Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1918-05-14
CHAPTER HERE
NOT ADVISABLE
MRS. II. A. GALE GETS DATA ON
CHAPTER REQUIREMENTS AT
RED CROSS INSTITUTE
AUXILIARY CHAPTER BETTER
Over 100 Petitions for Chapters Pre-
scented at Seattle.


Red Cross auxiliary of Bonners Fer
ry, returned home Sunday from
Seattle, where she spent the past
week attending the district Red
Cross institute. Mrs. Gale says that
the week just spent was a most
profitable one in that she has gained
a greater conception of the magni-
tude and Importance of Red Cross
work.
In regard to the plan of organiz-
ing a Red Cross chapter for Bound
airy county Mrs. Gale states that
after a conference with the lead
ing officers of the Northwestern Di-
vision she has come to the conclu-
sion that Boomers Ferry would be
better off to continue as an auxili-
airy. There were 480 delegates from
Oregon, Washington, Idaho and
Alaska in attendance at the institute
and over 100 of these delegates pre-
sented petitions similar to the one
circulated in tbs county and pre-
scented by Mrs. Gale, asking to be
allowed to organize as chapters.
There are only 113 chapters in the
Northwest division. Something of
the difficulties which would be faced
if Boundary county was organized
as a chapter are explained in the
following letter which was written to
Mrs Gale by Earl Fitzpatrick direc-
tor of the Bureau of Development,
Northwest Division, Americon Red
Cross
This acknowledges with thanks
the petition from citizens of Boundary
county and telegram from Mr.. De
Wolf of your County Council of De-
Tense both requesting that the Divi-
sion Office consider the establish
ment of a separate Red Cross Chap
ter for Boundary county, Idaho, with
headquarters at Boomers Ferry.
The Division Office will be very
glad to consider this matter with
the citizens of your county as fully
as you may desire and will assure
you that there is no reluctance in
the Division Office to create a Chap
ter when the interests of the Red
Cross work both locally and nation
ally can be better served by the Gre
alton of such Chapter.
A very careful study of the rela-
tive membership and population of
the Red Cross in Boundary county
tends to the belief that your Red
Cross workers will have much great
er opportunity to participate in the
work of the Red Cross as a juris-
dictional branch of the two county
Chapter with a membership of 5000
than as an independent Chapter
with a membership of a little less
than 1000.
The rule of the Red Cross made
necessary by the stringent require
ments imposed by conditions in the
war zone make it necessary that the
Red Cross shipments from Chapters
be in unmixed boxes of standard
size. understand that your
county has perhaps $50 active sew
ers, knitters and surgical dressings
workers and the statement of pro-
duction that you have shown me
is indeed very creditable record of
production for this number of work.
ers. 1t would not be possible, how
ever, for this number of workers to
fill an allotment which would enable
the Boundary County Chapter to
ship its goods according to require
ments without taking two or three
months time on each allotment. 1t
is, however, quite possible for a
Chapter comprising the two coun-
ties to fill such an allotment. This
means that under the present ar
rangement or better under an ar
rangement whereby you would be a
jurisdictional branch, with RESPONSE
bility for Boundary county, the
Chapter is able to apply portions of
practically every allotment that is
made and is thus able in turn to
give your ladies an opportunity to
d. some of almost every kind of
work, an opportunity which you
could hardly have if you were an
Independent Chapter with a mem
bership of 1000
AS a concrete example, let US take
the matter Of surgical dressings. The
smaller Chapters in Idaho and Alas
ka with membership of 1000 and less
are doing practically no surgical
dressings work for the reason that
their relatively small number of
workers cannot complete full boxes
of single kinds of dressings within
the time limit, whereas, your ladies
being members of a Chapter of
5000 membership have been con-
stantly able to participate in this
work. ] have been pleased to learn
from you of the wonderful record OF
something like 1000 dressings made
by your ladies in the month of Feb
ruary alone. This is remarkable con-
sidering the number of persons al
work. The production in surgical
dressings for all the Chapters in
the Northwestern Division for the
month of February was 100000
dressings. In other words, your
county did practically 1-1OO0th Of
the surgical dressings work for that
month which is just about in pro
portion to your population and mem
bership as compared with the rest
of the Division.
Now let us see how this would
work out relative to some of the re.
quirements that come to this di.
vision for production by the Chap
tiers. We are asked to make 80,00(
hospital garments consisting Of bed