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UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

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"WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE 

UNITED  STATES 
COUNCIL  of  NATIONAL  DEFENSE 


AN  INTERPRETATIVE  REPORT 

APRIL  21.  1917,  TO  FEBRUARY  27.  1919 

By 
EMILY  NEWELL  BLAIR 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT  PRINTING  OFFICE 
1920 


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TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Foreword  by  Newton  D.  Baker,  Secretary  of  War  and  Chairman  of  the 

Council  of  National  Defense 5 

The  Woman's  Committee 9 

Executive  office 0 

Chairmen  of  State  and  Territorial  Divisions 9 

The  Honorary  Committee _^^^r^  H 

I.  Creation  of  the  Committee 13 

II.  Relationship  of  Woman's  Committee  to  Federal  departments. 

The  Channel  Theory 20 

III.  Relationship  of  State  Divisions  to  State  Councils 36 

IV.  The  answer  of  the  States . 47 

V.  The  first  task 50 

VI.  The  acid  test C4 

VII.  The  Committee's  departments  of  work __  74 

VIIi:  Special    work 89 

IX.  Achievements  of  the  State  Divisions 98 

X.  Organization  difficulties  and  adjustments 110 

XI.  Where  the  armistice  found  the  Woman's  Committee 125 

XII.  Postarmistice  period 132 

XIII.  Conclusions _  , 143 

3 


FOREWORD. 

As  the  tremendous  years  1914  to  1918  recede,  scholars  will  begin 
to  sift  out,  the  things  of  real  importance  and  to  draw,  with  certainty, 
lessons  from  the  events  of  that  epoch.  At  present  the  smoke  of 
battle  has  not  cleared  away;  detachment  is  not  possible  while  our 
iujrves  are  still  tingling  with  the  sensations  which  daily  tore  through 
them  as  we  read  of  the  swaying  battle  front,  searched  casualty  lists, 
or  exhau.tecl  ourselves  in  war  work  in  order  that  we  might  not  be 
too  keenly  pained  by  the  tragedies  and  losses  of  war  itself.  For 
this  reason,  the  history  of  this  war  can  not  be  written  as  yet,  but 
partial  narratives  and  records  of  great  events  and  great  movements 
can  and  ought  to  be  written.  The  philosophic  historian  of  the  future 
will  not  be  controlled  by  our  estimate  of  the  relative  importance  of 
these  movements,  but  his  judgment  of  us  wfll  be  affected  b}T  the  esti- 
mate which  we  ourselves  put  upon  the  things  which  were  happening 
around  us.  Whether  we  fought  blindly,  impelled  by  cosmic  forces 
toward  world  ends,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  did  consciously  realize  a 
set  of  true  values  worth  dying  for,  will  not  affect  the  result  of  the 
World  War,  but  a  determination  of  that  question  will  be  an  enlight- 
ening item  to  those  who  seek  to  put  under  life  and  progress  a  more 
substantial  foundation  than  chance.  Now  is  the  time  when  these 
narratives  and  records  must  be  written,  if  they  are  to  be  written 
at  all.  and  it  is  fortunate  to  have  this  book  prepared  by  one  of 
the  staff  of  the  committee,  while  its  recital,  both  of  fact  and  feeling, 
can  be  verified  by  those  who  have  actually  worked  about  the  things 
it  details. 

The  Council  of  National  Defense  was  created  by  act  of  the  Con- 
gress in  191G.  At  that  time  the  Congress  was  not  legislating  the 
program  of  American  participation  in  the  World  War.  The  Na- 
tional Defense  Act  was  an  orderly,  peace-time  reorganization  of  the 
Regular  Army  and  National  Guard  of  the  country.  The  leisure- 
liness  of  its  view  of  the  situation  can  perhaps  best  be  shown  by  the 
fact  that  such  increase  as  was  provided  in  the  size  of  the  Regular 
Army  (a  most  modest  increase)  was  to  take  place  in  five  equal 
annual  installments. 

Undoubtedly  there  were  persons  in  the  United  States  who  felt 
lhat  the  United  States  could  not  keep  out  of  the  war  which  had  then 
been  raging  for  two  years  in  Europe.  The  intensity  of  that  struggle 

6 


6  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

increased:  new  weapons  and  modes  of  warfare  were  being  intro- 
duced; economic  forces  involving  the  fate  of  whole  populations  were 
more  and  more  pivotal  in  the  contest,  and  there  had  already  been 
disclosed  in  Europe  the  fact  that  war  now  differs  both  qualitatively 
and  quantitatively  from  such  contests  of  arms  as  took  place  in  our 
own  Civil  War.  or  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War  in  Europe.  Every 
science,  art,  trade,  industry,  and  capacity  of  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  the  nations  at  war  in  Europe  was  intensively  preempted  and 
devoted  to  the  war.  The  drama  of  the  war  was  on  the  fighting 
front;  the  strength  of  it  on  the  home  front.  We  see  this  all  very 
clearly  now  in  Gen.  LudendorfFs  story.  It  is  true  he  is  first  a  soldier, 
and  his  claim  that  the  German  breakdown  was  on  the  home  front  and 
not  in  the  Army  might  be  discounted,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that 
the  story  of  the  battle  which  raged  from  the  Channel  to  the  Swiss 
frontier  throughout  Scpteml>cr  and  October,  1918,  bears  out  his 
claim. 

These  facts,  less  clearly  seen  in  191G  than  now,  however,  were 
enough  to  induce  the  Congress  to  include  in  the  National  Defense  Act 
provision  for  the  Council  of  National  Defense  in  order  that  an  emer- 
gency would  not  find  us  without  a  central  agency  to  direct  the 
national  mobilization  back  of  the  fighting  army.  The  early  sessions 
of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  were  inspired  by  the  same  long- 
range  temper  which  had  moved  the  Congress  to  the  passage  of  the 
act.  Its  first  suggestions  involved  a  scries  of  protracted  studies  as  a 
basis  for  working  plans,  but  these  were  swiftly  brushed  aside  as  the 
resistless  march  of  events  brought  us  face  to  face  with  the  emergency, 
and,  when  it  came,  it  was  found  that  there  was  no  need  to  stir  and 
stimulate,  nor  any  occasion  to  educate  our  people.  They,  too,  realized 
in  an  instant  that  when  the  country  went  to  war  every  interest  and 
every  person  in  it  went  to  war.  The  Council  of  National  Defense 
was  literally  submerged  by  the  flood  of  suggestions  and  offers  of  serv- 
ice which  came  from  individuals  and  associations  of  people,  A  wise 
provision  of  the  law  creating  the  Council  of  National  Defense  author- 
ized the  formation  of  subordinate  agencies,  and  great  fields  of  effort 
were  marked  out  and  assigned  to  committees,  upon  which  were  ap- 
pointed the  foremost  men  and  women  of  the  country.  Nobody  stopped 
to  inquire  into  the  effect  of  his  new  task  upon  his  old  interests,  or 
whether  in  the  new  team  he  was  yoked  with  an  ancient  adversary. 
Beliefs  and  interests  which  had  separated  us  into  groups  were  lost 
sight  of  in  the  interest  which  united  us  into  a  nation  at  war. 

The  Council  of  National  Defense  itself  was  not  an  executive  body. 
Its  legal  function  was  to  consider  and  advise,  and  many  of  the  sub- 
ordinate committees  established  by  it  found  themselves  impatient  that 
they  could  not  execute  the  plans  which  they  labored  so  earnestly  to 
perfect.  In  the  long  run,  however,  the  wisdom  of  the  law  was 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  7 

The  committees  became  advisers  to  established  executive 
agencies,  and  they  brought  the  sort  of  counsel  most  needed  by  the 
executive  without  at  all  inconveniencing  the  operations  of  the  Gov- 
ernment by  the  introduction  of  new  executive  agencies  which  would 
have  entailed  overlapping,  duplication,  and  uncertainty. 

Perhaps  there  was  no  subject  upon  which  so  much  pioneering  had 
to  be  done  as  the  relation  which  woman  should  bear  to  the  war.  Her 
traditional  pail  as  mother  or  wife  of  the  soldier  was  heavy  enough, 
and  that  she  was  still  to  bear  and  must  always  bear  in  such  tragedies, 
but  since  18G5  woman's  place  in  our  civilization  had  been  undergoing 
:i  profound  change,  and  in  the  3?ears  immediately  preceding  1914  the 
rate  of  that  change  had  been  greatly  accelerated.  In  both  education 
and  industry  women  occupied  a  new  place.  Perhaps  10.000,000 
American  women  were  earning  their  own  livelihood  in  workshop, 
factoiy,  and  office.  Household  arts,  which  an  earlier  generation 
treated  as  a  pail  of  u  making  a  home,"  had  been  transferred  to  the 
factories  and  the  workers  had  followed  the  arts. 

As  a  consequence  of  this,  there  was  a  more  general  recognition 
of  the  political  rights  and  interests  of  women,  and  women  had  or- 
ganized themselves  into  associations  to  secure  in  law  and  in  public 
opinion  the  recognition  which  their  new  contribution  to  society 
justified.  These  societies  were  of  every  kind  both  in  object  and 
method.  Like  all  other  societies  formed  for  serious  purposes,  whether 
by  men  or  by  women,  they  were  too  much  in  earnest  to  be  entirely 
at  peace  with  one  another.  Perhaps  they  had  less  of  the  restraint  of 
convention  and  tradition  that  similar  men's  societies  would  have 
had,  because  the  situation  which  caused  them  to  be  organized  was 
itself  so  new,  and  both  they  and  people  generally  had  less  experi- 
ence with  the  problems  which  they  had  set  themselves  to  solve, 
than  with  the  ancient  problems  about  which  men's  societies,  for  the 
most  part,  had  been  organized. 

It  would  have  been  natural,  therefore,  to  expect  several  groups  of 
women,  with  several  theories  of  woman's  place  in  the  war,  but  no 
such  thing  happened.  The  Council  of  National  Defense,  with  the 
sanction  of  the  President,  appointed  the  Woman's  Committee  and 
asked  it  "  to  coordinate  the  women's  prejrtireduess  movement."  In 
other  action,  the  Council  of  National  Defense  referred  to  the  work 
of  the  committee  as  "women's  defense  work."  But  there  were  no 
limitations  in  these  phrases.  The  purpose  of  the  council  was  that 
the  committee  should  organize  the  women  of  the  Nation  and  the 
committee  went  straight  ahead,  perhaps  never  reading  a  second  time 
the  resolution  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  by  which  it  was 
created.  With  directness  and  intelligence  it  did  the  thing  it  found 
to  do ;  it  did  the  things  it  found  necessary  to  be  done ;  and  the  strength 


S  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

of  the  committee  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  understood  and  sympathized 
loth  with  the  desire  and  the  capacity  of  American  women  to  serve. 

The  Chairman  of  the  committee  from  the  l>eginning  was  Dr.  Anna 
Howard  Shaw — ripened  by  a  long  life  devoted  intensely  to  the  advo- 
cacy 6f  great  causes;  cheered  and  heartened  by  recent  victories  for  the 
greatest  cause  for  which  she  had  fought  in  her  long  and  unusual 
life;  loved  and  honored  by  her  sex  as  their  leader,  and  by  men  as  a 
citizen  combining  in  a  rare  degree  high  qualities  of  intellect,  force 
of  character,  and  persuasive  eloquence  in  speech.  She  and  her  com- 
mittee wrought  a  work  the  like  of  which  has  never  been  seen  before, 
and  her  reward  was  to  see  its  success,  and  then  to  be  caught  up  as  she 
was  engaged  in  another  high  and  fierce  conflict,  into  which  she  threw 
herself  when  hostilities  ceased,  in  order  that  this  great  work  might 
be  but  a  helpful  part  of  a  greater  thing  in  the  hope  and  history  of 
mankind. 

These  pages  tell  the  story  of  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Committee; 
the  doubts,  hesitancies,  fears,  and  successes,  and  that  future  historia'n 
who  takes  this  book  as  raw  material  for  his  larger  estimate  of  the 
currents  which  run  in  the  affairs  of  men  will  find  that  new  as  woman 
was  in  her  industrial  and  educational  relations,  she  saw  their  impli- 
cations and  contributed  her  personal  suffering,  her  personal  sympa- 
thy, as  of  old.  but  added  to  it  the  dignified  gift  of  the  worker  who 
brings  mind  and  hand  to  add  to  the  aggregate  of  the  Nation's  strength 
Jn  an  emergency  which  demands  that  all  bring  all. 

The  Woman's  Committee  was  the  leader  of  the  women  of,  America. 
It  informed  and  broadened  the  minds  of  women  everywhere,  and 
with  no  thought  of  propaganda  it  made  an  argument  by  producing 
results.  The  Council  of  National  Defense  fades  out  of  this  work, 
and  the  Woman's  Committee  looms  large — and  yet  larger  still  is 
the  American  woman.  We  can  not  tell  either  the  beginning  or  the 
end  of  the  great  movements  which  were  for  a  moment  centralized 
here,  but  there  is  reassurance  and  comfort  in  the  unselfishness,  the 
large-mindedness,  and  effectiveness  of  the  work  done,  and  we  may 
count  upon  the  capacity  of  women  to  cooperate,  in  the  mobilization 
for  the  tasks  of  peace  which  are  to  come,  with  a  larger  confidence 
because  of  the  success  of  the  work  described  in  these  pages, 

NEWTON  D.  BAKER, 
Secretary  of  War,  and 
Chairman  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE,  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  or  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Dr.  ANNA  HOWARD  SHAW,  Honorary  President  of  National  American  Woman 
Suffrage  Association,  Chairman. 

Mrs.  Pinup  NORTH  MOORE,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.," President  of  the  National  Council 
of  Women  of  the  United  States. 

Mrs.  JOSIAH  EVANS  COWLKS,  of  Los  Angeles,  Calif.,  President  of  the  General 
Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. 

Miss  MAUDE  WETMORE,  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  Chairman  of  National  League  for 
Women's  Service, 

Mrs.  CARRIE  CHAPMAN  CATT,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  President  of  National  Ameri- 
can Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

Mrs.  ANTOINETTE  FUNK,  lawyer,  Chicago,  111. 

Mrs.  STANLEY  McCoRMicK,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  Vice  President  National  American 
Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

Mrs.  JOSEPH  R.  LA  MAR,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  President  of  National  Society  of  Co- 
lonial Dames. 

Miss  IDA  M.  TARHKLL,  of  New  York,  N.  Y.,  publicist  and  writer. 

Miss  AGNES  NESTOR,  of  Chicago,  111.,  Vice  President  International  Glove  Work- 
ers' Union. 

Miss  HANNAH  J.  PATTERSON,  of  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

EXECUTIVE    OFFICE. 

Miss  Hannah  J.  Patterson,  Resident  Director. 

Miss  Grace  M.  Si>eir,  Assistant  to  the  Resident  Director. 

Dr.  Jessica  B.  Peixotto,  Child  Welfare, 

Mrs.  Helen  Gulick,  Child  Welfare. 

Mrs.  Martha  Evans  Martin,  Educational  Propaganda. 

Mrs.  Bertha  C.  Gordon,  Educational  Propaganda. 

Miss  Helen  Atwater,  Food  Production  and  Home  Economics. 

Miss  Elizabeth  Green,  Information. 

Miss   Mary   Winslow,  Maintenance  of  Existing   Social   Service  Agencies  and 

Health  and  Recreation. 

Mrs.  Edmund  Shelby,  News;  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Allene  T.  Wilkes. 
Mrs.  Emily  Newell  Blair,  News, 
Miss  Ruth  Wilson,  State  Organization. 
Mrs.  James  R.  Field,  Women  in  Industry;  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Samuel  Bannister 

Harding. 

Miss  Caroline  I.  Reilley,  Secretary  to  the  Chairman  of  Committee. 
Miss  Adah  E.  Bush,  Office  Management. 

CHAIBMEN  OF  STATE  AND  TERRITORIAL  DIVISIONS  OF  THE   WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE, 

Alabama Mrs.  James  F.  Hooper,  Selma. 

Alaska Mrs.  Thomas  J.  Donohoe,  Valdez. 

Arizona Mrs.  Eugene  Brady  O'Neill,  Phoenix. 

Arkansas , Mrs,  Joseph  Fraueuthal,  Conway, 


10  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

California Mrs.  Herbert  A.  Cable,  Los  Angeles. 

Colorado Mrs.  W.  H.  Kistler,  Denver. 

Comn'Cticut — Mrs.  Caroline  Ruutz  Recs,  Greenwich,  succeeded  by  Mrs. 

J.  Bel  knap  Beach,  Hartford. 

Iietawarc Mrs.  Charles  R.  Miller,  Wilmington. 

District  of  Columbia— Mrs.  Archibald  Hopkins,  Washington. 

Florida Mrs.  William  Hocker,  Ocala,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Frank 

/  Jennings,  Jacksonville. 

Georgia Mrs.  Samuel  M.  In  man.  Atlanta. 

Hawaii Mrs.  John  M.  Dowsett,  Honolulu. 

Idnho Mrs.  Samuel  H.  Hays,  Boise, 

Illinois Mrs.  Joseph  T.  Bowen,  Chicago. 

Indiana.. Mrs.  Caroline  Fairbanks,  Fort  Wayne,  succeeded  by  Mra. 

Charles  A.  Carlisle,  Indianapolis. 

Iowa Mrs.  Francis  E.  Whitley,  Webster  City. 

Kansas Mrs.  David  W.  Mulvane,  Topeka. 

Kentucky Mrs.  Holm  Bruce,  Louisville. 

Louisiana Mrs.  Arthur  Browne  Hammond,  jr.,  New  Orleans. 

Maine Mrs.  Frederick  H.  Abbott,  Saco. 

Maryland Mrs.  Edward  Shoemaker,  Baltimore. 

Massachusetts Mrs.  Nathaniel  Thayer,  Boston. 

Michigan Mrs.  Caroline  Bartlett  Crane,  Kalamazoo. 

Mississippi Mrs.  Edward  McGehee,  Como. 

Minnesota Mrs.  Thomas  G.  Winter,  Minneapolis. 

Missouri Mrs.  B.  F.  Bush,  St.  Louis. 

Montana Mrs.  Tylar  B.  Thompson,  Missoula,  succeeded  by  Mrs. 

Henry  L.  Sherlock,  Helena. 

Nebraska Miss  Sarka  B.  Hrbkora,  Lincoln. 

Nevada Mrs.  Poaris  Buckner  Ellis,  Carson  City. 

New  Hampshire Mrs.  Mary  I.  Wood,  Portsmouth. 

New  Jersey Mrs.  Charles  W.  Stockton,  Ridgewood. 

New  Mexico Mrs.  Washington   E.  Lindsay,  Santa  Fe,  succeeded  by 

Mrs.  George  W.  Prichard,  Santa  Fe. 
New  York Mrs.  William  Grant  Brown,  New  York  City,  succeeded 

by  Mrs.  Alexander  Trowbridge,  New  York  City. 

North  Carolina Mrs.  Eugene  Rcilley,  Charlotte. 

North  Dakota Mrs.  H.  G.  Vick,  Cavnliet,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Fred  L. 

Conklin,  Bismark. 
Ohio Mrs.  George  Zimmerman,  Fremont,  succeeded  by  Miss 

Belle  Slierwin,  Columbus. 

Oklahoma Mrs.  Eugene  B.  Lawson,  Nowata. 

Oregon .Mrs.  Charles  H.  Castner,  Hood  River. 

Pennsylvania Mrs.  J.  Willis  Martin,  Philadelphia. 

Porto  Rico Mrs.  Peter  J.  Hamilton,  San  Juan. 

Rhode  Island Mrs.  Rush  Sturges,  Providence. 

South  Carolina Mrs.  F.  Louise  Maycs,  Greenville,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  J. 

Otey  Reed,  Columbia. 

South  Dakota Dr.  Helen  S.  Peabody,  Sioux  Falls. 

Tennessee Mrs.  George  W.  Denney,  Knoxville. 

Texas Mrs.  Fred  Fleming,  Dallas. 

Utah Mrs.  W.  N.  Williams,  Salt  Lake  City. 

Vermont Mrs.  J.  E.  Weeks,  Middlebury,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  Anna 

Hawks  Putnam,  Benuington. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  11 

Virginia  -Mrs.   B.   B.   Mumford,   Richmond,   succeeded   by   Mm. 

Egbert  G.  Leigh,  jr.,  Richmond. 
Washington - Mrs.  Winfield  R.  Smith,  Seattle,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  J.  S. 

McKee,  Olympia. 

West  Virginia Mrs.  Joseph  G.  Cochran,  Parkersburg. 

Wisconsin Mrs.  Henry  H.  Morgan,  Madison,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  B.  C. 

Thompson,  La  Crossc, 
Wyoming Mrs.  R.  A.  Morton,  Cheyenne,  succeeded  by  Mrs.  \V.  B.  IX 

Gray,  Cheyenne, 

THE  HONOBABY  COMMITTEE. 

of  the  Presidents  of  the  following  national  organizations  of  women:) 

Alliance  of  Unitarian  and  other  Liberal  Christian  Women. 

American  Home  Economics. 

Anserican  Nurses'  Association. 

American  Red  Cross. 

Association  of  Coltegiate  Alumnae*. 

Camp  Fire  Girls. 

Catholic  Alumnae,  International  Federation  of, 

Children  of  America,  Loyalty  League, 

Children  of  the  American  Revolution. 

Child  Welfare  League,  International. 

Collegiate  Periodical  League, 

Colonial  Dames  of  America,  National  Society  of. 

Cuuncil  of  Jewish  Wo*ien,  National. 

Daughters  of  American  Revolution,  National  Society  of. 

Daughters  of  the  British  Empire. 

Daughters  1S12,  National  Society  United  States. 

Daughters  of  Founders  and  Patriots  of  America,  National  Society  ot 

Daughters  of  the  Revolution,  General  Society  of, 

Florence  Crittenton  Mission,  National.  i  V. 

Garden  Club  of  America. 

Ci-r.oral  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs. 

Girls*  National  Honor  Guard  (Inc.) 

Girl  Scouts  (Inc.) 

Kir.'lergarten  Union,  International. 

L:n!ies'  Auxiliary  Order  of  Railway  Conductors  of  America, 

Ladies  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 

Ladies  of  the  Maccabees. 

Le.-'.gue  of  American  Penwomen. 

Medical  Women's  National  Association. 

Militia  of  Mercy. 

Mothers  and  Parent-Teacher  Association,  National  Congress  ot. 

National  American  Woman  Suffrage  Association. 

National  Association  of  Colored  Women. 

National  Association  Opposed  to  Woman  Suffrage. 

N:  '.ional  Council  of  Women. 

National  Federation  of  Music  Clubs. 

National  Federation  of  Temple  Sisterhoods. 

National  League  for  Women's  Service. 

National  League  of  Women  Workers, 

National  Library  tot  the  Blind, 


12  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

National  Women's  Medical  Association,  Committee  on  War  Relief. 

National  Women's  Trade  Union' League. 

National  Special  Aid  Society. 

Needle-work  Guild  of  America. 

New  Century  Club. 

Order  of  tl»e  Eastern  Star,  General  Grand  Chapter. 

People's  Aid  Association,  International. 

Pythian  Sisters. 

Royal  Neighbors  of  America. 

Southern  Association  of  College  Women. 

State  Women's  War  Relief. 

United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy. 

Woman's  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society. 

Woman's  Auxiliary  Railway  Mail  Association. 

Woman's  Benefit  Association  of  the  Maccabees. 

Woman's  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Woman's  Board  of  Missions. 

Woman's  Bureau,  National  Democratic  Committee, 

Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union,  National. 

Woman's  Department  of  National  Civic  Federation. 

Woman's  Evening  Clinic. 

Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  of  the  M,  E.  Church. 

Woman's  Missionary  Council  M.  E.  Church,  South. 

Woman's  National  Farm  and  Garden  Association. 

Woman's  National  Press  Association. 

Woman's  National  Rivers  and  Harbors  Congress. 

Woman's  National  Sabbath  Alliance. 

Woman's  Relief  Corps. 

Woman's  Section  Navy  League. 

Woodcraft  League  of  America,  National  Girls'  Work  Committee 

Young  Woman's  Hebrew  Association. 

Young  Ladies'  Mutual  Improvement  Association. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Association,  National, 


CHAPTER  L 

CREATION  OF  THE  COMMITTEE. 

Before  the  United  States  entered  the  war  the  women  of  America 
had  thrilled  to  the  achievements  of  the  British  and  French  women, 
and  had  paid  them  the  tribute  of  admiration  for  their  immediate  and 
whole-hearted  support  of  their  men.  both  in  the  field  and  in  industry. 

The  American  women  longed  to  pay  their  sisters  the  further 
tribute  of  emulation.  Thus  it  was  that  even  before  war  was  declared 
by  Congress.  April  6. 1917,  when  its  imminence  became  more  apparent 
every  day.  the  great  associations  of  women,  the  National  American 
Woman  Suffrage  Association,  Daughters  of  American  Revolution, 
National  Council  of  Women,  the  General  Federation  of  Women's 
Clubs,  through  their  executive  boards  or  in  conventions  assembled, 
pledged  their  services  to  their  Government.  Each  of  them  realized 
the  necessity  that  had  fallen  upon  the  allied  countries  of  appraising 
their  woman  power  and  of  substituting  it.  in  trade,  in  industry,  in  the 
mechanism  of  Government  suid  finance,  for  the  man  power  which  had 
been  removed  to  the  front  line  battle  trenches. 

Profiting  from  the  experiences  of  the  women  overseas,  the  first 
move  of  the  American  club  women  was  to  take  a  registration  of  their 
membership,  to  ascertain  how  best  their  members  could  serve  their 
country  in  case  of  need. 

In  addition  to  these  named  and  many  other  organizations  which, 
designed  in  peace  time  for  the  promotion  of  public  welfare,  wished  to 
devote  themselves  to  war  needs,  other  new  societies  sprang  into  exist- 
ence, with  the  intent  of  mobilizing  women  to  meet  the  new  demands 
created  by  the  war.  An  example  of  the  latter  was  the  National 
League  for  Women's  Service,  which  had  for  its  fundamental  idea  that 
women  should  by  volunteer  service  supplement  the  work  of  the  official 
government.  It  had  already  organized  a  bureau  of  registration  and 
information,  which  was  cooperating  with  the  Department  of  Labor  in 
j. -lacing  women  in  war  industries,  and  hoped  to  serve  similarly  the 
Department  of  Agriculture.  It  had  branches  in  the  larger  cities,  and 
had  made  a  wide  appeal  to  women  of  all  classes.  The  organization 
was  planned  on  military  lines,  adopting  a  service  uniform,  and  for  its 
Motor  Corps  rank,  discipline,  and  military  drill.  The  League  hoped 

13 


14  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Ill  at  its  plan  of  organization  would  make  it  particularly  available  for 
government  use. 

For  years  i>ooks  had  been  written  about  the  women's  clubs  of 
America,  and  foreigners  had  frequently  commented  on  the  American 
woman's  fondness  for  organization,  but  it  is  doubtful  if  in  official<l«r.;i 
or  in  the  mind  of  the  average  man  there  existed  any  real  appreciation 
of  tlie  extent  of  this  organization  or  the  tremendous  power  that  thesv 
organizations  represented.  They  merely  constituted  one  of  the  many 
strong  undercurrents  of  American  life  that  were  not  discovered  until 
the  tide  of  war  brought  them  to  the  surface.  In  a  very  general  way 
it  was  recognized  that  women  were  a  power,  that  they  were  active, 
efficient,  and  were  making  contributions  to  the  social  welfare,  and  did 
it  through  some  sort  of  cooperation,  clubs,  committees,  congresses  or 
associations. 

In  a  very  hazy  sort  of  a  way  the  idea  was  prevalent  that  women 
were  going  to  play  a  grcafc  role  in  this  war.  This  idea  was  present 
equally,  although  inarticulate,  in  the  mind  of  women  as  well  as  men. 
How  these  women  were  to  be  used  and  how  mobilized  for  that  use, 
no  one  knew.  But,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  no  one  knew  much  of  any- 
thing very  definitely  in  the  early  days  of  the  war.  Democracy  was 
found  to  be  a  slow  and  cumbersome  agency  for  making  a  war  ma- 
chine, but  it  lumbered,  it  creaked,  it  shrieked,  until  something  in  the 
nature  of  a  machine  was  finally  developed. 

Looking  back  on  those  days,  one  recalls  the  feverish  desire  to  be 
doing  something,  everywhere  evident,  everywhere  tempered  with  the 
very  intense  fear  of  doing  the  wrong  thing,  and  then  after  an 
attempt  or  two,  appalled  by  the  inability  to  do  anything.  Into 
turbid,  tense,  disordered  Washington,  came  the  women's  tenders  of. 
service.  It  was  not  known  exactly  to  whom  these  offers  should  be 
referred,  or  what  could  be  done  with  them,  but  it  was  certain  that 
it  would  never  do  to  refuse  them,  for  they  might  be  needed,  although 
no  one  yet  knew  when  and  where. 

There  had  been  created  in  August,  1916,  by  an  act  of  Congress, 
the  Council  of  National  Defense,  composed  of  the  Secretaries  of 
War,  Navy,  Interior,  Agriculture,  Commerce,  and  Labor.  The  act 
also  provided  for  an  Advisory  Commission  of  seven  persons,  each 
of  whom  should  have  special  knowledge  of  some  industry,  public 
utility,  or  the  development  of  some  natural  resource,  or  be  otherwise 
specially  qualified.  The  function  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense 
and  its  Advisory  Commission  was  stated  as  the  "  coordination  of  in- 
dustries and  resources  for  national  security  and  welfare,  and  the  cre- 
ation of  relations  which  will  render  possible  in  time  of  need  the 
immediate  concentration  and  utilization  of  the  resources  of  the 
Nation." 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  15 

During  the  winter  the  Council  had  been  slowly  getting  under  way. 
A.s  war  approached,  it  hastened  its  organization.  By  the  beginning 
of  April  it  was  a  war  emergency  cabinet.  Such  matters  as  the  offers 
of  service  of  the  women  finally  came  to  it. 

At  its  meetings  and  in  its  offices,  there  was  a  multitude  of  serious 
matters  to  be  settled.  There  was  the  food  problem  already  looming 
up  as  a  serious  one.  There  was  the  matter  of  shipbuilding,  raw  ma- 
terials, of  trade  embargoes.  Subcommittees  were  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate and  make  recommendations  on  these  and  various  other 
matters.  In  some  cases  the  recommendations  were  to  the  effect  that 
the  whole  subject  be  taken  over  by  a  free  and  independent  Federal 
administration.  For  example,  the  General  Munitions  Board  of  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  was  the  forerunner  of  the  War  Indus- 
tries Board. 

The  Council  served  as  a  vast  laboratory,  making  experiments, 
assembling  elements,  distributing  responsibility.  It  was  a  gigantic 
task  for  six  men  to  solve  the  intricate  problems  and  meet  the  new 
and  complex  emergencies  that  were  presented. 

In  spite,  however,  of  these  difficulties,  the  Council  went  ahead  and 
under  its  management,  little  by  little,  what  had  seemed  a  vast 
kaleidoscope,  was  resolved  into  separate  parts,  and  the  Council 
resinned  its  original  function,  that  of  directing,  coordinating,  and 
advising. 

In  the  meantime,  the  part  that  women  wished  to  play  in  the  great 
war  mechanism  was  brought  to  the  Council's  attention.  The 
Council  knew  that  it  knew  not  women's  organizations,  and  that  it 
could  not  choose  between  the  various  ones  offering  to  be  the  vehicles 
to  carry  the  Government's  message  to  the  women  of  the  country. 
Whatever  else  it  was,  this  was  a  people's  war,  and  no  one  group  or 
organization  should  have  right  of  way  over  another.  After  a  dis- 
cussion as  to  how  the  situation  could  be  simplified  and  clarified,  the 
Council  voted  "  that  for  the  purpose  of  coordinating  the  women's 
preparedness  movement  a  central  body  of  women  should  be  formed 
under  the  Council  of  National  Defense."  The  Director  was  in- 
structed to  submit  to  the  Council  recommendations  having  this  end 
in  view. 

On  April  19,  the  Director  of  the  Council  wired  to  Dr.  Anna 
Howard  Shaw,  that  Secretary  Lane  and- he  would  like  to  consult 
with  her  in  regard  to  important  matters  concerning  the  relation  of 
.  women  to  the  Council  o'f  National  Defense.  Dr.  Shaw  was  on  a 
.  lecture  tour  in  the  South,  but  replied  she  could  meet  them  on  April 
27.  On  April  21,  before  she  had  kept  the  appointment,  the  Council 
of  National  Defense  voted  <;  that  a  committee  of  women  on  women's 
defense  work  be  appointed,  with  the  following  personnel:  Dr. 
Anna  Howard  Shaw,  Mrs.  Philip  North  Moore,  Mrs.  Josiah  Evan* 


1C  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Cowles,  Miss  Maude  Wetmore,  Mrs.  Carrie  Chapman  Catt,  Mrs. 
Antoinette  Funk,  Mrs.  Stanley  J.  McCormick,  Mrs.  Joseph  R.  La- 
mar,  and  Miss  Ida  M.  Tarbell."  Later,  Miss  Agnes  Nestor  and  Miss 
Hannah  J.  Patterson  were  appointed  members  of  the  Committee. 

What  led  the  Council  to  choose  this  particular  group  of  women 
will  probably  never  be  known.  It  is  only  known  that  the  names  had 
been  carefully  debated  before  the  Council's  action,  between  several 
members  of  the  Council,  a  member  of  the  Advisory  Commission, 
the  Director  and  tlie  Secretary  of  the  Council,  Messrs.  Gifford  and 
Clarkson. 

This  is  but  mentioned  in  passing,  because  the  choice  had  far  reach- 
ing results  and  effects,  and  also  because  it  answers  the  question  that 
hundreds  of  women  have  asked,  "Why  these  particular  women?" 
No  one  of  these  women  knew  she  was  to  be  chosen,  or  that  such  a 
committee  had  been  decided  upon  until  she  received  this  announce- 
ment: "It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  inform  you  of  your  appoint- 
ment on  May  21,  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense  to  serve  on  a 
Committee  of  women  to  consider  women's  defense  work  for  the  na- 
tion. *  *  *."  Dr.  Shaw  was  designated  as  Chairman  of  this 
Committee,  and  asked  to  call  a  meeting  thereof,  in  Washington,  at 
the  earliest  possible  date. 

.It  was  undoubtedly  the  intention  of  the  Council  to  select  a  com- 
mittee of  prominent  and  able  women.  There  seems  to  have  been  the 
impression  that  these  women,  in  many  cases,  also  represented  large 
organizations  of  women.  It  was  expressly  stated,  however,  by  the 
Chairman  of  the  Council,  that  the  members  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee were  not  appointed  to  represent  organizations.  Since  there  are 
several  hundred  women's  national  organizations,  it  would  obviously 
have  been  impossible  to  have  formed  a  working  committee  out  of 
their  representatives. 

The  women  who  were  appointed  to  the  Woman's  Committee,  feel- 
ing themselves  conscripted,  accepted  their  appointment  without 
exception,  as  a  call  to  the  service  of  their  country. 

