The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-03-12
SC0UR CITY TEN DAYS
TO RAISE $4,000
$50 Men and Women Preparing This
Week for Campaign to Get Funds
TO Rebuild Retreat for Sick.
FORTY TEAMS WILL Work
VIII Make Report Each Day Mt
Luncheon, and Captains VIII Iesue
Orders for Teams--Campaigu Chair
man Named at Noon Today.

/ Just week from yesterday a cam
paign organization composed of $50
big hearted men and women will be-
gin combing Richmond in an effort
to raise $4,000 in ten days, to give
the Retreat for the Sick a building
| fund with which to rebuild on its
present site. at Twelfth and Marshall
streets, replacing the present worn
out building with a modern hospit;.l
of double the Institutions present
capacity.
For another week, the building COM
mittee of the Retreat will proceed
with the prelminaries, which consist
principally In enrolling and instruct
| ing the members of the thirty or forty
teams into which the Campaign
crowd will be subdivided Last
weeks work had to do with the Sc
curing of men and women to act as
team captains, who would enroll
seven to ten friends in team unit
for the ten-day canvass. The coming
week will bring the preliminaries
down to the actual beginning of the
canvass.
The team" type OF ahort-time
m ey-raising campaign is only a
little over ten years old, yet its prin
cipal features are generally known TO
the majority OF people in any city
in this country. But the machinery
of campaigning has been greatly I'M
proved upon in recent years. Nova
days everything is done for the con-
venience of the worker. Stenograph-
ic assistance. form letters index cards.
long prospect lists and easily filled
blanks. all are provided so as to re
lieve the busy wor,er OF as much of
the detail as possible.
The result is that the duties Of the
team captain are not nearly so ardu-
GUS under modern campaigning sys-
TENS as they were only a few years
ago The committees that planned
the Retreat for the Sick campaign
were at pains to secure as complete
a system as possible for the coming
effort. They believe they have pro
vided every possible convenience for
the worker.
Teams Organized Tomorrow.
The organization OF the individual
team units will be well under way
by tomorrow morning Each captsin
enllsts the individual members OF his
own team. In order to secure har-
monious team work, the team mem
beers must be the personal choice or
| the captain. Once organized, the
team is under complete charge OF the
captain. The only instructions to
teams are those given during the
opening dinner and the campaign
iuncheons, and these, so far as posi-
ble are printed rather than oral
There is no soliciting by districts
under the plan of canvass adopted by
the Retreat committee. Teams will
select from long lists of Richmond
people who are possible givers, the
names OF the individuals on whom
they will call, Thi. selection is pure
~ voluntary--no worker Is assigned"
TO solicit any individual But when
the teams once have selected their
prospects, each team il charged up
with each name 1t has drawn, until
report. favorable or unfavorabie
has been made on the solicitation
Moreover. no other team is per-
mitted to draw name already
claimed, and 1t is not good cam
! paigning ethics" for q worker to So
! licit any prospect unless his team has
taken out the card beaiing the pros
poets name. One of the rules Of the
game" In fact, is that there must be
no promiscuous solicitins-that a
| team must confine all its canvassing
strictly to the persons whose names
1t has drawn. This prevents the same
| person being solicited over and over
again by different workers, saving the
time of the worker and avoiding the
| circumstance Of some prominent and
: philanthropic Richmonder receiving
calls from a half-hundred different
workers in two days time, as some
times occurs in ill-regulated cam
paigns.
! Will Report Each Day.
Aside from the fact that he usually
supervises the apporttonment of his
teams prospect cards among the
members of his team, tho duties of
the captain are no more onerous dur
! ing the campaign than those of his
team workers, The team sits together
at each days luncheon, prepares the
report of the preceding twenty-four
hours results, encloses money and
pledges received In big envelope.
and turns them In during the daily
roll-call Of teams. The element of
team rivalry grows as the campaign
progresses. which is in the main re-
all team campaigns the luncheon re-
Lorts grow in aggregate size as the
closing day approaches,
1t is anticipated that the larger part
OF the returns in the coming Retreat
for the Sick campaign will be in
pledges rather than in cash, for the
reason that two-year pledge has
been arranged, with eight payments,
falling due each three months up to
January. 1919.
| Mrs. John B, Lightfoot, chairman
OF the building committee of the Re-
treat board. will preside at the spe-
cfal luncheon announced for 12 o'clock
today at the new headquarters, 1909
East Main street, to be attended by
committeeman and volunteer captains.
The name OF the campaign chairman
will be announced at this luncheon.
The matter OF the chairman ship has
been in the hands Of the committee
composed OF Mrs. Lghtfoot, Coleman
Workman, r. NJ. Darlington. Mrs.
Thomas McCabe and Mrs. J. Pryor
Davis.
The Organization dinner" at which
all workers are expected. will be held
at the East Main street headquarters
on next Thursday evening. when the
campaign machinery" will be In full
operation.
Bank Clearings Increase.
Bank clearings in Richmond last