The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-09-01

This is not a. tale of wandering
Jew or a man without country but
of a wandering gift; of a gift that ar
rived too late; of a gift searching for
a recipient and that offers itself to the
needy and no recipient comes forward
and no needy are found Listen to
the tale and pity the gift that cannot
give itself away
Back in 1913 when the great war
was on, the Spanish War Veterans
thinking of the Connecticut boys lover
there and the approach of the Fourth
of July and reaG1ins the Cheerlessn ess
of a holiday SO far away from home
under such conditions conceived the
idea of raising "a suru of money great
enough to send to France and give
every Connecticut boy $40.
A drive was started early in june to
gather together $50, 600 for the purpose
and tho effort had the approval of the
Governor and local War Boards. The
movement was generously supporter
and the money reached France on the
23th OF the mouth. So far SO good.
But then its troubles commenced
By that time Pershing had COM
menced his drive and most of the
Connecticut boys had more serious
business on hand than planning how
TO blow in $40 apiece on the Fourth
in a country which had no Fourth of
July and where there were already ad-
together TOO many 1lreWOr'hS gong on.
A few of the boys were where they
could be reached and they got their
share. Then it was decided to wait
for a more favorable opportunity to
distribute the balance The matter
drifted along this way and on No
yenber 18th came the ArmiStlce. BY
this time large numbers of the Con-
necticut boys were past being inter-
ested in Fourths or ten dollar gifts.
The rest were hurrying home as fast
as they were allowed to- Again the
time for distribution was inoppor-
tune.
There was left a balance of 500
900. After due consideration $4,000
of this was invested in French Ma
tional Defense Bonds which were
bought at 95, bear five per cent. in
terest and mature next year. The re-
naming $1,000 were brought home,
and deposited in the Aetna NATIONAL
Bank in Hartford
Once more the question of what
to do with the money came up and
it was decided to make it available to
relieve distress among Connecticut A
Z. F. boys. as it was not large enough
to distribute pro rata, and a board
of trustees was chosen to administer
the fund
With this object in view the matter
was given all the publicity possible
ana In auCsllOn every 1Seu cross
Chapter, every American Legion Post
and every known war agency in the
State was supplied with printo1 mat
ter setting forth the amount avail
able the object for which it was to
be used and the conditions on which
it could be obtained. In spite of all
this only twenty-five applications for
relief were received.
After proper investigation all of
these twenty-five were allowed but
together they only totaled $a29.3S or
about the amount of the interest on
the fund. The largest amount paid
was $3.50 and the smallest S13.93
The costs of administering the fund
up to July 1, 1920, have only been
S77.So and of this $3.50 was spent
for printing circulars telling about
the fund and what one had to do to
get a slice. The balance was for
postage and similar items. All the
work connected with the fund has
been purely voluntary.
The trustees want to get rid of
the money. They feel that it should
not be allowed to keep on accumu-
lating Indefinitely to breed friction
and jealousies and trouble in the flu
ture. This year they want to give
away at least $4,000 and are worried
for fear they can not find any one
10 give it to. Any Connecticut man
who served in France is eligible to