Evening star., 1919-11-30

| wartime. the wisdom or continuing e
grand opera during the war, and the
method of collection of funds by the
great welfare organizations. The con-
Solldation known as the united war
work campaign was the result of rec
| concentrations by the council, accord
! ing to the report.
| The report. concerning it's part in
! the demobilization of the war machin-
cry. reads:
AT the councils meeting on Decem-
| ber ,. 1918, ii took vital ster so. |
experimenting or setting up all initio
| where necessary the nauIon-w,t,. ma,
chinery for demobilization. The
| council ended the war with tre-
| mendous nationwide field machinery
! of approximately $4,000 units. made
! up OF the state. county. municipal and
community councils of defense.
No Other in L. 8. Like 1t.
! "There had never been another Or
ganization like it IN the United States
: and probably in the world The coun-
! ellis action on December resulted in
! the director urging all state councils.
with their full local orga MIA tons. to
unite with the United States employ
ment service and community labor
boards in meeting the employment sit
uation caused by the rehabilitation of
the Army and by Industrial readjust-
| ment.
! "At the same meeting, and again for
the soldiers. sailors and marines of the
American forces who were returning to
their homes and to the industries of the
i country, resolution was passed by the
council and telegraphed Immediately by
| the director to the governors of all states
i and chairmen of state and territorial
| councils of defense asking that the great
! council of defense system and the state
| divisions of the Woman'S committee of
! the Council of National Defense be con-
tnl in, ha ,,Ho
| the needs of rehabilitation.
Other Aids Organized.
Further to aid in the mechanics of
/ Rehabilitation and to supplement the
work of the United States employment
| service, so per cent of the field machin-
cry of which had to be scrapped for
| lack of funds, the council organized it's
| emergency committee on employment
| for soldiers and sailors, with Col Arthur
| Woods. former commissioner of police
at New York city, as chairman.
| This committee had among it's men,
bers Assistant Secretary of the Navy
| Roosevelt; Chairman Hurley of the
shipping board; Matthew Woli, vice
president of the American Federation of
[ Labor: Elliott Goodwin, general secre-
| tary Of the Chamber of Commerce of
! the United States, and the director of
the council The committee at once be-
/ came clearing house of action to con-
centrate and utilize as rapidly as pos
sible all agencies dealing with the un-
employment problem.
Co-Operative Agencies.
"1n the course of the war the coun-
Gil took the load in encouraging for
! national defense purposes the cre-
alton of community councils over the
| country. Out of this movement grew
| a marvellous network of cooperating
| agencies reporting to a common head
! center in each state, and through the
| states to the council in Washington.
| After the armistice the council held
| it plain that one of the great lessons
| of the war to America had been the
demonstrated interdependency of So
| cial effort.
! 1t considered it equally plain that
i permanent dividends for the future
should be drawn from this wartime
! cooperation. 1t felt that in the first
! instance the community councils
could render valuable service in the
work Of demobiliZat ton and readjust-
ment, and that for the rest they
| should become permanent assets of
| our society, and continue to exist on
a wholly non-partisan, non-sectarian
basis under state rather than under
/ federal direction. The council ac-
| cordingly sent message to the states
and to the county and community
councils to that effect. The movement
grew apace over the country and
| shows signs of having come to stay
| A number of states have given official
! Endorsement to it. In the Philippine
| Islands alone 500 community councils
| were being directed by the Philippine
i Island Council of Defense at the close
of the fiscal year.
| New Thread In Social Fabric.
! 1t seems safe to state that there has
! come into being new vital thread in
| the social fabric of the country as the
| result of an emergency effort born of
! the war The council heartily well
| comes the growth of this movement,
which. in national sense, it in
| itiated.
In thirty-eight states the state di-
| visions of the Woman's committee re-
| ceived financial support from the state
| council or from state appropriation.
| In the remaining states funds were
! secured from other sources. The wom-
| ans committee directed from Washing
ton the work of $4,000 units under its
state divisions. Eighty per cent of the
counties of the United States were Or
ganiZed. In Iowa the women organ
lied 80 per cent of the townships In
eleven states the machinery was deve-
oped to the block unit St. Paul, Mimi,
alone had 1900 block chairmen. In a
number of states negro women were Or
ganized. Active aid was given to the
Department of Agriculture and the food
administration by the far-flung ma
chinery of the woman's committee.
In one state conservation messages were
placed in $4,000 pay envelopes in an
other 5000 foreign-born women were
taught food conservation in their own
homes. Twenty-one states formed spe-
cial classes in conservation cookery.
Thirty-nine state divisions work ed
closely with the agricultural exten-
sion service.
Work of Woman Agencies.
In eighteen states the woman's COM
mittee assisted in the woman's land
army. Thirty-five divisions reported
war garden activities. Thirty-one states
caused rapid development of community
kitchens. canneries and dryers in one
state community kitchens being estab-
lished in nearly 500 towns. An ex-
haustive study was made and published
of Agencies for the Sale of Cooked
Foods Without Profit
THE Woman'S committee was very
active in interpreting to the women OF
the country the policies of the Depart
ment of Labor with regard to women
in industry"
Highway Transport.
The highways transport committee OF
the council gave intensive study to and
directed the operations of it's local com.
mittees in nearly every state along the
following lines:
Legislation affecting highways
transport, including uniform state
traffic laws and police traffic regula
tions.
| Stimulation OF food production