Evening star., 1918-01-20
women OF Interior
WORKFOR SOLDIERS
Nearly 500, Under Mrs. Lane,
Sew and Knit in Spare
Moments.

;
from all parts of official Washington
to the rooms in Secretary Lanes bis
building where the Interior Depart
ment War Work Association is in con
tinuous session. to turn in finished
work and get material for more sweat
ers. sheets. towels, pajamas. stockings
slippers and the other articles which
are packed in big shipping cases. one Of
which has gone to Neuilly. France
every ten days. And. hereafter. the as
ISOLATION will ship box every week.
The Interior Department War Work
Association is an auxiliary of the
American Red Cross. 1t had it's be-
ginning. almost Immediately after wal
with Germany was declared, when the
Home Club. which is social organiza-
tfon of the department.. with nearly a
thousand members, began planning for
relief work. For a time the assocfa-
tion met in the Home Club building on
jackson place, and in the early days OF
the movement it's output was distribut-
ed through the American French clear
ing house. When its activities outgrew
the quarters in the Home Club the
work rooms were moved to the Interior
building.
Here Mrs. Lane, surrounded by the
wives and daughters of her husband S
chiefs. manages an organized patriot
Ism which ramif1eS into the far north
where the Alaskan engineering commits
sion is pushing a railroad to reach
precious coal deposits; into isolated
reservations where the people of the
Indian service are; into the arid plains
where the men of the geological survey
are working; into the depths of coal
shafts where the bureau of mines ex-
perts gather: into prairie towns where
the men of the general land office work
into the green clad irrigation areas
where the engineers of the reclamation
service are constructing canals and
bitches: into the mountains and can
yons and great forests of the big trees
where the rangers and fire fighters of
the national park service climb the
trails. and to the desks and offices of
the bureau of education, the pension
bureau. the patent office and all the
other branches and divisions of the In
terror Department.
Men Back of Women With Money.
For the men of the service are back
Of the women with their money. Thou
sands of dollars have been pledged and
paid and the enthusiasm in the good
ture that though the work is only just
beyond the stage of initial organiza-
tton Mrs. Lane has enough funds in
hand to endow nineteen beds in the In
terror Department ward of the Wash
mgton Hospital in Neuilly.
Every bed calls for a deposit of $500.
and $500 year outfits it with all need
ed garments and linen. To raise funds
for beds and to insure their mainte-
nance .he officers and employees of the
department were asked to pledge sub
scriptions of 10 or 25 cents each to be
paid every month so long as the need
Tor hospital exists. The first letter
calling for pledges went out in the lat
ter part of last July and the responses
were so quick. SO spontaneous that
within short time Mrs. Lane had the
assurance that the Interior Department
ward would be fully equipped and ade-
ouately maintained
Thea far-hung endeavors of the Asso-
citation started a drive" for hospita]
beds by the Alaskan engineering com
mission in September and which, before
the last OF the following month, result
ed In cash subscriptions aggregating
$I.S10.S6. In the Neuilly Hospital there
VIII be ward over the door of which
Will be brass tablet bearing the leg
end Department of the Interior" and
three of the beds will be marked De
partment of the Interior, Anchorage,
Alaska" and two SO marked for Nenana
and one each for Seward, Turnagain
Arm, Matanuska, Talkeetna, and three
for Fairbanks. Some of the subscrip-
tions were made by laborers who could
not write their names. Other beds will
Interior Department branch which
paid for" the bed.
Indians Sent Little Baskets.
The Makah Indians of the Neah Bay
reservation on the Pacific coast in
Washington, sent Mrs. Lane fifty little
baskets as their contribution to Red
Cross work. About that time the asso-
citation was considering the advisability
of having a general sale of articles such
as embroidery and other fancy work to
be contributed by women in Washing
ton. but when the Makah Indian bas.
kets came they gave rise to the idea
Of having a sale of Indian bead work
baskets, silver work and like articles
So the Indians of the country were no.
titled of the plan and were requested
to send in what they could.
The result was sale of Indian goods
at the Home Club out of which s1.4Ot
was cleared and the committee decided
to use that money for surgical dress
ings.
The women of the Department of the
Interior in Washington gave a Thanks
giving dinner to loo soldier boys and.
after the dinner. a dance and reception
at the Home Club. The expenses were
paid from funds secured from volun-
teer contributions of Department of
the Interior employees in Washington.
and, after all Expenses had been paid,
there remained s100, which was turned
over to the War Work Association
There is nothing of the emotional
about the work of the association. It's
activities are characterized by business
like methods whichs give it's rooms the
appearance. almostS of a commercial
establishment, for it's organization has
been effected along strictly practical
lines. The results of the first four
months of effort appear in the reports
made by Mrs. Lane, which show that
in September. October, November and
December there were made, packed and
shipped the following hospital gar
ments and articles: Three hundred
1872 face and 132 bath towels. 302 suits
of pajamas. ia suits of underwear
1O8 day shirts. Sc hospital shirts. II
bathrobes and pairs of slippers. There
also were knitted and shipped PIG pairs
of wooden socks. 124 sweaters. 81 he'll
NETS. 40 scarfs or muff1ers and Is pairs
of wristlets.
tfcles there have gone across larg
quantity Of absorbent cotton, 1,e0
yards of uncut gauze, 100 rolls of 3-incl
bandages and 200 rolls of inch bandages
Gift bundles for convalescents leavin,
the hospital are made up by the Int
terror women in which are shaving soa
and brushes, tooth brushes and powder
wash cloths, combs and brushes and tn
like and the women of the pension blu
illustrations and other matter fror
newspapers and magazines and past
them in scrap books to help the sicl
and wounded boys pass the time away
OF these scrap books more than a thou
sand have gone across" and the prob
ability is there will be made up>and sen
over several thousand more. Puzzle.
toilet soap and handkerchiefs find thei
way into the big boxes and every da
develops new first aids" to comfort an