The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-11-14
Auburn District Sets United
War Work Drive Record.
Quota Was Raised Before
Wednesday Night Meeting.
AMOUNT MORE THAN TREBlED
Red Cross Workers Came In
With Contribution.
Blanks for Taking Donations
All Were Used Up.

Wednesday evening" Seven-thirty
O'Clock. Mobilization of rural district
publicity squads. They're off Five
cars to Auburn. School house packed
district chairman waiting in front
of the building. Informs four minute
speaker that district quota of 5000 is
already subscribed. No need for So
licitation. Meeting starts. Music.
singing, speaking. more Music, more
speaking. who'll tilt the ante?"
They all did.
When the squad started home at
1880 o'clock more than $500 in sub
burn district contribution to the
United War work fund-and more
than half of the district was yet to
be heard from.
Such are the facts in the moment
Gus and memorable meeting held at
But the terse statements leave much
70 be told of the way in which the
deed was done.
The details in the matter are little
more complex than appears on the
face. 1t happened like this.
How 1t Happened.
When the Auburn assigned pub
licity squad arrivedsat the destination
and while members were preparing a
triumphal entry into the school house
meeting. big Bing Bang BilP' Biby
was informed by the district chairman
that the district quota was already
subscribed and the meeting could be
termed a strictly jubilee affair. The
district quota was $500, but for some
reason or other-mostly because it
was for the boys overseas-Bibyf failed
to see cause why larger sum should
not be subscribed. 1t was all settled
and the meeting convened.
The Liberty Sextette opened the ball
with a couple of instrumental selec-
tons Karl Hummei took the crowd
by storm and shortly after he began
singing he had the whole school house
in an uproar Of tuneful melody.
Misses Ruth Bomgardner, Fayeben
Williams. and Faye Warning went
into action and mixed it up with some
more vocal music. The crowd was
ready and enjoying itself hugely when
Mrs. Charles L. Mitchell took, the
rostrum and made a talk on the part
the women are doing in the war.
More music by the sextette-
Big Bing Bang Bill" Billy began
on one of his spell binding orations.
held the crowd silent and almost
breathless for twenty minutes, and
swept into peroration auctioning off
musical selections at amounts rang
ing from $25t down to SIS throw
Billy, when he started into the coli
Auburn quota in the united war work
drive, set $1,000 as the amount the
district should have subscribed at the
close of the meeting.
Fifty Dollar Subscriptions.
Two minutes after the first sale of
pledge cards $3.50 had been subscribed
in five $50 subscriptions. Twenty-Five
dollar subscriptions bought two mu-
steal selections for the crowd. But
when the IS and SO subscriptions
were called. the demand for cards
came SO fast that the crowd ran away
from the musicians and when the
meeting broke up the publicity squad
was still indebted in the sum of three
numbers.
BEFORE the subscriptions were half
completed the district was out of the
official subscription blanks, and SIS
and $40 lots were subscribed on an or
binary writing tablet
One of the extraordinary features
of the contributions to the united war
fund is that the Auburn chapter OF
the Red Gre SIS, or rather the body of
~'onien forming that chapter. made
the last subscription-$7, the exact
amount needed to bring the total sub
scription fo- the district to the Loco
goal set by Billy at the beginning OF
the rneeTipo