Evening journal., 1919-01-16

When America declared war on Ger
many, in April, 1917, all sorts OF organ
izations were seized with the desire TO
do their part. Your club was one OF
them. wasn't 10? And your church
and about every organization that help
ed 10 keep you in touch with your fel-
low men and women. There has prob
ably 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 tre-
s-incalculablc Much Of Il
was finely and usefully directed; much
Of II was not. This Is the brief and un-
adorned tale Of one collective effort
that got results.
II you happen to be an Elk. meInbe-
Of the Benevolent and Protective Order
Of .Elks. you viii know a good deal Of
what is 10 be told II you are not, you
may be surprised as I was when ]
learned what the Elks had done.
To begin with to be an Elk, you must
be an American. The Elks eliminated
the hyphen long before the war msde
, that symbol unpopular in these United
States. The Elks are exclusive. lhey
don't care whether a man IS jew o.
Gentle Catholic or Protestant. They re
not particular about his tailor and they
are not interested in his ideas about
politics. But il he isn't one hundred
Der cent. American he doesn't belond.
So. when we got into the war. the Elks,
with their membership Of half a mil
lion, didn't have 10 worTy about divided
LOYALTY. They knew their members
they could count on them. Elks began
snlisting immediately; before Germany
gave up more than fifty thousand OF
them were in the ssrvice-a remarkable
record. when you consider that a good
many Elks, naturally. are well beyond
military age
Helm Where Needed and at Once.
Tho first step the Elks took toward
organizat.ng their war work was the
appointment OF the Elks War Relief
Commission. on June ?, 1917. John h.
Tener. who is about equally proud Of
having been Governor OF Pennsylvania
and president Of the National League,
headed the commission. and has been
giving up nearly all his time to It's
work ever since his appointment HIS
fellow workers-and their names ought
TO be l,nown-were Joseph T. Tanning,
Jerome B. Fisher, James R. Nicholson,
Edward Rightor and Fred Harper
Tener's commission began by consult
ing with the Red Cross and the War
Department. IN, July it reported 70 the
Grand Lodge that the first thing TO DC
done was the establishment OF base
hospital units, 10 be equipped by the
Elks and operated by the War Depart
nent. Immediately the Grand Lodge
voted a million dollars and authorized
Tener and his associates TO go ahead
No strings were tied to the commission; /;
the Elks wanted to give help whe-e it
was needed. and give It at once. And
Il was well understood that II million
dollars didn't prove 10 be enough an
other million could be had for the ask
ing. As q matter OF fact, the flrst mil
lion has not all been spent yea, but II
the work OF reconstruction requires Il
any part OF another million can be had
AZ once.
The University OF Virginia and INT
-erslty OF Oregon had both organized
base hospital units. Fred Harper, who
was IN 1917. Grand Exalted Ruler OF the
EIks. was a Virginia man, and knew
about his university's work. So the
Elks and the old university got togeth-
CT. The Elks provided the equipment az
! cost OF $4,000, for a base hospital
unit OF a thousand beds, and, a little
later. at the suggestion Of Senator
Chamberlain OF Oregon, who is an Elk.
did the same thing for the Oregon unit.
Both hospitals have done splendid work
in Franco
At the same time Tener and the
others were looking ahead. The Elks
have always worried about men whom
life has more or less knocked out. Elks
have given many a poor devil helping
hand, as individuals and as an organiza-
tion. And good mny OF the big men
in the organization were preoccupied
with the problem OF the men who were
coming back from France blind AMI
crippled They were among the first
people who determined that, so far as It
lay in their power TO prevent it, no
man blinded or crippled in this war
should ever need charity.
On Parker Hill in Boston, there stands
today the Elks L. s. A. reconstruction
hospitsl-the first reconstruction hos
pital planned after America went TO
war. II has three hundred and flfty beds
and no more perfect institution Of its
type can be found anywhere in the
world. The Elks have nothing 10 do
with its operation. They simply built
and equipped the hospital. They work
ed themselves, and they worked with
the medical department Of the army,
IN finding out Just what was needed.
And they furnished every cent OF the
cost-near $4,000.
These were the big, centralized con
tribut.ons Of the Elks TO the winning Of
the war There were others OF some
what similar character At Camp Sher-
msn, near Chilllcothe, Ohio, for exam
pie, a bad situation developed because
the little town couldn't take care OF
the relatives and friends who came to
visit men and officers in the camp The