Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-01-25
MUTUAL ENDEAVOR
IN WAR RELIEF WORK
Women of Germany Take
Leading Part in Planning for
= Unprecedented Burdens.
CHARITY PHASE AVOIDED
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

BERLIN, November 24-Since the
ties have given way before something
far more effective-organized people.
The war relief work in Germany sell
dom bears the stamp of professional
charity. 1t rather has the character of
q mutual endeavor to bear the unpre-
cedented burdens that war has brought
upon the people. The organizations
built up by the peace-time charities
have been absorbed into the greater
work. They have been made to fit into
q national scheme, broader and more
giving. Woman's brains, administra-
ttye ability and energy are largely to
be credited with the remarkable &C
complishments of the worlds first bust
nesslike. billion-dollar relief trust.
Great in her military and economic
preparedness for the war, Germany was
woefully without social preparedness.
1t was a fatal flaw in the war armor.
an oversight in a land whose bureau
cracys boast is that oversights are inn
possible. On the day of mobilization.
the social welfare workers of the en-
pire faced chaos. situation heavy with
unlimited possibilities of disaster, to
prevent which no machinery had been
created, no plans worked out and no
efficient workers instructed Hundreds
of thousands of families of wage-earn-
erS saw their bread-winners march
away. leaving them helpless, the sport
or evil chance, and without an idea for
the future. Other thousands Were
thrown out of work. And tc swell all
this misfortune to appalling magnitude,
there later came the high prices, the
bitter pinch in food supplies and fur
Their restrictions of certain industries.
Women Come to the Rescue.
1t was the women of Germany and
not the bureaucrats who filled this
breach in the lands defenses. Scarcely
had the wild excitement of mobilization
subsidized before the club women of the
country organized the National Wom-
ems Service League, enrolled 5000
of their number workers therein,
outlined a scheme for national relief,
and placed this whole. magnificent ma
chinery at the service of the govern
ment. linking up their organization with
the established governmental organiza-
tion all along the line.
The women took over all the existing
philanthropies, and remodeled them for
the gigantic war tasks of conservation
There existed besides, the law of 1SSS,
which provided a trifiing stipend for the
families of soldiers at the front. The
rest of the machinery the women had
to create. And they did create it.
No one in Germany is good aturedly
witty at the expense of the German Fed
GRAFTON of Women's Clubs today, for it
was this federation that organized the
Service League and that furnished a
body of disciplined women to make his
tory in the realm of social organiza-
ton.
Municipal and League Cooperation.
The Service League co-operated
through its local branches with the mu-
nicipal authorities. The first problems
with which it was called upon to deal
were those of the unemployed and of
soldiers families left without incomes.
Later problems had to do with the care
of refugees. with the food shortage,
with the scarcity and high prices of
clothing. with the training of depend
ent women for new lines of employ
ment. with the care of the helpless
victims OF the battlefelds, and with the
instruction of the whole people in new
principles of household economy made
necessary by war conditions
The women worked in conjunction
with the municipal authorities. with the
government boards and bureaus and
on their own account. As the work
took shape. a social survey was under
taken In centers where war condi-
tons were pressing most heavily, sur
veys were begun. and these were grad
ually extended until a great part of
the poor and needy of the country were
card indexed. The needs of all of these
families were kept track of closely
Bureaus were opened in the cities and
towns. to which all might take their
difficulties and find relief The women
in these bureaus adjusted rent ques-
tions. aided soldiers widows to secure
their state support. helped the wives of
absent soldiers to get their monthly
pensions of ~ marks. with the addf-
tional Il marks for each child under
fifteen (these pensions were later in
creasedD. and performed free legal
service.
Well Ordered Training System.
Out of the work in behalf of the un-
employed has grown up a well ordered
system for the training of unskilIed
labor. well as for marketing 1t. The
women opened sewing rooms all over
the country, secured government con-
tracts for sandbags. clothing and
AN