The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1919-01-18

Army, alone of all the big war-re-
lief bodies that were working with
the troops in France, didn't come
dunning you?
Well. the Elks are responsible, in
u great measure. Elks seemed to
hear more about the Salvation Army
and its work from the first than the
| general public did. One reason was,
l imagine, that the war crowded the
Elks out OF house and home so thor
oughly. They gave up their club
| house and their lodge rooms to the
Red Cross all over the country. you
know
Sometimes they kept one room in
a big building for their meetings;
sometimes they just borrowed a
room when they had to have it.
The Elks are convivial lot. They
knock around & good deal And
they are the 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 a sort of Gin
derella. So, here and there, quite
spontaneously, local lodges of the
Elks began getting in touch with To-
cal Salvation Amy leaders.
$500 ha
effect: You people are doing nigh
ty good work. You need money. We
want to help. We cans go over there
and bake doughnuts for the boys in
the trenches, but, by thunder, We can
help you to get the money you need.
How about it?''
Then the time came, in the spring
of 1918, when the Salvation Army
needed five million dollars and simp-
ly had to make drive to get it. By
that time the tie between the Elks
and the Salvationists was pretty we'll
established.
Reports had been coming in to
Salvation Army headquarters about
the help the Elks were giving. And
the leaders of the drive were ner-
vous. They didn't know much about
raising money on a wholesale basis.
They'd always managed to paddle
their own canoe. They didn't have
a great publicity department. They
didn't have any of the machinery the
Red Cross and the Y. NJ. C. A. had
So they wen. to the Grand Lodge
of the Elks. And the Elks, who had
been hearing from their local lodges,
greeted them with enthusiasm. In
more than fifty cities the Elks took
complete charge of that drive-no-
tably in Milwaukee, Minneapolis,
Kansas City and St. Louis.
They paraded the streets; they
got up circuses. They left the Sal
yation Army people, who really had
enough to do with their regular
free. and guaranteed the mo-
ley.
They saw us through" says Col
onel w. A. Mcintyre, who is at the
head of the Army's New York office
We're still a little dazed by all
they did for US. We never could
have got the money we did without
them. We couldn't ask them for
anything they didn't give us. Usually
We didn't have chance to ask. They
took hold of our drive magnificently
There aren't words strong enough in
praise of the Elks.
They're a wonderful lot. It's not
quite a new thing for them to help
us. l remember once, years ago,
they held their Grand Lodge in Buff
falo. And at the same time we were
having a festival. and trying to
raise some money. We had hurdy-
gurdy. among other things. Well.
lot of those Elks just took that hur-
dy-gurdy away from us. They kept
it going for three days-and nights.
They charged dollar a ride, and
every Elk must have ridden a dozen
times. They went all over town in