Evening star., 1942-05-17

DllO"CfCA "ll1OLl 1aSG "CCh AiASAOdCa
the naming by the Commissioner Of
70-member committee to perfect
organization of the fund. Cornmis-
Sioner Young is honorary chairman
of the committee now working to es-
tablish the chest.
Idea Started 1914-1918.
While the Federation of Citizens
Associations declined to act on the
Embarrassing plan at its last meeting,
several of its delegates and repre-
sentatives of its member bodies were
on hand at a recent meeting at
which objectives Of the plan were
outlined.
In it's study of the war fund idea,
the Board of Trade dug up the fol-
lowing background:
1t was during the war years, from
1914 to 1918, that the desirability of
combined money raising efforts be-
came increasingly apparent. Pro-
ponents felt combination of drives
means saving in operating eX-
penses, economy of effort and
economy of leadership.
Conserving manpower at this
time seems especially important be-
cause a great number Of former
volunteer workers are now In the
armed services or assigned to posi-
tions which will not permit time to
be spent on solicitations.
The growing sentiment toward
the setting up of War Chests Is in
dicated by the fact that 20 cities
and one State which have Com
munity Chest goals of over $500, 900
have set up War Chests; these are
Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Cincin-
natl, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit,
Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City,
Louisville, Milwaukee, Minneapolis,
Omaha. Pittsburgh. Portland, Greg:
State of Rhode Island, Rochester,
San Francisco, st. Louis and Seattle.
No Good Drives Eliminated.
Fifty-four cities where their total
is less than s50O,OO0 have organized
War Chests. Seventy other cities
are considering this step. including
New York City, Philadelphia, Los
Angeles, New Haven, Richmond
and Syracuse and Washington.
Thus total Of las communities
already have or are considering the
establishment Of War Chest.
1t Is not the purpose of the War
Chest to eliminate any of the es-
tablished or new legitimate chari-
table appeals, rather to have the
one drive to take care of all of
them without repeated campaigns.
Boston, according to the Board
Of Trade. provides an outstanding
example of the desirability Of such
a move. From January %, 1912.
until February IL, Bostonians en-
gagged in drive to collect a goal of
$1,000 900. During this three-week
period 10000 volunteers, from Gov.
Leverett Saltonstall, Mayor Maurice
Tobin and Charles Francis Adams
on down, secured the town for con-
tributors. At the end of the cam
paign there were total of 400 900
contributors who had raised over
s7,700000, oversubscribing their
quota by more than s100, 900. or s2,-
TOO, 900 more than the Boston Com
munity Fund had raised the year
previous. Those in charge of the
drive are convinced that if all the
separate appeals had conducted in
dividual campaigns they would not
have reached the grand total at
tanned by the Greater Boston
United War Fund. In addition to
Boston itself, the drive covered the
surrounding IS neighboring towns.
Administrative costs for raising and
allocating the funds in Boston
amounted to As per cent. Gener-
ally, individual campaigns have
average administrative costs of be-
tween Is and 80 per cent. One Of
the outstanding features of the Bos-
ton campaign was that it ended on
time. They started out on the
basis of a three-week campaign,
and at the end of the time allotted
it was over; no dragging out or
other extension nf tho time limit