Search America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory to find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities external link and the Library of Congress. Learn more
Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN
Newspaper Page Text
.arr.-W i.p. V^ F6 1 -r. VOLUME 5. WEEK MARCH IOT5tol7i5 JOIN A W AR SAVINGS SOCIETY BUY WAR SAVING STAMPS DECLARE FOR THR1PT -T ACTIVITIES OF THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT WAR WORK ASSOCIATION Under the daily, personal direction of Mrs. Franklin K. Lane, wife of the Secretary of the Interior, nearly half a thousand women of the Interior Department are using every spare minute sewing, knitting and packings things which will comfort and cheer sick and wounded American sol diers in France. When the office day ends they hurry from all parts of official Washington to the j*ooms in Sec retary Lane's big building where the Interior De partment War Work Association is in continuous session, to turn in finished work and get material for more sweaters, sheets, towels, pajamas, stock ings, slippers and the other articles which are packed in big shipping cases, one which has gone to Neuillv.-Frati.cej,. every ten days. And, here after, theAss6ci^Sn ^wWship a box every weel The Interior Department War Work Association is an auxiliary of the American Red Cross. It had its beginning, almost immediately after war with Germany was declared, when the Home Club, which is a social organization of the department with nearly a thousand members, began planning for relief work. For a time the association met in the Home Club Building, on Jackson Place and in the early days of the movement its output was distributed through the American-French Clear ing House. When its activities outgrew the quar ters in the Home Club fhe work rooms were moved to the Interior Building. I Here, Mrs. Lane, surrounded by the wives and daughters of her husband's assistants, commission- iers,- directors and chiefs, manages an organized patriotism which ramifies into the-far north where the Alaskan Engineering Commission is pushing a railroad to reach precious coal deposits into isol ated reservations where the people of the Indian -Service are into the arid plains where the men of the Geological Survey are working into the depths of coal shafts where the Bureau of Mines' experts father into prairie towns where the men of the General Land Office work into the green clad ir rigation areas where the engineers of the Recla1 mation Service are constructing canals and ditches into the mountains and canons and great forests of the big trees where the rangers and fire fighters the National Park Service climb the trails, and to the desks and offices of the Bureau of Education, the Pension Bureau, the Patent Office and all the other branches and divisions of the Interior De partment. For the men of the service are back of the women with their money. Thousands of dollars have been _j2ledgM-aM_aJA_aiiL-Jl cause has been so practical in its nature that though the work is only just beyond the stage of initial organization, Mrs. Lane has enough funds in hand to endow nineteen beds in the Interior De partment Ward of the Washington Hospital in Neuilly. Every bed calls for a deposit of $600, and $200 a year outfits it with all needed garments and linen. To tfaise funds for beds and to insure their maintenance, the officers and employees of 0EFE Cf I'VE PAGE y.tL1.l....Wl.lll*l nv..-i.r.',i,. ..',%7I^T? Save Money and Yo Save Lives the department were asked to pledge subscriptions of ten or twenty-five cents each to be paid every month so long as the need fo a hospital exists. The first letter calling for pledges went out in the latter part of last July and the responses were so quick, so spontaneous, that within a short time Mrs. Lane had the assurance that the Interior De partment ward would be fully equipped and ade quately maintained. 1 The far flung endeavors of the Association started a "drive" for hospital beds by the Alaskan Engineering Commission in September and which, before the last of the following month, resulted in cash subscriptions aggregating $7,510.86. In the Neuilly Hospital there will be a ward, over the door of which will be a brass tablet bearing the legend "Department of the Interior" and three of the beds will be marked "Department of the In terior, Anchorage, Alaska," and two so marked for Nenana and one each for Seward, Turnagain Arm, Matannuska, Talkeetna, and three for Fairbanks. Some of the subscriptions were niade by laborers who could not write their names. Other beds will foe marked to designate the bureau or Interior De partment branch which "paid for" the bed. The Makah Indians of the Neah Bay Reserva tion on the Pacific Coast, in Washington, sent Mrs. Lane 50 little baskets as their