Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-05-18
Secret Orders.
Contributed BY . Friend.
The woman,s Relief Corns

The Woman's Relief Corps.
Belden Relief Corps, No. 23O, Depart
ment of Iowa, was organized in this
city on March 9Th, 1891, there being 40
charter members from among our best
women. About sixty have been adj
ded, but death and removals from the
city have alike served to decrease the
membership to sixty -four at the pres
emit time.
The Woman's Relief. Corps was or.
gained in Denver, Col, in 1883, and is
the only officially recognized auxiliary
of the Grand Army Of the Republic.
Corps exist in nearly every state and
territory in the Union, the total men,
bership being about 10000.
The objects of the Order are to as
sist the Grand Army and to perpetuate
the memory of the dead soldiers; to
aid the needy veterans and his Deepen
dants; and the army nurses; to main
tain allegiance to our country and in
culcate patriotism and love of country
among our children and in our comu
mites and to encourage the spread of
universal liberty and equal rights for
all.
The relief furnished by this order in
the country during the fifteen years
following its organization amounted
to over million and.a half dollars
The National w. r.. q. gave nearly
$4,000 for relief in the late Spanish.
American war, and the order in Iowa
alone, gave over $1,000 for the same
purpose. These amounts do not in
clude private gifts nor the aid furnish
ed by Corps women through the SAM
tary Commission and other agencies.
Belden Corps has tried to do its full
duty in giving help to needy soldiers
and their dependents. 1t has paid for
medical and hospital attendance, for
medicines, for nursing, for clothing
and food and .fuel, for necessaries, trav-
cling expenses, for burial of the dead.
The cash expended in this city ants
to over $500, and many smslls sums
have been sent out for aid to the needy
in other places. This corps furnished
$50 in cash and all necessary carpets,
bedding and the like to furnish one of
the cottages at the Soldiers Home, at
Marshalltown. Probably the whole
cash expenditure exceeds $500. The
relief other than money will exceed
$1,000. Scores of sorrowful hearts have
been comforted and scores of burdens
have been lightened by the women Of
Belden Corps.
Any loyal woman Of good moral
character is eligible to membership in
the order; relationship to q soldier is
NOT requisite as many think. Many
brilliant women throughout the coun-
try are members. Quite recently, one
of the Chicago corps received into
membership, Miss Susan B. Anthony,
and Rev. Anna Howard Shaw.
The Woman's Relief Corps is not an
order whose regular meetings are de-
voted to fun or social entertainment.
It takes work and earnest thought to
devise means to feed the hungry, cloth
the ragged and comfort the sorrowing.
The motto of the Order is Fraternity,
Charity. and Loyalty;" the fraternity
that recognizes the universal brother.
hood of all humanity without respect
to caste, or sect, or social condition:
the charity that gives loving help to
every needy soldier brother; the loyalty
that makes these women true to each
other, to their country and its starry
flag, to the brave defenders of that
flag and to God. the great Master of all.