The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-03-11
Miss0ula Women Work
Hard at Relief Tasks
Patriotic Association Red Cross and Many Branches Make
and Send Away Thousands of Articles for
Soldiers cover There"

1--WE must work for our soldier boys!
I'VE must help them win the war;
Our fingers shall lay aside the dainty
lace making and embroidery with
which they have been employed their
deft energy in days of less urgent
need. We will take up the big knit
ting needles and coarse yarn. to weave
garments warm and comfortable for
our boys in the camps and the trenches
of battlefields. We will make clean,
soft, antiseptic dressings for the
wounds that hold our brave men by
thousands to beds of suffering in hos
pital tents"
So the women of Missoula have
Joined forces with their sisters
throughout the land, forming Them
selves into a great, swift machine for
supplying the special need Of this
troublous time. The grandmother of
so years has pitted her skill in rivalry
with the awkward energy of the little
children--all knitting and sewing and
folding to help the soldiers.
Two u0aoQuarteF8 mere.
Through the American Red Cross So
ciety and through the American fund
for French wounded Of New York and
Paris, the work has been done in Mis-
soula during the last six months.
Headquarters have been kept open at
regular hours in the Missoula hotel
and in the First National Bank block
mn hor Ia,
affiliated organizations whose work
was done elsewhere and turned in for
shipment.
So thoroughly systematized has been
the great mass OF detail in the local
branches Of the great national organi-
4ations. that a record shows a grand
total of 227,461 articles made in Mis-
spula and Its vicinity by the fingers Of
devoted women as their personal serv-
Ice for their country. This has meant
the giving up Of cherished social am
billions and enjoyments. the sacrifice
OF new clothes and OF vacation jour-
neys In order to find time to work for
the soldiers.
Patriotic Association Busy.
At the headquarters in the First Ma
tional Bank block the Missoula Wome
ans Patriotic association has assem-
bled to work on Tuesday, Thursday
and Saturday afternoons from 80 I'M
I'll o'clock since its Organization last
April. The output OF these work
meetings has amounted to 1873 cases OF
hospital supplies. surgical dressings
and civilian clothing. 137.335 articles,
shipped directly to France through the
American Society for French Wounded.
OF these. 1886 articles were made by
patriotic workers in Philspsburg and
shipped to the Missoula association;
1902 We're shipped in from Darby:
$3.50 from st. Ignatius; 3.ss4 from Ro-
nan: 2.4s3 from Potomac; 2,234 from
Dixon: 1.906 from Ovando: 623 from
Hall and 1854 from Leon.
The officers of the Missoula Wom-
ans Patriotic association. are Mrs. r.
A. Rodrick. president: Mrs. George
Briggs, treasurer. and Mrs. Elmer j.
Carter. secretary.
Affiliated Organizations.
Working with this association has
been the Three Link circle Of tn,
Daughters Of Rebekah lodge, Mrs
Charles Crawshaw, chairman. Three
boxes Of supplies for soldiers such as
chest protectors, sings. bed socks, pill
lows, white linen towels and wash
cloth have been made during the circl,
sessions and shipped to the national
HEADQUARTERS OF the American Fund for
French Wounded. at 20 West 23rt
street, New York. The material OF
which these articles are made was pur.
chased by the circle members as theil
private gift. The wooden boxes IL
which the articles are sent to France
are used by young boys to make furni-
ture for the new villages that must re-
place those devastated by war
Red Cross Largest Agency.
At the headquarters of the Missous
chapter of the American Red Cross so.
ciety in the Missoula hotel. the hours
Tor work are from 10 o'clock until /.
In the morning; from o'clock until
In the afternoon, and from O'Clock
until o'clock in the evening, six days
q week. Never a moment of these
hours Is without a group of workers
businely engaged in one form or an
other of patriotic service. Many OF
the social clubs Of the city appoint
their meetings at the Red Cross room,
to sew or make surgical dressings
Groups of young women employees OF
the mercantile houses of the city have
regular dates for meeting at the rooms
to work. High school boys and their
instructors have shown that they car
1old dressings as quickly and skill
fully as their mothers and sisters can
do the work and they have put an
equal amount of patriotic good will
into the service.
The Missoula chapter is a part of n
great national machine and respon :
sible directly to the northern division
headquarters at Minneapolis. All fin
ished articles are shipped to the Min
neapolis office and all directions as 10
size and pattern of garments come
from the division office. There were
at the last statistics issued, 13 divisions
Tor the 1900 chapters Of the American
Red Cross society and each chapter has
q number OF contributing auxiliaries.