To  Dr.  Shaw,  who  had  spent  the  whole  of  a  long  and  active 
life  in  the  service  of  a  great  cause  and  had  looked  forward  to  a 
"  restful  old  age,"  as  she  said — who  had  been  made  Honorary 
President  of  the  National  Suffrage  Association,  on  the  ground  that 
she  could  not  stand  the  hard  work  of  the  Presidency,  acceptance 
entailed  a  great  sacrifice.  Her  appointment,  however,  to  lead  the 
total  woman  power  of  this  great  Nation  in  the  time  of  war  was  a 
call  to  arms,  and  she  canceled  her  lecture  dates  and  gave  the  whole 
hot  summer  to  the  organization  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  not 
only  presiding  over  the  sessions  of  the  Committee,  but  also  carry- 
ing on  an  elaborate  correspondence  with  the  various  women  ^11 
over  the  country,  covering  every  phase  of  women's  war  work,  and 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  17 

conferring  with  the  members  of  the  Council  over  points  that  needed 
development  and  clarification. 

Dr.  Shaw  came  to  Washington  at  once  and  interviewed  the  Sec- 
retary of  War,  Newton  D.  Baker,  who  was  also  the  Chairman  of 
the  Council,  as  to  the  functions  and  duties  of  this  Committee  of 
women.  She  also  arranged  with  the  Director  of  the  Council  for 
its  first  meeting,  which  was  set  for  May  2,  that  being  the  earliest 
date  at  which  the  members  residing  at  a  distance  could  reach  the 
capital. 

It  was  a  momentous  occasion  when  the  nine  women,  entrusted 
with  the  leadership  of  the  war  work  of  the  women  of  America, 
gathered  in  the  little  room  of  the  Mnnsey  Building,  which  was  then 
the  headquarters  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense.  Doubtless 
each  one  of  them  felt  the  full  weight  of  the  responsibility  that  was 
hers,  but  surely  no  one  of  them  realized  all  the  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  meeting  that  responsibility.  Before  them  was  the  task,  as 
they  were  speedily  informed  by  their  chairman,  of  coordinating  and 
centralizing  the  organized  and  unorganized  forces  of  women  through- 
out the  country.  How  great  a  task  this  was,  will  be  seen. 

First  of  all.  the  Committee  decided  to  take  up  permanent  quarters  in 
a  building  at  1814  N  Street,  known  locally  as  "  the  Little  Playhouse.'1 
Its  owner,  Mrs.  Edward  Halliday,  had  offered  this  building,  a  very 
charming  and  attractive  place,  free  to  the  Government,  to  be  used 
for  war  purposes.  Washington  was  crowded  and  the  need  for  more 
office  space  was  very  great.  There,  surrounded  by  mirrors  that  had 
once  reflected  the  ga?ety  of  social  life,  in  a  setting  of  green  rugs, 
white  woodwork,  and  damask  walls,  was  begun  one  of  the  most 
interesting  chapters  that  shall  ever  be  written  of  the  advance  of 
women  into  the  service  of  their  country.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
place  was  typical  of  all  that  women  had  stood  for  in  the  past;  the 
thought  of  its  occupants"  filled  with  ideas  of  what  the  present 
demanded  of  them. 

Immured  in  a  stately  building  on  a  side  street,  overlooking  the 
staid  mid- Victorian  British  Embassy,  the  Woman's  Committee  there 
received  the  women  who  came  in  increasing  numbers  both  to  offer 
their  services  and  to  seek  advice  on  the  difficulties  that  beset  their  en- 
deavor to  make  these  services  valuable  to  the  country.  There,  too, 
came  the  officials  of  the  Government,  to  hold  conferences  as  to  the 
extent  of  women's  interests  and  the  possibilities  of  governmental  • 
cooperation.  From  there  went  out  to  the  women  of  the  hamlet  and 
countryside,  as  well  as  of  the  cities,  appeals  from  the  Government 
asking  economy,  asking  work,  asking  that  the  final  and  complete 
sacrifice  of  husband  or  son  be  given  cheerfully,  and  with  a  smile. 
Messages,  too,  went  out,  messages  that  marked  a  historic  division 
141634*— 20— 2 


18  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF   NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

between  the  women  of  the  past  and  the  future;  short,  terse  business 
circulars  on  such  specific  subjects  as  carrying  home  parcels  and  the 
early  ordering  of  the  family's  bread  supply. 

Having  first  secured  a  home,  the  Committee  next  agreed  upon  its 
official  name.  Since  its  appointment  it  had  been  known  as  the 
Woman's  Defense  Committee.  It  now  became  known  as  the  Woman's 
Committee,  Council  of  National  Defense.  They  then  chose  an  execu- 
tive secretary.  For  that  position,  Mrs.  Ira  Couch  Wood,  of  Chicago, 
who  had  already  had  some  experience  in  organizing  the  women  of 
Illinois  for  war  work,  was  selected. 

It  was  suggested  that  the  Committee  should  have  a  member  to 
represent  in  particular  the  women  in  industry.  A  recommendation 
to  this  effect  was  made  to  the  Council,  and  subsequently  Miss  Agnes 
Nestor,  of  Chicago,  was  appointed  the  tenth  member  of  the  Woman's 
Committee. 

In  perfecting  its  own  organization,  the  Committee  elected  Miss  Ida 
M.  Tarbell  Vice  Chairman  and  Mrs.  Stanley  J.  McCormick  Treas- 
urer. Mrs,  Philip  North  Moore  had  been  appointed  Secretary  by  Dr. 
Shaw. 

These  matters  settled,  they  set  themselves  woman-fully  to  the 
framing  of  a  plan  that  would  coordinate  the  organized  women  of 
the  country  in  such  a  manner  as  to  provide  a  direct  and  organized 
channel  through  which  the  Government  could  convey  to  women  its 
requests  and  directions  for  war  work. 

It  was  obvious  that  their  first  step  must  be  to  ascertain  what  sort 
of  work  women  might  be  called  upon  to  do  and  how  women  might 
help  perform  the  work  already  at  hand.  Mrs.  Catt  was  appointed  to 
report  on  what  the  women  of  other  countries  at  war  had  been  able  to 
do  in  helping  their  Governments,  The  importance  of  the  work  of  the 
Red  Cross  and  the  immediacy  of  its  appeal  to  women  naturally  led  the 
Woman's  Committee  to  consider  first  of  all  how  it  could  assist  the  Red 
Cross,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  a  conference  on  this  subjert 
with  the  chairman  of  that  organization.  The  second  thought  was 
given  to  the  food  problem.  Already  this  subject  had  received  much 
publicity. 

A  conservation  program  was  daily  expected.  Food  had  ever  been 
strictly  inside  women's  traditional  sphere.  It  was  decided  to  offer 
the  Food  Administration  the  cooperation  of  the  Committee  in  pro- 
moting the  food  program.  * 

The  new  note  of  this  war  was  sounded  by  Miss  Tarbell,  when  she 
said,  "Woman  power  in  war  becomes  the  industrial  power.  We 
must  keep  the  industrial  life  as  nearly  normal  as  possible.  We 
should  help  in  the  labor  shortage  and  cooperate  with  various  organi- 
zations having  the  matter  of  standards  in  hand."  Labor,  thei*, 
seemed  also  a  matter  for  the  women's  interest  and  help. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  19 

"Moral  education  in  schools  is  necessary,"  said  Mrs.  Funk,  "U> 
uphold  ideals  and  instill  patriotism  and  democracy."  Education, 
again,  was  within  the  women's  sphere. 

Therefore,  at  once  before  the  eyes  of  these  women,  trained  to  the 
leadership  of  women,  sympathetic  with  women's  ways  of  thinking, 
acquainted  with  their  methods  of  work  and  the  history  of  their  or- 
ganizations, war  work  fell  under  certain  headings  to  which  club 
nomenclature  gave  the  word  "  departments."  Hence,  according  to 
the  minutes,  there  were  assigned  to  the  various  members  for  inves- 
tigation as  to  their  possibilities,  the  following  departments  of  work: 
<:  organization,  finance,  registration,  food,  educational  propaganda, 
industry  and  labor,  morale — camps,  patriotism  and  democracy,  and 
special  training  for  service." 

The  second  logical  step  was  to  find  out  how  many  organizations 
there  were  operating  in  each  State,  what  they  were  doing,  and  how 
juuch  territory  was  covered.  It  was  evident  after  the  most  cursory 
survey  that  no  one  organization,  no  matter  how  extensive,  readied 
every  locality  of  the  United  States  and  included  every  kind  of  woman 
in  a  locality.  One  organization  might  be  strong  in  one  State,  or 
even  one  part  of  a  State,  and  another  organization  doing  very  dif- 
ferent sort  of  war  work,  be  the  strong  organization  in  another  por- 
tion of  the  country  or  State.  It  would  be  necessary,  therefore,  that 
organizations  should  coordinate  their  activities  inside  of  State  lines, 
reporting  to  State  heads  instead  of  through  their  national  heads 
direct  to  Washington,  0 

It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time,  May.  1017,  the  whole 
country  was  preparing  for  a  long  war  that  would  require  intensive 
organization  and  involve  great  .sacrifices.  The  possibilities  were 
seen  in  the  light  of  what  had  become  realities  in  Great  Britain  and 
France.  We  thought  to  begin  preparations  on  the  scale  they  had, 
:it  the  end  of  three  years'  warfare,  just  attained.  The  Woman's 
Committee,  therefore,  contemplated  nothing  less  than  the  mobiliza- 
tion of  the  woman  power  of  the  whole  country.  This  meant  that 
the  women  who  belonged  to  no  existing  organization  must  also  be 
reached.  This  could  be  done  only  through  some  agent  nearer  these 
women  than  a  committee  sitting  in  Washington. 

Both  to  coordinate  existing  organizations  within  State  lines  and 
to  connect  the  women  of  the  country  with  their  Government,  a  State 
agency  seemed  necessary.  To  democratic  women — and  in  their  or- 
ganizations women  are  extremely  democratic — it  was  apparent  that 
such  an  agency  must  be  representative  of  the  women  in  the  State, 
The  Woman's  Committee  therefore  drew  up  a  Plan  of  Organization, 
which  provided  for  a  temporary  chairman  in  each  state,  who  should 
be  instructed  to  call  together  the  heads,  (or  their  proxies)  of  the 


\ 


20  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

various  State  organizations  of  women  and  ask  them  to  elect  a  per- 
manent chairman  and  executive  board  of  what  should  be  known  as 
the  State  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  whose  duty  it  should 
be  to  organize  similarly  the  women  in  the  counties  and  the  towns. 
This  Executive  Board  of  the  State  Division  was  to  be  in  direct  and 
frequent  communication  with  the  National  Woman's  Committee, 
receiving  through  it  the  messages  of  the  Government  and,  in  turn, 
transmitting  them  to  the  women  of  the  county  and  town  units.  Thus 
in  a  few  days  the  Woman's  Committee  had  designed  a  machine  that 
would,  by  a  simple,  direct  and  natural  process,  coordinate  the  work 
of  existing  societies,  mobilize  the  women  for  any  work  the  Govern- 
ment needed  from  them,  and  carry  from  the  Government  messages  to 
the  women  of  the  country. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Committee,  May  2-9,  a  tentative  Plan  of 
Work  was  drawn  up.  At  the  session  June  4  to  28,  reports  from  the 
Committees  investigating  departments  of  work  were  made,  and  on 
June  29,  a  definite  departmental  Plan  of  Work  was  presented  to  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  for  approval.  On  July  5,  it  received 
formal  indorsement,  after  a  few  changes,  which  left  it  in  effect,  as 
follows:  There  was  recommended  to  the  State  Divisions,  which  had 
already  been  created  according  to  the  plan  already  discussed,  certain 
departments  of  work.  That  of  Registration  for  Service  was  to  under- 
take a  voluntary  registration  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  and 
putting  on  record  the  woman-power  of  the  country.  It  was  to  be 
taken  on  official  cards,  prepared  witk  the  cooperation  of  the  Census 
Bureau  and  approved  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense.  A  de- 
partment of  Food  Production  and  Home  Economics  was  to  look  after 
whatever  related  to  the  production  or  saving  of  foodstuffs,  cooperat- 
ing so  closely  with  the  Department  of  Agriculture  as  to  form  a  direct 
channel  for  all  information  and  instructions  to  the  State  Divisions 
from  that  source.  A  department  of  Food  Administration  was  created 
to  cooperate  with  the  Food  Administration  in  reaching  the  women 
of  the  country.  Women  in  Industry  was  the  name  of  a  department 
to  cooperate  on  the  work  planned  and  executed  by  the  Department  of 
Labor  and  the  Committee  on  Labor  of  the  Advisory  Commission  of 
the  Council  of  National  Defense.  A  department  on  Child  Welfare 
was  to  be  conducted  with  the  advice  and  cooperation  of  the  Chief  of 
the  Children's  Bureau,  Miss  Julia  Lathrop.  The  object  of  the  De- 
partment of  Maintenance  of  Existing  Social  Service  Agencies  was, 
as  its  name  implies,  to  maintain  the  social  agencies  already  existing. 
Its  underlying  purpose  was  to  safeguard  the  public  health  and  morals, 
with  a  view  to  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the  producing  forces  of  the 
Nation.  The  program  of  the  Health  and  Recreation  Department  was 
to  bring  the  forces  of  local  women  to  the  assistance  of  the  Commission 
on  Training  Camp  Activities.  That  of  Educational  Propaganda  was 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  21 

to  stimulate  patriotism  through  meetings,  pageants,  parades,  and  to 
spread  information  as  to  the  causes  and  aims  of  the  war.  A  depart- 
ment of  Liberty  Loan  was  to  cooperate  with  the  Liberty  Loan  com- 
mittee, as  was  the  Home  and  Allied  Relief  Department  with  the  Red 
Cross. 

As  will  be  seen  this  comprehensive  and  ambitious  program  had  no 
less  an  objective  than  to  tie  the  women  of  the  country  to  every  activ- 
ity and  interest  of  the  Government.  The  work  it  covered  resolved 
itself  under  three  heads:  Defense  work,  relief  work,  and  work  for 
the  preservation  of  the  home.  It  is  generally  recognized  that  the 
greatest  duty  of  women  in  war  times  is  to  keep  social  conditions  as 
normal  as  possible.  At  that  clay  when  the  sound  of  war  preparations 
had  almost  drowned  every  other  note  from  the  land,  the  Woman's 
Committee  sounded  its  bugle  of  reminder,  both  to  the  Government 
and  to  the  women  as  to  this  last  but  important  duty  of  women:  To 
keep  the  home  fires  going,  while  the  men  fight  for  the  country's 
defense. 

These  various  departments  of  work  were  to  be  adapted  by  State 
Divisions  to  local  needs  and  conditions.  Great  latitude  was  to  be 
allowed  in  developing  them,  but  in  order  that  there  might  be  uni- 
formity in  organization  and  unanimity  in  effort,  each  State  Division 
was  asked  to  appoint  a  chairman  for  each  department.  Some  of 
these  departments,  it  was  noted,  were  in  function  directive,  and  oth- 
ers merely  cooperative. 

The  plan  of  work  and  of  organization  seemed  to  the  Woman's 
Committee  and  evidently  to  the  Council,  both  logical  and  effective, 
providing  as  it  did  a  program  of  work  and  a  means  for  carrying  out 
that  program. 

There  were,  however,  rocks  ahead  for  the  plan.  All  war  agencies 
had  to  u  feel  their  way  "  and  steer  by  hope,  if  not  faith.  But  the  way 
of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  more  uncertain  than  others.  It  had 
not  only  the  same  difficulties  to  face  as  the  other  war  agencies  com- 
posed of  men,  namely,  the  inelasticity  of  our  Federal  departments, 
the  strict  accountability  of  each  department  to  Congress  for  itself, 
the  tendency  of  each  Federal  department  to  expand  and  extend  its 
own  organization,  but  it  had  in  addition  the  difficulties  that  arose  out 
of  the  position  and  affiliations  of  women. 

In  May,  1917,  the  status  of  women  was  a  nebulous  will-o'-the-wisp. 
When  speeches  were  made  to  mothers  of  bo3Ts,  woman  was  the  strong- 
est power  of  the  world,  the  noblest  jewel  in  America's  diadem;  when 
food  was  wanted,  she  was  the  foundation  stone  on  which  our  whole 
economic  structure  is  built;  when  labor  was  needed  she  was  the  great 
reserve  of  the  industrial  world;  when  pain  and  anguish  wrung  the 
brow  or  threatened  to,  she  was  a  ministering  angeL  But  when  she 


22  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

asked  for  a  definite  status  in  the  scheme  of  things,  when  she  asked  for 
I  he  privilege  of  deciding  how  she  should  serve  her  country  and  what 
her  contribution  to  victory  should  be,  her  status  varied  according  to 
the  group  of  men  to  whom  she  applied,  from  that  of  a  mendicant  ou 
the  doorstep  begging  for  a  chance  to  do  all  the  drudgery  of  war  work 
to  that  of  a  favored  creditor,  receiving  financial  aid,  provided  her 
desires  were  O.  K.'d  by  her  banker.  Because  of  this  "  unfixed  status  " 
which  was  not  the  fault  of  any  man  or  group  of  men,  but  was  one  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  social  organism,  the  Woman's  Committee  must 
have  been  hampered  in  the  operation  of  any  plan  it  might  present, 
for  every  plan  would  be  dependent  for  success  on  a  status  for  women 
common  to  the  whole  country. 

As  there  was  no  such  "common  status,"  the  next  best  thing  was 
to  assume  such  a  "common  status.79  Now,  it  is  necessary  to  explain 
that  the  position  taken  by  the  Woman's  Committee  as  to  what  the 
fixed  status  of  women  should  be,  was  not  the  result  of  any  views  held 
as  to  the  political  rights  of  women.  There  were  on  the  Committee 
women  with  entirely  opposite  views  on  this  subject.  These  women, 
suffragists  and  antisuffragists  alike,  felt  that  women  had  a  certain 
contribution  to  make  to  victory — a  contribution  that  men  might  not 
recognize  as  valuable.  In  order  to  be  able  to  make  this  contribution, 
women  must  be  in  a  position  to  urge  its  importance  and  acceptance. 
This  they  could  only  do  if  they  were  represented  on  executive  bodies, 
engaged  in  planning  work  as  well  as  being  used  to  carry  out  plans 
after  made. 

To  reach  and  rouse  the  women  of  the  country,  as  only. women 
could  reach  them  and  rouse  them  would,  agreed  all  the  committee, 
help  hasten  the  clay  of  victor}7.  Increased  power  to  our  arms, 
greater  conservation  of  food  for  starving  allies,  more  nurses,  more 
money  for  the  Red  Cross,  more  devotion,  and  a  greater  mobiliza- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  the  nation — all  these  were  needed  in  the  days 
when  victory  seemed  a  long  way  off  and  men  were  dying  by  the 
hundred  thousand.  The  inability  of  various  groups  of  men,  of  Fed- 
eral departments,  of  individuals,  to  accept  the  Committee's  status 
of  women  was  one  of  the  great  obstacles  to  a  smooth  working  of 
the  plans  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  This  obstacle  was,  after  a 
fashion,  overcome,  just  six  weeks  before  the  signing  of  the  armistice. 
Its  presence  was  recognized  during  the  greater  part  of  the  war.  its 
effects  were  always  present,  both  in  dealings  with  State  groups  and 
with  Federal  departments.  It  will  be  met  again  and  again  in  this 
history.  The  Woman's  Committee  did  not  create  this  obstacle;  it 
must  have  intruded  into  any  plan  of  work  suggested  because  it  is 
present,  this  unfixed  status,  in  the  political,  social,  and  economic 
structure.  The  Woman's  Committee  never  argued  about  this  status, 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  23 

nor  advocated  any  change  on  social  or  economic  grounds,  but  it 
curly  found  that  it  could  not  adjust  its  plan  to  this  "  unfixed  status  " 
without  a  total  loss  of  an  efficient  contribution  of  women  to  the  suc- 
cessful termination  of  the  war. 

The  Committee  therefore  made  the  patriotic  choice  of  adopting 
the  only  status  that  would  make  for  efficiency.  If,  in  so  doing,  the 
Committee  has  helped  to  equalize  the  status  of  women  throughout 
the  country,  it  is  incidental  to  their  purpose  and  was  not  their  intent. 

The  Woman's  Committee  was  enabled  to  stabilize  this  status,  as 
it  was  able  to  try  out  the  whole  experiment  of  mobilizing  women 
officially  for  their  country's  service,  not  only  because  of  the  official 
recognition  given  it  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  but  because 
of  the  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  purposes  and  aims  of 
women  at  all  times  accorded  the  Woman's  Committee  by  the-  mem- 
bers of  the  Council. 

Another  rock  ahead  for  this  plan  lay  in  the  relationship  of 
women's  organizations  to  each  other.  It  is  customary  to  lay  all 
lack  of  cooperation  between  women  to  jealousy  and  petty  person- 
alities. Snap  judgment  might  blame  the  competition  between 
women's  organizations  to  the  same  causes.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
is  as  little  due  to  these  causes  as  is  the  lack  of  cooperation  between 
retail  clothing'  firms.  The  executive  officers  of  -each  organization 
feel  their  chief  responsibility  to  be  to  their  own  members.  In  a 
sense  organizations  compete  for  the  membership  that  enables  them 
to  accomplish  things.  It  is  natural  that  each  should  refuse  to  yield 
its  own  preeminence  or  appeal  for  public  support  or  approval.  The 
same  individuality  of  responsibility  that  made  it  difficult  for  Gov- 
ernment departments  to  use  the  terminals  of  some  other  department, 
makes  it  difficult  for  women's  organizations  to  yield  the  control 
necessary  to  a  true  federation. 

When  the  Council  of  National  Defense  asked  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee to  coordinate  women's  organizations,  it  asked  the  impossible. 
Only  the  President  himself,  by  such  an  appeal  as  he  afterward  made 
to  war  charities  to  unite  in  one  big  drive,  could  have  accomplished 
that,  unless  there  had  been  such  a  delegation  of  authority  to  the 
Woman's  Committee  as  made  the  requests  of  a  Food  or  Fuel  Ad- 
ministration equal  to  a  "  mandate."  However,  so  long  have  women 
attempted  the  impossible,  and  so  successful  have  they  been  in  accom- 
plishing it.  that  the  Woman's  Committee  undertook  the  coordination 
of  the  work  of  existing  organizations  of  women.  As  a  step  toward 
this  coordination,  the  committee's  plan  of  organization  included 
the  organization  of  the  presidents  of  all  national  women's  organiza- 
tions into  an  Honorary  Committee.  It  acordingly  called  a  meeting 
of  these  presidents  for  June  19.  It  did  this  as  naturally  as  the 


24  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Council  a  little  earlier,  had  called  a  conference  of  governors.  There 
seems  to  be  a  general  acceptance  of  the  idea  that  when  you  deal 
with  women,  you  go  to  their  organizations;  when  you  deal  with  men 
you  go  to  the  governor  or  a  legislature.  The  question  naturally  in- 
trudes, "Have  women's  organizations  been  the  backwater  formed 
because  political  or  straight-out  activities  are  dammed  up  by  the 
withholding  of  the  franchise  or  political  recognition?"  Whatever 
the  answer  to  that  may  be,  even  the  Government  itself,  when  it  de- 
sires women's  assistance,  goes  to  a  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs,  or 
&  National  Council  of  Women.  Theoretically,  governors  are  sup- 
posed to  represent  women  as  well  as  men,  and  so  when  the  war  ma- 
chinery was  being  built  theoretically  the  Council  of  National  De- 
fense and  the  State  Councils  were  suposed  to  represent  and  include 
women;  but  the  very  appointment  by  the  Council  of  an  Advisory 
Committee  on  women's  activities  showed  that  in  effect,  it  was  recog- 
nized that  women  must  function  through  their  organizations,  since 
t!iey  could  not,  under  the  political  system,  function  directly  through 
the  Government. 

This  meeting  was  held  in  the  Playhouse.  Sixty  national  organiza- 
tions were  represented  and  tjiere  were  present  about  200  women.  Dr. 
Shaw  made  a  short  statement  of  the  purpose  for  which  the  Woman's 
Committee  had  been  created  and  of  its  plan  of  organization  and 
work,  explaining  that  no  organization  was  asked  to  give  up  its  own 
line  of  work  and  no  woman  was  asked  to  give  up  her  own  member- 
ship in  any  organization.  What  was  asked  from  all  organizations 
was  their  cooperation  in  war  service  so  that  the  various  demands  of 
the  Government  might,  by  their  help,  be  brought  to  the  women  of  the 
Nation.  She  then  asked  each  representative  present  to  make  a  five- 
minute  report  on  the  work  of  her  organization.  All  these  reports 
alike  announced  an  entire  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  organiza- 
tion to  cooperate  in  every  way  the  Government  might  wish  and  the 
Presidents  signed  the  following  pledge: 

We,  the  undersigned  Presidents,  or  proxies,  of  the  Women's  National  Or- 
ganizations, do  hereby  promise  the  cooperation  of  our  organization  with  the 
Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  and  hereby  agree,  so 
far  as  it  is  i>ossiblef  to  carry  out  the  instructions  of  the  Government. 

It  was  agreed  that  all  unofficial  registrations  made  for  the  pur- 
pose of  enrolling  women  in  any  individual  associations  should  be 
called  enrollment  of  members,  and  that  the  registration  taken  by 
the  Woman's  Committee  should  be  known  as  the  official  registration. 

The  representatives  present  were  organized  into  an  Honorary 
Committee  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  Once  more  the  women  had 
accomplished  the  impossible.  Under  the  patriotism  and  the  stress 
of  emotion  such  as  made  men  forget  their  profits,  and  mothers  snpri- 
fice  their  best-beloveds,  the  women's  organizations  had  sunk  their  in- 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  25 

dividual  claims  and  desires  for  individual  efforts,  and  pledged  them- 
selves through  the  Government's  agency  committee,  thus  standing 
behind  the  Woman's  Committee  to  furnish  the  power  to  make  its 
message  effective  and  lend  it  weight  The  many  single  wires  that 
would  otherwise  have  conveyed  the  Government's  messages,  seemed 
to  have  been  united  into  one  mighty  cable  to  carry  a  dynamic  force 
that  should  set  millions  of  women  in  action. 

On  July  1,  it  seemed  that  the  Woman's  Committee  had  discharged 
its  first  duty  both  to  the  Council  and  to  the  women;  it  had  advised 
the  former  as  to  a  plan  for  coordinating  the  activities  and  mobiliz- 
ing the  forces  of  women ;  it  had  devised  an  effective  machinery  for 
putting  the  women  at  the  command  of  the  Government.  It  waa 
ready  for  that  word  of  command. 


CHAPTER  IL 

RELATIONSHIP  OF  THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE  TO  FEDERAL 

DEPARTMENTS. 

THE  CHANNEL  THEORY. 

The  responsibility  for  carrying  on  the  war  rested,  primarily,  of 
course,  upon  the  Federal  departments  at  Washington.  Theirs  to 
make  the  plans  for  an  army,  for  munitions,  for  food,  for  economy, 
for  funds.  The  work  of  carrying  out"  these  plans  rested  largely 
upon  the  common  every-day  citizen.  From  his  sacrifices,  his  money, 
even  his  life — must  victory  be  wrought.  In  days  of  peace  when  time 
was  not  an  element  in  success,  the  Government  could  depend  upon 
paid  agents  working  slowly  through  personal  contact  or  by  letter, 
to  execute  a  plan;  but  in  war  times,  when  a  whole  people  must  be 
reached,  must  understand  and  respond  immediately,  paid  agents 
were  not  sufficient.  Volunteer  workers  must  be  enlisted,  thousands 
and  thousands  of  them.  To  bring  together  the  plans,  the  needs,  the 
requests  of  Washington,  and  the  volunteer  who  must  execute  the 
plan,  satisfy  the  needs,  grant  the  requests,  was  one  of  the  chief 
problems  of  the  war  administration.  To  make  a  connection  be- 
tween the  Federal  Government  and  the  women  volunteers,  was  the 
task  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  Early  in  the  history  of  the 
Committee  this  function  was  expressed  by  the  word  "channel." 
Said  Mrs.  Wood,  in  vrriting  to  Mr.  Gifford.  Director  of  the  Council: 

We  wish  to  be  the  channel  by  which  information  reaches,  the  women  of  the 
country. 

Since  the  women  would  respond  to  the  messages  transmitted  by 
the  Woman's  Committee  only  if  they  knew  them  to  be  official,  it 
follows  naturally  that  the  Committee  must  be  the  "  authorized,  of- 
ficial channel."  Since  duplication  and  wasted  effort  would  result 
r.nd  a  coordination  of  forces  be  impossible  if  these  women  were  ap- 
proached through  many  channels,  it  was  assumed  that  the  "  official, 
authorized  channel "  would  be  the  "  sole  channel."  On  the  assump- 
tion that  the  departments  having  large  programs  of  work  in  which 
they  wished  to  interest  volunteer  workers  of  the  country,  would 
present  these  programs  to  the  workers  through  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee, a  simple  machinery  was  designed  whereby  the  Committee 
20 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  27 

would  transmit  these  plans  to  its  State  Divisions,  which  in  turn 
would  transmit  them  to  county  and  town  units.  The  Woman's  Com- 
mittee would  also  present  these  plans  to  the  great  women's  organiza- 
tions, which  would  acquaint  their  members  with  tliem  and  urge  upou 
them  acquiescence  or  work,  as  the  program  required.  Thus  was 
{.resented  a  motion  picture  of  a  whole  sex  actuated  by  a  single  rnotiri;, 
turned  on  by  a  single  button,  moving  in  one  phalanx  to  the  word 
of  command  first  spoken  by  a  Federal  officer. 

Dr.  Shaw,  on  June  11,  wrote  to  one  of  the  State  Chairmen:. 

When  I  asked  tlic  Secretary  of  War  just  what  was  to  be  our  particular  func- 
tion, he  said  the  Woman's  Committee  was  to  be  tJie  clearing  bouse  through 
which  women's  work  sliall  he  coordinated  and  in  which  women  s/ia77  cooperate 
so  that  any  line  of  work  taken  up  in  the  State  shail  be  carried  on  along  similar 
lines;  and  when  more  than  one  agency  is  doing  the  work,  if  there  is  one  that 
has  the  machinery  to  do  it  better  than  the  others,  then  the  organization  with 
the  best  machinery  shall  be  instructed  to  push  the  work  along  and  all  other 
societies  siiniUirly  employed  shall  cooperate  with  them. 

For  example, 

she  explained  further, 

suppose  it  was  the  department  for  food  conservation.  Mr  Hoover  Intends  to 
appoint  a  man  and  a  woman  expert  to  be  at  the  liead  of  each  State  directly 
under  the  United  States  Food  Administration.  These  experts  will  create  a 
program  for  the  conservation  of  food  for  the  State,  and  it  will  be  exacted  that 
tlu?  women  who  undertake  this  particular  line  of  service  shall  work  under, 
not  so  r.nich  their1  direction,  as  along  that  line  of  procedure. 

Under  whose  direction  the  women  should  work  was  explained  as 
follows: 

The  Woman's  Committee  intends  also  to  appoint  in  each  State  Division  a 
State  Director  of  its  Food  Administration  Department,  this  director  to  co- 
operate with  the  specialist  whom  Mr.  Hoover  may  appoint,  she  being  a  link 
between  Mr.  Hoover's  department  and  the  Woman's  Committee;  and  so  on 
down  through  all  the  States,  county,  and  local  units  of  the  Committee. 

Such  was  the  theory  of  the  Committee  as  to  its  use  as  a  channel 
for  the  departments. 

At  a  session  of  the  Committee  held  on  June  9,  1917,  Miss  Tarbell 
took  the  first  step  in  putting  this  theory  into  practice,  by  suggesting 
that  the  Committee  should  have  assigned  to  it  from  each  one  of  the 
Government  departments,  a  competent  person  who  would  "advise 
the  Committee  as  to  the  points  on  which  cooperation  is  possible  and 
advisable."  At  the  same  meeting  it  was  moved  that  the  Committee 
ask  the  Secretaries  of  War,  Xavy,  Interior,  Agriculture,  Commerce, 
and  Labor,  and  Mr.  Hoover,  to  instruct  the  Committee  as  to  how 
the  women  could  serve  them.  Instead,  however,  of  giving  the  Com- 
mittee such  instructions,  the  representatives  of  these  departments 
devoted  their  remarks  to  praise  and  appreciation  of  the  woman 

•Their— meaning  food   experts.     Italics   mine — E.    N.   B. 


28  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

power  of  the  country.    This  was  somewhat  discouraging  to  the  Com- 
mittee who  wished  rather  to  hear  suggestions  for  utilizing  it. 

On  May  22,  however,  such  a  suggestion  was  made  by  the  Secretary 
of  War.  Referring  to  the  day  when  the  young  men  of  the  country, 
between  the  ages  of  20  and  30,  would  be  required  to  register  for 
military  service,  the  Secretary  wrote: 

Through  your  Committee,  I  appeal  to  the  women  of  the  country  everywhere 
-  to  join  in  the  celebration  of  this  historic  dny. 

In  quick  response  to  this  appeal  for  its  service,  the  Committee, 
although  its  State  Divisions  were  not  yet  entirely  organized,  asked 
the  women  of  the  country  to  distribute  at  every  registration  booth 
copies  of  the  President's  Speech  to  Congress  the  day  after  war  was 
declared.  The  printing  and  transportation  of  these  copies  was  the 
patriotic  gift  of  Mrs.  Emmons  Elaine. 

Negotiations  for  cooperation  with  departments  proceeded,  differ- 
ent members  of  the  Committee  being  detailed  for  various  conferences. 
To  the  dismay  of  the  Committee  the  results  of  these  conferences  were 
rather  vague,  but  when  on  July  5,  the  Committee  wras  advised  it 
should  refer  certain  recommendations  contained  in  its  Plan  of  Work 
to  the  Secretaries  of  the  several  Federal  departments,  it  felt  its 
theory  that  the  Woman's  Committee  be  used  as  a  channel  was  con- 
firmed, since  the  Council  was  composed  of  the  heads  of  these  very 
departments.  Further  conferences  made  it  apparent  to  the  Woman's 
Committee  that  the  Federal  departments,  although  perfectly  willing 
to  use  the  units  of  the  Woman's  Committee  in  arousing  interest  in 
their  work,  did  not  intend  or  plan  to  intrust  to  the  terminals  of  the 
Committee  the 'execution  of  their  plans.  The  position  of  these  de- 
partments was  quite  as  logical  as  that  previously  taken  by  the  Wo- 
man's Committee.  Functions  had  been  given  the  departments  by 
Congress  under  certain  mandates  and  with  certain  appropriations 
for  performing  them.  Neither  the  functions  nor  the  appropriations 
could  they  pass  on  to  another  agency.  Their  agents,  in  the  States, 
must  be  responsible  to  themselves  alone. 

It  was  such  an  argument  and  one  that  is  quite  unanswerable,  that 
led  the  Food  Administrator  to  insist  that  in  addition  to  the  State 
Food  Administrators  who  must  be  in  direct  contact  with  and  di- 
rectly responsible  to  him,  he  must  choose  the  Home  Economics 
Director,  a  woman  who  was  to  direct  food  activities  of  women,  who 
should  be  in  direct  contact  and  responsible  to  the  State  Food 
Administrator. 

Although  it  had  to  be  conceded  that  the  responsibility  for  framing 
and  executing  the  plan  for  conservation  of  food  was  Mr.  Hoover's, 
the  fact  remained  that  it  was  the  chairmen  of  the  Food  Conservation 
Departments  of  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  who 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  29 

. 

would  have  direct  connection  with  the  organized  women  of  the  State. 
Some  plan  of  cooperation  was,  therefore,  necessary.  It  was  finally 
agreed  that  Miss  Tarbell,  as  chairman  of  the  Food  Administration 
Department  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  should  become  a  member  of 
Mr.  Hoover's  staff.  This  relation  made  it  possible  for  the  Woman's 
Committee  to  arrange  that  the  same  woman  chosen  by  the  Food  Ad- 
ministration as  State  Director  of  Home  Economics  should  be  the 
chairman  of  the  Food  Administration  Department  of  the  State  Di- 
visions. 

