South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-04-27
ACHIEVEMENTS
Of WOMEN GREAT
FACTOR IN COUNTY
'0rganized' War Work Report
Tells Only Part of WOm-
ems Work.

A review or the organized" war
work OF the women of St. Joseph
county can tell of only a small, Il
very small. part of the actual work
accomplished by them. To the wom
en-. naturally. fell the task of con-
Quoting their households under a
wartime regime, the intricacies Of
which would eliminate. seemingly,
all chance for engaging in other war
time activities. These home duties
which included a strict food con-
servation dietary, a "made-over"
clothes campaign, and the most
stringent saving in every detail of
the household administration were
met unhinchingly, with scarcely a
murmur, and in addition these same
women made possible the report
which follows OF the Red Cross and
council of defense activities.
The first Red Cross work shop
which was organized in the summer
of 1917, was located in the Union
Trust building with a branch estab-
lished soon after in the Farmers
Trust building. The rapid increase
I'm the number of workers soon
necessitated a larger shop, this diff
fculty being solved by the donation
TO the Red Cross of the entire office
building located at PIG w. Jefferson
blvd, for that purpose. From the
time of it's establishment as Red
Cross headquarters until the sign
ing of the armistice there was no
buster place in all south Bend.
Seats ut a Premium.
The lower floor OF the building
was given over to the hospital sup
ply and knitting departments and
the surgical dressings rooms were
on the second floor. All departments
were open so workers five days a
week and several nights and in most
instances il was a case OF come
early if you want a seat" Here
are figures which Will speak for
themselves. During the year Nov.
1, 1917 TO Nov. 1, 1918, the hospital
supply department shipped to head
quarters at Cleveland, 1884 pieces
of hospital linen. Ssh hospital gar
ments and supplies, 1886 refugee
garments and supplies, and 1874 ar
ticles for soldiers, The knitting de-
partment contributed 1880 knitted
articles and the surgical dressings
department made during that same
period 313,449 dressings.
In addition to the work done at
headquarters there were eS auXil-
iaries doing hospital supply work
and knitting and surgical dressings
shops were located at the Ellsworth
store, the high school, New Carlisle
LaKeville, and North Liberty.
Three Clothes Campaigns.
Three clothes campaigns resulted
i'm the shipment of enormous quaint
ties OF clothing for Belgian reliei
and the linen shower met with
hearty response. Thirteen hundred
Christmas boxes were inspected.
weighed and wrapped at headquar-
ters and ! 900 boxes were prepared
for friendIesS soldiers.
The surgical dressings depart
ment ceased its work with the sign
ing OF the armistice and the other
departments will close about May ].
The woman's section of the coun-
~ council Of defense began It's work
as an organization here in June
1917. The council has carried on
it's work mainly through the agency
of 20 committees and the council as
a whole has been back of all patri-
otto drives in the county.
The registration of women was
one of the most arduous tasks un-
dertaken by the council. IL resulted
in the registration of 27,575 women
with regard 20 their training, educa-
ton, and willingness TO serve and
had hardly been completed before
il demonstrated its usefulness.
Through its agency appeals for help
from the factories, Liberty loan
headquarters. exemption boards,
dental board, food administration.
Red Cross, Children's dispensary and
visiting nurses association were taxi
Ell care of and much social service
work was done.
Children Registered.
Akin 10 the woman's registration
in the work that it required was
the child welfare registration. Seven
thousand four hundred and thirty
three children were examined.
weighed and measured, the work re-