island, on April 24, 1917, from Colonel George H. Webb, Directory of the
Military Census which had been ordered by the Governor. In the course of
this letter Col. Webb says:
The patriotic cooperation of the women of Rhode Island is asked at this
time, and we believe that it will be as freely given as it will be frankly
sought.
We need 2,500 enumerators in the various cities and towns of the state,
one for approximately each 100 males 16 years of age and over, to make
a house-to-house canvass that the work may be promptly and efficiently
done.
If the women of Rhode Island are willing to undertake the enrollment
of this force of volunteer enumerators the Governor of the State and the
Director of the Census would appreciate it more than words can express.
It would be a real help, as well as a big demonstration of patriotic
willingness on the part of the women of Rhode Island to serve their country
and their state at a time when they are needed, if they would undertake
this important task. We would establish headquarters for you here at the
State house and furnish you with such clerical assistance s you might need
to accomplish the desired end.
Chapter XXVII. South Carolina
and Other States
Table of Contents