In  this  way,  without  either  agency  abandoning  authority  over  the 
appointee,  duplication  could  be  avoided  in  the  States.  One  State 
appointee  would  receive  orders  from  both  the  Food  Administration 
and  the  Woman's  Committee,  transmitting  them  to  the  local  units, 
who  would  report  back  to  the  State  appointee,  and  she  in  turn  would 
make  her  reports  both  to  the  United  States  Food  Administration  and 
the  Woman's  Committee.  Accordingly,  the  State  Divisions  were 
advised  to  hold  up  appointments  of  food  chairmen  until  the  same 
woman  could  be  agreed  upon  by  Miss  Tarbell  and  Mr.  Hoover.  In 
many  cases  the  State  Divisions  had  already  made  their  appointments 
before  they  received  thij  notification.  As  may  be  imagined,  confusion 
resulted. 

When  it  came  to  cooperation  with  the  Department  of  Labor  on  the 
subject  of  Women  in  Industry,  a  more  delicate  situation  still  was 
found  to  exist. 

To  look  after  the  protection  of  women  in  industry  seemed  well 
within  the  scope  of  an  agency  that  had  been  created  to  look  after  all 
matters  pertaining  to  women's  defense  work.  The  Woman's  Com- 
mittee supposed  that  the  Department  of  Labor  would  be  glad  to  use 
it  as  a  medium  in  all  matters  that  tied  this  problem  up  to  volunteer 
workers.  But  when  it  conferred  with  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  it  dis- 
covered that  the  Department  of  Labor  was  already  having  both  the 
numbers  and  conditions  of  women  in  industry  investigated.  This 
service,  which  had  been  in  operation  since  March,  1917,  was  being 
rendered,  free  of  cost  to  the  Government,  by  the  National  League  for 
Women's  Service  until  such  a  time  when  the  Department  of  Labor 
could  take  over  the  work.  The  chairman  of  this  bureau,  Miss  Marie 
Obenauer,  had  already  appointed  representatives  in  some  of  the 
States. 

It  further  developed  that  Mr.  Samuel  Gompers,  who  represented 
labor  on  the  Advisory  Commission  of  the  Council  of  National  De- 
fi-nse,  had  appointed  a  epmjnitteejm  Women  in  Industry,  with  Mrs. 
J.  Borden  Harriman  as  chairman.  This  committee  was  also  appoint- 


ing State  representatives.    When  the  Woman's  Committee,  therefore, 
entered  the  fielHTwTfhltstheory  that  it  was  the  sole  medium  between 


30  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

the  Labor  Department  and  the  volunteer  women  workers  in  the  States, 
it  found  that  already  there  were  two  different  appointees  in  the  State, 
represent ing  women  in  industry,  apparently  engaged  in  the  same 
work  but  with  no  connection  between  them.  Neither  appointee  could 
know  the  scope  of  her  own  work  nor  of  the  other's.  It  was  apparent 
that  nothing  could  be  gained  by  further  confusing  the  matter  with  the 
appointment  of  a  third  person  to  represent  the  Woman's  Committee's 
Women  in  Industry  Department. 

After  man}*  conferences  and  propositions,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
same  woman  must  head  the  AVomen  in  Industry  department  of  the 
State  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  Mr.  Gompers's  subcom- 
mittee, and  Miss  Obernauers  committee  in  the  Department  of  Labor. 
The  States  were  again  advised  to  withhold  their  appointment  of  a 
department  chairman  until  the  agencies  in  Washington  could  agree 
on  the  same  individual.  In  October,  1917.  the  Department  of  Labor, 
under  mutual  agreement,  took  over  from  the  National  League  for 
Women's  Service  the  work  it  was  doing  for  that  department  and 
under  its  supervision.  Later  a  new  division  was  formed  in  the 
Department  of  Labor,  known  as  the  Woman  in  Industry  Service, 
with  Miss  Mary  Van  Kleeck  in  charge.  This  division  concerned 
itself  particularly  with  framing  and  seeking  to  have  maintained 
certain  standards  for  women  in  industry  and  in  this  work  coop- 
erated with  the  Women  in  Industry  department  of  the  Woman's 
Committee,  not  attempting  to  have  volunteer  representatives  of  its 
own  in  the  States. 

In  the  case  of  a  third  Federal  department,  the  "channel  theory" 
received  a  new  interpretation.  It  would  have  seemed  that  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  Woman's  Committee  offered  all  that  was  necessary 
for  the  work  of  selling  Liberty  bonds  by  and  to  the  women.  Before 
the  creation  of  the  Women's  Committee,  however,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  who  was  not  even  a  member  of  the  Council  of  National 
Defense,  and  therefore  not  held  by  its  policy,  had  appointed  a  com- 
mittee of  his  own,  with  Mrs.  McAdoo  as  its  chairman.  This  of 
itself  did  not  present  a  complication,  especially  since  in  the  persons 
of  Mrs.  Antoinette  Funk  and  Mrs.  Catt  there,  was  a  liaison  connec- 
tion between  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the  Woman's  Liberty 
Loan  Committee.  Mrs.  Funk  and  Mrs.  Catt  being  members  of  both. 

On  June  4,  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  another  member  of  the  Woman's 
Liberty  Loan  Committee,  came  to  a  meeting  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee, with  a  definite  plan  for  cooperation  between  the  two  com- 
mittees.  This  plan  was  adopted  by  the  Woman's  Committee  on 
June  G,  and  was  to  the  effect  that  one  woman  in  each  State  "  should 
be  nominated  through  the  Woman's  Committee  to  the  State  Divi- 
sions' Executive  Committee,  by  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee,  and 
recommended  with  definite  instructions  to  the  State  chairman. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTKE.  31 

Thereupon  there  was  added  to  the  list  of  Departments  of  Work  a 
''Department  of  Liberty  Loan."  Mrs.  Funk  was  asked  to  take 
charge  of  this  new  department. 

In  the  report  made  by  Mrs.  Funk  on  September  22,  this  plan  was 
given  in  more  detail,  as  follows: 

The  Woman's  Liberty  Loan  Committee  nominates  a  Liberty  Loan  chairman 
in  each  State;  that  nomination  is  presented  to  the  Woman's  Committee  for 
ratification,  and  when  so  ratified  presented  to  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  for  apj>ointment  to  membership 
upon  the  Executive  Board  of  the  State  Division,  thus  making  the  machinery 
tit  the  organized  women  available  for  the  work  of  the  Treasury  Department 
in  the  matter  of  Government  loans  in  the  same  manner  that  other  depart- 
ments of  the  Government  function  through  the  Woman's  Committee. 

The  State  Chairman  has  direction  of  the  campaign  in  her  State  for  the 
sale  of  Liberty  bonds,  and  because  of  the  nature  of  the  work,  makes  her  report 
directly  to  the  central  committee  at  Washington,  and  files  copies  of  the  same 
for  the  use  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  State  Divisions. 

A  chairman  is  also  appointed  in  each  of  the  12  Federal  Reserve  districts  to 
act  as  delegate  between  the  Woman's  Liberty  Loan  Committee  and  the  regional 
Imitk  j.nd  its  committee  in  such  Reserve  district.  This  chairman  also  acts  in 
cooperation  \vith  the  various  State  chairmen  in  her  district,  coordinating  in  so 
far  as  it  is  ]x>ssible  the  work  of  the  Men's  Liberty  Loan  Committee  and  the 
work  undertaken  as  a  State  activity. 

There  were  many  reasons  why  this  arrangement  could  not  always 
work.  Due  to  the  delays  in  transmitting  nominations,  these  appoint- 
ments were  often  made  after  the  chairman  of  the  State  Division  had 
already  appointed  another  woman,  chairman  of  Liberty  Loan.  In  a 
few  instances  the  woman  nominated  by  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee 
was  not  acceptable  to  the  State  Division. 

The  whole  policy  of  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee  was  toward 
in-Teased  centralization.  With  this  idc-a  the  State  chairman  of  the 
Woman's  Committee  often  did  not  agree.  Why,  she  asked,  should 
.she  not  appoint  a  chairman  of  her  own  choosing  to  the  Department 
of  Liberty  Loan,  if  that  chairman  sat  on  her  Executive  Board?  As 
time  went  on.  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee  became  less  tolerant  of 
any  disposition  on  the  part  of  the  State  Divisions  to  object  to  its 
appointees.  Finally  it  declared  that  no  such  objection  would  be 
recognized  unless  backed  by  evidence  that  the  appointee  was 
inefficient. 

By  the  time,  of  the  Fourth  Loan  Drive  it  was  recognized  that  a 

*  c? 

State  Liberty  Loan  chairman,  with  expenses  paid  and  franking  privi- 
leges given  her  by  the  Treasury  Department,  would  not  be  subsidiary 
to  the  Executive  Board  of  a  State  Division  of  the  Women's  Committee 
that  could  give  her  none  of  these  things.  In  June,  1018,  the  National 
Women's  Liberty  Loan  Committee  released  the  Woman's  Committee 
from  its  obligations  to  accept  the  nominee  of  the  Liberty  Loan  Com- 
mittee as  a  member  of  its  Executive  Board.  Thereafter  all  organized 


32  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL,  DEFENSE. 

i 

Liberty  Loan  work  among  women  was  under  the  direction  of  the 
National  Women's  Liberty  Loan  Committee. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  relationship  as  first  established  between 
these  two  women's  committees  was  almost  an  interlocking  one.  It 
was  actually  what  might  be  called  a  disappearing  relationship.  The 
Woman's  Liberty  Loan  Committee,  as  was  later  acknowledged  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  was  appointed  more  with  the  view  to  its 
ability  to  rouse  and  crystallize  public  opinion,  as  one  more  Ameri- 
canization agenc}7,  than  with  the  idea  that  it  would  add  materially 
to  the  number  of  bonds  sold.  But  from  the  first  the  women  were 
wonderfully  successful  in  the  bond-selling  business.  The  amount  of 
bonds  sold  by  them  during  the  first  campaign,  before  their  organi- 
zation was  well  under  way,  was  a  great  surprise  to  both  statesmen  and 
bankers.  As  the  relationship  between  the  Woman's  Liberty  Loan 
Committee  and  the  Federal  Reserve  banks  became  closer,  the  rela- 
tionship with  the  Woman's  Committee  seems  to  have  become  less  so. 

Yet  it  could  never  be  truly  said  that  all  connection  between  the 
local  units  of  these  two  bodies  ceased.  On  November  26,  1917,  Mrs. 
Funk  had  reported : 

In  many  instances  the  county  chairman  of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the 
county  chairman  of  the  Women's  Liberty  Loan  Committee  are  the  same,  and 
as  results  seem  to  he  uniformly  good,  this  practice  of  appointment  of  the  same 
chairman  is  not  to  be  discouraged,  except  where  representatives  of  the  State 
Divisions  are  not  able  to  give  entire  time  to  the  Liberty  Loan  campaign. 

Although  the  Libert}7  Loan  Committee  revoked  all  appointments 
at  the  end  of  each  bond  campaign,  the  appointees  who  had  done  suc- 
cessful work  were  usually  reappointed.  According  to  this  arrange- 
ment, therefore,  the  Lil>erty  Loan  appointees  endorsed  by  the 
Woman's  Committee  in  most  cases  continued  in  office  after  the  plan 
of  cooperation  was  abandoned.  Thus,  even  after  the  official  connec- 
tion between  the  National  Liberty  Loan  Committee  and  the  Woman's 
Committee  was  severed  the  same  women  did  the  actual  work  of  both 
committees  and  continued  to  include  the  work  of  selling  bonds  in 
their  reports  to  the  Executive  Boards  of  the  State  Divisions. 

All  these  adjustments  and  readjustments  must  have  been  very  con- 
fusing to  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  One  day 
they  were  told  to  make  certain  appointments  and  develop  depart- 
ments. A  few  weeks  afterward  the)*  were  told  to  hold  up  appoint- 
ments, pending  an  approval  by  some  branch  of  the  Government,  of 
which  the}'  had  never  heard.  They  could  not  understand  the  difficul- 
ties under  which  all  governmental  agencies  must  work.  They  could 
not  know  how  there  had  grown  up  in  Washington  a  very  complex 
and  intricate  Federal  system  with  an  overlapping  of  bureaus  and 
functions,  which  is  confusing  enough  to  the  initiated.  To  a  beginner 
it  seems  as  if  there  were  no  plan,  no  system,  no  order  whatever,  be- 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  33 

hind  it  After  awhile — usually  a  very  long  while— he  begins  to  un- 
derstand that  what  seems  to  be  a  duplication  of  plan  is  only  a  natural 
and  even  necessary  overlapping  of  functions.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
subject  of  health.  The  Surgeon  General's  office  of  the  United  States 
Public  Health  Service  must  naturally  include  an  interest  in  chil- 
dren's health,  as  part  of  its  work  for  the  general  health,  since  you 
can  not  segregate  the  children  from  the  family;  in  the  Bureau  of 
Education,  there  must  be  interest  and  study  and  plans  for  the  health 
of  the  children,  since  their  intelligence  is  somewhat  dependent  upon 
their  health ;  the  Children's  Bureau  must  also  be  interested  in  that,  as 
in  every  phase  of  child  life.  There  would  seem  to  be  three  circles  here 
entirely  overlapping;  yet  while  all  cover  part  of  the  same  subject, 
only  a  very  small  part  of  the  same  ground  is  covered  by  all  three. 
When  one  understands  that  what  is  true  of  this  one  subject,  which  is 
carried  on  under  three  different  departments  of  the  Government,  the 
Treasury,  the  Interior,  and  Labor,  is  true  of  many  others,  one  appre- 
ciates how  intricate  was  the  problem  that  faced  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee, or  faces  any  agency  that  undertakes  to  serve  the  Government 

There  are  tangles  within  tangles;  there  are  decisions  and  hold-ups 
that  seem  to  the  outsider  forever  unexplainable.  During  the  early 
war  days,  when  everyone  in  Washington  was  working  under  great 
pressure,  when  each  department  and  bureau  was  extending  over  night, 
when  into  the  problem  were  injected  thousands  of  zealous  workers 
who  did  not  know  these  ramifications,  it  is  not  surprising  that  there 
were  so  many  complications,  but  rather  that  there  were  so  few. 

Xecessarily  this  chapter  dealing  with  the  relationship  between  the 
Woman's  Committee  and  the  Federal  departments,  concerns  itself 
mainly  with  the  question  of  policy.  When  the  policy  of  a  Federal  de- 
partment permitted  it  to  use  the  Committee  as  the  Committee  ex- 
pected, in  other  words,  when  a  Federal  department  accepted  the 
"one  channel"  theory,  there  was  no  difference  in  policies  to  adjust, 
jind  the  results  of  the  cooperation  fall  logically  within  the  chapters 
devoted  to  the  programs  and  accomplishments  of  the  Committee's 
departments.  Such  is  the  case  with  the  Department  of  Agriculture, 
which  almost  immediately  detailed  a  member  of  its  staff  to  the  Com- 
mittee. In  the  Department  of  Labor,  the  Children's  Bureau  offered  an 
(•xcellent  opportunity  for  the  application  of  the  channel  theory.  De- 
siring the  fuller  cooperation  of  women  in  the  states,  having  a  large 
vision  of  the  possibilities  of  such  a  partnership.  Miss  Julia  Lathrop, 
Chief  of  the  Children's  Bureau,  cordially  accepted  the  cooperation 
of  such  an  organization  as  the  Woman's  Committee  had  to  offer.  The 
results  of  the  program  undertaken  subsequently  by  the  Children's 
Bureau  and  the  Woman's  Committee,  described  elsewhere  in  the  ac- 
count of  Children's  Year,  show  what  perfect  coordination  between  a 
141C340— 20 3 


34  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

government  bureau  and  an  official  organization  of  volunteer  workers 
may  accomplish. 

The  Children's  Bureau  was  stuffed  by  specialists.  For  years  it  had 
been  studying  and  planning.  Through  the  assistance  of  women's 
organizations  and  public-spirited  women,  this  bureau  had  been  able 
to  accomplish  a  great  deal,  but  not  all  that  it  desired.  The  Woman's 
Committee  offered  the  bureau  access  to  a  larger  supply  of  volunteer 
labor  than  it  had  been  able  to  reach  before.  In  addition,  the  Com- 
mittee asked  the  pleasing  and  pertinent  -question,  "What  would 
you  have  us  do?"  Adopting  the  workers  of  the  State  Divisions  of 
the  Woman's  Committee  as  its  own,  the  Children's  Bureau  gave  them 
the  franking  privilege  for  their  work.  Adopting  the  program  of 
the  Children's  Bureau  as  its  own,  the  Woman's  Committee  passed  this 
program  on  to  the  State  -workers.  Help  was  given  from  both 
sources;  bulletins,  press  notices,  pamphlets  were  written  in  collabo- 
ration, printed  by  the  Children's  Bureau,  and  distributed  by  the 
Woman's  Committee. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  relations  of  the  Committee  with, 
the  Federal  departments  were  confined  to  its  use  as  a  channel.  It  is 
a  fact  recognized  by  both  the  Federal  departments  and  the  public 
that  to  the  rousing  and  unifying  of  public  opinion  by  the  Woman's 
Committee,  the  plans  of  the  Federal  Government,  even  when  trans- 
mitted by  other  agencies  than  the  State  Divisions,  owed  their  success. 

In  addition,  the  Woman's  Committee  served  the  Federal  depart- 
ments as  a  clearing  house  for  inquiries  of  all  sorts.  In  the  curly 
days  every  office  in  Washington  was  flooded  with  offers  of  service 
for  doing  anything  from  "  going  into  camouflage  "  to  "  becoming  a 
refreshment  corps."  These  offers  were  sent  to  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee and  there  distributed  l>y  a  thoughtful  information  bureau  to 
the  agency  to  which  they  should  go.  Many  w«re  the  problems,  too, 
sent  by  the  Federal  departments  to  the  Committee,  and  many  tii3 
questions  referred  to  the  departments  for  answer.  One  woman  wrote, 
for  instance,  in  regard  to  the  holding  of  wool.  This  letter  was  sent 
to  the  Commercial  Economy  Board.  Another  wanted  to  know 
about  the  price  of  wool.  Her  letter  was  referred  to  the  Bureau  of 
Markets.  Man}'  such  questions  as  this  were  asked,  "  Is  canned  goods 
safe?"  In  eveiy  case  information  would  be  sought  from  experts 
and  forwarded  to  the  writer.  The  committee  was,  in  effect,  a  clear- 
ing house  of  departmental  information  to  women. 

The  Committee  also  served  the  departments  as  a  clearing  house 
for  ideas  and  undertakings.  Many  subjects  were  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  by  them  referred  to  the 
Council,  which  in  turn  referred  them  to  another  agency  for  atten- 
tion. One  of  the  first  of  these  was  the  idea  of  an  allotment  and 
war-risk  insurance.  The  Committee  suggested  that  this  subject  be 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  35 

turned  over  to  a  commission  of  men  and  women  fitted  to  solve  it. 
The  Council  answered  that  this  matter  was  already  under  consid- 
eration. Later,  Judge  Julian  Mack,  who  drafted  the  bill,  appeared 
before  the  Woman's  Committee  and  discussed  it  with  them. 

In  addition  to  serving  the  departments  as  a  clearing  house  for 
information  and  suggestions  to  and  by  the  women,  the  Committee 
tested  diligently  its  advisory  function.  But  by  far  its  greatest  serv- 
ice to  Federal  departments  was  the  plan  of  organization  that  placed 
at  the  disposal  of  these  departments  the  volunteer  women  workers 
of  the  country. 

That  the  State  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee  had  mobilized 
these  volunteer  workers  was  discovered  sooner  or  later  by  all  Fed- 
eral agencies.  In  every  locality  there  are  only  a  limited  number  of 
women  who  can  and  will  do  volunteer  work.  These  women  stood 
ready  to  obey  the  word  of  command  from  Washington.  If  this 
word  came  to  them  through  some  other  channel  than  the  Woman's 
Committee,  these  workers  appealed  first  to  their  local  leader  to  know 
if  it  was  authentic.  Assured  that  it  was,  even  though  a  Treasury 
appointee  gave  it,  they  combined  forces  locally,  did  what  was  to  be 
i  done,  and  reported  the  result  back  to  the  Woman's  Committee.  Often 
they  rebelled  at  the  waste  of  time  involved  in  conference  between 
two  appointees,  or  in  making  duplicate  reports.  Often  they  were 
greatly  confused.  They  knew  that  a  single  line  of  instructions,  one 
single  line  of  connections,  would  make  for  efficiency.  What  perhaps 
they  did  not  realize  was  that  it  would  have  been  a  thousandfold 
more  confusing,  more  wasteful,  if  each  Federal  agent  had  had  to 
build  up  a  local  machine  for  himself.  A  chairman  of  the  Woman's 
Committee  representing  the  Government  could  more  easily  mobilize 
local  workers  for  any  agency  than  could  any  single  Federal  ap- 
pointee, even  though  he  had  the  franking  privilege,  stationery,  and 
all  expenses  paid,  for  the  chairman  of  the  Woman's  Committee  was 
not  only  a  representative  of  Washington,  she  was  furthermore  an 
elected  representative  of  die  women  of  that  community. 

It  was  because  the  Woman's  Committee,  being  more  familiar  with 
the  ways  of  women  than  the  masculine  heads  of  Federal  Departments, 
knew  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  manifold  channel,  that  it  stood 
out  firmly  for  the  "  one  channel  idea,"  as  it  has  been  called.  Through 
this  channel,  leading  to  these  women  volunteers  who  stood  ready  to 
serve  and  direct,  save  and  reclaim,  create  and  nurture,  could  be 
poured  all  that  women  had  to  offer;  labor,  devotion,  patriotism,  and 
kervice,  as  gifts,  as  contributions,  even  as  votive  offerings.  Whttt 
directions,  instructions,  and  plans  this  channel  conveyed  to  these 
women,  and  the  reports  they  returned,  will  be  told  in  other  chapters. 


CHAPTER  IIL 

RELATIONSHIP  OF  STATE  DIVISIONS  TO  STATE  COUNCILS. 

Once,  a  long  time  ago — how  and  where  has  nothing  to  do  with 
this  history — there  was  built  a  high  wall.  On  this  side,  said  some- 
one, falls  the  great  affaire  of  war,  finance  and  state.  They  are 
men's  interests.  On  the  other  side  was  placed  the  home,  the  children, 
and  the  church.  Here,  said  the  same  someone,  dwell  women's  interests. 
And  on  the  side  where  dwelt  the  men's  interests  was  placed  all  power 
and  dominion.  Well,  little  by  little,  that  partition  has  been  wearing 
"away.  Women  have  been  climbing  over  into  the  men's  side,  Meu 
have  been  reaching  over  and  stealing  some  of  the  women's  interests. 
Across  the  wall,  here  and  there,  men  and  women  have  joined  hands. 
At  other  places,  large  stones  have  been  rolled  away.  And  still  there 
are  men  and  women  who  hold  that  partition  insurmountable.  That 
wall  is  mortared  with  tradition.  No  one  event  in  history  has  done 
more  to  crumble  that  mortar  than  the  Great  War. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  in  April,  1917,  there  existed  a  large 
group  of  men  who  believed  that  the  work  of  waging  war  belonged 
on  the  men's  side  of  the  wall.  Gradually  these  very  men  were  forced 
t«  make  a  small  opening  through  to  the  women's  side  of  the  wall. 
They  wished  to  annex  the  adjacent  women's  territory.  They  called  it 
a  committee,  or  an  auxiliary.  Authority,  control,  remained  on  the 
men's  side.  Many  tasks  were  thrust  past  the  door  and  reports  were 
to  be  handed  back. 

To  come  down  to  facts  and  details,  in  April,  1917,  before  war 
was  declared,  various  State  governments  appointed  or  caused  to  be 
appointed  Committees  of  Public  Safety  or  Councils  of  Defense.  The 
duty  of  these  bodies  was  rather  vaguely  outlined  as  that  of  mobiliz- 
ing the  resources  of  the  State  for  the  national  defense.  While  these 
bodies  looked  to  Washington  to  tell  them  what  resources  the  National 
Government  was  calling  for,  and  how  they  might  be  mobilized,  the 
authority  of  these  State  Councils  came  to  them  from  their  own  State. 
The  Council  of  National  Defense,  realizing  that  there  should  be  some 
uniformity  in  the  organization  of  these  bodies,  and  some  direction  of 
them,  on  May  20, 1917,  called  the  governors  of  the  various  States  in 
counsel.  Mr.  Gifford,  the  Director  of  the  Council,  and  various  mem- 
bers of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  addressed  thai  meeting,  and 
36 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  37 

an  advisory  relationship  was  established  between  the  National  Coun- 
cil of  Defense  and  the  State  Councils,  though  it  was  recognized  by 
both  the  Council  of  National  Defense  and  the  State  Councils  that  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  had  no  real  authority  over  these 
Councils. 

Doubtless  many  of  these  State  Councils  thought  of  their  organiza- 
tion as  representing  women.  A  few  of  them,  when  they  were  organ- 
ized, appointed  some  women  on  the  Council.  But  in  these  same  Coun- 
cils, composed  of  a  large  membership,  the  work  was  done  and  de- 
cisions made  b}T  a  small  Executive  Board  on  which  women  had  no 
representation.. 

Several  of  these  Councils  asked  a  woman  to  organize  a  committee 
on  women's  war  work,  this  committee  to  be  called  a  Woman's  Division, 
or  a  Woman's  Auxiliary,  and  to  report  to  the  Executive  Board  of  the 
Council.  Not  one  State  Council  included  women  and  women's  inter- 
ests in  its  plan  of  work  or  organization  on  a  partnership  basis. 

About  this  time  the  Woman's  Committee  appointed  by  the  Council 
of  National  Defense,  to  direct  the  activities  of  women  and  to  be  the 
channel  between  the  Federal  Government  and  the  women  of  the 
Nation,  organized  its  State  Divisions.  Although  these  State  Di- 
visions were  to  be  the  State  organs  of  the  National  Woman's  Com- 
mittee, they  were  intended  to  be  representative  of  the  women  of  the 
State.  In  any  State,  therefore,  where  a  State  Council  had  organized 
(lie  women  into  an  auxiliary,  this  organization,  provided,  of  course, 
that  it  represented  the  women  of  that  State,  was  accepted  by  the 
Woman's  Committee  as  its  State  Division ;  but  in  most  of  the  States 
where  there  was  no  previous  organization  of  women,  the  State  Divi- 
sion was  organized  by  the  Woman's  Committee,  entirely  independent 
of  the  State  Council. 

Now.  when  the  Committee's  plan  of  work  was  presented  to  the 
Council  of  National  Defense,  it  had  carried  a  request  for  a  budget  of 
£30,000.  and  this  had  been  allowed  from  the  sum  appropriated  by 
Congress  for  the  work  of  the  committees  of  the  Council.  This  was 
only  enough,  however,  to  finance  the  office  staff  and  work  in  Wash- 
ington; but.  even  aside  from  the  fact  that  the  amount  at  the  Com- 
mittee's disposal  was  limited,  no  Federal  committee  could  finance 
State  agents,  elected  by  State  groups  for  work  for  the  States,  as  were 
the  State  Divisions.  This  the  Woman's  Committee  explained  to  the 
State  Divisions,  suggesting  that  they  be  financed  either  by  private 
contributions  or  from  the  funds  appropriated  by  the  State  Legis- 
latures for  defense  work  in  the  States.  As  such  appropriations,  when 
they  had  been  made,  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  State  Councils  of 
Defense,  the  State  Divisions  were  thus  forced  to  apply  to  the  State 
Councils  for  financial  support.  When  they  did  so,  the  State  Councils 


38  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

naturally  inquired  why  they  should  be  asked  to  support  an  organiza- 
1  ion  over  which  they  had  no  control.  About  the  same  time  a  bulletin 
was  received  by  the  State  Councils  from  the  Council  of  National 
Defense,  telling  them  of  the  organization  of  the  State  Divisions  of 
the  Woman's  Committee  and  suggesting  that,  in  the  interests  of 
cooperation,  the  chairmen  of  these  divisions  be  given  a  place  on  the 
Executive  Boards  of  the  Councils. 

While  the  Councils  were  considering  how  they  should  act  in  this 
matter,  there  came  to  them  a  wire  from  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover,  the  new 
Food  Administrator,  asking  them  to  assist  him  in  the  registration  of 
the  women  in  his  Food  Administration.  His  plan  contemplated  the 
signing  by  ever}*  woman  of  a  post  card,  pledging  herself  to  assist  him 
in  his  conservation  program.  He  needed  all  the  assistance  possible  in 
conveying  these  post  cards  to  the  women.  In  his  intense  desire  to 
secure  all  the  help  thai  was  available,  Mr.  Hoover  did  not  confine  him- 
self to  any  one  agency.  He  also  asked  the  Woman's  Committee  to 
assist  him,  and  the  Committee  accordingly  enlisted  the  help  of  its 
State  Divisions. 

At  that  time  the  State  Councils  were  acting  on  the  theory  that  they 
were  the  sole  agency  in  the  States  of  the  Federal  departments  in 
Washington.  .The  State  Divisions  believed  that  they  were  the  sole 
agents  in  all  things  concerning  women.  Each  State  agency  there- 
fore accepted,  in  good  faith,  the  task  given  it  by  Mr.  Hoover.  In 
some  States  the  State  Council  had  completed  its  plans  before  it  dis- 
covered that  the  State  Division  was  also  planning  to  conduct  a  cam- 
paign. In  most  cases  one  agency  sought  the  other  out  and  tried  to 
effect  a  division  of  the  task.  Men  and  women,  fortunately,  work 
better  together  as  individuals  than  as  exponents  of  a  theory.  Faced 
with  a  situation,  the}'  made  compromises  of  some  sort  or  another  that 
got  the  food  registration  done.  But  each  agency  had  been  faced 
with  these  facts:  There  existed  in  the  State  two  agencies,  one 
having  authority  from  Washington  to  convey  to  the  women  of  the 
State,  Federal  needs  requiring  the  assistance  of  women;  and  the 
other,,  having  its  authority  from  the  State,  but  established  with  the 
approval  and  in  fact  at  the  request  of  the  Council  of  National  De- 
fense; organized  to  convey  to  the  people  of  the  State,  among  them 
women,  the  needs  of  the  Federal  Government. 

It  was  a  trying  situation  for  both  these  agencies.  Neither  one 
was  responsible  for  it.  }Tet  having  been  placed  in  authority  each  felt 
its  obligation  to  use  the  authority  given  it.  The  State  Divisions  felt, 
sometimes  vaguely  and  sometimes  with  great  passion,  that  woman's 
opportunity  to  make  her  full  contribution  to  defense  work  depended 
upon  keeping  clear  and  strong  their  connection  with  Washington 
and  the  Woman's  Committee.  Tlie  State  Councils,  on  the  other 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  39 

hand,  saw  a  Federal  committee  not  only  reaching  into  the  precious 
sovereignty  of  the  State,  but  touching  that  sovereignty  in  a  most 
sensitive  spot — its  organization  of,  and  relationship  to,  its  own 
women.  Women  who  had  never  desired  political  equality  welcomed 
the  opportunity  for  independence  of  local  control  offered  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Federal  committee  on  women's  defense  work.  Men 
who  had  never  before  approved  the  public  service  of  women  chafed 
at  their  inability  to  direct  it. 

The  attitude  of  the  State  Council  was  strengthened  by  its  belief 
that  if  it  was  to  finance  the  State  Division  it  should  control  it  The 
women  felt  that  the  mere  possession  of  the  funds  did  not  carry  with 
it  the  right  to  dictate  what  work  women  should  do  and  how  it  should 
be  done,  and  that  there  was  after  all,  no  real  reason  why  the  control 
of  the  State  pocketbook  should  rest  with  the  men. 

The  State  Council's  position  would  have  been  incontrovertible  liad 
the  argument  been  between  two  agencies,  both  composed  of  men,  or 
composed  equally  of  men  and  women,  since  a  State  Council  could 
not  logically  be  asked  to  finance  a  branch  of  a  Federal  committee 
over  which  it  had  no  jurisdiction.  But  since  the  women  were  not 
represented  on  the  Executive  Board  of  the  State  Council,  since  the 
Stute  Division  was  the  only  governmental  body  through  wliich 
women  could  do  independent  war  work,  since  it  represented  officially 
the  women  of  the  State  who  wished  to  give  war  service  correspond- 
ing in  value  and  effort  to  that  of  the  State  Council,  the  State  Di- 
visions held  that  some  part  of  the  public  funds  appropriated  by  the 
State  for  use  in  that  State  for  defense  work?  should  justly  be  set 
aside  for  women's  war  work,  without  requiring  from  women  that 
they  give  up  all  independence  of  initiative  and  become  an  auxiliary 
to  the  Council. 

To  this  there  was  but  one  logical  answer,  it  would  seem,  for  the 
State  Councils  to  make :  "  We  will  give  women  representation  on  the 
State  Council.  It  shall  be  composed  of  both  men  and  women  and 
thus  women  can  have  some  voice  in  what  the  woman's  part  of  this 
work  shall  be  and  how  it  shall  be  done."  This  answer  was  not  made. 
Instead,  there  began  a  series  of  adjustments,  and  in  some  cases,  mal- 
adjustments, that  stretched  through  the  greater  part  of  the  war. 

The  sort  of  relationship  that  was  finally  agreed  upon  between  the 
State  Councils  and  the  State  Divisions  depended  upon  three  things. 
First  in  importance  was  the  type  of  man  and  the  type  of  woman  at 
the  head  of  the  two  agencies,  and  their  understanding  of  each  other. 
Second,  the  attitude  of  the  general  public  to  its  women  and  their 
work — what  I  have  elsewhere  called  the  "  unfixed  status,"  Third, 
the  relative  strength  of  the  two  agencies.  But  of  these  three  ele- 
ments, by  far  the  most  important  were  the  first  and  the  second. 


40  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

and  so  accustomed  is  man  to  considering  -woman  personally,  that 
the  first  was  often  the  cause  of  the  second.  In  other  words,  if  the 
chairman  of  the  State  Division  was  personally  agreeable  to  the 
State  Council,  or  knew  how  to  "  manage  men,"  then  the  men  on  that 
Slate  Council  were  apt  to  think  that,  after  all,  women  were  to  be 
trusted — in  some  cases,  even  consulted.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
chairman  of  the  State  Division  was  the  type  that  men  "can  boss," 
then  the  men  were  apt  to  say  "  go  "  and  the  State  Division  followed 
their  mandate. 

There  were  three  distinct  types  of  relationships  between  State 
Divisions  and  State  Councils.  The  first  provided  for  some  form  of 
amalgamation  between  the  two  agencies.  That  effected  by  Connecti- 
cut was  the  closet.  "The  Connecticut  Plan,"  as  it  was  subsequently 
called,  when  finally  completed,  provided  that  the  one  Council  com- 
posed of  men  and  women  should  handle  all  defense  matters  in  the 
state.  Three  members  of  the  Woman's  Executive  Committee  were 
added  to  the  Council.  All  women's  committees  concerned  with 
subjects  also  handled  by  men's  committees  were  merged  with  such 
committees  of  the  Council,  and  some  changes  were  made  in  chair- 
manships in  these  cases.  All  remaining  committees  of  women 
which  were  agreed  upon  as  necessary  or  useful  were  made  standing 
committees  of  the  Council,  retaining  with  few  exceptions  their 
former  chairmen. 

