The Washington times., 1918-12-08
BACK TO SCHOOL"
DRIVE UNDER WAY

Nearly two thousand children OF the
Capital, under legal age, have failed
10 return 10 school this autumn.
Many OF them took out employment
certificates last june. which enabled
them 10 work during the summer vaca-
Uion. But the tremendous wages. COM
rnanded by any sort of unskilled labor
at the present time. have been an in
oucement for them 10 cut school ana
continue TO work.
These figures have put spirit in the
back -to-sChOol drive" undertaken Dy
the Child Welfare Committee. AN I'm
portant branch Of the Council of Nd-
donal Defense. Mrs. Whitman Cross
as executive chairman Of the comr'it.
zee. and Mrs, Louis BrownlOw chair
n.sn, child labor section.
Has Important Task.
The children's year committee, which
accomplished such splendid results in
the weighing and measuring campaigl
of last summer, has. in the present un-
dertaking. an equally important task.
The ;'back-to-school drive will be ma
ton wide.
Captains from various important
District organizations will visit the
homes of children who have failed 10
return. at the expiration OF their per
mits and urged upon their parents
the necessity Of sending them back L"
school at any cost.
The captains are: Mrs. Archibald
Hopkins. Mrs. Charles Brand. Mrs.
Henry T Rainey. Mrs. w. Z. Chamber
lin. for the College Woman's Club: Mrs.
Leo Baum. for the Council OF Jewish
Women; Mrs. Alice Deal, for the Fed
Grafton Of Women's Clubs; Mrs. VII
liam Van Week. for the Columbian
womsA; Mrs. Edna X. Bushee, for
the Juvenile Protective Association:
Mrs. Thomas H. Carter. for the Christ
Child Society: Mrs. Virginia Merritt,
League: Mrs. Theodore Cole. for the
Collegiate Alumni: Mrs. Frederick
Coville, for the Twentieth Century
Club: Miss Mary Bright, and Mrs.
coralie Cook for the coiored schools.
Teachers Pledge Services.
School teachers have pledged their
community centers. High school pu-
pills, particularly those from the Nc
Kinley and Central, will lend their
talents to the illumination of posters
bearing such slogans as:
Civilization Marches Forward On
the Feet of Little Children"
Boys and Girls, Stay in School.
Education Means Better Jobs"
Uncle sam Says the Standing
Army OF Peace Is In the Schools.
Boys and Girls! Join This Army"
Boys and Girls! The ScohOl Is
Your Training Camp. Uncle Sam
Says. Enlist In School Today"
he MI ha INyI
friendly and cooperative, and will
Eot depend on authority. Conditions
Jn the District of Columbia are not
exceptional. All over the country
there exists the short-sighted policy
of increasing the family budget tenn
porarily a few dollars a week at the
expense of the child's future. Par
ents who have been besought toj
Salvage" string, paper, old over
shoes, shreds of rags, bones and old
from, and have done it with a sort
Of proud patriotism, in many cases.
have seen in their children a case of
deferred salvage"
The nationwide Back -to-school
Drive" will be carried forward by its
own momentum. coming on the heels
Of the appalling revelations concern
ing illiteracy among drafted men,
Nothing could plead the cause OF
keeping our boys and girls in school,
at any cost, so effectively as the
simple official statement:
There are 100000 men registered
for army service VINO cannot read
or write In the second registration.
81 is estimated that the number will
be increased to 100000. They can
not sign their names They cannot
read the manuals OF arms They can
not read the orders posted on bulIe-
tin boards. They cannot understand
the signals. or follow the signal corps
1n time OF battle