The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1919-01-23
HOW THE E[kSbAClD
THE SALVATION ARMY IN
THE GREAT WORLD WAR

Few people nll2ide the E5emtersiiil
of the order sce aware az the va
work done during the last Is north
by the Benevolent and Protective or
der of Eiks. beyond their subscrip
tions to Liberty bonds and Their gen
erous contributions 70 the Red Cross
the Y NJ. c. A. aiff other orgarzza
lions devoted to the care ard weiar,
Of the soldier boys in the cantonment.
n IN this country and i'm the trenches d
France Only recently has 1t beei
mzde public that the E1ks were tn.
financial hackers of the Salvation
Army in its wondrous humanitarian
work among the boys in Khaki" ant
thae only through their beneficenc.
was the accomplishment of its grea'
task made possible. In theeiast mum
Der uf Golfers the story OF what ths
Elks did for the .Cinderetias cE Amer
icaE wzr relief organizations Is tolt
for tfis- frst time by William AImor
Wosm He says in part.
- whsn america declared an -szs GER
many. m April. 1917. all sorts az or
ganizar1ous were seized with the de-
sireatD do their part Your club was
one OF them. wasn't it?i The sum
of the efk<Ht that grew out of thar i'm
pulse OF service was t-emendous-ffi-
calcuiAbfe This is the brief and un-
adorned tale of oze collective efort
that got results
IL ss1lu kzpYen tn be an EIk. 'msn-
Der of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Eiks. you will know a good
T.,or rsr- -
not. you may be as surprised as r
was wtisn learned what the Eis
had donz
The Elks aren't exclusive. Trev
don't csxe whether a man is Jew or
Gentfie. Catholic o. Protestant,
They're not particular about his tssfor
and sther're mot interested in his ideas
about politics But IL he isn't Ieo
per cent American he doesn't betsug
So, wfisn we got into the war. the
Efkss with their membership7of f1x1f a
million. didn't have to worry about d.
videdl loyalty EIks began euiisvfng
Immediately before Germany gave up
more than 5g.oe0 of them were i'rthe
se-vice-a remarkable record. when
you consnfer that a good many EIks.
naturally, are well beyond military
asn.
Help WHere Needed and at Once.
me ff-Sf step the Efks took inward.
organizfne their war work wars the
appointment OF the Efi<s War Relief
Commission. on June 2. 1SrT. John
K rener. who is about. equally proud
Of having been governor of Pennsyiva-
mia and president OF tAe. National
League. headed thee commission. and
has been giving up nearly all his, time
to its work ever since his appoint
meat
The commission began, by consult.
ing with the Red Cross and the War
Department In July it reported to
the grand lodge that the first thing to
be done was the establishments. of basa
hospital units, TO be. equipped by the
E1ks and operated by the War De
partment. Immediately the, grand
lodge voted. 81 900. 900 and authorised
Terer and his associates to go ahead.
The Elks wanted to, give help where
1t was needed: and giveic at once And
IL was well understood. that IL, 81 .00o..-
600 didn't prove, to be- enough another
81, 900 900 could be, had for the asking.
The University OF virginiR and the
University OF Oregon had both organ
lied base hospital units. Fred Har
per. who was in 1917. grand xa'ted
! ruler of the Elks. was Virginia man.
and knew abo,re his aniversity's work
| So the Eiks and the ohf university
got together. The Eiks provided the
equipment. re cost OF $50 900. for a
base hospital unit OF 1000 beds and
little later. at the suggestion OF Sen
ator Chanbertain OF Oregon. who is
an Elk. did the same thing for the
Oregon unit Both hospitals have
done splendid work in France.
The Eiks have always worried about
men whom fife has more or less
krocked out E'ks have given many
a poor devil helping hand. as indf
vituais and as an organization.
On Parker Hiil in Boston there
stands today the Eiks U. s A. Recon
straction Hospitai-the first recon
struuction hospital planned after
| America went into the war. II has
$50 beds. and no more perfect insti
tuition OF its type can be found any
where in the world. They simply
built and equipped the hospital They
worked. themselves. and they worked
with the medical department Of the
army. In finding out Just what was
needed. And they furnished ever,
cent of the cost--neariy 100000.
These were the big. centralized
contributions OF the E'ks to the win
ming OF the war. There were others
of somevhnt afmiiar character. A