The  second  type  of  relationship  provided  for  a  cooperation  de- 
pendent on  the  same  woman  serving  as  a  member  of  the  State  Coun- 
cil of  Defense  and  also  as  chairman  of  the  State  Division  of  the 
Woman's  Committee.  Sometimes  the  State  chairman  of  the  State 
Divisions  was  placed  on  the  State  Council,  plead  her  case  before  the 
Council,  and  was  given  financial  assistance,  making  reports  to  the 
State  Council,  but  not  dependent  on  its  O.  K.  Sometimes  a  woman 
who  had  been  appointed  on  the  Executive  Board  of  the  State  Coun- 
cil and  asked  to  organize  the  women  of  the  State,  was  elected  chair- 
man of  the  State  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  In  Wisconsin, 
the  sole  connection  between  the  State  Council  and  State  Division 
of  the  Woman's  Committee  resided  in  the  person  of  the  chairman  of 
the  Wisconsin  Division.  Should  the  chairman  of  the  State  Di- 
vision resign  and  a  new  one  be  elected  whom  the  governor  would  not 
appoint  on  the  State  Council,  the  connection  would  end.  In  Michi- 
gan the  connection  was  effected  in  still  another  way.  The  State  law 
creating  the  Michigan  War  Preparedness  Board,  did  not  permit  the 
appointment  of  a  woman  to  it.  Accordingly  the  governor  appointed 
a  Woman's  Committee  on  War  Preparedness,  of  six  members,  with 
Dr.  Caroline  Bartlett  Crane,  who  was  the  chairman  of  the  Michigan 
Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  as  chairman!  This  board 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  41 

served  as  an  intermediary  between  the  Michigan  War  Preparedness 
Board  and  the  Michigan  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  The 
State  Division  made  reports  and  received  some  financial  assistance 
from  the  War  Preparedness  Board,  but  acted  as  an  independent 
body  in  planning  or  initiating  its  work.  At  best,  such  cooperation 
was  but  makeshift  and  not  based  on  equality  or  division  of  authority. 

The  third  form  of  relationship  existed  when  the  State  Divisions 
served  as  Woman's  Divisions  of  the  State  Councils  without  repre- 
sentation on  the  Executive  Boards  of  the  Council,  financed  by  the 
State  Council,  and  being  in  effect  auxiliary  to  them,  although  they 
preserved  their  connection  with  the  Woman's  Committee  in  Wash- 
ington. 

Of  these  three  types  there  were  many  variations. '  Cooperation  is 
a  word  of  shifting  meaning.  In  Colorado  the  Woman's  Committee, 
appointed  by  the  governor  equal  in  rank  to  the  State  War  Council, 
worked  in  complete  harmony  with  it,  through  a  joint  Council  formed 
by  the  two  bodies.  In  Louisiana,  the  laws  of  the  State  prevented  a 
woman  from  serving  on  an}'  State  board,  and  cooperation  was  made 
possible  by  the  State  Council's  employing  the"  chairman  of  the  State 
Division  as  a  director  of  women's  work.  That  the  State  Councils, 
generally  speaking,  had  little  conception  of  what  the  women  meant 
when  they  asked  for  cooperation  or  for  recognition,  may  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  while  24  States  reported  that  the  "  Woman's  Divi- 
sions were  part  of  the  State  Councils,"  only  five  States  reported  that 
the  chairman  of  the  State  Division  had  been  placed  on  the  Executive 
Board.  One  is  provoked  to  wonder  what  sort  of  a  "  part "  it  is  that 
provides  no  voice  in  the  decisions. 

The  relation  between  the  State  Councils  and  the  State  Divisions 
was  still  further  complicated  by  their  interpretation  of  their  rela- 
tionship to  the  Federal  departments.  The  State  Councils  felt 
strongly  that  they  should  be  the  central  authority  in  the  State,  and 
all  messages  from  the  Federal  Government  to  anybody  in  the  States 
should  come  through  them.  The  State  Divisions  felt  equally  strongly 
that,  as  they  were  formed  by  a  Federal  Woman's  Committee,  they 
should  receive  their  orders  direct  from  Washington,  and  not  through 
(lie  State  Councils.  But  both  agreed  that  there  should  be  no  repeti- 
tion of  the  difficulties  of  the  Food  Pledge  Drive. 

There  existed  at  that  time  in  the  Council  of  National  Defense  a 
section  whose  business  it  was  to  transmit  the  messages  of  the  Council 
and  the  Federal  departments  to  the  State  Councils,  known  as  the 
Section  on  Cooperation  with  the  States.  In  order  to  save  future  mis- 
understanding between  the  State  Councils  and  the  State  Divisions, 
it  was  agreed,  on  July  14,  1917,  between  the  Woman's  Committee 
and  this  Section,  that  no  recommendation  calling  for  the  assistance 


42  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

of  the  women's  divisions  should  be  forwarded  through  this  Section 
to  the  State  Councils  of  Defense,  without  the  Woman's  Committee  in 
Washington  having  first  given  consent  and  approval.  Also,  that 
the  Woman's  Committee  in  Washington  should  not  send  out  any 
recommendations  to  its  State  Divisions  for  work,  which  would  call 
for  assistance  of  the  State  Councils,  without  first  notifying  the 
Section  on  Cooperation  with  the  States.  When  recommendations 
were  mutually  agreed  upon,  they  should  be  made  jointly  to  the  State 
Councils  and  the  State  Divisions,  It  was  further  agreed  that  there 
should  be  consultation  and  cooperation  between  this  Section  and  the 
Woman's  Committee,  in  order  that  full  notification  and  explanation 
of  work  might  be  made  to  the  State  Councils  and  State  Divisions. 
The  difficulty  about  this  arrangement  came  in  deciding  what  was 
.specially  women's  work  and  what  would  call  for  the  assistance  of  the 
State  Councils.  Take,  for  instance,  the  simple  matter  of  urging 
customers  to  carry  home  their  parcels.  Surely  this  seemed  a  business 
suggestion  to  be  passed  on  to  the  merchants  and  advertising  associa- 
tions. But  surely,  too,  it  was  a  woman's  business,  since  it  concerned 
ever}'  woman  shopper. 

Work  has  long  been  divided  into  what  is  strictly  men's  interest, 
what  is  strictly  women's,  and  that  which  belongs  commonly  to  both. 
But  iar  there,  in  reality,  such  a  division?  The  success  of  women  bond 
sellers  and  bankers,  the  election  of  women  to  bank  directorates,  show 
that  finance  can  not  be  counted  wholly  in  men's  sphere.  Child  wel- 
fare may  be  considered  traditionally  as  women's  work.  Yet  the  prob- 
lem of  child  labor  is  intimately  connected  with  industry.  In  Utah 
there  are  joint  child  welfare -committees,  in  Missouri,  a  Children's 
Code  Commission  composed  of  men  and  women.  The  time  may  soon 
come  when  the  welfare  of  children  will  be  regarded  as  a  paternal  as 
well  as  a  maternal  affair.  The  drafting  of  the  boys  into  military 
service,  Gen.  Crowder's  appeal  to  the  mothers  and  wives  to  uphold 
the  morale  of  the  Army,  give  women  an  undeniable  interest  in  ques- 
tions of  diplomacy  and  State.  The  conservation  of  food  affects  in- 
dustry as  well  as  the  home.  Most  of  life's  interests  to-day  are  simply 
human  interests.  They  have  no  sex. 

These  things  were  soon  discovered  by  the  Woman's  Committee. 
They  were  discovered  by  the  State  Councils.  To  draw  the  line  and 
say,  "  Lo,  here  "  or  "  Lo,  there,  lie  women's  particular  interests,"  was 
found  to  be  impossible. 

Why  then,  it  will  be  asked,  why  then  this  Woman's  Committee  at 
all  ?  Why  could  not  the  women  have  been  organized  as  State  Council 
auxiliaries?  The  answer  lies  in  the  fact  that  women  had  certain 
contributions  to  make  in  mobilizing  the  resources  of  the  country,  that 
the  State  Councils  would,  in  all  likelihood,  not  have  valued  or  called 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  43 

for.  Some  day,  it  is  true,  when  women  are  heard  in  public  coun- 
cils, this  contribution  will  leaven  the  whole  and  not  be  appended 
as  of  feminine  origin.  AtJtheJ2eginiuiig_Qi^  " 

nan  ally  meantjnenjanjy»  when  State  Councils'  deliberations  included 
only  the  opinions  of  men,  when  State  Councils'  decisions  voiced  only 
the  conclusions  of  men,  these  special  contributions  of  women  would 
r.ever  have  been  noted  in  the  results,  without  the  independence  of 
initiative  possible  under  an  organization  planned,  headed,  and  con- 
trol led  by  women. 

Sometimes  this  contribution  of  women  wat,  merely  in  viewpoint 
A  good  example  of  the  different  way  in  which  men  and  women  ap- 
proach the  same  subject,  was  furnished  by  one  State,  where  the 
State  Council  concluding  from  the  English  experience  that  it  would 
bo  necessary  to  press  women  into  industry  when  the  men  were  taken 
by  the  draft,  established  a  Committee  on  AVomen^  in  Industry^ 
The  purpose  of  this  <x)nmiittee^wpTch  was  Irea^dedjjalanned,  and  con- 
trollejdTiy  men,  TmTongh  iTrontaine^jvopipn  nn  jtj_vvas  to  sj>eed-JUp 
])rcx3ucti^r~lt^lK5ught  to  do  flniTjyltskiiig  the  factories  to  provide 
nurseries  where  women  could  leave  their  babies  while  they  worked. 
Xow  the  State  Division  in  that  State  also  had  a  Women  in  In- 
dustry Committee.  But  the  purpose  of  that  committee  was  to  pro- 
tect the  women  in  inclustr}',  so  that  the  children  of  the  next  genera- 
tion should  not  pay  for  this  war.  The  men  regarded  the  utiliza- 
tion of  mothers  of  young  children  a?  an  easy  solution  of  the 
problem  of  speeding  up  production.  The  women  regarded  it  as  a 
last  recourse,  to  be  used  only  if  production  could  not  be  increased 
by  any  other  sacrifice.  When  a  woman's  viewpoint  such  as  this  is 
counted  at  a  voting  table,  surrounded  by  men  and  women,  it  must 
take  its  luck,  but  until  it  is  so  presented  there  must  needs  be  a 
special  committee  to  plead  it,  if  it  is  to  gain  any  recognition  at  alK 

Sometimes  women  wish  to  make  a  contribution  that  men  would 
never  ask  of  them.  Such  a  contribution  is  suggested  in  the  demand 
from  an  Arkansas  woman,  that  instead  of  asking  women  to  make 
over  old  clothes,  the  manufacturers  be  asked  to  give  them  better  ma- 
terials, so  that  there  would  not  be  the  need  for  so  much  or  so  sooii 
remaking. 

Another  instance  of  the  difference  between  the  service  men  wish 
women  to  give  and  the  service  women  consider  worth  giving  is 
shown  in  the  "  carry-it-home "  campaign.  A  man's  happy  idea  of 
the  way  women  could  help  was  the  suggestion  that  rich  society 
women  might  pose  for  pictures  in  the  Sunday  papers,  as  carrying 
home  their  own  market  baskets.  When  asked  to  do  it,  these  women 
said,  "No.  well  do  no  such  a  silly  thing.  There  are  too  many  im- 
portant things  for  us  to  do  to  waste  time  posing  for  pictures." 


44  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

•v 

One  of  the  important  things  women  wished,  and  they  wrote  in  to  the 
committee  in  numbers  to  say  so,  was  to  devise  some  way  by  which 
the  money  saved  by  the  women  carrying  home  their  own  parcels 
should  go  to  the  consumer  instead  of  to  the  merchant. 

The  value  of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the  State  Divisions 
was  that  this  organization  gave  to  women  independence  of  initi- 
ative to  make  their  own  contributions  in  their  own  way.  No  one 
doubts  that  the  women  of  the  States  would  have  done  the  work, 
much  of  it,  whether  they  formed  a  State  Division  or  worked  as  an 
auxiliary  of  the  State  Council.  But  in  the  latter  event  they  could 
only  have  done  what  the  State  Council,  composed  of  men,  permit- 
ted them  to  do.  Because  of  its  connection  with  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee, the  State  Division  could — and  did — essay  an  independence 
in  initiative  that  made  a  tremendous  contribution  to  the  war, 
even  though  its  bills  might  be  paid  and  audited  by  the  State  Council. 

But  even  if  the  benefits  that  may  have  accrued  from  women  be- 
ing free  to  choose  their  contributions,  and  the  fact  that  the  value 
of  woman's  contribution  shone  out  as  never  before,  can  be  traced 
to  organizations  of  women  into  State  Divisions  separate  from  State 
Councils,  no  one  can  deny  that  the  duplication  of  work  and  labor 
was  very  great.  Could  the  men  and  women  have  started  out  part- 
ners in  a  common  enterprise  this  could  have  been  saved.  The  point 
to  be  remembered  in  this  connection  is,  however,  that  in  1917  a 
single  organization  would  have  been  a  narrow-gauge  machine,  built 
to  convey  the  masculine  viewpoint  only,  to  deliver  only  the  mascu- 
line will.  Since  such  an  organization  would  not  have  had  room 
for  the  women's  view  and  will,  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  special 
organization  with  Federal  backing  to  express  them.  It  is  one  of 
the  achievements  of  the  Woman's  Committee  that  a  narrow-gauge 
organization  probably  will  never  be  attempted  again. 

That  this  will  be  so,  is  peculiarly  the  achievement  of  the  National 
Woman's  Committee,  for  while  the  State  Divisions  brought  in  food 
cards  and  registration,  enrolled  nurses,  and  stenographers,  it  was  the 
Committee  at  Washington  who  gained  for  the  State  Divisions  the 
recognition  that  enabled  them  to  essay  independence. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  there  was  always  friction  between  the 
State  Councils  and  the  State  Divisions.  When  efficiency  demanded 
one  headship,  the  Woman's  Committee  yielded  leadership,  as  when, 
for  instance,  in  the  case  of  the  first  food  drive,  it  wrote  to  its  State 
Divisions: 

The  State  Councils  of  Defense  hare  been  asked  .by  the  Council  of  National 
Defen.se  and  by  Mr.  Hoover  to  print  and  circulate  these  food  pledges,  and  thus 
they  will  be  in  complete  charge  of  the  entire  undertaking.  Since  this  matter 
chiefly  concerns  women,  it  is  clear  that  leadership  must  in  a  large  measure  be 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  45 

given  over  to  the'  women  themselves.  It  will,  of  course,  be  necessary  for  nil 
branches  of  the  Woman's  Committee  to  work  in  closest  cooperation  and  under 
the  direction  of  the  State  Councils  of  Defense,  so  that  there  may  be  no  over- 
lapping or  duplication  of  effort  The  plan  is  nation-wide  in  scope,  and  must  be 
efficiently  carried  out  or  a  large  part  of  its  purpose  will  fall.  The  conditions 
differ  so  greatly  In  the  different  States,  that  each  State  mus^  work  out  its  own 
plans  hut  surely  the  best  results  are  obtained  where  the  men  and  women  work 
together  enthusiastically  in  a  common  cause. 

Nor  was  irritation  the  only  feeling  of  the  State  Council  toward  the 
State  Division.  While  it  might  resent  the  fact  that  the  women  did 
not  receive  their  instructions  from  the  Council,  and  while  in  some  cases 
it  would  have  preferred  that  the  work  be  done  by  other  women,  the 
State  Council  knew  that  it  was  "  dependent  upon  the  work  of  these 
women  to  carry  out  its  plans."  If  the  women  of  the  State  Division 
sometimes  used  their  Federal  lineage  as  a  barrage  against  the  au- 
thority of  the  State  Council,  or  the  State  Council  sometimes  used  its 
pocketbook  as  a  gatling  gun,  the  war  work  usually  went  on.  After 
all,  that  was  the  ultimate  aim  of  both.  In  many  cases  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  an  amiable  and  helpful  relationship  was  established. 
In  every  campaign  there  was  some  degree  of  cooperation,  and  often 
mutual  helpfulness.  When  this  was  efficient  it  was  bound  to  bring 
appreciation.  However,  the  State  Councils  might  disagree  with  the 
State  Divisions  as  to  their  status,  they  could  share  tasks  and  divide 
honors  with  a  generous  spirit.  Each  had  a  common  dependence,  one 
on  the  other,  the  women  for  finances,  the  men  for  aid.  They  shared 
together  a  profound  experience  in  fulfilling  a  great  purpose  and  this, 
of  itself,  was  bound  in  time  to  bf^eed  fellowship. 

To  some  extent  the  difficulties  in  the  relationships  between  the 
State  Divisions  and  the  State  Councils  were  inherent  in  the  situa- 
tion. Since  the  one  body  had  been  created  and  was  directed  from 
Washington,  and  yet  was  dependent  upon  the  body  created  by  the 
State  for  support;  since  each  bod}T  had  been  led  to  think  that  it  was 
authorized  to  deal  with  women's  war  work,  there  naturally  resulted 
confusion  of  purpose  and  administration.  Neither  body  was  to 
blame  for  that.  They  were  victims  rather  than  creators  of  these 
conditions.  What  is  not  clear  is  whether  they  were  equally  free 
from  all  responsibility  for  the  continuance  of  these  difficulties.  The 
only  way  by  which  the  State  Divisions  could  have  done  away  with 
them  was  by  absolute  capitulation  to  the  State  Councils,  which  meant 
that  all  women's  war  work  must  be  under  the  direction  and  authority 
of  men.  This  would  undoubtedly  have  greatly  lessened  women's  con- 
tribution to  war  work.  On  the  other  hand,  the  State  Councils,  with 
a  few  exceptions  where  they  were  prevented  by  statute,  could  have 
remedied  all  difficulties  by  according  recognition  to  the  State  Divi- 
sions by  an  equitable  representation  on  their  boards.  Unless  it  can 


46  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

be  shown  that  this  would  have  impaired  the  efficiency  of  the  Council's 
war  work  it  must  seem  that  the  burden  of  responsibility  for  lack  of 
cooperation  must  rest  with  the  State  Councils.  But  such  judgment 
must  be  tempered  by  the  fact  that  men,  as  well  as  women,  suffered 
from  this  "  unfixed  status  "  of  women.  To  have  given  to  the  State 
Divisions  such  recognition  might  have  entailed  a  greater  sacrifice  of 
prejudice  and  tradition  in  fact  than  it  does  in  logic.  At^  any  rate, 
except  in  a  very  few  cases,  the  recognition  was  not  given,  and  their 
relationship  with  the  State  Councils  continued  one  of  the  handicaps 
of  the  State  Divisions,  How,  in  spite  of  this,  the  State  Divisions 
organized  is  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER 

THE  ANSWER  OF  THE  STATES, 

Immediately  after  the  plan  of  organization  had  been  approved  by 
the  Council  of  National  Defense,  the  Woman's  Committee  ap- 
pointed by  telegraph  a  temporary  chairman  in  each  State.  This 
telegram  was  followed  in  a  short  time  by  brief  instructions  for 
gathering  together  the  heads  of  all  organizations  of  women,  state- 
wide in  their  scope,  including  civic,  religious,  fraternal,  patriotic, 
literary,  and  philanthropic  associations,  together  witli  representa- 
tives of  unorganized  women,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  State 
Committee  and  electing  officers  and  an  executive  board,  who  were  in 
turn,  to  choose  chairmen  for  the  departments  of  work.  The  State 
Division  was  intended  to  include  all  the  women  of  the  State, 

Perhaps  the  first  answer  to  this  telegram  came  from  Mrs.  Joseph 
Bowen,  of  Chicago,  who  wired:  "Organization  in  Illinois  now 
under  way,  with  heads  of  lodges  and  organizations  cooperating," 
Illinois  had  not  waited  for  the  Council  of  National  Defense  to 
mobilize  the  women  of  that  State.  Early  in  April  a  small  body  of 
women  had  met  to  organize  some  kind  of  an  association  which 
could  be  of  service  to  the  country  in  the  war  crisis  and  had  sent 
Mrs.  Ira  Couch  \Vcod  to  visit  the  East,  with  a  view  to  finding  dUt 
which  one  of  the  various  so-called  national  societies  had  official 
sanction.  In  a  report  which  she  made  on  her  return,  she  stated 
that  there  were  something  like  15  national  associations,  but  that 
not  one  of  them,  except  the  Red  Cross,  which  was  an  organization 
of  men  and  women,  officered  by  men,  had  governmental  recognition. 

It  was  then  decided  to  form  an  organization  in  Illinois  which 
would  not  become  allied  with  any  national  organization  until  one 
should  be  formed  under  governmental  sanction.  This  association 
proceeded  to  elect  a  central  committee  with  an  advisory  board  com- 
posed of  the  heads  of  women's  organizations,  and  a  small  executive 
committee  which  should  have  an  executive  center  in  Chicago.  This 
was  exactly  the  plan  adopted  later  by  the  Woman's  Committee;  the 
idea  back  of  the  two  was  the  same,  namely,  to  create  no  new  ma- 
chr.wry  except  such  as  was  absolutely  necessary. 

The  governor  of  Illinois  was  notified  of  the  action  of  the  women 
and  expresfied  his  pleasure,  -saying  that  this  association  would  work 

47 


48  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

in  splendidly  with  the  State  Council  which  he  had  not  yet  named. 
On  April  27,  the  very  day  the  Woman's  Committee  was  appointed 
by  the  Council,  this  association  of  Illinois  women  had  opened  State 
headquarters  in  Chicago.  Immediately  upon  its  learning  of  the 
appointment  of  the  Woman's  Committee  it  accepted  the  name  and 
status  given  it,  as  a  State  Division  of  that  Committee.  Its  ma- 
chinery had  already  been  built* 

When  the  governor  appointed  the  State  Council,  he  fortunately 
named  Mrs.  Bowen  as  one  of  its  members.  She  also  became  a  mem- 
ber of  its  Executive  Board,  and  thereafter  was  the  slender  but  strong 
bond  that  tied  to  the  State  Council  throughout  the  war  period,  the 
Illinois  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  The  State  Council 
left  to  her  the  direction  of  the  patriotic  work  of  the  women  of  the 
State  and  contributed  to  the  support  of  the  State  Division  $1.150 
ft  month,  together  with  office  expenses.  Speedily  this  division 
began  the  organization  of  town  and  county  units  of  the  Com- 
mittee, and  met  with  such  success  that  the  men  asked  the  women 
if  they  would  not  help  with  the  men's  organizations  in  these 
communities.  At  times  the  women's  work  in  Illinois  seemed  over- 
whelming, so  great  was  its  scope,  so  full  its  measure.  When  the 
money  appropriated  by  the  State  Council  for  women's  work  was  all 
spent,  nothing  dismayed,  this  division  started  -in  to  raise  "  on  its 
own  "  $100,000. 

Illinois  was  not  the  only  State  that  had  forestalled  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Woman's  Committee.  On  April  19,  1917,  a  chairman 
and  four  women  had  been  appointed  to  a  woman's  committee  of  the 
War  Preparedness  Board  of  Michigan.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  this 
chairman,  Dr.  Caroline  Bartlett  Crane,  was  to  call  together  the  heads 
of  some  State  organizations  of  women.  A  little  later,  Dr.  Crane 
was  appointed  temporary  chairman  for  Michigan  by  the  Woman's 
Committee.  Following  her  instructions,  she,  too,  called  all  the 
women  of  the  State  together  and  was  elected  permanent  chairman 
of  the  Michigan  State  Division.  Her  difficulty  was  that  the  State 
Preparedness  Board  could  not  legally  appoint  a  woman  on  its  Ex- 
ecutive Board,  yet  Dr.  Crane  felt  that  it  was  not  fair  to  the 
Woman's  Committee  that  its  State  representative  should  be  a  sub- 
sidiary committee  of  what  was  really  Michigan's  State  Council.  As 
another  complication,  there  was  the  question  of  finances.  As  usual, 
the  pocketbook  settled  the  relationship.  The  Michigan  Division 
of  the  Woman's  Committee,  financed  as  a  subcommittee  of  the  Michi- 
gan War  Preparedness  Board,  extended  its  organization  to  towns 
and  counties.  In  the  spring  of  1918,  when  a  Counties'  Division 
of  the  War  Preparedness  Board  was  created  to  have  .charge  of  the 
work  of  the  county  war  boards,  Dr.  Crane  and  two  other  members 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  49 

of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  State  Division  were  made  members 
of  the  executive  committee  of  the  counties*  division. 

In  Minnesota,  also,  a  State  organization  of  women  was  already 
under  way  when  the  Woman's  Committee  was  appointed.  The 
State  Public  Safety  Commission  had  called  into  consultation  one 
of  its  leading  women,  Mrs.  T.  G.  Winters,  and  asked  her  to  organize 
the  women  of  that  State  for  patriotic  work.  Trained  in  club  pro- 
cedure, she  followed  very  nearly  the  plan  of  the  other  prenational 
committees — the  same  plan  that  was  later  the  plan  of  the  Woman's 
Committee — and  gathered  together  a  representative  group  of  women 
that  was  financed  bj-  the  Public  Safety  Commission,  although  the 
women  had  no  voice  on  the  Safety  Commission's  Board.  This  aux- 
iliaiy  committee  of  the  Minnesota  Public  Safety  Commission  was 
accepted  at  Washington  as  the  Minnesota  Division  of  the  Woman's 
Committee, 

In  point  of  time,  the  first  State  in  which  the  women  organized  was 
Delaware.  On  March  30  an  organization  was  formed  in  Wilming- 
ton that  subsequently  became  the  Delaware  Division.  In  every  case 
where  a  war  organization  represented  all  the  women  of  the  State 
and  their  organizations,  it  was  accepted  by  the  Woman's  Committee 
sis  a  State  Division.  In  some  cases  the  Committee  suggested  that  an 
organization  only  one-half  representative  of  a  State  be  made  the 
representative  by  including  the  other  organizations.  Other  States 
in  which  the  women  had  been  organized  prior  to  May,  1917,  were 
Colorado,  Indiana,  Maryland,  New  Mexico,  and  Wyoming. 

The  difficulty  with  this  group  of  State  Divisions  was  that  with 
their  pre- Woman's  Committee  organization  they  had  a  pre-Woman's 
Committee  status.  It  was  the  same  status  that,  without  a  National 
Woman's  Committee,  would  have  probably  been  that  of  most  State 
committees  of  women.  As  it  is  easier  to  give  the  pitch  to  a  new  roof 
than  to  make  over  an  old  one,  it  might  have  been  easier  for  these 
particular  State  Divisions  to  have  established  an  equitable  relation- 
ship with  the  State  Councils,  if  the  women  had  had  no  previous  en- 
tangling alliances  with  them. 

The  appointment  of  a  Federal  Woman's  Committee  even  helped  the 
women  alread}7  organized  under  State  Councils.  To  know  that  back 
of  the  women  was  Federal  sanction  and  a  national  demand  for  their 
work  gave  strength  and  backing  to  every  State  Division,  even  those 
organized  as  the  Women's  Divisions  of  State  Councils.  Every  State 
Division,  it  may  be  remarked  in  passing,  needed  this  national  back- 
ing, unless  it  became  willingly  and  promptly  subject  to  the  will  of 
the  State  Council.  In  that  case  it  had  no  further  trouble.  Yet  it 
must  not  be  thought  the  women  contemplated  for  a  moment  stop- 
ping war  work.  "  Give  us  authority,"  they  said  to  the  State  Councils, 
141C340— 20 i 


50  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

"  or  we  won't  \vork  tlirough  your  machinery."  What  gave  them  the 
opportunity  to  make  this  statement  with  effect  was  the  appointment 
of  the  Woman's  Committee, 

If  the  consciousness  that  the  voice  in  Washington  was  back  of  them 
was  a  great  help  to  the  State  Divisions  when  dealing  with  their 
'State  Councils,  the  great  body  of  women  organized  under  the  State 
Divisions  must  have  given  strength  to  the  Woman's  Committee  in 
Washington.  Without  them,  the  Woman's  Committee  might  have 
Income  only  a  "  resolving  body."  With  them  dependent  upon  it,  it 
became  a  leader,  and  it  was  the  responsibility  for  this  leadership 
that  gave  the  Committee  the  courage  to  ask  that  State  Councils  give 
these  women  recognition  and  opportunity. 

The  States  organized  with  varying  degrees  of  promptness.  There 
were  those  that  called  a  meeting  at  once.  They,  too,  had  their  dif- 
ficulties to  adjust.  It  did  seem  sometimes  to  the  Woman's  Commit! oo, 
in  session  at  1814  N  Street,  eagerly  awaiting  answers  to  its  telegrams, 
as  if  nearly  everything  that  could  have  been  devised  by  a  pro- 
German  fate  had  happened  lo  prevent  quick  response. 

There  was  the  State  where  the  appointment  of  a  temporary  chair- 
man went  to  the  wrong  woman,  because  of  a  mistake  in  initials. 
There  was  the  State  where  the  woman  appointed  was  in  the  hospital, 
under  an  operation.  Her  mail  was  not  received,  therefore  the  ap- 
pointment was  not  declined.  There  were  the  women  who  were  out 
of  the  State  for  the  summer.  No  one  was  to  blame  for  these  things, 
and  yet  they  delayed  organization.  There  was  even  the  fact  that 
the  Woman's  Committee  began  its  work  at  the  beginning  of  the  long, 
hot  summer,  when  activities  of  every  kind  are  stopped  throughout 
almost  half  the  land. 

Then  there  were  delays  due  to  misunderstandings.  In  one  State  a 
woman  who  hud  been  appointed  chairman  of  the  State  Division  was 
made  a  member  of  the  State  Council.  Because  of  ill  health,  she  re- 
signed the  chairmanship  of  the  Woman's  Division,  but  retained  her 
place  on  the  State  Council,  and  so  loose  was  the  mechanism  of  the 
State  Council  that  she  was  not  made  to  understand  that  one  resig- 
nation entailed  the  other. 

In  another  State  when  a  new  governor  was  elected,  the  Council  of 
Defense,  appointed  by  the  former  governor,  resigned.  The  new  gov- 
ernor would  not  appoint  the  former  chairman  of  the  State  Division 
on  his  board.  The  woman  he  did  appoint  on  the  new  board  would 
not  reorganize  or  take  over  the  State  Division. 

There  was  the  case  where  the  original  chairman  appointed  by  the 
Woman's  Committee,  an  excellent  one,  was  not  appointed  chairman 
of  the  subcommittee  of  the  State  Council  on  Woman's  ^}rork.  In  the 
interest  of  efficiency  she  resigned  in  favor  of  the  woman  who  had 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  51 

been  appointed  to  the  latter  post.  After  a  survey  this  second  woman 
decided  that  the  work  was  too  hard,  but  in  resigning,  she  turned  her 
resignation  to  the  State  Council,  and  the  Woman's  Committee  heard 
of  it  only  incidentally,  and  then  not  until  December. 

But  many  incidents  such  as  these  could  be  given  and  there  would 
still  be  a  large  and  encouraging  number  of  States  in  which  the 
women,  without  asking  questions  or  reporting  difficulties,  received 
instructions,  and,  hot  weather  or  not,  went  valiantly  to  work  organ- 
izing a  State  Division. 

In  most  States  trained  club  women  played  an  important  part  in 
this  organization.  What  the  General  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs 
has  clone  to  train  women  in  the  way  of  working  together  for  the 
public  good,  was  then  contributed  to  the  national  weal.  "If  God," 
.says  Dr.  Shaw,  "  has  ever  led  women  anywhere,  He  has  been  leading 
them  through  women's  organizations."  In  other  States  there  were 
? -jiised  up  new  leaders.  Never  before  had  all  types  of  women  banded 
together  for  one  object.  That  there  should  be  so  little  difficulty 
nbout  the  amalgamation  of  the  different  groups  discussed  in  Chapter 
1.  should  awaken  astonishment  among  the  wits  who  have  thought 
managing  each  other  beyond  the  ability  of  women  who  have  made  au 
art  of  managing  a  whole  sex. 

The  women  felt,  as  one  letter  expressed  it,  "that  they  had  their 
inarching  orders  from  Washington,-'  and  were  obeying,  like  soldiers, 
the  word  of  command.  It  was  natural  that  the  women  should  look 
to  Washington.  It  was  not  only  that  the  national  capital  was  the 
center  of  the  war  machine,  the  contact  with  the  theater  of  war  and 
the  Allies;  it  was  not  altogether  that  in  time  of  national  crisis  State 
loyalty  is  sunk  into  patriotism;  it  was  not  even  that  in  a  national 
effort  centralization  is  vital  to  success.  It  was  all  this,  but  more.  It 
was  that  the  kind  of  women  who  headed  the  State  Divisions  hud 
been  trained  in  national  societies,  the}-  had  taken  part  in  national 
conventions  and  congresses,  not  as  representatives  of  a  locality,  but 
as  representatives  of  a  sex,  an  idea,  a  hope,  an  ideal,  and  thus  they 
thought  nationally.  Needing  leadership  they  looked  to  their  Central 
Government  for  it. 

These  women  were  equally  pleased  with  the  plan  of  work  offered 
them.  It  fitted  their  abilities.  It  followed  their  line  of  training.  No 
education  was  needed  to  make  them  understand  and  grasp  it  The 
response  showed  that. 

The  task  of  seeing  that  the  organization  of  State  Divisions  was 
perfected  belonged  to  the  Department  of  Organization,  of  which 
Mrs.  Joseph  R.  Lamar  was  chairman.  When  a  State  Division  was 
able  to  report  an  Executive  Board  and  chairmen  of  departments,  its 
work  was  but  begun-  Advised  as  to  policy  and  procedure  from  Wash- 


52  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

ington,  it  was  then  intrusted  with  the  task  of  extending  the  organi- 
zation of  the  State  Division  to  include  every  patriotic  woman  in  the 
State.  As  a  rule,  counties  were  first  organized  with  a  chairman,  a 
representative  committee,  and  usually  with  a  chairman  for  the  re- 
spective departments;  then  city,  township,  and  school-district  units 
were  formed,  miich  upon  the  same  plan.  In  New  England  States  the 
town  rather  than  the  county  was  the  prevailing  unit.  Usually  the 
larger  cities  were  divided  into  wards  and  precincts,  with  a  "  captain" 
or  "  leader  "  in  each,  responsible  for  reaching  the  women  in  her  dis- 
trict. Maryland  reported  a  city  organizer,  ward  chairmen,  precinct 
directors,  and  community  leaders.  Each  precinct  director  appointed 
a  community  leader,  who  was  responsible  for  giving  information  di- 
rectly to  each  resident  in  her  block.  In  some  States  the  women  were 
organized  in  groups  of  families,  one  chairman  being  responsible  for 
25  families  in  cities,  and  5  families  in  thinly  populated  districts. 
In  other  States  the  woman  population  was  organized  by  "tens," 
these  tens  including  anywhere  from  10  to  15  women. 

Local  organization  increased  very  rapidly.  By  December,  1917, 
county  organization  was  completed  in  23  States.  There  were  perma- 
nent chairmen  in  4,285  towns  and  1.019  counties.  Forty-four  States 
had  begun  either  county  or  town  organization.  A  year  later  there 
were  county  chairmen  in  more  than  80  per  cent  of  the  counties 
throughout  the  country;  the  number  of  city,  town,  and  township 
units  reported  to  Washington  reached  nearly  14,000. 

