The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1919-01-17
ELKS FURNISHED
THE MONEY FOR
SALVATION ARMY
LIGHT OF GREAT ORDER UNCOV.
Erred BY ARTICLE IN COL
LlER'S WEEKLY.
REMARKABLE STORY is TOLD
Hot FraternaI Order that Wanted to
Do More Than It Was Doing Found
Way to Help Another Organza--
tion Get Results.

They couldn't keep their light
hidden. Little rays of it had been
flickering into view for some time.
But the whole brilliant thing has
been uncovered now and the Elks
can't deny their guilt. They were the
people who furnished the money for
the Salvation Army to do the work
overseas that all the returning sol
diers are praiBing so tsrongly. That
fact has been revealed to the public
in an article by William Almon Wolff
in Golfers Weekly of January II
OF course the !slks knew all along
how the Salvation Army was financ-
ing the service it was doing at the
front and even in the trenches, but
the public generally didn't know be-
cause there had been no national
drive for funds for this organization
while the other welfare organizations
were calling for money almost contin-
ually. The secret was that the Elks
were putting up and at one time
gave the Salvation Army $5,00O,000
in addition to numerous other small
er donations.
"No one knows just how the asso
ciaiton between the Elks and the
Salvation AIml Tegan,' says Mr..
Wolff, "but it grew into one of the
big things of the war" 4,
After reviewing some of the other
big war work of the Elks, such as
building the first reconstruction hos
pital and turning it over to the gov
ernment, euipping two base hospital
outfits, and providing for various
other war relief causes, Mr.. Wolff
says:
'The Elks are a convivial lot.
They knock around a good deal. And
they are the best sort who have on
tap, always a good deal of sympathy
for the under dog.
"They couldn't help seeing a good
deal of what was being done for war
relief And they seem to have seen
the Salvation Army as sort of Gin
derella. So, here and there, quite
spontaneously, local lodges of the
Elke began getting in touch with
local Salvation Army leaders.
"'See here, the Elks would say,
in effect: You people are doing
mighty good work. You need money.
We want to help We can't go over
there and bake doughnuts for the
boys in the trenches, but, by thunder,
we can help you get the money you
need, How about it?'
From this it developed that when
the Salvation Army, without money
raising organization or publicity de-
partment such as the Red Cross and
Y. M. c. A. possessed found itself
in need of $5,000,000 early in 1918,
the Elks went out and got it for them.
Down in this part of the country
the public didn't know anything about
that campaign. The Elks knew some
thing about it and contributed but
the big noise was made in the larged
cities of the North and Middle West.
The revelation of this wonderful
act of brotherly love has brought to
mind other instances in which the
Elks have gone to the relief of suffer
ing humanity, notably that when they
were the first to reach San Francisco
with enough cash to help the suffer
ers from the great earthquake. Since
that time they have maintained an
emergency relief fund which always
is the first to be tapped when there
is a catastrophe or other cause OF
suffering.
IL you want to know more about
what the Elks did for the Salvation
Army and how they have helped in
other war relief work, get a copy of
Golfers of January IL and read the
article. Backing the Salvation
Army by William Almon Wolff.