Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-04-16

urday afternoon TO get the various re-
lief committees united.
The meeting was called to order by
Rev. F. L. Phalen, who introduced Rev.
r. w. Plant of Gardiner in asfew well
chosen words. Mr.. Plant then stepped
forward and was greeted with ap-
plause, speaking as follows:
Ladies' and G~entlemen-I just want
! to make my position perfectly clear to
you here in regard to the committee of
Public Safety for the State of Maine.
I want to give you the exact pedigree
or g~enealogy of the work that is be-
ing undertaken at this time SO that
I there will be no mistake in our minds
in regard to what you, are called upon
this afternoon to take action upon.
One of the unfortunate things about
this committee work is that the names
are SO long. You. will all recall the fact
that a short time ago the Governor Of
Maine appointed what is, known as
the Committee of One Hundred for
Public Safety. The chairman of that
committee for Kennebec %county,is SEN
ator Johnson Of Waterville. That
committee appointed an executive COM
mittee of which Mr.. Sewall of Bath is
chairman and Mr.. Bunker Of Bar Har-
Dor is secretary. The executive COM
mittee appointed eight state commit
tees and m of these eight State COM
mittces Is the committee on h co-or-
dination of aid societies. The State
chairman Of this committee is Dean
Stills of Bowdoin college. They appoint
ed me chairman for Kennebec county.
1t is in connection with this commit
too chat r ha 0ya tho priui1nrvC pna n1o1S-
ure Of speaking to o this afternoon.
Coming up here this afternoon I was
asked how long I was going to talk. I
said l can talk five minutes and tell
YOU all I have to say, or I car talk an
hour and tell you the same thing over
and over again. You understand this
is ir connection with the committee for
Kennebec county.
you know We are in a state Of war.
It is very hard to realize it. I do not
want to branch off along the lines of
sentiment or anything Of the kind. I
am going to keep hard to facts. 1t has
been.a serious matter and ] hope we
will all appreciate the situation here
in the State of Maine. One Of the diff
ficulties we have to face inside this
country is the difficulty Of allowing orr
. selves to lose track of the seriousness
of The situation through enthusiasm
Eand along similar. lines that appeal to
us. 49,.
w want to organize. We want to
have everything so organized that we
will get the best results if we are
called upon to aid our country in fac
ing the serious situation into which
the state of war places us. Throughout
the country are a thousand and one
aid societies. but we will think only of
kennebec county and the State of
Maine. We have in all the larger places
and in some of the smaller ones a
great variety of aid societies. If 1t
comes to pass that this country is ac-
lively engaged in war, we will need
every kind of help and energy that we
can possibly bring to bear to meet
the exigencies of the case. What do
we need? We need order. We need
system. We need cooperation. This is
a case where we should all work along
the lines of mass movements.
Yesterday afternoon in addressing
a meeting inWinthrop l had before me
a list of II different aid societies. If
the government were in need of help
II should have to look AROUND and
discover how best to get help from
each one of these aid societies in Win
ihrop, you can see what a waste Of
time and energy would follow. The
principal work Of this committee is to
bring; all these societies together in
such a way as to coordinate them,
make them into one committee which
would represent them all. Then If the
government should need the aid of
these aid societies, the chairman of
each county will be appealed to and
he will kno directly where to find
this, that n the other kind Of work
to be done and in that way there will
be before the authorities in the State
of Maine a clear and definite list of
individuals that will bring together
every kind of assistance that the gov
eminent will need and the government
will know where to look for it and
now to reach it and all the rest of it
VII, ,ut the loss of a minute.
"In co~-ordinating aid societies, this
committee does not seek in any way
to invalidate or ignore the work. the
| position or the personnel of any indi-
| vidual society with which we have to
deal. So + hope we will look upon this
1 ioSSiiOh WIN SOliodllty VI lSCllAS III
work in mass movements. The thing
that has been suggested and has been
tried out elsewhere is this-that the
chairman of this committee, when one
is appointed, shall be the chairman of
the Red Cross Society because the
led Cross Society Is the one national
society that we have in America. the
President! of the United States being
u president of that society and nat
urally the Red Cross Society knows
just what the government wants and
needs and just how the government
wants 1t, and consequently II there
! came a demand for 1000 garments In
ease of trouble, the work coming to
this committee would be managed d.
rectly by the chairman of that COM
mittee. who being a member Of the
Red Cross would know how these
! things are to be made. That Of course
is only a suggestion. You can make
your own committee as o please. I
| just want to tell you how it is being
done elsewhere. 1t is a concentration
and cooperation OF the work OF the
different organizations under one or
k~*nization so that the organizations
| can be reached without delay.
We do not want to waste energy
| and the Red Cross knows what we need