The Wahpeton times. [volume] (Wahpeton, Richland County, Dakota [N.D.]) 1879-1919, 1917-11-29

let dill investigator once take Ie4a
trail and the soldier and
sweater vanish in thin air. IS
easy to start such story, - ..he
hardest thing in the worlS find
a single fact in the ruQ
Eight van loads - led Cross
supplies, sweaterS .lrts, socks,
surgical dressing other things
made by the wol. .ers, reach the
division supply house every day.
A small army of men, women and
girls, working under the direction
of Mrs. Laurence E. Horton, chief
inspector for the division, are kept
busy from morning until night,
unpacking, sorting, inspecting and
finally repacking the supplies and
shipping them to their final des-
tination, either across the sea or to
the soldiers in our own training
camps.
AS the boxes come in they are
unpacked and the different gar
ments assembled together-the
sweaters in one pile, surgical
| dressings in another and socks in
another. Then each garment is
inspected to see that it conforms to
regulations. The surgical dress
ings are inspected more minutely
than any other article. Women.
most of them nurses, trained in
the work, 60 over every gauze com.
press seeking for stray threads
that the workers may have over.
looked.
Finally the goods are repacked
in huge boxes, lined with water
proof paper, nailed and bound
with strips of metal. A printed
list, showing what each box con
tains, is included in the contents
The address of it's final destina.
tion, together with an announce.
ment Of the contents, is stenciled
on the outside of the box. From
IS to 40 of these boxes are shipped
from the division headquarter,
daily. During the rush of Christ
mas goods to France the output
was even greater.
Frequently the inspectors dis
cover notes attached to the gar
ments, written by the. women VIII,
have made the goods. Contrary t.
the popular belief, it is extremely
seldom that ''mash note," writ
ten by girl seeking to strike VI
a romantic correspondence with /;
soldier, is found. More often tn,
notes seem to be written by elderly
women, women who have sons
husbands or brothers in the army
these messages are full Of enco,r
agement and good cheer. Occa
sionally the workers write Their
messages in poetry, some good
some not SO good, as to rhyme an,
meter. Often placards on gar
ments announce that the knitter:
are men or women past so years
old.
At nearly every Red Gross
chapter in the Northern division,
there is a demand for clean mus
lin and linen rags, to be made into
bandages and surgical dressing!
for the soldiers. Worn out towel,
and cloths of any kind can be nsee
by the workers.
Reports that scarfs and wrist
lets are no longer being knitted by
the women of Canada and thai
thousands of such articles are wai4
ING to be torn up for manufacture,
into sweaters and other garments
was vigorously denied by Mrs. II
p. Plumptre. corresponding secre
tary for the Canadian Red Cross
! In a letter received at Northern
Division headquarters, Mrs. Plum
tire says: "There is no truth what
ever in such a rumor. We have
been subject to a plague Of un-
authorized reports Of this kind.
Sometimes such stories are circu-
lated by pro-German sympathiz-
ers who desire to hamper our work
and are repeated by persons wh.'
are misinformed as to the real
need for such work. Those in
charge of our store houses in Eng
land have cabled repeatedly for
more supplies of this kind"
Tom Halls cass Up In December
The case against Secretary of
0<o<o Thoc HILL e.. o~ .,ll...1