Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-08-16

, with which they can associate them
selves which can respond so effectively
and universally to allay suffering and
relieve distress. Woodrow Wilson.
Introductory Statement
Nearly three quarters of million
men are now enlisted in the various
branches of the military and naval
service of the United States. Before
autumn is well advanced. this number
will have been increased to approx
mately one million and half. Des-
pite the care which is being exercised
to select men without dependents, and
despite any contemplated provision by
the government for the granting of
separation allowances and for securing
the assignment of pay, there will be
many homes-there are. indeed, now
many homes-in which, except for
prompt, sympathetic, and capable
help, there would be suffering during
the absence of men at the front or on
the high seas.
Families which ordinarily would be
hard put to it by an attack of sickness,
the sudden need for an operation, the
loss of a job. the advent of either
death or birth, now, without the judy
| household. are unable to cope with the
difficulties besetting them. During
| the stress of war, with it's rising cost
of food, its industrial changes, its I'M
certainties in living conditions, the
home Is Handicapped by the with
drawal Of the very person upon whom
at such time it would depend most
/ for aid in solving its problems.
Usually the man of the household
has been accustomed to transact all of
the more important business of the
home. He it Is who knows what to do
when the mortgage natures, when the
insurance policy expires when it be-
comes necessary to move into another
neighborhood, or when the oldest boy
| is graduated from school and needs to
be started in the right sort of job.
Without his advice the bewildered
! family makes mistakes, and the home
Is faced with danger or disaster. The
| mother who, perhps, has been accus-
tc an allowance for housekeeping ex-
| penses, now has the responsibility for
administering the whole budget. She
assumes this responsibility when the
| best manager finds 1t difficult to clear
the month without a deficit. 1t is not
surprising, therefore, that frequently
an inexperienced wife finds herself in
VOWED in financial maze from which,
unaided, she cannot extricate herself,
Nor are her problems made easier by
the fact that now she alone has charge
or the discipline and the training of
the children. Similarly, many an old
| couple who, when the son went to war.
were supporting, become worried
! ana confused in his absence and are
no longer able to maintain themselves.
What Is Home Service?
| Home Service is the work of holping
such families to solve the problems
confronting them. and of aiding them
to adapt themselves to the exigencies
of war times. Later when the soldiers
and sailors begin to come back from
the front, there will be the additional
service of fitting disabled men for
their old occupations or for new ones.
! Home Service applies to the families
of men in all branches of the service.
to the regular army as we'll as to the
national guard and the national army.
TO sailors, marines. men of the aviation
corps, engineers, and to the families of
! men and women attached to hospital
units as nurses, doctors, orderlies, am
bulance drivers. 1t will also have to
&c with the families of soldiers of any
/ of the allied forces living in this coun-
try. and with the families Of civilians
no have been wounded or killed as
the direct result of war activities as,
for example, through the torpedong of
a merchantmen by submarine.
| This work should be undertaken nv
the Red Cross Chapters through Home
| Service Sections of their Civilian Re-
lief Committees. Here should be con-
centrated all activities that have to do
with families of soldiers and sailors as
contrasted with military relief. i. e..
the efforts directed by the Chapters
toward the furnishing of hospital sup