contribution to Red Cross work. About that time the Association was considering the advisability of having a general sale of articles such as embroidery and other fancy work to be contributed by women in Washington, but when the Makah Indian baskets came they gave rise to the idea of having a sale of Indian "jeacT^wofk', ^as^ets,^ilv^ So the Indians of the country were notified of the plan and were requested to send in what they could. The result was a sale of Indian goods at the tHome Club out of which $1,400 was cleared and 'the committee decided to use that money for sur gical dressings. The women of the Interior Department in Wash ington gave a Thanksgiving dinner to 100 soldier boys and, after the dinner, a dance and reception at the Home Club. The expenses were paid from funds secured from volunteer contributions of In terior Department employees in Washington and, after all expenses had been paid, there remained $100 which was turned over to the War Work Association. There is nothing of the emotional about the work of the Association. Its activities are char acterized by businesslike methods which give its rooms the appearance, almost, of a commercial es tablishment, for its organization has been effected along strictly practical lines. The results of the first four months of effort appear in the reports made by Mrs. Lane which show that in Septem ber, October, November and December there were made, packed and shipping the following hospital garments and articles: 348 sheets, 552 pillow cases, 132 face and 132 bath towels, 302 suits of pajamas, 114 suits of underwear, 108 day shirts, 56 hospital shirts, 11 bath robes and 2 pairs of slippers. There also were knitted and shipped 216 pairs of woolen socks, 124 sweaters, 92 helmets, 49 scarfs or mufflers and 15 pairs of wristlets. Besides the garments and other articles there have gone across a large quantity of absorbent cotton, a thousand yards of uncut gauze, 100 rolls _of thrfrp-inoh bandages anjd-^JjL-Ku^^Jj^b-Jaan^- dages. Gift .bundles for convalescents leaving the hospital are made up by the Interior women in which are shaving soap and brushes, tooth brushes and powder, wash cloths, combs and brushes and the like and the women of the Pension Bureau clip entertaining stories, jokes, illustrations and other matter from newspapers and magazines and paste them in scrap books to help the sick and wounded boys pass the time away. Of these scrap books over a thousand have "gone across" and the proba- RED LAKE, MINNESOTA, MARCH 1, 1918. NUMBER 17 TNty|qpr A-I^PHW Wf^^riijp^j.jiti Mw!i.l, juj, .jO^ Total 48 48 48 48 96 32 48 48 48 8 30 350 113 226 113 58 61 15 144 48 2 117 109 109 117 2600 200 99 800 400 500 330 12 bility is there will be made up and sent over sev eral thousand more. Puzzles, toilet soap and handkerchiefs find their way into the big boxes and every day develops new "first aids" to com fort and cheer the soldiers who will be Jfortunate enough to be sent to the Interior Department Ward. For instance, hot water bottles now are included among the "comfort tilings" that go to Neuilly. The latest count shows that 937 Interior De partment men are in the army and navy and nat urally the Interior Department women have first thoughts for them so, in addition to what is be ing done for the Neuilly Hospital, over 200 men. in the army and navy from the interior Depart ent have been outfitted. During November and December, 163 pairs of socks, 124 sweaters, 29 helmets, 55 scarfs and 106 pairs of wristers were knitted for Interior Department men in the service. Amount of Goods of All Kinds Sent Out January, 1918. HOSPITAL SUPPLIES Sheets. Pillow Cases. Face Towels. Bath Towels. Suits Pajamas Hospital Shirts. Under Shirts Under Drawers. Day Shirts. Bath Robes firs Hot Water Bottles (Metal). Cakes Ivory Soap. Hospital Books. KNITTED GOODS, ETC. Sweaters. Pairs Socks. Pairs Wristlets. Scarfs. Helmets. Ear Muffs. Handkerchiefs. Wash Cloths. Pairs Arctic Socka. Tooth Brushes. Tooth Paste. Toil Soap. Shaving Soap. SURGICAL DRESSINGS Yards uncut Gauze. Yards uncut Muslin. Lbs. Absorbent Cotton. 2-inch Bandages. 3-inch Bandages. 4x4 Compresses. Dressings. Gross Safety Pins (different sizes). Old Linen. MRS. FRANKLIN K. LANE, Chairman. Interior Department War Work Assn. ,JEAN STEWART TALLMAN, Secretary. AGENCY ITEMS Mrs. Harry Moore is improving after being on the sick list the past few weeks. Solomon Desjairlait has about finished his wood deliveries for the winter. John Hanson has been working in the (Join* ernment logging camp at Ponemah. Louis King and Jim Mann with "Jack of Clubs" as swamper, made a saw crew at Camp 4 this win-* ter. This camp employed practically all Indians, there being eight Indian saw crews, tout, no swamp-' er like Jack. rT^ &!MWfc Hist. Sfrj\ !AR 20 291! \*v ::& .4: s\ in I r.'f1i_-