The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-01-18
HOW The ELKS BACKED
THE SALVATION army
How The EIks Helped The "Cinder-
ella" of War Relief Or2anizai :oils.
(By William Almon Wolff, in Coli
er's Weekly, Jan. 1ith.D

(By William Almon Wolff, in Coli
er's Weekly, Jan. 11tE.)
When America declared war OH
Germany, in April. 1917, all sorts ot
organizations were seized with the
desire to do their part. our club
was one of them wasn't it? And
nization that helped to keep you in
touch with your fellow men and wo-
men. There has probably never been
such a manifestation of eagerness to
serve and be of use as America made
in the first weeks of the war. The
sum of the effort that grew out of
that impulse of service was tremen-
dous-incalculable. Much of it was
finely and usefully directed; much OF
it was not. This is the brief and I'M
adorned tale of one collective effort
that got results.
If you happen to be an Elk, men,
Der of the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, you will know a good
deal of what is to be told If you
are not. you may be as surprised as
I was when 1 learned what the Ellks
had done.
To begin with, to be an Elk you
must be an American. The Elks
eliminated the hyphen long before
the war made that symbol unpopula"
in these United States. The Elks
aren't exclusive. They don't care
whether man is Jew or Gentle,
Catholic or Protestant. They're not
particular about his tailor and they
are not interested in his ideas about
politics. But if he isn't one hundred
per cent. American he doesn't be-
long. So, when we got into the war;
the Elks, with their membership of
half million, didn't have to wOlry
about divided loyalty. They knew
their members; they could count on
them. Elks began enlisting immedi-
ately; before Germany gave up more
than fifty thousand of them were in
the service-a remarkable record,
when you consider that a good many
Elks, naturally, are well beyond
military age.
The first step the Elks took toward
organizing their war work was the
appointment of the Elks War Relief
Commission, on June 2. 1917. John
K.Tener, who IS about equally proud
of having been Governor of Pennsyl-
vania and president of the National
League. headed the commission, and
has been giving up nearly all his
time ts-work eyer since his APP
ppintment His fellow workers and
their names ought to be known
were Joseph T. Tanning, Jerome B.
Fisher, James R. Nicholson, Edward
Rightor and Fred Harper
Tener's commission began by con-
sulting with the Red Cross and the
War Department. In July it report
ed to the Grand Lodge that the first
thing to be done was the establish
ment of base hospital units, to be
equipped by the Elks and operated
by the War Department. Immedi-
ately the Grand Lodge voted a mil
lion dollars and authorized Tener
and his associates to go ahead. No
strings were tied to the commission;
the Elks wanted to give help where
it was needed, and give it at once.
And it was well understood that if
million dollars didn't prove to be
enough another million could be had
for the asking. AS a matter of fact,
the first million has not all been
spent yet, but if the work of recon-
struction requires it any part of an
other million can be had at once.
The University of Virginia and the
University of Oregon had both orga-
nized base hospital units. Fred Har-
per, who was, in 1917, Grand Exal-
ted Ruler of the Elks, was Vir-
ginia man, and knew about his uni
versity's work So the Elks and the
old university got together. The Elks
provided the equipment, at a cost of