Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-09

will soon join the surgical dressings
branch.
These workers have a distinctive
uniform given them on the same basis
as that which applies to the adui'
members of the auxiliary.
Department of Agriculture War Re
lief
Ofhcial headquarters of the War Re
lief Association of the Department of
Agriculture. of which Mrs David r.
Houston is president. Will open tornor-
row. December 10, at 2 o'clock. the TWO
rooms provided for this use are located
in the east wing of the department, the
one for the distribution OF wool and
sewing materials on the third moor. at
the south end of the building, and the
one for surgical dressings on the sec
ond floor, at the west end of the build
ing Already 600 women. including those
employed in the department and the
wives of the men of the department.
have registered for work with the asso-
citation OF this number. many of whom
have registered for several kinds OF
work So have offered their services for
Knitting alT for surgical dressings. 1873
for garment making. 100 for making
scra phooks and supplying reading mat
Ter for the camns. % for clerical work
and As for entertainment of soldiers.
Tomorrow afternoon. from TO ;. 100
garments purchased from the Red
Cross and cut and ready for making
will he distributed to those women who
have registered for this work and who
apply at the HEADQUARTERS. Mrs carr
Troonan chairman. and Miss Mary e.
Lacy, vice chairman. Of the garments
committee. will take charge of the dis
trihution then and each succeeding art
ernoon at the hours designated. when
materials will be given out and nm
ished garments received. The gar
unents for distribution tomorrow in
elude sheets. pillowcases. bed shirts
and pajamas Later It Is hoped 10 pro
vide garments for the destitute chill
iren OF the allied nations, who have
been gathered into institutions and
cared for by the Red Cross or other
agencies
The surgical dressings committee
Mrs Charles ]. Brand. chairman. and
Miss Florence Hedges. vice chairman
announces that the room designated for
their use has passed inspection by the
Red Cross and will be open for regu-
lar work at 4:So on Monday and daily
thereafter at the same hour. For the
wives of department men who wish to
make surgical dressings the room Will
he open on Wednesday afternoons from
to 40 o'clock. Later the headquar
ters will be open for their accommo-
dation at the same hours every day.
The period from $50 until s o'clock
each dav Will be reserved for en-
ployes of the department whose official
duties make it impossible for them to
do this work earlier in the day. Classes
Ior instruction IN the making of SurCi-
cal dressings will not be organized un-
til after the holidays. inasmuch as all
energy at present must go toward the
making of congresses to I'LL an emer-
gency order for the Red Cross
II has been 4 great satisfaction TO the
knitting committee TO have been able
within the last few days TO comply i'm
mediately with the requests OF several of
tary service or just entering A systematic
effort is row on foot to locate all the men
from the department who are in the
army. to discover their needs and TO M
them if possible. Heretofore the ma jority
or the knitted things turned out by the
department women have been sent through
the forest service 10 the 9th and 20th
Engineers forest }. and from words of
appreciation. both from the recipients of
the articles and from the officers of the
regiments. the women feel that their work
has certainly not been in vain. Mrs
Henry S Graves. whose husband is the
chief forester and at present lieutenant
colonel in the 10th Engineers is the chair
man of the knitting committee Miss
Eunice r. Oberly is the vice chairman for
the department at large and Mrs Lillian
T. Conway vice chairman for the forest
service Because OF their peculiar interest
IN the Forest Engineers, the women of
the forest service have previously con-
Quoted their knitting work independently
of the rest of the department. until re
Gently furnishing their own funds
Information recently received en-
phasiZes the fact that there is no pos
sibility of an oversupply of knitted gar
ments Letters from officers in the 10th
Engineers indicate that the needs of
the men in France vary according to
their work. their geogra phical loca ton
and varying weather conditions but it
is evident that wherever the men are
located. and whatever their work
sweaters and socks are never amiss OF
46I sweaters recently requested for
three and half out of six companies
Of the 10th Engineers, now in France
hos IL
The needs of the goth Engineers in
camp at American University and soon
to leave for France. are. however. much
greater. To equip these men, request
has been made for 100 sweaters, 200
comfort kits, 200 wristlets and 200
muffiers- There have been supplied only
500 sweaters, of which 6sI came from
the general stores of the Red Cross.
to equip 1900 new men each month as
successive battalions of the Goth Engi-
neers are organized.
IL is obvious that the demands on the
Red Cross for knitted garments are at
present far greater than the supply
Therefore. the War Relief Associatio of
the Department of Agriculture feels that
II is doubly its duty as well as its pleas
ure 10 increase its knitting sufficiently to
MI. so far possible the needs of the
goth Engineers in addition TO those of
the men from the departments own
ranks who are in service
At present yarn is being obtained by the
knitting committee from the Red Cross in
small amounts only. due to the fact thai
negotiations are under way for the pur-
chase Of wool direct from the mill
Through the cooperation of Mr. Willing
myer, wool expert OF the bureau Of mar
kets, it is hoped that very soon a large
quantity OF wool. sufficient to fill all
needs for an indefinite period of time, will
be secured From now on wool will be
dispensed and finished garments received
at the headquarters of the War Relief
Association between 4 and 5 O'Clock on
tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of each
week
Other committees of the association
are likewise busy. Miss Olive Wadlin
Chairman of the housing committee. has
compiled list of available boarding
places for the benefit of new employees
and has appointed a committee consist
ing of one member in each bureau to as
sist her. Miss Frances c. Cox, chairman
OF the war orphans committee, reports
that several new orphans have been
:. adopted. Under the direction OF Miss
Claribel r. Barnett. chairman of the
committee on books and scrapbooks
100 scrapbooks have been purchased and