The  smaller  subdivisions  such  as  school  districts,  ward,  or  blocks 
were  seldom  reported  in  exact  figures,  and  no  adequate  estimate  of 
their  number  can  be  made,  but  some  idea  of  the  intensity  of  the 
organization  which  was  developed  may  be  gained  from  such  reports 
as  that  from  Wisconsin,  with  1.500  school-district  chairmen;  Iowa, 
with  90  per  cent  of  the  townships  organized,  and  3,500  as  a  conserva- 
tive estimate  of  the  number  of  "local  representatives";  or  of  Wash- 
ington, with  6,000  minute  women,  each  ready  to  carry  any  message 
to  her  special  group  of  women. 

Not  all  the  States  achieved  this  degree  of  organization.  In  the 
summer  of  1918  there  were  still  perhaps  a  dozen  States  in  which 
the  organization  had  not  made  good  headway,  but  these  were  chiefly 
in  the  South,  where  the  problems  of  finance  and  tradition  retarded 
women's  work,  or  in  the  West,  where  the  vastness  of  the  distances  to 
be  covered  made  intensive  organization  difficult.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  at  least  17  of  the  State  Divisions  the  goal  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee organization  had  been  realized  and  the  State  offices  could  get 
in  touch  with  practically  every  woman  in  the  State  when  a  message 
was  received  from  headquarters. 

The  practical  application  of  the  organization  plan  and  the  spirit 
of  its  workers  are  illustrated  in  the  letter  of  a  county  chairman  from 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  53 

one  of  the  States,  by  no  means  the  best  organized,  who  wrote  after 
the  signing  of  the  armistice: 

I  have  about  300  women  in  my  county  whom  I  can  reach  through  my  main 
commit  fee  at  from  two  to  four  hours*  notice  (and  they,  In  turn,  can  reach 
our  total  county's  female  population).  I  had  already  notified  them,  after 
"Peace  Day,"  that,  although  peace  had  been  declared,  we  must  consider  that 
the  coming  months  were  a  most  critical  time  for  our  country,  and  that  they 
imist  hold  themselves  ready  to  meet  all  calls  of  the  Government  with  prompt- 
ness. I  stated  that,  until  I  was  authorized  by  headquarters  to  give  notice  to 
disband,  we  should  consider  ourselves  bound  to  our  contract  I  asked  my 
committee  to  aid  the  United  War  Work  Campaign,  the  Red  Cross,  the  Child 
Welfare  Bureau,  to  hold  steadily  to  Food  Conservation  rulings,  and  to  keep 
their  subcommittees  "alive  and  working.** 

Various  means  were  employed  by  the  States  to  secure  this  success- 
ful organization.  Usually  the  temporary  county  chairmen  were 
appointed  by  letter.  In  six  States  organizers  went  up  and  down 
the  countryside  stimulating,  organizing,  and  explaining  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Woman's  Committee.  Almost  every  State  chairman 
made  trips  throughout  her  State.  Most  of  the  State  Divisions  called 
State-wide  conferences;  in  a  number  of  divisions  sectional  confer- 
ences were  held,  and  meetings  of  county  units  were  frequent. 

During  the  first  year  organization  was  greatly  assisted  by  the 
members  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  who  personally  visited,  some- 
times more  than  once,  32  State  Divisions,  making  over  125  addresses 
to  explain  the  work  of  the  committee  and  urge  upon  women  their 
national  responsibilities. 

In  some  State  Divisions  original  or  spectacular  means  were 
employed  to  interest  the  women  in  the  committee's  work.  In  Mis- 
souri, on  three  different  occasions  a  tour  of  a  section  of  the  State 
was  made  by  a  "  Woman's  Committee  special "  train.  On  this  were 
representatives  of  departments  of  the  committee,  of  the  Red  Cross, 
and  of  the  Food  Administration.  In  the  car  was  displayed  an  ex- 
hibit of  the  various  departments  and  from  it  quantities  of  literature 
were  distributed.  At  each  town  at  which  the  special  stopped,  a 
public  meeting  was  held  and  a  unit  organized. 

Practically  all  of  the  work  of  organizing  and  stimulating  local 
units  was  volunteer.  Financial  support  was  usually  limited.  Many 
of  the  State  chairmen  at  the  outset  were  not  even  given  stenographic 
assistance  and  were  obliged  to  carry  on  their  work  in  longhand; 
sometimes  they  were  quite  untrained  in  public  work,  and  in  many 
cases  they  were  women  with  household  cares.  The  chairman  of  one 
of  the  largest  and  best-organized  States  once  wrote: 

We  ask  consideration  for  the  fact  that  few  of  us  are  ladies  of  leisure,  with  a 
competent  maid  in  the  kitchen  and  no  bread  and  butter  problems  to  worry 
about;  this  letter  I  am  doing  myself.  Incidentally,  it  is  taking  my  whole 
morning  and  my  breakfast  dishes  are  standing. 


54  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Nevertheless,  within  a  year  from  the  appointment  of  the  first  tem- 
porary chairman,  office  organization  had  been  brought  to  a  high  de- 
gree of  efficiency  and  most  of  the  State  divisions  were  able  to  transmit 
the  messages  from  national  headquarters  to  local  units  by  means  of 
mimeographed  bulletins,  with  the  greatest  rapidity.  Many  of  them 
issued  regular  printed  publications  covering  the  work  of  the  State 
Divisions,  and  excellent  reports  were  received  at  the  national  head- 
quarters of  work  actually  to  be  spoken  of  in  the  past  tense. 

The  greatest  difficulty  that  the  State  Divisions  had  was  that  of 
financial  support.  At  first  the  State  chairmen  and  their  executive 
committees  paid  many,  and  in  some  cases  all.  the  expenses  or  secured 
contributions  from  women's  societies  or  from  individuals.  By  Janu- 
ary. 1918,  in  12  States  the  women's  work  was  recognized  as  part  of 
the  State  program  for  defense  work  and  its  expenses  were  defrayed 
by  the  State  Council  or  from  other  public  funds;  and  19  State  Divi- 
sions were  receiving  partial  support  from  the  State  Councils.  The 
other  State  Divisions,  and  those  which  did  not  receive  full  support 
from  the  State  Councils,  resorted  to  a  variety  of  means  to  supply 
their  needs.  Frequently  the  chairmen  paid  their  entire  expenses, 
sometimes  stenographic  services  were  donated,  or  women's  organiza- 
tions and  private  individuals  made  contributions;  county  boards  of 
Supervisors  aided  the  work  of  local  units;  in  some  States  a  sm&ll 
registration  fee  was  charged;  in  addition,  large  amounts  were  raised 
by  the  women  through  various  commercial  enterprises,  from  issu- 
ing special  editions  of  newspapers  to  vending  Liberty  potato  chips  on 
the  street  corners. 

To  what  extent  this  necessity  for  financing  themselves  affected  the 
success  of  the  various  State  Divisions  is  a  pertinent  query.  One  can 
not  be  both  a  wage  earner  and  a  volunteer  social  worker  unless  one 
has  independent  means  of  support,  without  either  the  job  or  the  work 
suffering.  Yet  a  woman's  organization  is  often  forced  to  do  that  im- 
possible thing,  using  up  strength  and  energy  that  should  go  into 
service  in  making  the  money  to  pay  the  running  expenses.  When 
the  public  learns  that  woman's  service  is  worthy  of  its  hire,  and  de- 
mands the  wherewithal  to  finance  the  machinery  of  woman's  organi- 
zations, then  and  then  only  can  women  hope  to  match  their  endeavors 
against  all  comers  in  a  fair  field.  Until  that  time  they  must  be,  to 
an  extent,  handicapped  in  their  work,  as  a  group  seeking  to  raise 
themselves  by  their  own  boot  straps. 

This  is  a  lesson  that  is  learned  slowly.  As  late  as  the  end  of  the 
summer  of  1918  there  were  30  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee entirely  or  partially  dependent  upon  donations  and  member- 
ship fees  for  support.  The  Illinois  Division* reported  raising  $82,000 
during  the  year  1918.  Nineteen  State  divisions  received  paitial  ex- 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  55 

penses  from  the  State  Councils,  and  the  same  numtier  were  supplied 
with  all  the  funds  necessary  for  result  The  largest  amount  con- 
tributed by  a  State  Council  was  that  allowed  the  Pennsylvania  State 

Division,  $27,000. 
If  any  one  of  the  women  who  served  without  reward  daily  in  the 

offices  of  these  State  Divisions  were  to  be  asked  about  the  work  of  the 
divisions  she  would  say  immediately  and  with  heartiness  that  the 
work  was  not  done  by  State  offices  or  State  officers,  but  that  it  was 
done  by  county  officers.  County  officers,  in  turn,  would  say  that  it 
was  done  by  the  women,  everywhere,  who,  for  the  first  time  called 
upon  for  such  service,  saw  a  vision  of  citizenship  and  strove  to  make 
it  a  reality. 

Picture  thousands  of  meetings  such  as  this:  A  small  church  in  a 
tiny  town,  down  in  a  rugged  hill  country,  where  the  women's  faces 
are  drab  and  the  houses  have  never  known  paint.  On  the  platform 
u  small,  simpry  clad  country  woman  with  a  paper  in  her  hand.  It 
is  her  appointment  as  temporary  chairman  of  the  Woman's  Commit- 
tee in  that  village.  In  front  of  her.  in  straggly  rows,  sit  20  women, 
tlu'ir  eyes  a  bit  strained.  She  reads  the  message  and  begins  a  set 
speech  that  she  perhaps  has  learned.  But  suddenly,  she  breaks  off, 
and  just  talks  to  those  women,  heart  to  heart,  of  her  soldier  boy 
who  has  inarched  awa}r  and  of  the  burden  that  his  marching  lays 
upon  her  and  upon  them.  One  could  not  reproduce  those  talks. 
Each  carried  some  version  of  the  message  of  the  Woman's  Commit- 
tee. Sometimes  it  was  very  far  from  that  of  the  Committee  in 
Washington.  But  the  central  thought  was  always  the  same:  "Your 
countr}"  needs  you,  women !  This  is  the  way  you  can  serve,7' 

In  learning  what  that  way  was,  these  women,  and  thousands  upon 
thousands  more,  from  those  in  the  smallest  sewing  circle  to  those 
at  the  head  of  big  civic  movements,  found  a  new  conception  of  their 
relation  to  their  Government,  a  new  responsibility  for  carrying  out 
its  measures,  that  should  long  survive  the  war  that  gave  them  birth. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FIRST  TASK. 

On  May  8,  just  six  days  after  its  first  meeting,  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee forwarded  to  the  State  Divisions  its  first  suggestions  for  war 
work.  The  subject  was  the  promotion  of  thrift.  There  was  nothing 
net%  in  this  subject  to  women.  It  certainly  was  part  and  parcel  of 
their  age-old  job.  And  yet  it  sounded  the  keynote  of  the  new 
America  and  in  so  doing  brought  into  the  business  of  government 
the  older  business  of  housekeeping.  For  thrift  is  not  at  home  among 
munitions  and  battleships.  It  is  a  fireside  quality. 

Young  nations  and  young  people  seldom  save.  It  is  when  experi- 
ence has  taught  one  the  cost  of  production  and  the  loss  of  heritage 
that  its  value  is  seen.  Necessity  is  the  mother  of  appreciation  as  well 
as  invention.  When  war  brought  us  suddenly  to  the  end  of  our  days 
of  surplus  men  saw  that  only  by  a  wise  and  careful  use  of  what  we 
had  on  hand  could  supplies  be  made  to  meet  demands.  Suddenly 
they  knew  that  thrift  was  conservation  and  not  stinginess,  as  old 
America  had  thought.  And  these  men,  wise  in  their  desperation, 
turned  to  that  part  of  the  community  whose  efforts  to  make  ends 
meet  in  the  smaller  community  of  the  home  had  taught  them  the  ways 
thereof.  Women  had  been  expected  to  save  for  personal  reasons. 
Now  they  were  called  upon  to  save  for  national  reasons.  The  very 
asking  raised  woman's  habit  to  a  virtue,  and  with  that  raised  woman's 
valuation  of  herself.  It  was  fitting  therefore  that  the  first  bulletin 
issued  by  the  Woman's  Committee  should  be  an  official  recognition 
of  the  value  and  importance  of  thrift. 

The  next  circular  letter  issued,  "A  New  Way  to  Save  Bread,"  gave 
a  definite  order  for  national  thrift.  In  future,  it  said,  bakeries  would 
only  deliver  as  many  loaves  of  bread  as  the  retail  grocer  ordered.  It 
had  been  discovered  that  the  retail  grocer  was  returning  to  the  whole- 
saler daily  many  loaves  of  bread  too  stale  to  use.  Because  the  house- 
keeper did  not  order  ahead  the  retailer  could  not  estimate  his  de- 
Minnds.  and,  for  fear  of  a  shortage,  kept  oversupplied.  Thousands 
of  loaves  of  bread  would  be  saved,  it  was  said,  by  the  full  cooperation 
of  the  housewife,  the  baker,  and  the  Food  Administration. 

Even  before  the  men  were  called  to  arms  it  was  made  known  that 
upon  America  must  fall  the  burden  of  providing  the  Allies  with 
56 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  57 

their  daily  bread.  In  order  to  do  this  with  the  wheat  supply  on 
hand  it  would  be  necessary  for  every  American  household  to  cut  down 
its  own  consumption  of  white  bread  and  substitute  for  it  bread  made 
from  other  grains.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  supply  o "  meat,  fats,  and 
sugar  must  be  made  to  meet  the  demands  upon  it  by  the  use  of  sub- 
stitutes. To  bring  these  facts  to  the  attention  of  the  American 
people  and  to  instruct  them  how  to  accomplish  the  results  desired 
there  was  created  a  Food  Administration  with  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover 
at  its  head. 

Mr.  Hoover  had  not  intended  to  open  his  food  campaign  until  the 
food  bill  passed  Congress.  Unknown  to  him,  however,  the  Presi- 
dent's letter  indorsing  the  suggestion  of  proceeding  at  once  with  part 
of  the  food  conservation  program  was  given  to  the  public.  The  cam- 
paign, therefore,  was  taken  up  at  once.  This  program  included  an 
exact  survey  of  the  amount  of  food  in  the  country,  an  investigation 
into  the  normal  consumption,  some  control  of  storage  and  transporta- 
tion, and  the  enrollment  of  a  league  of  women  who  would  pledge 
themselves  to  cany  out  the  wishes  of  the  President,  the  National 
Government,  and  the  Food  Administration.  It  was  decided  by  the 
men  to  undertake  the  last  proposition  first.  An  intensive  campaign 
to  reach  the  housekeepers,  to  begin  July  1  and  to  continue  until  July 
15th,  was  at  once  announced.  That  campaign  was  to  be  preceded 
by  elaborate  publicity.  It  was,  of  itself,  one  of  the  most  gigantic 
publicity  schemes  ever  undertaken.  For  by  reaching  every  house- 
keeper in  the  country  and  inducing  her  to  sign  the  food  cards  and  to 
agree  to  carry  out  the  instructions  of  the  Food  Administration  the 
purpose  of  the  Administration  would  be  thoroughly  advertised,  and 
a  sentiment  created  in  its  favor. 

The  country  was  not  ready  for  the  food  program.  Congress  was 
not  ready.  Neither  was  the  Woman's  Committee.  For  its  members 
knew,  as  Mr.  Hoover  could  not,  that  to  do  so  extensive  a  piece  of 
work,  very  intensive  organization  was  necessary,  and  there  had  not 
been  time  to  make  such  an  organization.  In  addition  to  the  pub- 
licity, there  must  be  personal  appeals,  appeals  through  clubs,  through 
churches,  and  even  from  door  to  door.  Even  then  there  would  be 
questions  to  answer,  complaints,  and  difficulties.  The  Committee 
wished  to  have  a  different  pledge  card.  They  wished  a  different  way 
of  handling  the  campaign.  But  Mr.  Hoover  was  firm.  It  was  his 
job,  so  it  had  to  be  done  his  way.  The  Woman's  Committee  therefore 
went  ahead,  attempting,  as  Dr.  Shaw  said,  to  "do  the  impossible, 
and  as  usual,  doing  it." 

Since  it  was  Mr.  Hoover's  plan  to  have  the  State  Councils  of  De- 
fense print  and  circulate  the  pledges  and  be  in  complete  charge  of 
th?  entire  undertaking,  the  women  in  the  State,  county,  and  town 
orgaiiizations  were  asked  to  get  in  touch,  immediately,  with  the  men 


58  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

in  the  State,  county,  and  town  councils.  Every  possible  means  of 
distributing  the  food  pledges  was  to  be  employed.  If  possible,  towns 
and  cities  were  to  be  divided  into  districts,  and  a  house-to-house 
canvass  was  to  be  undertaken.  On  the  farms  women  were  to  be 
reached  by  automobiles,  rural  free  delivery,  or  through  the  Extension 
Department  of  the  Agricultural  College.  The  actual  signing  was  to 
take  placa  after  July  1,  but  everything  should  be  in  readiness  to  be- 
gin at  that  time.  After  the  pledges  were  signed  and  returned  to  Mr. 
Hoover,  there  was  to  be  returned  to  each  signer  a  household  tag  to  be 
placed  in  the  window  of  the  home,  to  show  that  its  members  were  as- 
sisting in  the  conservation  program.  The  Woman's  Committee  in- 
sisted that  the  window  tag  should  be  given  to  the  signer  when  the 
pledge  was  taken,  but  Mr.  Hoover  ruled  that  the  pledge  must  first  be 
returned  to  him.  It  was  also  promised  that  the  Food  Administra- 
tion would,  from  time  to  time,  send  the  signers  simple  instructions 
for  the  prevention  of  household  waste  and  definite  information  as  to 
the  particular  foods  it  was  most  necessary  to  conserve. 

Eight  days  had  the  State  Divisions  between  the  posting  of  these 
instructions  and  the  beginning  of  a  drive  that  was  planned  to  reach 
eveiy  woman  in  this  broad  land.  Surely  this  was  an  attempt  at  the 
impossible!  But  the  Woman's  Committee,  though  it  knew  not  how 
far  State  organization  had  gone,  nor  the  resources  at  the  command 
of  its  women,  never  doubted  that  their  loyalty  and  devotion  would 
make  up  for  every  lack.  "  There  was  never  a  greater  challenge,"  said 
Dr.  Shaw,  "to  the  womanhood  of  the  country,  than  that  made  by  the 
President  of  the  United  States  to  women  for  voluntary  enrollment 
in  this  league  for  food  conservation.  It  is  the  devotion,  courage,  and 
economy  of  the  women  of  France  to-day  that  is  largely  helping  to 
keep  her  armies  in  the  field  and  save  the  nation  from  destruction.  We 
believe  the  American  women  will  show  as  fine  a  spirit  in  this  hour  of 
need,  and  stand  with  the  women  of  the  allied  countries  in  our  fight 
for  liberty  and  democracy." 

It  was  more  than  a  challenge,  more  than  a  compliment-  As  the 
announcement  that  thrift  was  vital  to  the  winning  of  the  war  placed 
it  side  by  side  with  so  glorious  a  virtue  as  patriotism  itself,  so  this 
enrollment  of  women  in  the  food  conservation  enrolled  them  with 
the  fighters. 

The  connection  may  seem  far-fetched.  The  service  asked  is  not 
com mensurate.  To  give  up  wheat ;  to  give  up  life — they  do  not  fill  the 
same  measure.  But  they  are  of  the  same  dimension.  Each  is  a  pledge ; 
each  is  a  necessary  contribution  to  the  good  of  the  whole ;  each  places 
the  receiver  in  the  position  of  debtor,  though  in  degree,  one  is  to 
the  other  as  an  inch  compared  to  a  mile.  j 

It  has  been  said  that  when  the  draft  took  the  young  men  of  the 
country,  subtle  psychology  was  employed,  so  that  at  no  stage  of  the 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  59 

process  was  there  opportunity  for  a  block  or  refusal.  First  the  young 
men  between  certain  ages  were  asked  merely  to  register  themselves. 
There  was  no  obligation  attached  to  that.  There  could  be  no  logical 
objection  to  giving  the  Government  certain  information  about  one- 
sol  f.  A  little  later,  numbers  were  drawn  out  of  a  bowl  in  Washing- 
ton. There  was  no  way  to  register  objection  to  such  a  process.  By 
Ihc  time  the  names  of  those  holding  the  numbers  were  posted  locally, 
it  had  been  made  known  thoroughly  that  since  there  were  many  valid 
reasons  for  exemption  from  military  service,  these  men  would  not 
necessarily  be  drafted.  By  the  time  the  selective  had  passed  the 
physical  examiners  and  the  draft  boards  and  was  really  certified  as  a 
.selected  man,  he  stood  apart  from  all  his  fellows.  There  was  no 
opportunity  at  that  point  for  united  action  by  objectors.  Finally, 
a  few  men,  25  at  the  most,  were  escorted  to  the  train  amid  great 
admiration  and  appreciation,  and  while  still  in  civilian  clothes  sent 
to  a  cantonment.  It  was  impossible  for  such  a  small  group  to  make 
a  stand  against  the  sentiment  of  a  whole  community.  Whatever  the 
feeling  of  the  individuals  composing  it  against  the  ultimate  end 
iiJid  purpose  of  their  journey,  they  could  do  nothing  but  move  with 
the  man  in  charge  of  them.  At  the  cantonment  again,  each  man  was 
separately  examined  and  listed,  and  finally  placed.  He  was  then  un- 
der military  law,  a  strange  law  and  discipline  he  hardly  understood. 
Before  he  knew  it,  he  was  becoming  part  of  a  big  and  complicated 
machine.  As  he  acquired  its  motions,  he  acquired  its  attitude  of 
mind.  He  became,  in  fact,  a  true  soldier  offering  his  life  willingly 
to  defend  his  countiy.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  written  about  the 
operation  of  the  draft  law  and  the  wonder  of  making  a  pacific  people 
over  into  a  great  army,  almost  overnight.  Yet  all  along  the  making 
there  was  due  consideration  of  every  quality  and  trait  of  man  that 
might  have  stood  in  the  way  of  success.  Coercion  was  not  used: 
but  wit  and  diplomacy  were  subtly  employed.  All  this,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  men  were  only  asked  to  do  what  men  have  always  done, 
defend  their  own. 

Now  when  the  Food  Administration  came  to  the  women  to  enlist 
them  in  what  might  be  called  a  Housewives  Service,  it  was  asking  of 
u  woman  and  a  housewife  what  had  never  been  asked  of  woman  be- 
fore in  all  the  world.  A  woman's  kitchen  is  her  castle.  All  tradition 
of  housekeepers  was  against  a  government  coming  in  to  tell  her  what 
she  should  do  there.  Woman  is  suspicious  of  pledges  of  any  kind, 
yet  here  she  was  asked  to  give  a  blanket  pledge  that  might  lead  her 
anywhere,  or  ask  anything  of  her.  A  woman's  obligation  to  feed  her 
children  is  as  strong  with  her  as  a  man's  duty  to  protect  his  wife; 
it  is  knit  into  her  motherhood.  Yet  to  keep  this  pledge  she  might 
have  to  do  violence  to  that. 


60       ,         UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

No  subtle  psychology,  such  as  was  used  in  enforcing  the  draft 
was  employed  to  play  upon  these  feelings,  sentiments,  and  fears  of 
hers.  There  was  a  brief  week  of  brilliant  publicity,  attempting  to 
reach  her  through  papers  which  she  might  not  read,  clubs  she  might 
not  attend,  churches  she  might  not  see,  and  then  she  was  asked,  the 
woman  away  back  in  the  farmhouse,  in  the  tiny  village,  and  in  the 
slums  of  the  city,  as  well  as  the  club  women  and  newspaper  reader, 
to  sign  a  paper  that  might  mean  anything  or  nothing. 

For  generations  women  have  been  left  inside  their  homes,  have 
been  told  their  interests  lay  there,  been  denied  expression  of  their 
opinions.  Now,  suddenly,  a  stranger  with  no  official  badge  or  stand- 
ing, come  nosing  into  her  private  affairs  which  tradition  had  told 
her  were  not  connected  with  the  public  interest. 

A  week  and  a  day  had  the  workers  in  the  Woman's  Committee  in 
which  to  educate  these  women  on  their  new  relation  to  the  national 
interest,  to  develop  in  them  the  idea  of  national  service,  to  explain 
the  sudden  importance  of  the  housewife,  to  sketch  the  purport  and 
the  intent  of  the  food  pledge.  A  week  and  a  day  to  reach  and  teach 
women  to  whom  the  isolation  of  the  home  had  become  almost  a  mat- 
ter of  religion,  certainly  a  fetich. 

Of  course,  it  was  unfair  to  the  Woman's  Committee.  It  was 
equally  unfair  to  the  women  of  the  country.  It  was  an  arch  appli- 
cation of  the  principle  that  men  must  decide  and  women  must  agree. 
Men  had  the  authority  to  make  the  plans,  women  only  knew  how 
to  do  the  work.  That  those  who  made  the  plan  would  attribute  any 
failure  to  the  work  of  the  women  and  not  to  the  plan,  was  but  an 
added  unfairness  that  inheres  in  any  such  division  of  labor.  But 
there  was  nothing  to  do  except  what  women  have  always  done,  their 
best  under  the  circumstances. 

A7aliantly  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  went  to 
work.  Under  almost  as  many  plans  as  there  were  Divisions,  they 
opened  the  campaign.  That  there  was  so  much  to  report  must  ever 
be  a  miracle.  In  some  places  regular  polls  were  opened  at  school- 
houses,  under  the  impression  that  this  might  give  the  drive  a  more 
"official  character."  In  24  States  the  women  made  house-to-house 
canvasses.  In  still  others  they  enlisted  the  assistance  of  rural  mail 
carriers,  and  in  others  the  policemen  on  the  beat,  while  15  States 
depended  on  newspapers  and  meetings  to  reach  the  women. 

There  were  many  obstacles  to  success  besides  the  suddenness  with 
which  the  campaign  was  announced.  There  was  great  resentment  on 
the  part  of  large  numbers  of  women  that  the  first  move  of  the  Food 
Administration  was  to  ask  them  to  give  up  white  flour,  instead  of 
asking  men  to  give  up  alcoholic  beverages,  whose  manufacture  re- 
quired a  large  portion  of  the  wheat  supply.  There  were  rumors  of 
many  kinds  to  combat,  and  misunderstandings  of  the  purpose  of 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  61 

the  Food  Administration,  to  right.  There  was,  above  all,  an  insidi- 
ous and  vicious  German  propaganda.  The  word  had  been  spread 
about  in  the  poorer  districts  that  the  whole  program  of  food  con- 
servation was  directed  against  the  poor,  but  that  the  rich  would 
not  have  to  save.  Foreign  women  who  could  not  read  English  had 
been  told  that  the  cards  bound  them  to  war  service.  In  many  locali- 
ties, especially  in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin,  many  of  these  women 
refused  to  sign.  And  even  among  the  more  intelligent  it  was  said 
that  Mr.  Hoover  was  giving  undue  emphasis  to  the  need  for  econ- 
omy and  that  he  was  not  fair  in  his  rulings. 

The  importance  of  meeting  such  propaganda  first  hand,  of  cor- 
recting its  evil  effects  and  spreading  the  truth,  can  not  be  overesti- 
mated. The  Food  Pledge  Campaign  offered  an  opportunity  for 
educational  propaganda  of  the  most  effective  kind.  In  that  way 
alone,  it  more  than  paid  for  all  the  effort  and  time  expended. 

On  August  16,  an  appeal  to  increase  their  efforts  in  securing  sig- 
natures to  food  cards  was  made  to  the  State  Chairmen  and  the  date 
of  closing  the  drive  was  set  for  September  5.  Five  of  the  States 
that  could  not  finish  by  that  time  were  granted  an  extension  of  time. 

Delay  in  organization  was  the  cause  of  delay  in  returns  from  some 
States.  In  Colorado  a  lack  of  cards  was  a  hindrance.  The  State 
Council  printed  only  25,000  cards.  In  order  to  complete  the  cam- 
paign, the  Woman's  Division  needed  100,000  more.  The  matter  of 
printing  them  was  delayed  so  long  that  the  Woman's  Committee 
asked  the  State  to  discontinue  the  campaign.  Duplication  of  orders, 
due  to  Mr.  Hoovers  desire  to  use  every  channel,  sometimes  resulted 
in  so  dividing  responsibility  that  no  one  was  "on  the  job."  In 
two  States  there  was  a  misunderstanding  as  to  whether  the  cam- 
paign was  to  be  conducted  by  the  Woman's  Committee  or  the  Food 
Administration,  or  by  the  Post  Office  Department  through  its  car- 
riers. 

The  final  report  showed  that  27  States  completed  the  campaign 
by  September  5 ;  12  States  reported  the  drive  unfinished  up  to  that 
date,  and  10  made  no  report  at  all.  The  State  Council  was  in  charge 
of  the  campaign  in  14  States,  the  Woman's  Committee  in  31,  and 
4  made  no  report.  There  was  full  cooperation  in  39  States,  no  co- 
operation in  5  States.  In  all  there  were  distributed  5,223,850  cards. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  difficulties,  the  weaknesses  in  the  plan,  sea- 
son of  the  year,  and  the  lack  of  time  provided  for  preliminary  pub- 
licity, and,  above  all,  the  fact  that  the  Woman's  Committee  had  only 
been  appointed  some  two  months  when  the  campaign  opened,  the 
women,  knowing  the  long  and  tedious  process  of  building  up  any  or- 
ganization, and  realizing  fully  the  size  of  their  job,  congratulated 
themselves  upon  having  made  so  good  a  beginning.  They  knew  it 
could  be  only  a  beginning. 


62  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

The  Woman's  Committee  work  for  the  Food  Administration  did 
not  cease  with  the  end  of  this  great  task.  Before  the  returns  from  the 
first  drive  were  well  in,  the  announcement  of  the  second  food  drive 
was  made.  As  Dr.  Shaw  said  in  her  letter  of  September  8,  "  So  rap- 
idly does  one  event  follow  another  in  the  intensive  work  of  our  State 
Divisions,  we  have  scarcely  time  to  think  about  it  before  the  next  call 
comes." 

Although  the  organization  for  this  second  drive,  which  was  known 
•  as  the  Clean-up  Campaign,  was  to  be  under  the  Food  Administration, 
it  solicited  the  complete  support  of  the  Woman's  Committee  "  as  neces- 
sary to  the  largest  degree  of  success."  Dr.  SJiaw  accordingly  urged 
the  women  "  that  every  possible  help  which  the  State  Divisions  couU 
render  the  Food  Administration  be  given."  This  the  women  of  the 
State  Divisions  gave.  The  chairman  of  the  Food  Conservation  De- 
partment of  the  State  Divisions  served  on  the  State  Executive  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  State  Food  Administrator,  and  after  the  same 
manner,  on  every  county  and  town  food  committee,  were  found  mem- 
bers of  the  State  Divisions,  working  as  members  also  of  the  Food  Ad- 
ministration. At  the  close  of  the  drive  the  State  Food  Administrator 
of  Florida  attributed  the  success  of  the  campaign  to  the ;i  untiring  and 
unselfish  efforts  of  the  women  of  the  local  imits."  In  Missouri  the 
State  Food  Administrator  worked  entirely  through  the  State  Divi- 
sion, asking  the  Food  Conservation  chairmen  of  State  Divisions  to 
his  State  conference,  and  depending  upon  these  women  to  canvass  the 
State.  Doubtless  this  was  true  in  many  other  States.  In  fact,  there- 
alter,  the  Food  Administration  in  the  States  largely  utilized  the  ma- 
chinery built  by  the  Woman's  Committee  for  the  first  drive.  In  some 
States  there  was  even  a  definite  understanding  that  the  Food  Con- 
servation chairman  of  the  State  Division  should  serve  as  Home-Eco- 
nomics Director  to  the  local  Food  Administration. 

Between  these  local  representatives  of  the  Food  Administration 
and  the  local  units  of  the  Woman's  Committee  it  was  necessary  and 
profitable  that  there  exist  the  closest  relationship.  One  had  the 
franking  privilege  and  money  for  necessary  expenses:  the  other 
had  the  volunteer  workers  necessary  to  distribute  cards  and  leaflets, 
make  window  displaj-s,  and  reach  the  individual  householder.  In 
this  second  campaign,  under  the  direction  of  the  State  Food  Ad- 
ministration, 6.360,090  names  were  secured. 

"Rationing  by  force,"  Mr.  Hoover  once  said,  "would  not  only 
be  an  extremely  difficult  operation,  but  an  extremely  expensive  one. 
If  we  take  the  costs  of  the  English  and  French  administrations  and 
multiply  our  cost  by  the  larger  population,  it  would  cost  us  between 
forly-five  and  fifty  million  dollars  a  year  for  the  administration  of 
the  machinery  and  rationing.  We  have  gained  that  end  by  spending 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  63 

one  and  one-fourth  million  in  printing  and  one-half  million  dollars 
in  traveling  expenses  and  propaganda  generally.    *    *    *w 

Whether  the  voluntary  conservation  plan  of  the  Food  Adminis- 
tration would  have  been  successful  without  the  volunteer  work  of 
these  women,  one  can  not  know.  Mr  Hoover  goes  on  record  as  to  its 
value,  thus:  "  What  has  been  done  has  been  accomplished  by  us  to  a 
.-mall  degree.  It  has  been  accomplished  in  greater  degree  by  the 
individual  households  of  the  country  and  by  the  seven  million  work- 
ers we  have  throughout  the  United  States.  Their  devotion  is  one  of 
the  finest  monuments  of  the  war."  Whether  it  would  have  been 
possible  for  the  Food  Administration  to  have  organized  these  women 
workers  through  the  local  food  administrators  is  also  problematical. 
Federal  appointees  in  a  community  might  have  organized,  enthused, 
instructed,  and  led  an  army  of  women  there  to  canvass  the  house- 
wives. Whether  they  could  will  never  be  known,  since  the  Food  Ad- 
ministration found  to  hand  the  local  units  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee already  organized,  already  instructed,  already  enthused,  and 
used  that  arm}T  to  carry  through  the  Food  Conservation  program  on 
the  voluntary  principle. 


CHAPTER  VL 

THE  ACID  TEST. 

To  understand  the  significance  of  four  large  letter  files  of  the 
Woman's  Committee,  indexed  under  the  title, "  Tender  of  Service,"  it 
is  necessary  to  go  back  in  memory  and  relive  those  feverish  days 
when  all  America  was  divided  between  those  who  fought  and  those 
who  held  back.  Among  the  former  were  the  thousands  of  women 
who  offered  themselves  freely  and  wholly  for  any  service  that  might 
be  needed  of  them. 

Into  the  reception  room  at  1814  N  Street  came  these  offers.  Only 
the  woman  herself,  intensely  one  of  them,  who  patiently  read  and 
replied  to  them,  could  give  a  vivid  picture  of  them,  written  as  they 
were  on  every  sort  of  paper,  in  every  sort  of  hand,  coming  as  they 
did  from  every  kind  of  women,  from  the  trained  novelist,  author 
of  six  successful  books,  who  was  wiling  to  do  anything,  to  the  woman 
immured  in  a  hospital  for  sick  minds,  who  hoped  there  would  be 
something  "  even  I  can  do."  There  were  women  in  far-away  farm- 
houses who  would  adopt  a  child  if  that  would  help;  women  who' 
could  cook,  renovate  soldiers'  clothing,  run  a  tractor;  there  were 
other  women  who  were  statisticians,  radiographers,  experts  and  spe- 
cialists in  various  lines,  who  offered  to  give  up  good  salaries  and 
come  "  for  expenses  onty,"  and  there  were  the  mothers  and  grand- 
mothers, both  trained  and  untrained,  with  grown-up  families,  who 
were  "  ready  to  go  back  on  active  service." 

