The Washington times., 1920-06-03
,cs.ti..ss from Y..s.rs.,j


Al the time OF their arrival In
Washington. Il seemed as II the of,
cisls here were reluctant TO give
them an opportunity to exp ,ess
themselves. IL was a crucial mo-
ment. and the mastery diplomacy
OF yiscount Ishii saved the situs-
tion. seiEing every possible chance
to make an address. he soon dis
armed suspicion and brought about
a state of good feeling which was
OF exceptional importance at that
juncture. His exceliency was, pes
haps, the best man his government
could have sent, as he had many
warm friends among the Americans,
and with true Japanese courtesy
entertained on a lavish scale. HE
command OF English was excellent,
and he impressed every one as be-
ing leveI-heAded and right minded.
His wife knew European ways. and
spoke French nuently. They spent
several days with US at weld, ana
we never had more delightful
guests.
The yiscount's speeches were
among the best delivered by any of
our foreign visitors. In one OF them
he said: "Our message Is that in
this day. through It's hours OF
shadow and OF sunshine, your pur'
pose is our purpose, your road ovr
road, and your goal our goal. IL is
that America and Japan Will marcn
together, work together. night to-
gether as comrades, until the end
nd XIGtnFy
won in the struggle which involves
our rights and our liberties"
Although there had been several
small canteens on the Mexican bor-
der during the year before our en-
try into the Great War, the Wash
ington Refreshmcnt Corps was the
first large emergency canteen to be
organized by the Red Cross after
that event. Miss Boardman invited
several of us to come to her office
in consultation and then left the
organization in my hands. Conse-
quently a meeting of women ard
college girls was held, at which
thirty-six members were listed and
several officers nominated. Later
the membership increased to one
hundred. and when the Alexandria
Corps threw in it's lot with ours
we had half as many again. Be-
sides selecting secretary and
treasurer, we decided upon five
committees - -commissary. cooking.
recruiting, uniform. and intelli-
gence.
The Red Cross gave us army titles
colonel, captain, and lieutenant,
and the corps was run on military
lines. The officers, serving as
chairmen, made up an executive
board and brought in reports for
discussion and settlement. The
commissary department had the
most problems to decide at first,
for we were to be an emergency
canteen and so could not know just
what the work was to be or what
equipment might be needed. The
committee in charge looked up the
stores which would give the best
prices, especially for coffee. sugar,
condensed milk. buns, pies, bread,
and jam-articles which. after much
experimenting, were found the most
practical and economical when
feeding men en- masse. They also
got prices on sausages. ham, canned
beef. and peanut butter: these were
all tried out, but discarded in favor
of the earlier staples.
Then trailer kitchen was sug-
gcsted-something at that time
quite new--in which liquids for
twelve hundred people could be
cooked at once. 1t was giant af
fair on wheels. four great cauldrons.
each holding forty gallons, and a
bin at the rear carrying a days
supply OF wood. A motor truck car
Il
Kitchen. Both OF these together
with an icebox were donated to
the corps. and very useful gifts they
proved themselves to be.
AS soon as the kitchen arrived
we began making experiments.