The Washington herald., 1915-10-03

true that Is nobody can really tell, az. Of
course, they would have to enlist under
false representations. The province of
Manitoba has sent 1900 men to the front.
but the city Of Toronto holds the palm
for patriotism. 1t has contributed 1s.0A
soldiers to the cause from the city alone
and the scarcity OF young men on the
streets is now very noticeable
The pay OF the private soldier is $1.10
day and his clothes and rations. II.
however. he happens to be married. his
wife is pretty well taken care Of Sne
can draw his s3i a month. If she elects.
as he is not supposed to need any money
In the trenches: also the government al
lows her an alienation stipend of so
month while her husband Is In tho
army. In addition to that, there Is tho
patriotic fund from which the soldiers
wife draws SO a month at least and
larger sum il there are any children.
This fund has nothing to do with the
government or taxes and is raised and
maintained by voluntary contributions
from the citizens Of Canada They 60
down in their pockets handsomely to
keep it up. Commissioner Charles T.
Roland. OF Winnipeg. who has charge
Of the fund there, told me that saw
eral citizens Of that city We're contribut-
ing as high as $1,000 a month to its
body who was not helping to some ex-
tent
I'm this city. alone" said he. I'VE have
about 5000 families. totaling some 1900
people. whom We are supporting dur
ing the war. In the past year. we have
raised more than a million dollars right
here and We have now in the treasury
a reserve of about a quarter Of a mil
lion. OF course We are imposed upon
sometimes" continues the commissioner.
AS. for instance, when we came IN
here We were talking in the grill room
Of the splendid Alexandra HoteD you
may have noticed that I looked hard
at fashiona bly, dressed young woman
accompanied by a man that We passed
at the door. Well. I paid that young
woman's fare back to her relatives in
England two weeks ago. Her husband
has gone to the war. Some time this
afternoon that young woman will have
to be in my office and do some explain
ing. Her clothes look too good"
While I did not hear one word Of adj
verse comment in all Canada on the
way the fund is administered or any
suggestions of graft. I did hear a good
deal Of complaint on the way 1t is some
times taken advantage of. A soldiers
wife draws his $34 a month. so a month
alienation pay and so a month from tho
fund. a total of ss4 month. Then. If
the husband happened to have been
working for one of the railroads or one
of the other big corporations, his pay
is also kept up while he Is in the army.
Say he earned $50 a month there. 1t
would make his wife's income while tie
was a soldier ss4 monthly, more than
she ever dreamed of getting.
In a number Of cases young men mar
ried servant girls. shop girls or factory
hands just before enlisting, and as soon
as the pay began to come In the new
wife promptly quit her job and started
in on life of idleness- Why work when
she did not have to and was getting three
times as much pay as she had ever hoped
to have?
My two servant girls left me in the
lurch.'' said one lady in commenting on
this state of affairs, and find they are
devoting most of their time now to Civ
ing parties They were both war brides.
What's more. it is almost impossible for
me to get other girls
Winnipeg is almost at the geographical
center Of North America. It's the civic
center peg. and it's very proud of that
fact. To the Winnipegian mind it indi-
Gates that some time in the future it will
be the hub around which the commerce
Of the continent will revolve. There is
every opportunity there to build a big
city-land in all directions and a lake
near by that is nothing less than young
ocean, with another that would rank
high In the big-lake class and water
power enough to supply power for three
cities the size Of New York and Chicago
combined
A locomotive engine Is a conspicuous
design on the Winnipeg coat-of-arms. 1t
means something. too. for there are
twenty-seven railroads running out of
The city. including three transcontinental
trunk lines, and the Canadian Pacific
mas there the largest railroad yards in
tho world. This all sounds very promis-
ng. a. forty years ago Winnipeg was
nothing but Fort Garry. a Hudson Bay
trading post. Just now however, Winni-