In  order  to  be  able  to  answer  these  letters,  it  was  found  necessary 
to  issue  a  booklet,  "  War  Work  for  Women,"  in  which  were  listed 
many  opportunities  for  service — paid  or  volunteer — at  home  or 
abroad,  which  were  open  to  women.  This  booklet  passed  through 
three  editions,  the  second  of  which,  both  in  numbers  and  bulk  tripled 
the  first,  and  the  third  of  which  tripled  the  second. 

There  were  other  letters  which  the  handbook  could  not  answer. 
One  of  the  duties  of  the  Information  Department,  of  which  Miss 
Elizabeth  Green  was  chief,  was  to  help  these  women  realize  the 
importance  of  much  work  that  was  not  listed  as  war  work.  Teach- 
ing, farm  work,  home  making — these  were  suddenly  of  more  im- 
portance, or  at  least  their  importance  loomed  up  more,  than  ever 
before.  These  women,  hundreds  of  them,  had  to  be  told  that  women's 
•4 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  65 

re  til  war  work  was  to  keep  the  country  normal  and  to  preserve  civic 
and  home  life.  They  must  intesify  their  efforts  in  behalf  of  child 
welfare  and  social  service.  Instead  of  dropping  the  old  familiar 
duties,  they  must  do  them  better  and  with  less  expense  and  fewer 
servants  than  ever  before.  Perhaps  the  Woman's  Committee  did  noth  • 
ing  more  important  than  sending  this  message  to  its  millions  of 
members.  To  one  of  the  teachers  who  was  offering  war  service,  Dr. 
Shaw  wrote: 

There  Is  nothing  more  Important  than  that  the  standard  of  education  be 
kept  up  and  that  every  possible  inducement  to  keep  children  In  school  should 
be  extended  to  the  community.  There  is  no  better  Inducement  than  to  pro- 
vide a  teacher  who  is  not  only  excellent  in  her  work,  but  patriotic  and  loyal 
to  the  Government  during  this  time  of  world  struggle;  and  my  advice  to  you 
is  lo  stay  right  where  you  are;  or,  rather,  remain  in  your  present  profession. 
There  are  plenty  of  women  who  are  not  capable  of  being  teachers,  but  can  do 
the  other  kinds  of  work  that  are  demanded.  There  is  not  a  sufficient  demand 
for  the  services  of  women  to  make  it  necessary  for  those  in  the  teaching  pro- 
fession to  give  up  their  duties  for  work  that  is  less  important.  Personally,  I 
think  the  very  best  work  that  woman  can  do  to-day  is  to  see  to  it  that  the 
children  of  the  Nation  are  not  deprived  of  proper  training  and  educational 
advantages.  The  industries  of  the  country  are  making  constant  inroad*  on 
the  schools  and  every  possible  effort  is  being  put  forward  to  make  the  children 
leave  the  schools  and  go  into  the  factories  and  other  places.  What  we  need  is 
the  kind  of  teacher  who  will  keep  constant  hold  upon  tlieni. 

One  can  fancy  the  feelings  of  the  recipient  of  such  a  letter. 
Moved,  as  her  brother,  by  the  need  of  her  country,  fired  like  him 
with  a  noble  desire  to  help,  called  like  him  to  sacrifice  self  for  the 
larger  good,  she  was  told  that  she  must  only  "stand  and  wait." 
Perhaps  the  realization,  hers  for  the  first  time,  that  her  "job" — so 
long  thought  to  be  drudgery — was  one  of  real  service,  was  a  recom- 
pense for  disappointment  tliat  will  survive  the  war. 

It  is  difficult,  too.  to  recall  how  serious  the  need  for  these  tenders 
seemed  in  that  far  ago  of  1917.  In  two  years  England  had  needed 
more  than  1,000.000  women  to  step  into  men's -shoes.  America  was 
building  plans  on  the  experience  of  her  exhausted  allies.  Every 
offer  should,  then,  be  catalogued.  It  must  be  available  the  moment 
the  need  came.  England  was  searching  for  other  women  to  take 
the  places  of  her  last  million  men  to  go.  America  should  be  ready 
with  substitutes  when  that  time  came  for  hers. 

The  women  who  thus  offered  were  the  volunteer  workers  of  the 
land.  They  were  of  those  who  fought.  But  there  were  other 
women,  millions  of  them,  who  wanted  to  serve  some  waj*,  somehow, 
but  were  not  free  to  offer  and  did  not  know  how  to  offer.  They,  too, 
must  be  found  and  catalogued.  And  there  was  the  third  body  of 
women,  those  who  must  be  led  to  make  the  offer.  Fortunately 
those  who  fight  desire  ever  to  lead  those  who  wait. 
141634°— 20 5 


66  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

This  war  was  not  to  be  wholly  fought  by  volunteers.  That  fact 
was  clearly  determined  by  the  adoption  of  our  draft  system.  The 
same  idea  circulated  through  every  line  of  war  endeavor.  "Each 
must  do  his  part"  was  the  slogan  and  the  conviction  of  those  who 
fought. 

Carrying  out  this  idea,  New  York  State  decided  to  find  out  what 
every  man  and  woman  could  do  to  serve.  Accordingly  she  took  an 
official  census  of  her  adult  population.  Other  States  might  have 
followed  her  example,  but  the  Council  of  National  Defense  sent  out 
a  request  that  the  States  should  not  take  a  registration,  since  if 
might  interfere  with  the  registration  for  military  service,  contem- 
plated by  the  War  Department. 

This  did  not  apply  to  women's  work.  Indeed,  many  of  the  wom- 
en's organizations  had  already  begun  a  census  of  their  own  numbers. 
One  organization  was  taking  a  census  of  women  generally,  not 
only  with  an  idea  of  gathering  the  women  into  its  membership,  but 
also  with  this  idea  of  directing  the  women  to  the  sort  of  work  they 
could  do. 

Any  census  to  be  useful  to  the  Government  should  be  taken  under 
official  auspices.  One  of  the  first  subjects  to  be  discussed,  therefore, 
by  the  Woman's  Committee,  was  the  advisability  of  its  undertaking 
such  a  registration  of  women.  The  Woman's  Committee  had  been 
appointed  under  an  act  creating  a  Council  of  National  Defense,  with 
an  Advisory  Commission,  to  surve}T  the  resources  of  the  country.  An 
important  resource  of  the  country,  according  to  the  experiences  of 
other  warring  nations,  was  its  woman  power.  This  was  a  resource 
perhaps  soon  to  be  tapped.  Clearly  the  Committee  should  survey  this 
resource.  No  better  way  to  make  this  survey  could  be  devised  than 
b}'  a  volunteer  registration  of  the  women,'  of  their  abilities  and  their 
willingness  to  contribute  these  abilities  or  to  take  training.  As  one 
State  Division  expressed  it.  "A  merchant  going  into  a  new  business 
takes  an  inventory.  The  Woman's  Committee  is  going  into  a  new 
business.  Its  stock  consists  of  the  willingness  and  the  ability  of  the 
women  of  the  country  to  serve.  It  will  therefore  take  an  inventory. 
It  will  call  tliis  inventory  a  registration," 

The  Council  of  National  Defense  did  not  advocate  a  national  regis- 
tration at  once.  The  Woman's  Committee  thought  it  wise  to  delay  a 
nation-wide  registration  until  organization  was  more  complete.  Many 
States,  however,  were  clamoring  to  go  ahead  with  their  own  registra- 
tion. They  needed  it  for  local  purposes.  In  some  States  plans  for  it 
were  already  under  way.  The  Woman's  Committee,  with  the  author- 
ity of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  decided  therefore,  to  leave  the 
decision  as  to  the  time  of  taking  a  registration  to  each  State  Division, 
advocating  it  in  principle  and  providing  a  broad  plan  of  procedure 
which  could  be  adapted  to  the  conditions  in  each  State. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  67 

As  usual  the  first  question  involved  was  one  of  expense.  Even 
though  all  labor  was  contributed,  even  though  the  registration  was 
taken  at  public  polling  places,  even  though  the  publicity  was  another 
free-will  offering  of  the  press,  there  would  still  be  the  cost  of  the 
ivgist ration  blanks,  summary  cards,  and  supplies,  to  be  considered. 
Printing  these  by  the  millions  would  cost  a  large  sum.  After  several 
conferences  between  the  Committee  and  the  Council,  it  was  finally 
arrived  that  the  Council  would  print  500,000  of  these  cards,  which 
should  be  apportioned  among  the  State  Divisions  on  the  basis  of 
population  as  reported  in  the  last  census.  After  these  were  exhausted, 
additional  cards  were  printed  by  a  private  firm,  at  a  cost  of  $2.50  per 
thousand,  the  States  purchasing  these  direct.  The  cards,  of  course, 
•were  to  be  the  same  for  every  State.  The  model  was  drafted  after 
various  conferences  with  representatives  of  the  Census  Bureau.  The 
card  listed  every  possible  occupation  that  a  woman  could  follow  and 
nskod  information  as  to  her  willingness  to  give  service,  the  amount 
of  time  she  could  give,  whether  it  was  to  be  paid  or  free  service, 
whether  it  could  be  given  overseas,  or  at  any  place  in  this  country, 
or  was  limited  as  to  locality.  The  cards  also  provided  information 
as  to  whether  the  registrant  would  take  training  for  work  and  what 
sort  of  ..Dining  she  desired. 

The  work  of  the  registration  was  to  be  in  the  charge  of  a  small 
and  efficient  State.  Committee.  Registration  was  not  assigned  to 
any  one  society  nor  were  registrations  to  be  taken  by  any  individual 
society,'  all  societies  merging  their  work  of  this  kind  under  the 
official  Woman's  Committee.  The  State  was  to  place  the  work  in  the 
counties  under  a  county  chair  .an. 

It  was  planned  to  keep  the  cards  in  local  headquarters,  sending 
summaries  to  the  State  headquarters,  who  would  send  them  on  to 
the,  Washington  headquarters  of  the  Committee.  The  form  for  this 
.summary  was  suggested  by  the  Census  Bureau. 

In  the  meantime,  while  these  plans  were  being  framed  and  ar- 
rangements made  for  printing  the  cards,  the  States  and  women 
within  the  States  were  clamoring  to  register.  "We  can  not,"  wrote 
one  chairman,  ~  hold  them  back.7' 

As  soon  as  the  plans  were  completed,  in  four  States  a  special  day 
was  set  aside  by  the  governor  as  registration  day  for  women.  In 
these  and  several  other  States  where  active  plans  were  begun  ut  once, 
publicity  as  extensive  as  that  for  the  food  drive  was  undertaken  by 
the  women.  Every  meeting  of  women  within  the  State  boundary  was 
addressed  by  a  corps  of  trained  women  speakers;  every  local  paper 
was  sent  material  stating  the  purpose  of  the  registration.  While 
many  women  were  eager  and  enthusiastic  at  the  opportunity  to  place 
themselves  on  record  there  were  many  thousands  to  whom  the  idea 


68  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF   NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

was  so  novel  and  so  out  of  line  with  all  prejudices  and  ideas  that 
much  speaking  and  writing  was  necessary  before  it  was  understood. 

There  were  the  same  difficulties  to  be  overcome  that  there  were  in 
the  food  drives.  In  a  few  States  some  women  failed  to  understand 
the  purpose  of  the  registration;  others  feared  it  might  mean  com- 
pulsory service.  In  certain  States  it  was  hampered  by  the  apparent 
overlapping  caused  by  the  activities  of  individual  organizations  who 
were  taking  registrations  for  the  purpose  of  enrolling  members.  Ger- 
man propaganda  was  not  quiet.  In  some  quarters  it  was  compara- 
tively easy  to  make  women  think  that  this  was  a  trap  whereby  the 
women,  who  stated  they  could  do  paid  work  of  some  kind,  would 
render  their  husbands  liable  for  military  service  by  disclosing  their 
own  ability  to  support  themselves.  In  others  the  women  were  told 
registration  meant  being  sent  at  once  to  France.  These  very  diffi- 
culties but  added  to  the  zest  of  the  work,  for  they  indicated  the  need 
for  some  method  of  reaching  these  very  doubting  Thomases  with 
positive  propaganda,  not  only  as  to  the  war  but  as  to  Jane's  part  in 
waging  it.  The  educational  value  of  all  these  drives  far  outweighed 
every  other  result.  This  the  workers,  who  came  first-hand  into  con- 
tact with  all  opposition,  knew  better  than  anyone. 

One  amusing  feature  of  the  registration  was  the  interest  taken 
in  it  by  the  men.  This  spread  all  the  way  from  the  intelligent,  loyal, 
and  enthusiastic  help  given  by  editors  and  public  speakers  to  the 
emphatic  objections  registered  by  the  old  farmer  who  "  set  his  foot 
down  flat "  that  his  "  old  woman "  should  not  register.  It  was 
amazing  how  many  husbands  did  not  wish  their  wives  to  register. 
Some  of  them  were  frank.  She  was  his  cook  and  he  could  not 
spare  her.  Others  scented  an  invasion  of  masculine  authority. 
Perhaps  a  man's  flour  barrel  was  not  his  private  business,  but  his 
wife  most  surely  was,  and  not  even  Uncle  Sam  should  levy  on  the 
time  that  belonged  rightfully  to  him. 

By  September,  1917,  definite  dates  for  registration  of  women  for 
service  had  been  set  in  15  States.  By  the  next  spring  it  had  been 
held  in  9  more.  The  national  chairmen  of  the  Department  of 
Registration  then  advised  the  State  Divisions  in  which  the  work  had 
not  been  undertaken  to  defer  the  work  until  more  "  returns"  had  been 
compiled  and  analyzed  in  order  that  the  experience  already  gained 
in  the  States  where  the  work  had  been  done  might  be  made  available 
for  their  use.  Several  State  Divisions  which  had  already  undertaken 
registration,  however,  continued  to  add  to  their  number  of  cards,  and 
at  the  time  of  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  a  total  of  over  3,375,000 
registrants  had  been  reported.  The  most  notable  record  was  made 
by  Michigan,  which  succeeded  in  registering  98  per  cent  of  the 
women  of  the  State.  In  two  States  a  record  was  kept  of  those  re- 
fusing to  sign,  thus  making  the  census  more  complete. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  69 

In  no  instance  was  registration  limited  to  a  day,  although  it  often 
began  or  focused  around  one  registration  day.  In  14  States  such 
days  were  set  by  gubernatorial  proclamation.  In  Rhode  Island  and 
New  York  women  had  been  included  in  the  compulsory  militarj* 
census.  In  Louisiana  the  date  was  set  by  act  of  legislature,  and  regis- 
1  ration  was  proclaimed  compulsory,  but  no  penalty  was  attached  for 
failure  to  comply  with  the  law. 

Opposition  to  taking  any  registration  of  the  women  was  presented 
by  some  State  Councils  who  felt  that  an  amateur  registration  would 
be  worse  than  none.  Elsewhere  industrial  conditions  made  such  a 
registration  seem  unwise. 

In  general,  two  methods  for  carrying  out  the  work  were  employed. 
In  some  States  registration  booths  were  opened  either  in  churches, 
j-choolhouses,  or  regular  polling  place?,  and  in  a  few  districts  per- 
manent registration  booths  were  opened  in  cit}*  or  county  offices  or 
in  department  stores.  In  other  States  a  house-to-house  canvass 
was  adopted.  Most  States  combined  the  two  methods,  leaving  to 
the  local  county  and  town  chairmen  the  choice  of  the  one  best 
adapted  to  her  community. 

Xo  State  Divisions  undertook  the  registration  of  the  women  with 
more  preparation  and  attention  to  detail  than  did  the  Illinois  Division. 
It  began  its  plans  almost  as  soon  as  it  was  organized  and  developed 
them  slowly  and  carefully.  "  The  more  deeply  we  have  studied  into 
the  problems  and  possibilities  of  registration,"  wrote  one  of  the  women 
in  charge,  "the  wider  its  scope  expands.  We  are  beginning  to  ap- 
praise our  work  not  as  a  temporary  war-time  expedient  but  as  a 
part  of  the  permanent  texture  of  the  new  social  fabric  which  we  are 
weaving.  My  ambition  is  to  register  every  woman  in  Illinois — to 
conserve  and  make  effective  the  new  spirit  of  service  abroad  in  the 
State — that  no  woman  may  feel  that  she  is  overlooked.  I  feel  to-day, 
that  the  work  of  the  registration  committee  is  fundamental  and  that 
all  the  other  activities  of  the  Woman's  Committee  are  built  upon 
that."  Certainly  the  registration  taken  by  the  Illinois  State  Divi- 
sion was  thorough,  and  doubtless  to  the  success  of  its  registration 
may  be  credited  much  of  the  success  of  its  war  program. 

Early  in  the  study  of  this  question  it  must  have  been  apparent 
to  any  woman  worker  that  no  one  plan  or  undertaking  could  so 
clearly  or  so  definitely  make  plain  to  woman  her  place  and  the  need 
of  her  in  the  war  and  social  work  of  her  Nation.  Merely  a  serious 
leading  of  the  registration  card,  listing  as  it  did  among  the  various 
occupations  those  noted  in  the  United  States  Census  as  "  ungainful 
occupations,"  must  have  made  many  a  woman  realize  suddenly  and 
with  force  how  much  of  a  producer  she  was,  how  important  to  the 
great  needs  of  a  people  at  war,  as  well  as  to  a  family  in  peace.  An 
inventory  of  her  equipment,  manual  and  mental,  must  have  given 


70  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

many  another  woman  whose  hands  had  long  lain  idle  cause  for 
thought.  The  long  list  of  occupations  in  which  instruction  was 
available  doubtless  started  many  others  on  the  road  to  usefulness. 
And  women  who  searched  themselves  diligently  were  surely  able  to 
render  better  service  than  before. 

To  return  to  Illinois  and  her  intensive  preparation  for  this  regis- 
tration: No  less  than  10,000  registrars  were  trained  in  special 
schools.  A  manual  was  published  for  their  use.  The  purpose  of 
registration  was  widely  advertised  in  the  press  and  by  posters  and 
fliers.  Further  impetus  and  effect  was  given  to  the  registration  by 
the  fact  that  the  registrants  had  been  made  thoroughly  familiar  with 
the  opportunities  for  service  then  available.  A  list  of  industrial 
plants  that  would  train  workers  was  at  hand  and  information  as  to 
the  courses  in  Red  Cross  work,  home  economics,  occupations  for  the 
handicapped,  dramatics,  wireless,  motor  driving,  aviation,  and  en- 
gineering was  given  at  once  to  the  applicant. 

Other  States  that  reported  special  training  for  registrars  were 
Arkansas,  Connecticut.  Indiana,  [Michigan,  Minnesota,  and  Missouri. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  results  to  be  expected  from  registration 
would  be  the  assignment  of  volunteers  to  positions  of  definite  use- 
fulness, and  the  wise  guidance  of  girls  and  women  who  were  seeking 
to  serve  their  country.  To  undertake  that  work,  many  States  had  a 
Director  of  Volunteers  and  paid  workers,  a  placement  bureau,  or 
some  person  whose  business  it  was  to  see  that  women  were  placed  in 
touch  with  the  work  they  were  willing  to  do.  In  Illinois  the  local 
labor  market  was  studied  in  order  that  registrants  might  be  di- 
rected to  places  where  volunteer  or  paid  employment  might  be  ob- 
tained. During  one  month  297  names  were  recorded  on  application 
lists  and  118  applicants  placed  in  positions.  Missouri  opened  em- 
ployment bureaus  in  every  town  of  over  5.000  population.  From 
the  registration  in  Kansas  City  alone  the  Civil  Service  Commission 
was  supplied  with  the  names  of  250  stenographers  who  took  the 
examination.  There  a  plan  was  so  carefully  worked  out  that  in- 
formation was  immediately  available  to  registrants.  Volunteers 
were  referred  to  the  Red  Cross  and  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  and  applicants  for 
training  were  told  where  to  get  it.  Philadelphia  reported  in  one 
month  56  volunteers  and  276  paid  workeis  in  32  occupations  and  re- 
ferred 450  more  to  the  Department  of  Agriculture.- 

Many  were  the  uses  made  of  the  registration.  In  a  number  of 
States  it  furnished  data  which  enabled  draft  boards  to  secure  cleri- 
cal help  and  committees  to  recruit  workers  for  patriotic  drives  and 
the  Woman's  Land  Army.  In  one  State  the  registration  cards  were 
used  by  the  Food  Administration  as  furnishing  the  only  true  list 
which  would  insure  reaching  every  household,  and  in  another  a 
"rent-a-rooin"  campaign  was  assisted  by  a  reference  to  the  cards* 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  71 

One  of  the  most  valuable  points  on  the  registration  card  was  an 
item  indicating  "training  desired."  With  these  requests  as  an  index 
of  the  needs  of  the  State,  it  was  possible  to  provide  classes  for  those 
who  expressed  a  wish  for  special  training.  This  work,  handled  in 
some  States  by  a  department  and  in  some  by  a  subcommittee  on 
"  Courses  of  Instruction,"  was  also  taken  up  by  States  which  had  no 
registration.  Twenty -five  State  Divisions  reported  that  they  had 
established  or  helped  to  secure  courses  of  training  to  fit  women  for 
self -support,  and  especially  for  war  work.  In  some  cases  the  State 
Division  organized  classes  and  provided  teachers;  in  others,  special 
rates  were  secured  with  commercial  colleges  for  girls  who  registered 
through  the  Woman's  Committee;  in  other  States  educational  authori- 
ties were  persuaded  to  establish  the  courses  desired,  and  the  Phila- 
delphia unit  secured  the  opening  of  an  "  Emergency  High  School" 
to  meet  the  need  for  special  training. 

The  courses  offered  varied  from  the  regular  classes  of  high  school, 
business  college,  and  university,  enlarged  and  modified  to  suit  the 
need,  to  emergency  classes  established  in  houses  or  other  convenient 
centers  in  cities,  or  small  evening  groups  in  rural  communities,  taught 
by  some  resident.  The  range  of  subjects  covered  was  amazingly  wide 
and  gave  convincing  evidence  of  the  immense  increase  in  opportuni- 
ties for  women  with  special  training.  The  classes  included  45  lines  of 
endeavor — from  business  English  to  fanning,  and  from  dietetics  to 
handling  freight  traffic. 

In  addition  to  establishing  classes  the  State  Division  made  known 
opportunities  which  already  existed.  Five  States  reported  the  publi- 
cation of  directories,  listing  courses  of  training  available,  and  others 
gsive  newspaper  publicity  to  such  opportunities,  and  directed  young 
women  to  vocational  classes. 

The  idea  of  securing  women  workers  in  large  numbers  to  replace 
men  in  industry  undoubtedly  held  first  place,  not  only  in  newspapers, 
but  in  the  minds  of  most  official  war  workers  in  the  fall  of  1917. 
Many  were  the  articles  and  much  the  discussion  over  the  unusual  and 
new  occupations  open  to  women.  The  recruiting  of  the  woman 
power  for  industry  was  an  important  object  of  registration.  Had 
America  ever  been  faced  with  a  kbor  shortage,  this  registra- 
tion would  have  been  very  valuable.  As  it  happened,  its  useful- 
ness in  this  direction  was  only  occasional.  Such  instances  as  those 
above  cited  are  interesting  in  the  possibilities  they  open  up,  rather 
than  as  achievements,  since  if  figured  by  percentages  they  would  have 
no  great  bearing  on  the  industrial  situation.  The  assurance  the  regis- 
tration gave  of  our  great  reserve  in  woman  power,  was  helpful.  It 
was  encouraging,  of  course,  to  get  such  a  report  as  this  from  a  small 
Florida  town:  "  If  every  man  was  called  to  the  colors  the  registration 


72  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 


s  that  women  could  fill  every  place,  from  engineers  to  the  United 
States  Detective  Bureau." 

But  over  and  above  these  valuable  services,  over  and  above  what  it 
did  for  women  themselves  to  enable  them  to  be  thus  articulate  about 
their  own  desires,  over  and  above  what  it  did  to  the  solidarity  of 
women  to  be  thus  recognized  as  givers,  was  the  bringing  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  country,  men  as  well  as  women,  the  particular  value 
of  women's  particular  contribution  to  the  social  structure.  It  was  a 
first  step,  and  the  most  necessary,  in  mobilizing  the  women  to  form 
what  has  been  called  the  "second  line  of  defense,"  but  what  might 
more  aptly  be  called  the  "  Home  Guards."  This  army,  mighty  and 
organized,  was  not  to  support  the  first  line  if  it  broke  down.  De- 
fense, all  defense,  even  home  defense,  belongs  to  the  Army.  The 
women  did  not  invade  the  military  field.  If  the  allied  armies  failed, 
our  world  crumbled.  The  women  could  not  attempt  to  stop  that 
enemy.  But  there  is  another  enemy  that  is  always  abroad.  It  is  the 
enemy  that  attacks  our  social  structure  through  poverty,  through 
license,  through  disease.  AVhen  war  occupies  the  thought  and  em- 
ploys the  energies  of  men,  then  do  these  enemies  become  more  dan- 
gerous. It  is  against  these  enemies  that  the  Home  Guard  ever  stands. 
In  peace  times  this  guard  is  made  up  of  men  and  women,  standing 
shoulder  to  shoulder.  When  war  not  only  draws  away  the  young 
idealists  of  the  Nation  to  foreign  shores,  but  when  it  also  takes  the 
older  men  out  of  those  ranks  to  organize  draft  boards  and  float  loans, 
then  must  the  women  rally  to  the  vacant  places,  the  places  in  the 
forces  that  stand  guard  against  these  enemies  within  —  who,  while 
the  defender  is  away,  would  rob  him  of  that  which  he  would  defend. 

This  was  primarily  a  war  for  our  form  and  kind  of  civilization. 
Even*  soldier,  however  much  or  little  he  knew  about  the  causes  of 
the  war,  felt  that.  The  women  would  have  been  worse  than  slackers; 
they  would  have  been  deserters  if  they  had  failed  to  keep  intact  that 
civilization  for  which  their  men  died. 

"The  disintegrating  forces,"  sa}*s  a  letter  asking  the  registration 
of  women  ph}Tsicians,  "  are  already  at  work,  and  we  realize  increas- 
ingly  as  the  world  conflict  continues  that  we  shall  need  all  the  intel- 
ligence, all  the  training,  and  experience  of  the  women  of  the  State 
to  repair  the  damages  to  our  social  structure  wrought  by  the  war." 

To  find  out  women  who  could  serve  in  this  Home  Guard  was  the 
real  purpose  of  the  registration.  It  not  only  found  the  women  doc- 
tors, the  women  who  could  go  back  into  paid  service,  but  enlisted 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  women  for  service  in  the  ranks  of  the  vol. 
untecr.  One  State  Division  made  a  special  canvass  for  social  work- 
ers. training  women,  and  then  placing  them.  There  was  not  a  State 
in  which  the  work  was  conducted  that  registration  cards  did  not 
supply  great  numbers  of  such  volunteers  for  social  and  Red  Cross 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITI-BE.  73 

work.  In  Denver,  Colo.,  Red  Cross  workers  were  increased  300  per 
cent  by  this  means. 

From  the  very  moment  that  the  housekeeper  saw  listed  as  "  occupa- 
tions "  cooking  and  sewing  and  writing  and  cleaning,  she  saw  that 
her  time  had  a  social  value.  She  went  home  and  rearranged  that 
t  inie.  so  that  a  small  part  of  it,  at  least,  might  be  given  toiler  country. 
Then  she  enlisted  in  this  Home  Guard.  By  this  process  was  the 
u  volunteer  "  developed.  Registration  in  the  first  place  made  women 
value  themselves;  in  the  second,  it  recognized  the  importance  of  the 
volunteer  worker. 

Many  were  the  women  who  had  been  waitresses,  undertakers,  gro- 
cers, plumbers,  and  many  more  who  had  been  physicians,  nurses,  and 
teachers,  who  came  back  into  service,  some  to  draw  salaries,  many 
to  make  a  free-will  offering  of  time  and  training.  But  many,  many 
more  were  there  who  came  to  give  an  hour,  two,  or  three  hours  a 
day  or  a  week,  to  this  Home  Guard  work,  if  only  to  fill  up  the  ranks 
and  make  the  array  against  the  enemy  os  formidable  as  possible. 

The  great  task  of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  to  reach  these  volun- 
teers, to  bring  them  to  the  program  an.d  get  the  program  to  them. 
To  do  this,  it  had  developed  a  complex  organization.  The  "  acid 
test  of  how  our  organization  works"  said  one  of  the  committee,  "is 
registration." 

By  it  the  committee  was  not  only  able  to  discover  whether  it  had 
reached  these  women,  but  also  whether  the  women  could  and  would 
fit  into  the  program.  Though  the  total  number  of  women  register- 
in":  docs  not  give  accurate  information  on  this  point,  it  can  be  said 
to  indicate  the  degree  to  which  the  organization  was  successful  in 
this  undertaking.  Even  more  than  that,  probably,  it  indicated  the 
attitude  of  the  women,  and  this,  after  all,  was  the  important  thing, 
since  out  of  it  was  born  the  success  or  failure  of  a  plan  so  gigantic, 
?o  all-inclusive,  as  that  contemplated  by  the  Woman's  Committee, 
When  women  plodded  through  many  feet  of  snow  to  register,  even 
walking  upon  skiis  because  other  mode  of  travel  was  impossible, 
when  they  drove  their  wagons  through  mud  to  the  hubs,  to  tell  of 
their  abilit}^  and  desire  to  serve,  when  other  women  a  thousand  miles 
away  drove  through  blinding  dust  storms  to  perform  the  same  mis- 
sion, and  such  reports  were  multiplied  by  the  hundreds  and  the 
thousands,  surely  the  Committee  was  justified  in  thinking  that  its 
organization  had  stood  the  acid 


>  CHAPTER  VTL 

THE  COMMITTEE'S  DEPARTMENTS  OF  WORK. 

THEIB  SCOPE  AND. FUNCTIONS. 

The  whole  tradition  and  habit  of  women  has  been  to  do  public 
work  by  the  program  and  department  method.  When  women  began 
to  do  volunteer  civic  and  welfare  work  they  saw  so  much  to  do,  and 
everything  was  seemingly  of  such  importance,  that  the}7  divided  the 
field  into  sections,  distributing  their  workers  between  these  sections. 
Those  workers  surveying  the  work  to  be  done  and  the  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  doing  it  were  content  to  select  the  most  obvious  improvement 
and  plan  a  slow  campaign  for  it,  satisfied  with  what  measure  of  suc- 
cess was  forthcoming,  since  everything  accomplished  was  that  much 
to  the  good. 

It  took  the  war  attitude  of  mind  and  some  experience  with  definite 
jobs  to  be  done  against  time  to  train  these  women  in  the  "quota  and 
standard  "  process.  As  a  result  of  this  training,  however,  they  soon 
acquired  the  quickness  of  decision  and  the  adroitness  of  tactics  that 
have  long  been  employed  so  successfully  in  business.  These  qualities 
they  incorporated  into  their  method  of  procedure,  but  they  did  not 
abandon  the  departmental  plan.  It  is  with  this  departmental  plan, 
how  the  departments  developed  their  scope  and  programs,  and  how 
they  functioned  at  Washington,  that  this  chapter  deals. 

When  the  plan  of  work  of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  finally 
approved  August  2,  1917,  the  departments  of  work  had  been  nar- 
rowed down  to  the  following:  Registration  for  Service,  Food  Pro- 
duction and  Home  Economics,  Food  Administration,  Women  in  In- 
dustry, Child  Welfare,  Maintenance  of  Existing  Social  Service 
Agencies,  Health  and  Recreation,  Educational  Propaganda,  Liberty 
Loan,  Home  and  Foreign  Relief.  Each  department  had  been  placed 
under  the  direction  of  one  member  of  the  committee,  with  an  execu 
five  chairman  or  secretary,  who  had  the  responsibility  for  directing 
the  work  within  these  departments,  according  to  the  scope  and  func- 
tion of  the  department  as  determined  by  the  plan  of  work  or  action 
of  the  Committee.  Responsibility  for  seeing  that  each  department 
performed  .its  function  and  yet  did  not  extend  its  scope,  rested 
with  the  executive  whose  work  it  was  to  see  that  the  complete  pro- 
gram of  the  committee  was  being  carried  out.  This  responsibility 
74 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  75 

was  at  first  vested  in  an  executive  secretary.  Later  it  was  vested  if 
the  Resident  Director,  to  which  position  Miss  Hannah  J.  Patterson-. 
of  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  was  elected  by  the  Committee,  having  previously 
been  appointed  a  member  of  the  Committee  by  the  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense, 

It  is  important  that  the  reader  keep  clearly  in  mind  the  distinction 
between  the  departments  of  the  Woman's  committee,  such  as  the 
department  of  Food  Production  or  Child  Welfare,  and  a  Federal 
department,  such  as  that  of  Agriculture  or  Labor.  With  these  Fed- 
eral departments  and  with  the  national  war  agencies^  such  as  Red 
Cross  and  Commission  on  Training  Camp  Activities,  the  committee's 
departments  of  work  sought  relationship  as  described  in  chapter  2. 
The  departmental  plan  of  work  here  described  was  not,  however, 
dependent  upon  this  relationship.  It  had  been  tried  in  prewar  days 
by  many  organizations  but  the  story  of  how  it  worked  under  war 
conditions  and  Federal  direction  forms  a  pertinent  chapter  in  any 
liistoiT  of  women's  organized  effort  to  serve,  Take,  for  instance,  the 
Department  of  Home  and  Foreign  Relief,  with  Miss  Wetmore  as 
chairman.  While  women  by  the  hundred  thousand  were  devoting 
their  entire  time  to  this  work,  a  committee  charged  with  the  dirty  of 
coordinating  women's  work  must  needs  have  such  a  department,  but 
very  shortly  it  was  seen  that  this  work  was  being  so  well  and  so 
thoroughly  done  by  other  agencies,  that  the  committee  had  only  to 
ascertain  who  was  doing  it  and  direct  the  women  of  the  country  to 
tlfe  proper  agencies.  This  department  logically  then,  became,  as  its 
chairman  said,  "  purely  a  coordinating  department."  To  know  that 
the  work  was  done,  the  field  covered,  to  report  this  to  the  Council  of 
National  Defense,  to  tell  the  women  of  the  country  that  it  must  be 
done  and  how  it  was  being  done,  this  was  its  program;  thus  was  its 
duty  accomplished. 

Xcither  was  it  necessary  for  the  Department  of  Food  Production 
and  Home  Economics,  of  which  Mrs.  Stanley  McCormick  was  chair- 
man, and  Miss  Helen  Atwater  executive  chairman,  to  outline  a  gen- 
oral  plan  of  work.  Since  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the 
Food  Administration  each  had  specific  tasks  in  which  it  wished  to 
interest  the  women  of  the  country,  the  function  of  this  department 
of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  to  urge  the  State  Divisions  to  assist 
in  each  plan,  drive,  and  request  made  by  these  Federal  agencies,  or 
their  State  agents,  to  stimulate  activity  in  the  States  along  the  lines 
of  work  initiated  by  these  Federal  agencies  and  to  promote  close 
cooperation  between  the  State  agencies  and  the  chairman  of  the  food  ' 
departments  of  the  State  Divisions. 

