Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1917-12-21
BY MEAD PUBLISHING co
official Paper Of the City and the County
Issued on Friday of Each Week
Entered at the Post Office at Cresco,
Iowa, as second class mail matter.
A MILLION MEMBERS in IOWA
Campaign Opened This Week to Sc.
cure Fifteen Million Members
There Should be No Slackers.

A million Red Cross members IN To-
wa: an invitation to every man,
woman and child in every' town and
city and on every farm in the state to
1oin, and all before Christmas eve.
That is the maximum goal for the
Red Cross drive that was started Mon
day in every city and town in the
state.
simultaneously, in every state in
the union, similar drives were started.
The aim of these great drives is to
give the Red Cross membership OF
100000 people in the United States.
How will that strike the Kaiser?
At present there are 100000 men,
bers in the Red Cross in Iowa. This
number must be raised to at least
100000. To that end, patriotic men
and women all over the state are de-
voting their time and money. Deem
Der 18th to December 25th in a whirl-
wind campaign of one week.
People are not being asked to give
memberships. They are being asked
to give the Red Cross a Christmas
present of service which means more
than money. The personal backing OF
1000, 900 Iowans is what is sought. The
feeling that almost half of the popu-
lation of this great state is a member
and personally interested in the Red
Cross is what is desired.
John Wallace, chairman of the state
campaign, is urging the workers un-
der him to enlist entire families in the
cause.
Don't stop with the membership OF
the father of the family" he told his
assistants at the big meeting in Des
Moines on December 18th, "get the
entire family. Get the father to take
out a 81 membership for himself,
which includes years subscription
to the Red Cross magazine, and 81
membership for every member of the
family. Let the children feel they are
doing their part to aid the organiza-
ton that will save the lives Of thou
sands of our soldiers. We want the
entire family to get behind the cause.
Red Cross means patriotism"
So thoroughly has the campaign
been organized that schools, Sunday
schools, churches, colleges, labor Or
Carnations and many other organi-
cations and branches of society will
be solicited. Arrangements have been
made for special Red Cross meetings
in every city and county in the state.
The work in each community will
be in charge of the local chapter of
the Red Cross. 1t is the duty of the
chapter chairman to so organize his
community through campaign COM
mittees that every man, woman and
child will have an opportunity to join
the Red Cross. No man or woman is
too old, no child too young to join.
Thousands. of pieces of Red Cross
literature have been distributed to
workers over the state and if there is
a person in Iowa who does not know
what the Red Cross is doing for the
soldiers of the nation he will have
an opportunity to learn all about the
work through this literature.
Reports from chapters over the
state indicate that the campign is be-
ing thoroughly organized and that To-
wa will go lover the top" To get a
million members, however, will re-
quire the hardest kind Of work. 1t is
up to the people Of Iowa to volunteer
for the work and to get back of the
Red Cross in this campaign to the
limit of their ability. 1t is heart in
terest and work that will put 1,000,-
900 folks in Iowa back of the Red
Cross, and therefore back of the
splendid young men of Iowa who have
enlisted in the army and navy to fight
our battles.
DECnr IrNInNC IN rnNnnI ENCE