The public ledger. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1913-1968, 1918-07-11
why WAR CHEST
IDEA HAS Been
ONCE Rejected
Opposition to War Chest Idea is Given
BY Salem Ohio Chamber Of
Commerce Secretary.

The following is a letter written
by the Secretary of the Salem, Ohio,
Chamber of Commerce to the Ameri-
can City, commercial organization
magazine:
To the Editor of The American City:
Allow me to preface my further re-
marks by stating that I am a CONNER
cial organization secretary in a city
of II. 900 population, and that, as is
the case with the vast majority of my
professional brethren, the great bur-
den of campaigning details falls upon
my shoulders Allow me to say also
that a War Chest would relieve me
of a great deal of strain and worry.
From a selfish point of view I favor
the single-campaign idea-but, from
the standpoint of the community, in
whose destinies the Chamber of Com
merce plays a great part, | must ad-
nit that do not greatly enthuse over
the once-for-all campaign. To eX-
plain:
There is the objection in the War
Chest plan that, careful as we may be.
we canot anticipate accurately the flu
ture demands of existent war relief
organizations. nor can we correctly
estimate the number of such societies
whose demands or requests may be
| Unsuitable. Who, for instance, can
tell now exactly what the needs of the
Red Cross. the V NJ. C. A., or the X.
of c., or the many others, will be?
| Who can tell now but what some I'M
| anticipated war need may arise? AZ
ter the Y. NJ c. A. campaign we
thought the social recreationaI needs
of our warning men were sufficiently
and adequately provided for, and yet
there followed the campaign for the
X. of c. war funds and the War Camp
! Community Recreation Fund, with
equally urgent important appeals.
| Advocates of the War Chest will say,
THE fund will provide for all war
purposes" This leads to another OBJ
lection.
People no matter how patriotic or
broadminded they may be, like ia
know how their one-dollars, their fiTc
dollars. or their thousand dollars are
to be used. There are those OF us
who would give proportionately more
to the Y. NJ. c. A.. or the X. of c., "
to the Red Cross than to other causes
There are many of us who would not
care to have even a small portion Ct
our contribution go for certain pur'
poses The objection may be narrow
but nevertheless it is a serious cb
lection to the War Chest plan.
There is the danger that some or,
gani2ation may desire share of the
fund which, if granted, would antag
onize certain elements in the com
munity The committee charged will
the duty of disbursing funds cannot
no matter how careful or fair minded
they may be, interpret our desires OF
sentimentlities in the matter. Ever
though we have a lawyer merchant
n manufacturer, laborer, a Catholic
Jew, and Protestant, they cannot
satisfy the vanity which you and
have in determining how much is oul
"bit" in matters of patriotism and
sentiment.
Finally, there is the danger in the
War Chest plan that, having had its
big splurge, the community will droI
back into a period of patriotic hiber'
nation; the danger that. it's one big
effort over, the community will pig
eon-hole its patriotism-its spirit
until the cal ! comes again a year
hence. This is, as l see it, the great
danger and objection to the War
Chest idea. At the same time it points
out the value of repeated campaigns.
Frequent campaigns, as we see 1t in
Salem, help to develop a spirit of CO.
operation not produced in one cam
paign. Such campaigns bring the
workers CASUALLY the same ones) in
more frequent contact; we learn to
know and understand each other, we
learn to cooperate and work togeth-
err for common ends.
Repeated campaigns also constant
ly bring to the attention of the peo-
pie of the community the important
fact mot yet sufficiently recognized)
that we are at war, and that there are