This  Department  of  Food  Production  urged  and  secured  close 
cooperation  between  the  Home  Economics  Extension  Service  of  the 


76  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

State  Agricultural  Colleges  and  the  chairmen  of  the  food  depart- 
ments of  the  State  Divisions.  Even  before  the  war  emergency,  the 
work  of  this  Extension  Service  was  deeply  interested  in  food  con- 
servation. In  the  previous  seven  years  several  thousand  canning  and 
home  demonstration  clubs  had  been  organized  and  there  was  a  mem- 
bership of  some  300,000  members,  all  of  whom  had  been  taught  to 
conserve  fruits  and  vegetables  b}*  approved  modern  methods.  This 
extension  work  was  carried  on  under  a  State  Director  of  Extension 
Work  who  usually  worked  in  cooperation  with  the  Agricultural  Col- 
lege. Through  these  State  Directors  of  extension  work  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  was  placing  Home  Demonstration  agents  in 
such  counties  as  could  comply  with  the  provisions  demanded  by  the 
act  of  Congress,  known  as  the  Smith-Hughes  Act.  according  to 
which  150  women  in  the  county  must  organize  into  a  Home  Demon- 
stration Association,  each  member  paying  dues  of  $1.  and  a  certain 
portion  of  the  expenses  of  the  County  Home  Demonstration  agent 
must  be  raised  b}'  the  local  people,  her  salary  of  $1.800  to  be  paid  by 
the  Department  of  Agriculture, 

The  chairmen  of  the  food  department  of  the  State  Divisions  urged 
the  local  units  to  furnish  the  enthusiasm  and  backing  necessary  for 
securing  these  demonstration  agents,  with  the  result  that  many  such 
county  Home  Demonstration  agents  were  placed  through  the  efforts 
of  local  units  of  the  Woman's  Committee. 

So  closety  allied  was  the  work  of  the  two  food  departments,  that 
of  Food  Production  and  Home  Economics,  under  Mrs.  McCormifk 
and  Miss  Atwater,  and  that  of  the  Food  Administration  under  Miss 
Tarbell  and  Mrs.  Lamar,  as  cochairmen,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
divide  them  in  discussing  their  scope  or  achievements.  Loosely 
speaking,  that  of  the  former  was  to  provide  an  avenue  between  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  housekeepers  of  this  country, 
and  the  latter  was  to  promote  the  activities  for  women  proposed  bjT 
the  Food  Administrator.  The  Department  of  Food  Production, 
however,  found  itself  closely  allied  with  the  Food  Administration 
of  the  States.  In  fact,  a  certain  type  of  work  undertaken  in  one 
State  by  the  Food  Production  Department,  in  another  would  be  done 
by  the  Food  Administration  Department. 

The  cooperation  of  this  department  was  also  sought  by  the 
Woman's  Land  Army  of  America,  which  organized  groups  of  women 
to  work  in  agriculture  and  provide  suitable  living  conditions.  Since 
agriculture  and  labor  conditions  vary  greatly  in  the  different  sec- 
tions of  the  country  and  the  desirability  of  such  work  as' the  Laud 
Army  planned  must  likewise  vaiy,  the  department  decided  to  call  the 
attention  of  its  State  chairmen  to  the  Land  Army  program  and  leave 
to  the  States  the  decision  as  to  whether  formal  cooperation  with  the 
Land  Army  was  desirable.  It  also  suggested  that  in  deciding  the 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  77 

question  the  State  chaiiman  consult  the  State  Director  of  Agricul- 
tural extension,  the  farm-help  specialist  of  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Agriculture,  and  whatever  other  official  agencies  were, 
concerned. 

There  is,  therefore,  no  way  of  checking  up  exactly  what  this  de- 
partment accomplished,  but  as  a  Woman's  Committee  member  once 
said,  "  War  work  is  not  done  for  glory;  it  is  not  report  food.  Who 
cares  to  whom  it  is  credited,  so  long  as  it  is  done."  Such  work 
may  be  thankless,  but  it  is  far  from  negligible.  Without  the  con- 
stant, steady  fire  of  literature  and  information  by  this  department,. 
without  the  holding  together  by  the  State  Divisions  of  a  large  body 
of  women  ever  ready  for  any  order  that  might  come,  and  without 
the  steady  pressure  upon  woman  to  serve  and  save,  which  the 
State  Divisions  exerted,  the  remarkable  totality  of  food  work,  the 
canneries,  kitchens,  and  displays,  courses  of  study,  even  if  achieved 
rndcr  the  leadership  of  the  agents  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture, or  the  Food  Administration,  would  be  much  less.  Whether 
these  State  agents  were  members  of  the  executive  board  of  the  State 
Divisions  or  not,  though  in  many  cases  they  were,  the  work  in  the 
committees  was  done  by  local  members  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
;»nd  the  psychological  pressure  upon  the  community  came  from  them. 

Two  ven*  definite  pieces  of  work  were  undertaken  by  this  depart- 
ment from  headquarters.  One  was  in  connection  with  the  conserva- 
tion of  food.  This  department  foresaw  that  with  the  continuance 
of  the  war,  women  would  be  forced  further  to  conserve  food  and 
labor.  Preparatory  to  giving  women  information  as  to  \\a\s  to  meeu 
the  emergency,  there  was  made  by  Ira  Lowther  Peters,  under  direc- 
tion of  Miss  Atwater.  a  survey  of  cooked  food  agencies,  the  results 
of  which  have  been  published  in  a  report  that  brings  together  valu- 
able data  on  this  subject.  The  other  was  in  connection  with  the  pro- 
duction of  food.  In  April,  1918.  the  department  secured  Miss  Grace 
Tabor,  a  specialist  on  the  subject  of  planting  and  gardening,  as  a 
field  representative  of  this  department  and  sent  her  upon  a  tour 
of  one  of  the  States,  in  which  she  emphasized  the  value  of  liberty 
gardens,  giving  practical  suggestions  for  their  organization  and  for 
actual  planting  and  care. 

There  was  one  department  whose  sole  business  was  to  be  "on  the 
job.*'  In  some  communities  the  very  creation  of  such  a  depart- 
ment and  the  announcement  that  it  was  "on  the  job"  was  enough  to 
remove  any  necessity  for  its  taking  action.  Such  was  the  Depart- 
ment of  Maintenance  of  Existing  Social  Service  Agencies,  of  which 
Mrs.  Philip  North  Moore  was  chairman.  The  title  itself  was  a  re- 
minder and  a  sermon.  In  war  time  existing  institutions  for  the 
relief  of  social  and  economic  abuses  have  greater  burdens  to  carry 
than  in  peace.  There  is  a  tendency,  however,  for  regular  contribu- 


78  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

tors  to  these  charities  to  withdraw  their  support  that  they  may  give 
more  to  the  victims  of  war.  As  a  result  local  charities  and  philan- 
thropic measures  suffer.  To  prevent  this  the  Woman's  Committee 
asked  its  State  Divisions  to  appoint  chairmen  of  this  department. 
Forty-two  States,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  Hawaii  complied. 
By  sending  word  to  the  women  of  the  country,  millions  of  them, 
by  way  of  State  Divisions  and  county  chairmen,  that  they  were 
to  see  that  there  was  no  let  down  of  the  agencies  that  a  slow  society 
had  built  up  for  its  own  protection — the  church,  the  charity  asso- 
ciations, the  social  center,  the  welfare  board,  the  hospital,  the  or- 
phanage, and  by  having  in -each  community  some  one  woman  as- 
local  chairman  of  this  department  who  must  keep  her  eyes  on 
the  situation,  ready  to  enlist  the  whole  Woman's  Committee  if  a 
sign  of  such  let  dotvn  appeared,  this  department  undoubtedly  pi-e- 
vented such  a  contingency. 

Just  one  instance  may  suffice  to  show  how  this  department  func- 
tioned. In  one  small  town  of  12,000  people,  a  local  chairman  of  this 
department  stood  guard.  She  hardly  understood  herself  just  what 
her  duty  was.  But  when  the  spring  of  1918  came,  the  city  council 
of  that  town  decided  to  drop  from  its  salary  roll  the  police  matron, 
who  had  for  some  years  been  looking  after  the  young  factory  girls 
of  that  town,  accomplishing  the  sort  of  preventative  work,  the 
ultimate  result  of  which  can  never  be  estimated.  The  excuse  for 
dropping  the  matron  was  "war  economy."  Thereupon  the  chairman 
called  a  meeting  of  representative  people,  both  men  and  women, 
and  a  great  protest  against  dropping  the  police  matron  went  up. 
The  council  was  obdurate,  but  the  people  of  the  town  raised  the 
salary  of  the  matron  by  subscription  and  kept  her  as  the  secretary 
of  the  Public  Welfare  Board.  It  might  be  said  that  all  this  would 
have  been  done  had  there  been  no  Maintenance  of  Existing  Social 
Service  Agencies  Department  in  the  local  Woman's  Committee  of 
that  town,  but  experience  has  shown  that  for  all  except  the  self- 
constituted  and  usually  inept  custodian  of  public,  welfare  there  must 
be  some  authority  back  of  leadership  of  this  kind.  In  this  case 
authority  had  been  furnished  the  agitator  by  her  relationship  to 
this  department  of  a  Federal  Woman's  Committee. 

In  order  to  take  up  the  work  of  this  department  intelligently,  a 
suggestion  was  sent  from  headquarters  that  State  divisions  should 
make  surveys  of  philanthropic  agencies.  Answers  to  the  question- 
naire showed  that  few  social  agencies  were  suffering  from  diminished 
financial  support,  but  that  practically  all  were  crippled  through  lack 
of  trained  workers,  many  of  whom  had  entered  service  in  connection 
with  the  Army  here  and  abroad.  In  order  to  meet  this  shortage,  this 
department  urged  the  establishment  of  courses  of  instruction  for 
social-service  workers  and  the  recruiting  of  volunteers.  The  work  of 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  79 

this  department  was  necessarily  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  local 
agencies  with  which  it  was  concerned.  In  Chicago  its  adaptation 
meant  the  publication  of  a  social-service  directory,  which  gave  a 
simple  classification  of  social-service  agencies  and  told  how  to  use 
them,  the  establishing  of  training  classes  for  volunteers,  the  opening 
of  a  volunteer  placement  bureau,  which  averaged  nearly  100  workers 
placed  per  month,  the  holding  of  meetings  for  social-service  workers, 
and  the  preparation  of  a  detailed  State  program.  In  Louisiana  it 
meant  using  the  machinery  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  at  the  request 
of  the  State  Commission  for  the  Blind,  for  a  house-to-house  canvass 
to  locate  the  blind  and  induce  them  to  take  the  training  that  was  of- 
fered. Through  stimulating  such  activities  as  these,  this  department 
aroused  interest  in  social-service  work,  which  promises  increased  and 
more  effective  support  in  the  future. 

One  department,  denominated  "cooperative"  in  the  beginning, 
ultimately  became  purely  recruiting.  The  process  by  which  this  hap- 
pened to  the  Liberty  loan  department,  created  to  cooperate  with  the 
Woman's  Liberty  Loan  Committee  of  the  Treasury  Department,  and 
how  this  department  was  used  to  recruit  the  workers  for  the  Liberty 
loans,  has  been  told  in  chapter  2. 

Under  a  large  and  comprehensive  name,  the  Health  and  Recreation 
Department,  with  Mrs.  Philip  North  Moore  at  its  head,  had  a  very 
definite  task  to  do.  Its  scope  was  not  as  wide  as  its  title  implied.  It 
had  first  been  called  the  Department  for  Safeguarding  Moral  and 
Spiritual  Forces.  After  a  survey  of  the  field,  and  the  agencies  em- 
ployed in  it.  the  name  was  changed  and  its  function  narrowed  to  co- 
oporalion  with  the  Commission  on  Training  Camp  Activities,  in  pro- 
viding wholesome  recreation  in  camps  and  camp  activities,  and  in 
taking  steps  to  prevent  a  lowering  of  moral  standards  as  a  result  of 
the  war. 

This  cooperation  took  place,  for  the  most  part,  through  the  State 
divisions  and  local  units.  The  reason  for  this  is  apparent.  Success- 
ful cooperation  was  dependent  on  the  harmony  existing  between  the 
two  parties  doing  the  actual  work.  At  the  same  time,  other  national 
associations  interested  in  providing  recreation  for  men  in  service, 
who  had  no  State  or  local  machinery  of  their  own,  were  enabled  to 
use  the  machinery  of  the  State  divisions. 

A  very  good  example  of  the  way  in  which  this  department  coop- 
erated with  the  other  organizations  is  given  in  the  work  of  Miss  Mary 
Woods  Hinman.  Miss  Hinman  served  as  a  field  secretary  of  the  War 
Camp  Community  Service  and  also  as  field  representative  of  the 
Woman's  Committee.  When  she  went  into  a  community  to  organize 
recreation  clubs  or  facilities  for  the  soldiers  or  sailors  in  that  com- 
munity or  a  near-by  camp,  she  brought  together  the  women  of  the  lo- 


80  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

cal  unit  of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the  work  of  the  War  Camp 
Community  Service.  Miss  Hinman's  reports  are  a  study  in  coopera- 
tion arid  the  harmonizing  of  many  elements  to  the  same  end,  looking 
after  the  welfare  of  the  soldier. 

In  the  work  of  safeguarding  the  Nation's  morals,  cooperation  was 
likewise  left  with  the  State  Divisions,  but  the  department  urged 
them  to  combat  any  vicious  elements  that  tended  to  become  active, 
and  encouraged  protective  work  for  girls.  Since  local  conditions 
differed  so  greatly  not  only  between  cantonments  and  States  but 
also  between  localities  within  a  State,  it  was  not  deemed  possible 
for  a  national  department  to  do  mere  than  urge  and  advise,  but 
there  was  wide  opportunity  for  the  State  and  local  departments  to 
initiate  any  new  work  and  perform  the  functions  of  the  department. 
In  many  cases  they  interpreted  these  functions  so  definitely  that  defi- 
nite results  were  reported.  In  Ohio,  for  instance,  the  State  Division 
was  instrumental  in  securing  reformatories  and  detention  hospitals 
for  girls  and  women.  A  most  interesting  example  of  the  application 
of  the  general  departmental  suggestion  to  a  local  need  was  the  inves- 
tigation conducted  by  the  Connecticut  Health  and  Recreation  De- 
partment, that  resulted  in  the  addition  of  seven  policewomen  to  the 
State  force,  their  salaries  being  paid  by  the  council.  The  depart- 
ment  also  suggested  that  educational  work  in  sex  In'giene  be  under- 
taken by  the  State  Divisions.  How  educational  such  department 
work  may  be  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  out  of  the  work  of  the 
Social  Hygiene  and  Social  Morality  Committee  of  the  Minnesota 
State  Division  has  developed  a  State  Social  Hygiene  Commission. 

All  in  all,  the  Health  and  Recreation  Department  furnishes  :is 
good  an  example  as  one  could  ask  of  the  effectuality  of  the  depart- 
mental plan  in  accomplishing  actual  results,  in  educating  and  arous- 
ing women's  opinion,  and  in  making  clear  the  need  for  reform. 

The  case  of  the  Child  Welfare  Department  is  distinctly  different 
from  that  of  other  departments.  This  department  stands  by  itself, 
in  that  it  formulated,  together  with  the  Children's  Bureau,  a  com- 
plete and  definite  plan,  which  it  asked  the  State  Divisions  to  exe- 
cute. This  it  was  enabled  to  do  both  because  it  was  so  fortunate 
in  its  relations  to  the  Children's  Bureau  and  because  its  work  lent 
itself  to  such  a  program.  Mrs.  Josiah  Evans  Cowles  was  chairman 
of  this  department  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  and  Miss  Julia 
Lathrop,  known  the  country  over  as  the  Chief  of  the  Children's 
Bureau  of  the  Department  of  Labor,  was  asked  to  be  executive 
chairman.  She  accepted  with  the  understanding  that  the  work  of 
this  department  of  the  Woman's  Committee  should  be  handled  by 
an  executive  secretary,  under  her  direction.  Later,  ^  when  Miss 
Lathrop  considered  it  advisable  to  withdraw  from  the  executive 
chairmanship,  Dr.  Jessica  B.  Peixotto  came  from  the  University  of 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  81 

California  to  be  the  executive  chairman.  The  cooperation  between 
the  Woman's  ConVmittee  and  the  Children's  Bureau  continued  as 
close  and  as  satisfactory  as  though  Miss  Lathrop  were  still  chair- 
man, instead  of  consulting  engineer.  Such  in  truth  she  was,  from 
start  to  finish,  to  the  Child  Welfare  Department  of  the  Woman's 
Committee. 

This  cooperation  brought  out  one  of  the  great  advantages  of  the 
Woman's  Committee  plan  of  work.  It  was  meant  to  provide  a 
meeting  place  for  the  volunteer  and  the  professional.  Of  the  pro- 
fessional there  must  of  necessity  be  a  limited  number;  usually  they 
must  work  on  salaries.  Their  deprecation  and  their  fear  of  the 
volunteer  is  usually  very  great.  They  suspect  her  lack  of  training, 
her  inaccuracy,  her  irresponsibility.  On  the  other  hand,  the  volun- 
teer chafes  at  the  slowness  and  the  devotion  to  detail  of  the  pro- 
fessional. She  aches  to  be  doing  something;  she  is  impatient  of 
perfection.  She  thinks  a  percentage  of  improvement  worth  any 
amount  of  effort. 

Alone,  neither  is  entirely  effective.  Too  often  the  volunteer  (Joes 
quickly  what  turns  out  to  be  the  wrong  thing:  too  often  the  profes- 
sional does  the  right  thing,  too  late  to  accomplish  anjT  effectual  good. 
If  both  can  be  brought  together — the  professional  to  make  the  plan, 
the  volunteer  to  execute  it,  results  are  in  sight.  It  was  the  privilege 
of  the  Woman's  Committee  to  make  this  possible. 

In  September,  191?,  the  Federal  child  labor  law,  which  was  after- 
wards declared  unconstitutional,  went  into  effect.  The  first  plan 
of  the  Child  Welfare  Department  was  to  see  that  these  children 
who,  by  this  law,  were  no  longer  permitted  to  work,  were  sent  back 
to  school.  Inquiries  as  to  the  number  of  children  out  of  school  were 
sent  to  all  the  units.  The  local  Child  Welfare  Committees  were 
asked  to  ascertain  if  scholarships  were  needed  for  these  children.  In 
many  States  the  committees  attempted  to  see  that  all  children  were 
kept  in  school. 

The  aim  of  the  department  from  the  first  was  to  create  a  demand 
for  a  better  standard  for  child  welfare.  The  need  for  medical  inspec- 
tion and  public-health  nurses  was  emphasized.  DajT  nurseries  for  the 
babies  of  working  mothers  were  in  some  places  established. 

As  the  war  continued  and  its  effect  on  the  children  of  other  coun- 
tries was  studied  the  Children's  Bureau  decided  to  profit  by  the  ex- 
perience of  England  and  France,  and  avoid  the  death  and  morbidity 
which  the  war  had  brought  to  their  children.  It  was  apparent  to  all 
but  the  most  obtuse  that  when  one  generation  offers  itself  upon  the 
battle  field  efforts  to  improve  and  increase  the  next  generation  by 
lowering  the  child  death  rate  and  by  raising  the  standard  of  health 
are  imperative  if  the  population  is  not  to  be  greatly  depleted.  Cer- 
141C340— 20 6 


82  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

tuin  facts  brought  out  by  the  draft  as  to  illiteracy  and  health,  also 
brought  home  to  the  thinking  women  the  need  ^or  work  in  this  di- 
rection. Above  all.  the  fact  that  children  are  usually  the  first  to 
suffer  from  the  blight  of  war,  from  high  prices,  unwise  patriotism, 
and  relaxed  parental  supervision,  made  a  special  program  of  child 
welfare  a  legitimate  war  necessity  second  only  in  importance,  to  use 
the  President's  words,  "  to  the  measures  required  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  combatants."  Accordingly,  Mis?  Lathrop  and  Dr.  Peixotto 
planned  a  complete  program  to  be  known  as  Children's  Year.  This; 
program  included  public  protection  of  maternity  and  infancy ;  moth- 
el's'  care  for  elder  children;  enforcement  of  all  child-labor  laws;  and 
full  schooling  for  all  children  of  school  age;  recreation  for  children 
and  youth,  abundant,  decent,  and  protected  from  any  form  of  ex- 
ploitation. 

That  the  whole  program  should  be  completed  in  a  year  was  not 
intended,  but  that  the  impetus  given  by  this  start  would  cause  a 
similar  program  to  be  carried  forward  for  other  years  was  hoped. 
The  greatest  value  of  "Children's  Year'"  •  nld  be,  after  all,  educa- 
tional. The  program  was  divided  into  three  big  drives — the  Weigh- 
ing and  Measuring  test,  the  Recreation  drive,  and  the  Back-to- 
School  campaign.  It  is  not  the  part  of  this  chapter  to  report  on  tlie 
way  the  various  State  Divisions  adapted  this  program,  to  their 
needs  and  resources,  to  detail  the  various  and  clever  means  by 
which  State  Divisions  and  county  units  gathered  together  large 
sums  of  money  to  finance  the  plan,  or  to  outline  the  way  by  which 
5.000,000  babies  were  weighed  and  measured  through  the  infinite 
patience  and  labor  of  9.000  local  child-welfare  chairmen,  and  many 
thousand  more  volunteer  workers  or  to  tell  how  doctors  and 
nurses,  housewives  and  teachers,  movies  and  ministers,  school  super- 
intendents and  playground  supervisors,  joined  in  the  movement; 
or  to  report  the  follow-up  work  whereby  the  many  physical  and 
mental  defects  were  discovered  and  remedied;  or  to  tell  how  the 
children  of  the  States  were  helped  to  play,  in  pageants,  in  parks, 
in  games;  or  yet  how  children  were  sent  back  to  school;  how 
children  under  18  were  kept  in  school  and  older  ones  advised  and 
helped  to  a  wise  choice  of  f  urther  education  and  vocational  training. 

Rather  it  is  the  place  of  this  chapter  to  record  how  this  great 
task  was  planned,  and  to  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  the  program 
and  its  success  was  due  to  the  departmental  plan  of  the  Women's 
Committee,  whereby  it  was  made  possible  to  assign  to  volunteers  a 
definite  sustained  program  planned  by  expert  workers. 

To  fully  appreciate  the  possibilities  of  a  departmental  plan  of 
work  one  has  only  to  cite  the  results  in  the  one  case  in  which  it  was 
set  in  full  operation.  The  establishment  in  4  States  of  new  divi- 
sions of  Child  Hygiene,  the  appointment  in  4  States  of  a  State 


TUB  WOMAN'S  CO34AUTTEE.  •  83 

Supervisor  of  Nurses,  the  opening  of  health  centers  in  24  States, 
letter  birth  registration  in  16  States,  the  establishment  of  super- 
vised playgrounds  in  16  States,  were  some  'of  the  things  accoia- 
plished* 

Such  a  summary  but  dimly  measures  the  value  of  such  a  piece 
of  work  to  the  country  and  to  the  community.  The  program  set  for 
itself  the  aim  of  preserving  the  lives  of  100,000  children  that  might 
otherwise  have  died.  It  seems  probable  that  this  aim,  even  in  spite 
of  the  influent  epidemic,  will  be  realized.  But,  over  and  above 
that  net  result  of  Children's  Year,  surely  a  great  contribution  to 
the  Nation  so  recently  bereaved  of  50,000  fresh  young  citizens,  the 
future  will  show  a  great  impetus  to  education  in  child  care,  and  an 
increased  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  child  as  a  national  asset 
and  of  the  responsibility  that  belongs  to  society  to  make  that  po- 
tential asset  a  reality. 

The  spectacle  of  the  womanhood  of  the  Nation,  after  laying  upon  the 
altar  of  patriotism  the  young  manhood  of  the  land,  turning  valiantly 
about  to  save  the  childhood,  rightly  seen  is  one  of  the  most  moving 
episodes  of  the  war  period.  To  reduce  it  to  the  terms  of  the  individ- 
ual, see  the  mother,  waving  a  farewell  to  her  first  born  as  he  marches 
off  to  battle,  turn  about  to  save  the  life  of  the  sick  baby  at  her  back 
door.  See  the  young  wife  dry  her  tears  and  walk  off  to  teach  the 
children  in  her  block  a  new  game.  See  the  grandmother  speed 
both  son  and  grandson  on  their  way  to  war  and  straightway  send 
two  young  boys  back  to  school.  Thus  one  grasps  the  spirit  of 
Children's  Year.  Thus  one  understands  the  relation  of  the  Home 
Guard  to  the  front  line, 

Still  another  development  of  the  departmental  idea  was  that  of 
While  many  of  the  departments  of  work 


iasued.jip  jmtionad  jDro^rojijs,  Jeaving  States  to_injtiate  work,  and 
the  Child  Welfare  Department,  on  the  other  hand,  issued  a  complete 
program,  this  department  did  neither,  but  accomplished  a  series  of 
undertakings,  meeting  the  needs  as  they  arose. 

It  was  the  general  purpose  of  the  department,  of  which  Miss  Agnes 
Nestor  was  chairman,  with  Mrs.  Amy  Walker  Field  as  executive 
chairman,  to  see  that  standards  for  women  in  employment  were 
maintained.  At  first  this  committee  took  as  its  guide  the  standards 
adopted  by  the  ^Division  of  Ordnance,  which  were  indorsed  as  the 
official  standards  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  In  July,  1918,  there 
was  established  in  the  Department  of  Labor  an  executive  division 
with  power  to  do  some  of  the  things  for  women  industrial  workers 
that  other  agencies  had  hoped  to  do.  The  Women  in  Industry 
Service,  of  the  Department  of  Lalx»r,  with 


j  was  authorized  to  formulate  such  standards  and  policies 
as  would  insure  proje^^oj^ing^conditions  for  working  women,  to 


84  •  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 


\ 


advise  the  War  Labor  Policies  Board  as.  to  the  proper  standards,  and 
also  by  means  of  surveys,  to  discover  whether  such  standards  were 
actually  being  maintained. 

The  Women  in  Industry  Department  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
cooperated  with  Miss  Van  Kleeck  in  interpreting  to  the  women  of 
the  State  Divisions  the  policies  set  forth  by  the  President,  the 
Secretary  of  War,  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  and  the  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense  as  regards  women  in  industry. 

A  set  of  standards  for  women  in  employment,  more  detailed  than 
those  embodied  in  General  Orders,  No.  13,  issued  by  the  Chief  of 
Ordnance  in  1917,  were  prepared  by  the  Women  in  Industry  Service. 
For  a  number  of  reasons  these  were  delayed.  When,  after  the  sign- 
ing of  the  armistice,  they  were  issued,  the  Women  in  Industry  De- 
partment of  the  Woman's  Committee  gave  them  wide  publicity. 
This  department,  through  the  State  Divisions,  also  assisted  the 
United  States  Employment  Service  in  finding  jobs  for  returning 
soldiers,  sailors,  and  war  workers. 

Early  in  the  fall  of  1918  a  conference  of  the  chairmen  of  tho 
Women  in  Industry  Departments  of  the  State  Divisions  in  the 
Middle  West  was  held  at  Chicago,  and  resolutions  were  adopted  urg- 
ing more  adequate  fajlojcy^inspeettoTty^Jie^  creation  of  a  Woman's 
Dhjsignjvkh  adequate  appropriation^  each  State^  Department  of 
I^abor ,jwh ichjid_not  jtjhat  timelia y e~sucfi  a~dIvTsl6Tr^jKe~granting 
to  women  members  of  commimityjjabor  boards  equal  voting  power 
i^X^^^^p^^n^^^of^o^^in^Zn  the  National  War  Labor 
Board^and  thejidoption  by  each  State  Department  of  Women  in  In- 
dustry of  the  official  set  of  standards. 

One  of  the  most  noteworthy  achievements  of  the  Women  in  In- 
dustry Department,  in  meeting  a  present  need  and  also  as  indicat- 
ing the  possibility  of  departmental  work,  was  the  conference  of 
social  welfare  workers  of  the  various  Federal  departments  to  con- 
sider the  problem  of  housing  the  girl  workers  of  the  Government 
at  Washington.  These  girls  had  been  in  part  recruited  through 
the  work  of  the  State  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the 
Committee  felt  that  it  was  its  duty  to  the  State  Divisions  and  to  the 
mothers  of  these  girls,  to  see  that  they  were  provided  with  decent 
living  conditions. 

Plans  had  been  made  under  an  act  of  Congress  for  the  erection 
of  Government  dormitories  to  meet  the  acute  shortage  of  housing 
accomodations  but  there  was  no  point  of  contact  between  the  agencies 
in  charge  of  the  housing  and  the  young  women  for  whom  these 
quarters  were  being  provided.  The  Committee  thus  organized  was 
able  to  furnish  concrete  suggestions  on  such  matters  as  locks  upon 
closet  and  bedroom  doors,  adequate  trunk  space,  height*  of  laundry 
tubs,  etc.  It  also  advised  the  Committee  on  Living  Conditions 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  85 

of  the  Department  of  Labor  as  to  the  management  that  would  best 
meet  the  needs  and  wishes  of  the  women  workers  who  would  occupy 
these  dormitories.  Perhaps  no  better  example  exists  in  govern- 
mental history  of  a  concise,  definite  service  for  which  there  existed 
no  precedent,  or  of  the  wholly  logical  injection  of  the  woman's 
viewpoint  into  what  was  so  evidently  her  "sphere,"  namely,  the 
house  in  which  women  should  eat  and  sleep. 

One  other  department  of  work  remains  to  be  discussed  in  present- 
ing the  history  of  this  departmental  development.  A  statement  of 
the  program  and  scope  of  the  Department  of  Educational  Propa- 
ganda and  Patriotic  Education,  of  which  Mrs.  Carrie  Chapman 
Catt  was  chairman,  is  more  difficult  than  that  of  any  other.  Per- 
haps in  no  other  field  of  war  labor  did  there  seem  such  duplica- 
tion of  work  and  plans  as  in  that  dealing  with  patriotic  propa- 
ganda. Yet  in  none,  surely,  was  there  need  for  so  many  kinds  of 
work,  so  many  lines  of  approach.  To  name  each  agency  at  work  to 
educate  the  people  as  to  the  causes  of  the  war  and  to  give  its 
limitations  and  its  programs,  from  the  Committee  of  Public  Informa- 
tion to  the  Bureau  of  Education,  is  unnecessary.  Mrs.  Martha  Evans 
Martin,  the  executive  chairman  of  this  department  of  the  Woman's 
Committee,  used  the  department  as  a  medium  for  the  dissemination 
of  information  on  Americanization  and  causes  of  the  war  as  that 
information  was  prepared  by  these  other  agencies,  distributing  over 
400,000  pamphlets  and  bulletins;  but  her  work  did  not  stop  there. 
Xo  other  agency  reached  the  women  of  the  country  with  a  par- 
ticular message  aimed  directly  to  appeal  to  women's  susceptibilities 
and  sympathies. 

Beginning  with  the  club  women,  she  prepared  topics  for  study 
programs  with  a  bibliography  attached.  Twenty  thousand  of  these 
were  issued  and  clubs  were  urged  to  substitute  these  subjects  for  the 
study  of  art,  history,  or  literature  in  the  winter's  program.  A  series 
of  leaflets  called  "  The  Truth  Teller  "  were  prepared,  giving  items 
of  interesting  information  that  could  be  bandied  about  in  the 
parlor,  on  the  porch,  over  tea  tables,  at  the  Red  Cross,  and  at  summer 
resorts.  Women  were  urged  to  ma ke  these  items  the  texts  for  their  con- 
vei-sations.  The  formation  of  a  Speakers'  Bureau  in  every  State  was 
urged,  with  the  result  that  33  States  had  such  bureaus  in  operation. 
and  the  suggestion  was  made  that  the  executive  committee  of  eacb 
State  Division  call  a  State-wide  meeting  of  all  officers,  department 
heads,  and  county  chairmen.  These  meetings  were  devoted  to  a  dis- 
cussion of  war  work  of  women  and  speeches  on  the  theme  "  Why  we 
are  at  war  and  why  we  must  win." 

Some  States  held  summer  schools,  so  that  rural  teachers  attending 
them  might  be  prepared  to  help  correct  public  opinion  concerning 
the  war. 


86  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

As  a  specific  piece  of  work,  this  department  undertook  an  experi-" 
ineiit  in  rural  meetings.  With  the  consent  of  the  Commissioner  of 
the  Bureau  of  Education  and  the  cooperation  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Information,  there  was  planned  an  experiment  in  educational 
propaganda  among  the  rural  peoples  through  the  schools.  This  de- 
partment at  Washington  selected  two  adjoining  counties  in  each  of 
16  States,  wrote  to  the  county  school  superintendents  asking  permis- 
sion to  try  to  make  these  counties  models  in  educational  propaganda 
work.  Seventeen  of  the  superintendents  responded  cordially  and  sent 
lists  of  their  teachers.  The  department  wrote  these  teachers,  asking 
each  one  to  hold  a  meeting  in  her  schoolhouse  and  sent  them  outlines 
for  a  program,  some  patriotic  poems  for  the  children  to  recite,  some 
'suggestions  for  speeches,  from  four  to  seven  pamphlets  each,  and  a 
blank  for  report  of  the  meeting  in  the  form  of  a  questionnaire.  In 
small  groups  over  30.000  people  were  reached  by  these  meetings. 
More  than  1,200  adults  spoke  to  them,  60  per  cent  of  the  pupils  took 
part  by  recitations,  dialogues,  and  singing,  and  after  the  meetings 
the  pamphlets  and  materials  for  recitations  were  passed  around  for 
neighborhood  discussion.  The  teachers  gave  valuable  aid  in  this 
work,  and  in  answer  to  the  questionnaire  indicated  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  various  neighborhoods,  in  some  cases  showing  that  a  distinct 
improvement  in  morale  had  resulted  from  the  meetings.  The  entire 
experiment  was  a  success,  and  the  rural  work  was  continued,  with 
the  result  that  many  States  reported  patriotic  meetings  in  practically 
every  schoolhousei. 

Nor  did  the  work  of  this  department  cease  with  that  of  impressing 
upon  the  American  born  what  the  winning  or  losing  of  the  war  might 
mean  to  the  Nation.  Owing  to  the  widely  different  conditions  in  the 
States  having  foreign-born  citizens  or  inhabitants,  problems  for 
Americanization  work  could  not  be  uniform,  and  each  State  Division 
was  advised  to  adopt  methods  which  seemed  best  adapted  to  local 
conditions.  The  department  did,  however,  specifically  ask  the  State 
Divisions  to  take  up  the  Americanization  work  and  start  a  campaign 
to  secure  the  attendance  of  the  foreign  born  at  night  schools.  A  pro- 
gram was  also  formulated  urging  the  establishment  of  State-wide 
war  information  service  for  immigrants,  as  a  foundation  for  a  great 
variety  of  work  among  foreigner's,  and  suggesting  ways  in  which  to 
organize  for  this  service. 

A  report  of  what  this  department  really  accomplished  would  there- 
fore be  a  report  of  what  the  States  initiated.  Various  and  original 
were  the  methods  of  the  State  Divisions,  the  programs  including  ac- 
tivities as  diverse  as  teaching  illiterate  mothers  how  to  write  letters 
to  their  boys  at  tlie  front,  and  giving  receptions  for  newly  nat- 
uralized citizens.  * 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMJTTEB.  87 

The  close  contact  maintained  between  this  department  at  Wash- 
ington and  the  State  Divisions  must  be  largely  responsible  for  the 
tremendous  reaction  on  this  subject  from  these  divisions.  The  De- 
partment of  Educational  Propaganda  was  not  the  voice  of  any  one 
Federal  agency,  but  it  had  a  vivid  part  in  tho»tremendous  work  ac- 
complished through  the  close  cooperation  of  many  agencies.  It  had 
but  one  aim — to  teach  women  that  we  must  win  the  war. 

