St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1918-06-15
MATERIAL is SHORT,
WORK MAY

m W. 49, - obNFNAbB mt A~Nt ~
lousas, La:
Dear Mrs. Stewart-The Gulf Di-
vision is having great difficulty in Sc
curing gauze and other materials
used in the making of surgical dress
ings. hospital garments and refugee
clothing in sufficient quantity to
meet the rapid rate Of production Of
the chapters Ok the past three
months.
The volume of finished dressings
reflects the deter mination of the or
ganization to be ready in advance
for whatever dem ands may fall upon
the Red Cross. Results Of all of this
enthusiastic work is that we have fl
nally reached a point where for the
time, in spite of our attempt to reg
uiate the volume, the ate of produc-
ton Is out-stripping our ability to Sc
cure the needed materials.
THE Department of Supplies, in
Washington, is working in close CO.
operation with the government, to
see that regular allotments Of mate
rials are secured FOR Red Cross work.
All orders are in the hands of the
manufacturers and are promised
equal attention with similar orders
from the g%overnmen t. The factories
which are to make these materials
are having difficulty in securing the
raw materials, that is, the products
from which these materials are made.
The making of all materials will be
rushed, but it is clear that Wash
ington will still face a delay Of
about four weeks before the regular
ailotments will be coming in from
the factories.
Upon orders received from gov
eminent officials, chapters are re-
quested not to purchase material in
the open market, even though they
are still o~btainable, but very probab-
ly at e%xhorbitant prices, which fact
tends to prolong The difficulties now
being encountered at Washington. It
Is our duty at all times, and especial
ly when we are al war, to cooperate
to the fullest. Any advantage which
might be gained through the earlier
completion OF articles by buying To-
locally would more than offset the dis
turbance to the situation which will
result throug continued irregular buy
ing. In making this request Of you,
we know you p preciate the position
be our great organization to the gov
eminent, on whose helpful attitude
Washington must depend for the Sc
curing Of d dependable supply Of all
materials.
Thesisfs still to- be determined III
consultation Of our government and
freight commission the rate which
we should continue to produce all
articles. We are anxious to cooper
ate with the overnrnent in a wise con-
~servatfon Of all forms Of raw mate
rails, and our production must thus
be considered from this standpoint.
The production from now on through
out the country will be at a some
i lower rate than has obtained
during the past few months while the
present stock Of articles were being
built up. Chapters are asked to bear
this reduction in production in mind
in making all Of their plans.
The present plan is that by July 1
each chapter in TIL division will re-
ceiye their monthly allotment in sur
gical dressings. h ospital garments,
refugee clothing and knitted articles.
In making this monthly allotment to
each chapter, we are going to ask
each chapter to become small fac
tories, that is, each chapter will be
asked to make only one type of sur
gical dressing, only n article in
hospital garments, only one article
in knitting and only, one article in re-
fugee clothing. For example, B
Chapter will he a AKA wipe factory,
pajama factory, women's apron fac
tory and a sweater factory, All the
women in the chapter will be asked
to sew on the articles given their
chapter, and they will be asked to
turn out only a certain number of
each.
Now, to get ready for the future,
and TO get down to working on a BUS
inesslike basis, | am asking you to
have all work cleaned up in your
chapter by June Is, that is all mate
rial that you have ON hand, either in
gauze, in muslin or in other materi-
ais and please have made up in the
different departments, and send them
in to Divisional Supply Bureau, as soon
as possible. Then you will be ready
to start fresh when we send your al
lotments, and the material to make
these up with on July /.
III you have no material on hand,
please close your workrooms. You
a understand why / ask this, TAX
ing into consideration that we have
no materials here in the supply bu-
reau, and will have none until mate
rails arrive, for the future allot-
1000 rL.a - -