In  addition  to  the  "  departments  of  work  "  there  were  departments 
whose  function  was  to  make  possible  or  to  assist  the  work  of  other 
departments.  They  were,  in  reality  parts  of  the  executive  machinery 
of  the  office.  The  work  of  one  of  tliese,  that  on  Organization,  is  nec- 
essarily reported,  together  with  its  scope,  in  the  chapter  on  "The 
Answer  from  the  States. n  Another,  the  News  Department,  grew 
from  an  ambitious  dream  to  a  department  that  contemplated,  and 
finally  in  December,  1917,  issued  a  periodical  News  Letter  to  the 
-women  of  the  country,  telling  of  the  work  of  the  various  State  Di- 
visions; to  a  news  service  that  issued  through  the  Committee  of 
Public  Information,  a  story  a  day;  to  a  P\>reign  News  Service,  secur- 
ing information  about  the  women  of  the  Allies  and  distributing  it  to 
the  press  of  this  county.  A  librarian.  Miss  Marion  Nims,  came  to 
assemble  books  and  periodicals,  and  prepare  a  bibliography  on  books 
about  women  in  the  war.  Miss  Tarbell  was  chief  of  this  department 
with,  first,  Mrs.  Gertrude  Matthews  Shelby  and  later  Mrs.  Alline  T. 
Wilkes,  as  executive  secretary. 

The  duty  of  the  departments  at  Washington  was  to  enable  the 
women  of  the  State  Divisions  to  help  win  the  war.  When  a  depart- 
ment could  best  accomplish  this  by  sending  these  women  in  the 
States,  programs  of  the  Federal  departments,  it  did  so.  If  what  was 
needed  was  some  particular  program  of  work,  that  was  furnished. 
If  what  was  necessary  was  to  stimulate  and  inspire  local  initiative 
then  the  departments  devoted  their  correspondence  to  that  task. 

The  departmental  plan  was  in  no  sense  a  limitation  of  activities. 
It  was  merely  a  method  of  distributing  the  work.  When  work  is 
educational,  its  divisions  under  headings  simplifies  both  the  planning 
and  the  execution.  The  general  instructions  as  to  the  extent  and 
scope  of  the  Committee's  work  were  limited  only  by  those  placed  upon 
it  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense.  Neither  did  the  departmental 
plan  mean  the  segregation  of  tasks.  The  lines  between  departments 
were  movable,  conferences  between  departmental  heads  frequent,  the 
plan  of  each  department  coordinated  with  the  plan  of  the  others  and 
each  worked  into  the  plan  of  the  whole  by  the  executive  office  of  the 
Resident  Director.  Any  operation  of  a  departmental  plan  of  work 
must  depend  for  its  final  success  on  the  executive  who,  seeing  th« 
work  a&  a  whole  and  the  departments  as  parts  of  that  whole,  so  directs 


88  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

the  work  that  each  part  fits  perfectly  into  the  whole.  Such  a  depart- 
mental plan  of  work  resembles  not  so  much  a  series  of  separate  solos 
as  an  orchestra  in  which  each  department  is  an  instrument,  so  di- 
rected by  the  leader  that  altogether  they  produce  a  symphony. 

The  reaction  from  £ie  States  was  proof  of  the  success  of  this  de- 
partmental system,  for  by  their  fruits  you  may  know  organizations, 
as  well  as  men.  Some  of  the  fruits  of  the  departmental  plan  and 
effort  will  be  told  in  the  chapter  on  achievements,  but  only  by  a  care- 
ful perusal  of  the  reports  of  the  48  State  Divisions,  which  adapted, 
initiated,  and  translated  the  policies  and  plans  given  it,  into  terms 
of  its  own  ability,  can  they  be  fully  appreciated.  To  seleci  examples 
here  and  there  would  be  unfair,  for  every  State  Division  according 
to  its  means,  gave  in  full  measure  and  running  over. 


CHAPTER  VHL 

SPECIAL  WORK. 

As  was  explained  in  chapter  7,  the  departmental  plan,  addpted  by 
the  Woman's  Committee,  did  not  exclude  action  upon  an}T  suggested 
form  of  activity  that  did  not  at  once  fall  logically  under  a  specific 
heading  in  some  department's  program.  Not  only  were  matters  be- 
sides those  involving  policy  discussed  and  decided  by  the  whole  Com- 
mittee, but  provision  was  made  for  handling  special  work  through 
the  office  of  the  Resident  Director.  Many  matters  required  but  a 
single  executive  act,  some  required  the  transmission  of  messages  to 
the  State  Divisions  or  to  the  women  of  the  country,  others  were  the 
cause  of  numerous  conferences,  and  still  others  led  to  carefully 
thought-out  and  well  organized  campaigns. 

Of  the  former  were  the  "  letters  to  the  Queens."  Among  the  many 
visitors  that  came  to  1814  N  Street  was  a  well-known  dancer  who 
brought  a  tale  of  the  suffering  and  noble  self -sacrifice  of  the  Queen 
of  Roumania.  This  account  so  moved  the  Committee  that  it  consid- 
ered sending  a  message  of  appreciation  and  condolence  to  Her  Ma- 
jesty. Every  tale  of  suffering  in  those  dark  days  reminded  all 
sympathetic  women  of  the  courageous,  brave,  and  splendid  woman 
who,  deprived  of  her  throne  and  reigning  only  in  the  hearts  of  her 
people,  was  leading  the  women  of  Belgium  in  good  work  and  service. 
Accordingly,  it  was  agreed  that  messages  should  be  sent  to  Queen 
Marie  of  Roumania  and  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Belgium,  expressing  the 
sentiments  of  the  women  of  America. 

In  the  Woman's  Committee,  republican  America  had  the  first 
official  symbol  of  her  womanhood.  This  Committee  spoke  to  those 
Queens  as  more  than  Queens,  as  symbols  of  the  womanhood  of  their 
respective  nations. 

These  letters,  touching  in  their  simple  message  of  appreciation 
and  affection,  were  transcribed  on  illumined  parchment.  The  ex- 
quisite lettering  and  decoration  was  the  work  of  C.  Scapecchi,  a 
labor  of  love  for  his  adopted  country.  So  beautiful  were  they,  when 
finished,  that  it  was  felt  they  should  have  containers  worthy  of  them. 
For  that  to  the  Queen  of  Belgium,  a  hexagonal-shaped  cylinder  was 
made,  with  metal  edges  and  clasps;  for  the  Queen  of  Roumania,  two 
flat  boards  with  wondrous  clasps — both  the  work  of  the  artist  who 
had  so  beautifully  wrought  the  messages.  Other  messages  to  the 

80 


90  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

sore-sti  -ickoii  women  of  our  allies,  a  letter  to  Russia,  to  Queen  Mary 
of  England,  to  Madame  Poincare  of  France,  to  Helene,  of  Italy, 
expressed  the  desire  of  American  women  to  help  them,  not  only  to 
victory  but  to  peace  and  happiness. 

*  Message?,  too,  were  issued  by   executive  act  to  the  women  of 
America.    AYhen  the  day  approached  that  was  to  bring  the  Nation 
a  long  step  nearer  economic  strain,  and  the  war  to  every  fireside, 
when  the  time  came  to  take  a  draft  of  the  men  from  30  to  45  years  of 
age,  the  Provost  Marshal  General  asked  Dr.  Shaw  to  appeal  to  the 
women  to  do  their  part  in  urging  their  men  to  register. 

"I  am  impressed,"  he  wrote,  "with  the  importance  of  availing 
myself  of  the  assistance  of  the  women  of  the  country  as  represented 
by  your  committee.  Wkh  full  knowledge  of  the  situation,  it  is  cer- 
tain that  they  will  be  ready  to  assist  by  all  appropriate  means." 

Probably  there  was  never  a  more  genuine  tribute  to  the  influence 
of  American  woman  on  the  life  of  the  American  man  than  this  direct 
request  that  the  women  help  the  men  to  go  willingly  and  bravely  to 
their  duty. 

Dr.  Shaw's  words,  in  sending  this  most  difficult  appeal,  will  go 
ringing  down  the  ages,  not  only  as  expressing  the  ultimate  demand 
war  makes  upon  women,  but  as  marking  an  epochal  recognition  of 
woman's  contribution  to  the  morale  of  a  Nation.  She  said: 

A  new  and  imperative  call  comes  to  the  women  of  our  land  from  which  at 
first  there  may  be  a  spirit  of  shrinking,  but  the  splendid  response  which  the 
patriotic  women  of  America  have  made  to  every  call  of  their  country  assures 
us  of  a  willing  and  courageous  compliance  with  this,  the  greatest  and  most 
important  demand  made  upon  the  loyalty  of  our  people  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war.  *  *  *  Congress  has  now  called  for  the  registration  of  the  man 
power  of  the  Nation,  men  between  the  ages  of  18  and  45  years,  of  which  there 
nre  estimated  to  be  13,000,000,  not  all  of  whom  will  be  called  into  active  service, 
but  from  whom  the  2,000,000  or  more  will  be  selected  to  complete  the  army  of 
5,000.000  men  which  we  have  pledged  to  the  allied  cause.  *  *  *  We  women  know 
who  these  men  are,  and  every  woman  is  equally  in  honor  bound  to  inspire, 
enciiurago,  and  urge  the  men  of  her  family  to  perform  their  patriotic  duty.  This 
is  the  service  of  sacrifice  and  loyalty  which  the  Government  asks  of  the  women 
of  the  Nation  at  the  present  critical  hour,  and  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  takes  up  this  duty  with  spirit  and  enthusiasm, 
realizing  how  much  depends  upon  our  attitude  toward  it. 

Another  message,  no  less  impressive,  was  that  sent  out  September 
13,  1918,  by  the  Committee,  urging  women  to  come  forward  to  take 
up  the  industrial  burdens: 

Millions  of  men  will  be  drawn  from  civilian  life  through  the  registrations  of 
to-day.  Already  over  two  and  a  half  million  have  gone  out  of  their  accustomed 
work  to  serve  in  the  war.  *  *  *  If  the  machinerjr  of  everyday  life  is  to  be 
run  smoothly  for  the  remainder  of  the  war,  women  must  come  forward  at 
this  time  much  more  generally  than  they  have  done  to  take  the  places  of  men. 

*  *     *     Employers,  we  nsk  you  to  give  women  a  fair  and  complete  trial. 
"Women,  we  appeal  to  you  to  supply  the  workers  to  meet  the  widespread,  whole- 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  91 

sale  demand.  It  is  patriotic  to  serve  in  the  trenches  of  France  and  Belgium ; 
it  may  be  equally  so  to  drive  a  butcher's  cart  or  keep  the  baggage  records  in 
a  great  station.  Do  not  be  content  to  do  your  bit ;  do  your  all.  "  Keep  the 
home  wheels  turning.** 

These  two  messages  marked  the  beginning  of  the  second  stage  of 
women's  participation  in  the  war.  Had  the  war  continued  the 
vast  Home  Guard  the  Woman's  Committee  had  organized  would 
have  been  needed  not  only  to  defend  civilization,  but  to  carry  on  the 
daily  life  of  the  Nation* 

It  was  never  the  function  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  as  people 
sometimes  thought,  to  initiate  new  work.  That  either  belonged  to 
Federal  agencies  or  to  the  State  Divisions.  The  Committee's  place, 
as  has  been  explained,  was  that  of  a  clearing  house.  But  ideas,  as 
well  as  plans  and  programs,  cleared  there.  To  them  the  President  re- 
ferred that  touching  and  beautiful  letter,  asking  that  the  American 
women  follow  the  example  of  their  English  sisters  and  forego 
mourning  for  their  loved  ones  who  had  fallen  in  the  cause  of  the 
country.  There  had  been  other  suggestions  on  this  subject,  from  the 
Commercial  Economy  Board,  from  individuals,  to  the  Council,  and 
suggestions  had  also  been  made  to  Congress.  But  it  was  the  Woman,'* 
Committee  who  suggested  the  adoption  of  the  mourning  brassard, 
a  gold  star  on  a  black  band,  and  they  issued  a  letter  from  Dr.  Shaw, 
appealing  to  the  women  of  the  country  to  "show  to  the  world  that 
as  our  men  can  die  bravely,  women  can  live  bravely.  *  *  *  Wear 
this  badge,  not  so  much  as  a  symbol  of  mourning,  as  that  of  the 
rank  of  those  who  have  been  counted  worthy  to  make  the  supreme 
sacrifice  for  their  country  and  for  humanity." 

The  question  of  how  women  should  honor  the  flag  was  also  decided 
after  consultation  with  military  authorities  and  the  information 
given  to  the  women  of  the  country.  What  the  committee  did  in 
those  early  days  in  the  way  of  protecting  the  interests  of  women  will 
never  be  accurately  measured,  for  the  fact  that  its  eyes  were  known 
to  be  so  keenly  alert  in  this  particular  often  forestalled  any  neces- 
sity for  them  u  to  resolve." 

The  problem  of  giving  proper  protection  to  young  girls  around 
the  cantonments  was  brought  to  the  Committee's  attention,  where- 
upon it  recommended  that  a  system  of  women  patrols  about  the 
camps  be  adopted.  The  Council  asked  for  material  on  the  working 
of  this  system  in  England.  All  that  was  available  was  gathered  to- 
gether and  presented  to  the  Council.  The  Committee  wrote  to  the 
Secretary  of  War,  asking  that  two  women  be  placed  on  the  Labor 
Adjustment  Board;  it  urged  upon  him,  too,  the  justice  of  women 
physicians  having  equal  opportunities  for  service  with  the  men. 
It  -sent  to.  the  Council  a  resolution  expressing  its  belief  that  steps 
should  be  taken  to  give  to  nurses  military  rank  and  its  readiness  to 


92  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE, 

I 

assist  by  taking  any  action  in  the  matter  deemed  advisable  by  the 
Council. 

As  has  been  said  elsewhere,  besides  these  Federal  agencies  that 
cooperated  with  the  departments  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  there 
were  Federal  agencies  that  had  no  means  of  developing  their 
OT\  n  State  agencies.  These,  following  the  plan  which  the  Committee 
had  originally  adopted  as  available  for  all  Federal  agencies,  appealed 
directly  to  the  Woman's  Committee  to  assist  them, 

The  first  of  these  Federal  calls  for  aid  was  that  of  the  Civil  Serv- 
ice Commission,  which  found  itself  besieged  by  these  governmental 
departments  which  were  rapidly  expanding  to  meet  the  war  needs, 
with  demands  for  more  clerks  and  with  no  adequate  machinery  for 
supplying  so  pressing  a  demand.  Since  the  young  men  who  might, 
under  peace  conditions,  have. sought  such  positions  were  taken  by 
the  draft,  it  was  evident  that  women  must  be  depended  upon  to  fill 
these  new  positions,  as  well  as  the  vacancies  left  by  the  young  men 
drafted.  Accordingly,  in  October,  1917,  an  appeal  to  the  3Toung 
women  of  the  country  to  take  civil-service  examinations  and  qualify 
for  Government  service  was  sent  out  through  the  State  Divisions. 
Those  Divisions  that  had  had  registration  now  made  use  of  their 
cards,  sending  application  blanks  to  women  who  had  registered  for 
this  kind  of  service.  Other  State  Divisions  asked  their  workers  to 
make  canvasses,  to  insert  advertisements  in  newspapers,  and  to  use 
their  telephones.  As  a  result,  Washington  was  soon  supplied  with 
applicants.  Of  the  25,000  appointments  made  to  clerical  positions 
during  America's  first  year  of  war,  half  were  women.  The  exact 
number  of  women  that  came  as  a  direct  result  of  the  appeal  of  the 
Woman's  Committee  is  not  known,  since  the  applicants  turned  in 
their  applications  to  the  Civil  Service  Commission  and  not  to  the 
Woman's  Committee;  but  all  vacancies  were  filled,  with  applicants 
to  spare,  and  the  Commission  wrote  a  letter  of  appreciation  to  the 
Committee*  expressing  gratitude  for  its  assistance. 

When  the  United  States  entered  the  war,  the  percentage  of  women 
in  some  of  the  Federal  departments  was  very  small.  But  just  one 
year  after  war  was  declared  these  same  departments  found  it  neces- 
sary, because  of  the  increase  in  the  armed  forces  of  the  United 
States,  to  appoint  women  to  positions  that  had  before  been  open 
only  to  men.  The  employment  of  women  in  certain  drafting  posi- 
tions, for  instance,  was  recommended  by  the  officers  in  the  Engi- 
neering Bureau,  providing  the  applicants  could  meet  certain  educa- 
tional requirements  and  offer  a  certain  amount  of  experience.  Many 
other  positions  were  opened  to  women,  such  as  "balance  stores'* 
clerk,  junior  chemist,  clerk  qualified  in  statistics,  steel-plant  clerk, 
inspector  of  small-arms  munition* 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  93 

In  January,  1918,  the  Chief  of  the  Supply  Division,  Ordnance 
Department,  asked  the  Woman's  Committee  to  secure,  thrxnigh  an 
advisor}7  committee  organized  for  this  purpose,  90  college  woireii 
to  fill  places  of  men,  including  commissioned  and  noncommissioned 
officers  called  for  war  service.  The  positions  to  be  filled  ran  from 
schedule  clerks  to  assistants  of  officers  in  charge.  The  same  salaries 
were  offered  to  the  women  that  had  been  paid  to  the  men.  The 
positions  offered  unusual  opportunity  for  training  in  efficient  busi- 
ness methods  and  a  unique  opportunity  for  patriotic  service,  since 
each  woman  accepted  released  a  man  for  foreign  military  service 
and  also  performed  a  war  service  of  the  first  importance  in  a  de- 
partment intrusted  with  supplying  the  soldiers  with  equipment  and 
munitions. 

When  the  Resident  Director  made  this  need  and  opportunity 
known  to  certain  colleges  in  the  country,  over  1,500  applications 
were  received.  Four  hundred  and  seventy-one  positions,  including 
the  90  for  which  request  was  originally  made,  were  filled  from  these 
applications.  •  •••t 

One  of  the  very  first  requests  to  the  Woman's  Committee  for  aid 
came  from  a  fellow  committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense, 
the  Commercial  Economy  Board,  which  asked  for  assistance  in  the 
attempt  to  reduce  the  number  of  parcel  deliveries  with  intent  to  re- 
lease men  for  other  service  more  necessary  in  war  times.  This  re- 
quest was  transmitted  to  the  State  Divisions  and  the  efforts  made 
by  them  to  secure  the  whole-hearted  support  of  the  women  shoppers 
to  this  policy  aided  materially  in  making  it  effective. 

The  Shipping  Board  appealed  to  the  Committee  for  cooperation, 
and  the  women's  organizations  of  the  country  got  solidly  behind  the 
campaign  to  enroll  men  for  shipbuilding.  Meetings  were  held,  bul- 
letins issued,  and  canvasses  made. 

But  above  all  the  other  specific  tasks  handled  directly  by  the 
Resident  Director  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  none  was  conceived 
on  so  large  a  scale,  or  so  minutely  worked  out  as  to  detail,  as  that 
known  as  the  United  States  Student  Xurse  Reserve  campaign.  The 
time  allowed  for  preparation  for  this  large  campaign  was  very 
short. 

The  response  of  only  13,000  graduate  nurses  to  the  request  for 
25,000  for  foreign  service  was  apparently  the  final  evidence  that  a 
serious  shortage  of  nurses  was  threatening,  and  that  prompt  action 
must  be  taken  to  fill  the  hospital  training  schools  of  the  country  in 
order  to  relieve  more  graduate  nurses  for  the  foreign  service.  The 
situation  was  so  acute  that  almost  at  the  very  moment  the  need  was 
made  known  to  the  Woman's  Committee  by  the  agencies  charged 
with  the  survey  of  the  nursing  situation  it  was  necessary  to  open  a 


94  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  Of  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

campaign  for  candidates  to  fill  the  training  classes  of  the  summer 
and  fall  terms. 

After  a  conference  of  agencies  interested,  the  Red  Cross,  the  Sur- 
geon General's  office,  the  Committee  on  Nursing,  General  Medical 
Jk>ard  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  and  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee of  the  Council,  a  campaign  for  a  Student  Nurse  Reserve  was 
planned  and  the  Woman's  Committee  asked  to  undertake  a  campaign 
to  enroll  the  students.  To  begin  the  campaign,  a  letter  was  issued 
to  the  young  women  of  America,  signed  by  the  chairman  of  the 
Woman's  Committee,  the  Surgeon  General  of  the  Army,  the  Surgeon 
General  of  the  Public  Health  Service,  tlie  chairman  of  the  Red 
Cross,  and  chairman  of  the  General  Medical  Board.  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense.  Very  briefly  it  set  forth  the  need  for  nurses  facing 
the  Army,  and  the  country  was  appealed  to  for  25,000  young  women 
between  the  ages  of  19  and  35  to  enroll  in  the  Student  Nurse  Reserve. 
The  task  of  enrolling  these  young  women  was  given  to  the  State 
Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  To  understand  how  tremen- 
dous was  this  task,  and  against  what  odds  these  State  Divisions  must 
work,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  what  this  Student  Nurse  Reserve 
was. 

Those  who  registered  in  this  volunteer  body  pledged  themselves 
to  be  in  readiness  any  time  up  to  April,  1919,  to  take  a  hospital  train- 
ing course  of  from  two  to  three  years,  according  to  the  requirements 
of  the  hospital  to  which  they  would  be  assigned.  The  candidate 
might  be  assigned  to  an  Army  hospital,  or  she  might  be  assigned 
to  a  civilian  hospital,  according  to  the  preference  she  expressed.  In 
order  to  be  acceptable  for  this  reserve,  she  must  be  physically  fit,  of 
good  moral  character,  and  have  some  high  school  training,  and  pref- 
erably college  training.  She  had  no  promise  of  being  sent  abroad. 
She  was  to  become  a  student  in  the  hospitals  of  this  country  so  that 
the  graduate  nurses  might  be  released  for  the  foreign  service.  She 
would,  of  course,  be  receiving  training  for  a  profession  that  paid 
well,  she  would  receive  board  and  lodging,  and,  in  some  cases,  a 
small  amount  of  money  to  cover  cost  of  books  and  uniforms.  But 
her  other  expenses,  such  as  traveling  and  incidentals,  she  must  meet. 
She  would  be  without  any  means  of  support  during  the  time  of  wait- 
ing and  training. 

Only  a  woman  of  vision  could  see  the  long  hours  of  drudgery 
before  a  student  nurse,  as  the  equivalent  of  military  service.  No 
glory,  no  recompense,  no  rank,  no  pay,  not  even  a  thrill  or  an  experi- 
ence. Surely  patriotism  makes  a  strong  demand  upon  womanJs 
imagination !  Each  time  she  scrubbed  a  floor,  what  a  mental  opera- 
tion was  required  to  realize  that  by  so  doing,  another  woman,  off  in 
France,  was  bandaging  a  fractured  arm ;  each  tune  she  bathed  a 
querulous  old  woman,  what  an  argument  she  must  build  to  convince 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  95 

herself  that  the  son  was  fighting  better  out  there  in  Flanders,  because 
he  knew  his  mother  was  not  neglected.  It  was  not  an  easy  job  that 
was  given  to  these  State  Divisions,  that  of  making  their  women 
workers,  county  and  city  chairmen,  see  first  of  aD  the  patriotic  appeal 
of  this  Student  Nurse  Reserve.  It  was  as  if  you  should  say  to  th« 
draft  officer  who  sits  belli nd  a  table  in  the  khaki-colored  tent  before 
which  the  bugler  stands,  and  the  beautiful  flag  waves,  "Tell  those 
boys  who  want  to  serve  Uncle  Sam  that  they  must  agree  to  be  ready 
any  minute  inside  the  next  nine  months  to  go  into  a  coal  mine  and 
push  the  cars  up  the  slider  for  by  so  doing,  they  make  it  possible  for 
other  boys  to  sail  the  ocean  blue,  dare  the  submarine,  and  perhaps 
come  back  with  gold  bars  on  their  sleeves,  congressional  medals  on 
their  breasts,  and  commissions  in  their  pockets." 

But  women  have  never  lacked  imagination.  It  is  the  food  on 
which  their  hopes  live.  So  the  women  of  the  State  Divisions  did  not 
make  reply.  They  received  their  instructions,  accepted  their  quotas, 
and  sent  out  their  literature.  They  opened  recruiting  offices  in 
libraries  ami  schoolhouses,  and  then,  not  satisfied,  they  organized 
card  canvassers  to  interview  eligible  girls.  The  application  blanks 
were  long  and  complicated.  Registrars  had  to  be  trained  to  fill 
them  out.  And  then  there  appeared  another  handicap.  The  cam- 
paign was  to  open  July  29.  Oh  July  17,  it  became  apparent  to  the 
Resident  Directors  office,  which  was  managing  the  campaign  from 
Washington,  that  the  Government  Printing  Office  would  not  be  able 
to  deliver  the  enrollment  cards  and  the  application  blanks  at  the 
time  promised-  A  telegram  was  at  once  sent  to  thfr  State  chairmen 
that  if  it  was  satisfactory  to  them  and  they  would  send  a  fist  of 
county  chairmen  and  county  quotas,  the  material  would  be  sent  direct 
from  Washington.  Ten  States  preferred  to  have  the  blanks  at 
headquarters,  but  the  material  for  the  rest  was  sent  direct  to  the 
county  chairmen.  On  July  26  it  was  evident  that  the  material  could 
not  be  shipped  in  time  to  reach  the  States  by  July  29,  and  another 
telegram  was  sent  asking  them  to  enroll  all  applicants  by  copying  a 
form  from  the  bulletin,  keeping  a  record  of  all  the  applicants  so  that 
they  could  be  notified  when  blanks  were  received. 

On  July  27,  29,  and  SO.  the  material  was  delivered  from  the  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office.  If  only  the  women  in  those  States,  who  waited 
in  nervous  tension  for  this  material,  feeling  that  the  task  was  difficult 
enough  at  the  best,  and  the  blanks  hard  to  make  out,  and  the  system1 
of  handling  bunglesome,  who  had  spent  days  in  explanations  and 
hours  in  teaching  registrants,  could  have  seen  the  energy  and  zeal 
with  which  the  whole  force  at  1814  N  Street,  from  the  janitress  to 
Dr.  Shaw  herself,  fell  to  and  worked  early  and  late,  counting  cards, 
tieing  packages  and  cutting  eoffdh!  If  there  was  desperation  at  one 
end  because  of  the  delay,  there  was  haste  and  dismay  at  the  other. 


96  TTXITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  RATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Although  material  enough  to  enroll  three  times  the  number  of 
women  called  for  had  been  sent,  requests  for  more  material  came  so 
rapidly  that  more  was  ordered.  On  August  7,  permission  was  given 
the  States  to  reprint  their  own  blanks  if  they  wished.  Many  of  them 
acted  on  this  suggestion.  Shortly  after,  more  material  was  sent. 

In  spite  of  these  handicaps,  States  reported  great  numbers  of  en- 
rollments. By  August  15,  two  States — Utah  and  Connecticut — re- 
ported they  had  exceeded  their  quotas  by  two  and  three  times.  But 
the  returns  of  application  blanks  were  much  slower.  This  was  partly 
due  to  the  difficulty  in  getting  educational  certificates  filled  out  and 
also  because  of  the  delay  in  receiving  the  material.  Because  of  this, 
the  time  of  the  campaign  was  prolonged  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  but 
in  order  that  applicants  might  enter  the  fall  terms  of  the  training 
schools,  it  was  necessary  that  the  campaign  close  September  5.  State 
chairmen  were,  however,  advised  that  they  might  continue  enrolling 
applicants,  as  occasion  offered. 

It  was  found  that  many  applicants  could  not  afford  traveling  ex- 
penses, and  it  was  felt  that  these  expenses  should  be  paid  by  the 
Government.  This  matter  was  taken  up  by  the  Army  School  of 
Nursing,  and  it  was  decided  in  September  that  all  future  applicants 
to  that  school  of  nursing  should  have  their  expenses  paid  when 
they  were  traveling  under  orders  of  the  Surgeon  General.  The  ques- 
tion of  traveling  expenses  to  civilian  hospitals  was  not  so  easily 
solved.  This  problem  was  overcome  as  much  as  possible  by  assign- 
ing candidates  to  the  hospitals  nearest  them. 

Many  applications  were  received  from  women  who,  though  of  good 
education  and  sound  health,  could  not  be  accepted  in  the  reserve  be- 
cause they  were  over  the  age  requirement.  Many  married  women 
were  anxious  and  eager  to  serve  while  their  husbands  were  in  the 
service ;  these  women  were  excluded  from  training  in  Army  hospitals, 
therefore  it  was  decided  to  use  them  as  hospital  assistants. 

Still  other  applicants  were  of  too  meager  an  education  to  be  as- 
signed to  the  accredited  hospitals,  and  these  were  advised  to  become 
hospital  aides. 

With  the  signing  of  the  armistice  the  immediate  need  of  increasing 
the  number  of  student  nurses  in  order  to  release  graduate  nurses 
for  work  overseas  was  removed,  and  since  the  number  of  student 
nurses  recruited  was  sufficient  to  fill  the  vacancies  in  a  majority  of 
civilian  hospitals,  and  since  the  Army  School  of  Nursing  had  a 
long  waiting  list,  no  further  applications  were  accepted  after  Decem- 
ber 13, 1918. 

Altogether  there  were  recruited  13,880  young  women,  of  whom  18 
were  from  Canada,  1  from  Alaska,  and  1  from  Porto  Rico.  By  the 
end  of  December  7,730  of  these  had  been  placed. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  97 

If  one  allows  for  each  handicap,  if  one  considers  the  shortness  of 
the  time,  the  high  standard  of  eligibility  set,  if  one  thinks  of  how 
small  was  the  reward  offered,  how  great  the  service,  and,  above  all,  if 
one  compares  it  with  campaigns  for  shipbuilders,  and  recalls  the 
traveling  expenses  and  the  high  wages  offered,  then  it  is  distinctly 
noteworthy  that  over  13,000  young  women  with  the  necessary  require- 
ments plus  the  desire  for  service,  enlightened  by  an  imagination  that 
could  connect  drudgery  with  patriotism,  offered  themselves  as  u  wait- 
ers "  on  a  possible  need  of  them. 

This  nurses'  campaign  is  significant.  Toward  its  success  was 
directed  the  zealous  efforts  of  thousands  of  women.  More  publicity 
was  given  to  it  than  ever  before  to  an  undertaking  of  women,  unless 
it  be  the  New  York  campaign  for  suffrage.  Every  magazine  carried 
an  advertisement.  Five  thousand  clippings  were  sent  back  to  the 
Xews  Section  of  the  Committee,  and  these  represented  only  a  frac- 
tion of  the  material  which  the  newspapers  carried.  Volunteers  spoke 
for  the  drive,  wrote  for  it,  and  canvassed  the  whole  country.  It  ap- 
pealed to  the  age-old  instinct  of  women  to  care  for  the  sick  and 
suffering.  On  the  other  hand,  it  put  her  in  her  old,  old  position 
of  giving  everything,  receiving  nothing,  not  even  "honorable  men- 
tion." 

It  is  true  the  student  nurse  was  offered  excellent  training,  but  at 
the  same  time  industry  was  offering  woman  opportunity  to  do  man's 
work  at  man's  wage,  paying  her  while  she  was  learning,  and  commend- 
ing her  acceptance  of  that  opportunity  as  patriotism.  It  is  not  just 
to  dismiss  this  with  the  thought  that  nursing  was  service,  the  other 
spectacular  and  picturesque.  Not  alone  the  spectacular  chained  girls 
down  to  odious  machines  or  to  long  days  in  hay  and  wheat  fields. 
Not  alone  the  picturesque  sent  girls  across  the  water  to  serve  with 
the  boys,  even  under  the  shadow  and  sound  of  guns.  Prejudice 
and  tradition  were  on  the  side  of  the  nurse  reserve,  but  the  other 
savored  to  her  of  a  coming  day  for  which  she  had  long  }Tearned. 
It  offered  visible  steps  toward  woman's  goal — that  keystone  of  the 
arch  of  the  new  America — equality. 

No  more  than  in  other  social  works  can  the  results  of  this  cam- 
paign be  measured  in  figures.  The  stirring  up  of  public  interest  in 
the  nursing  profession,  the  high  t}Tpe  of  women  that  were  brought 
into  it,  must  be  of  great  and  lasting  benefit. 

Every  work  undertaken  by  the  Committee  furnished  data  for 
future  service.  From  this  nurses'  campaign  experiences  were  gained 
that,  had  the  war  continued,  would  have  led  to  larger  service.  Clos- 
ing when  it  did,  one  great  lesson  of  the  Great  War  would  be  lost  were 
such  experiences  not  catalogued,  analyzed,  and  offered  as  data  for 
the  next  great  demand  that  comes,  whether  thai  demand  be  to  defend 
the  Nation  or  to  reconstruct  it. 
1416340— 20 7 


*  M 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ACHIEVEMENTS  OF  THE  STATE  DIVISIONS. 

To  give  a  history  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  its  plan  of  organ- 
ization and  work,  without  a  description  of  the  work  accomplished 
by  the  State  Divisions  would  be  like  beginning  and  ending  a  his- 
tory of  the  Great  War  with  the  plan  of  campaign  as  outlined  at 
general  headquarters.  A  student  interested  in  the  way  that  cam- 
paigns are  planned  might  be  satisfied  with  such  a  history,  but  any- 
one who  wanted  to  know  what  really  happened  would  go  to  the 
various  divisional  headquarters  and  find  out  how  the  various  di- 
visions carried  out  those  orders.  In  ascertaining  that,  he  would 
find  that  each  regiment  and  each  battalion  had  its  own  story  to  tell 
and  that  the  story  of  the  war  was  not  the  story  of  general  orders 
or  of  a  plan,  but  of  how  much  ground  each  unit  took,  and  the  means 
employed  to  take  it.  Each  unit  found  obstacles  not  on  the  plan 
and  fought  past  them  according  to  the  fighting  ability,  heroism, 
persistence,  dash,  and  character  of  its  soldiers. 

So  the  Woman's  Cojnmittee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense 
could  only  issue  general  orders,  telling  each  State  what  the  objec- 
tives were.  The  story  of  how  each  State  Division  employed  its 
ingenuity,  courage,  and  persistence  to  reach  those  objectives  is 
the  re'al  history  of  the  Woman's  Committee. 

When  one  considers  that  there  were  48  of  these  State  Divisions 
and  that  each  one  had  an  organization  adapted  to  meet  and  over- 
come its  own  difficulties,  limited  or  expanded  according  to  its  own 
resources,  one  realizes  how  very  sketchy  must  be  any  chapter  that 
attempts  to  toll  what  was  achieved  by  the  State  Divisions.  The 
circular  letters  issued  by  the  different  national  departments  of  work 
merely  pointed  out  to  the  State  Divisions  the  objectives.  It  was 
the  part  of  each  State  Division  to  take  this  letter,  discover  the 
particular  part  of  that  objective  that  lay  in  its  territory  and  make 
plans  to  reach  it.  The  plans  of  the  State  Divisions  were  neces- 
sarily dependent  upon  circumstances  that  ofttimes  they  could  not 
control.  For  instance,  organization  was  a  very  different  propo- 
sition in  a  State  like  Illinois,  with  railroads  making  a  network 
over  the  State  and  with  thousands  of  women  of  leisure,  from  or- 
ganization in  a  State  like  Wyoming  with  railroads  traversing  the 
98 


UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE,  39 

State  horizon  tally,  and  intercourse  between  these  lines  of  com- 
munication often  impossible,  or  in  a  State  like  Idaho,  of  which 
the  woman  population  in  a  large  part  is  domestic,  with  every  hour 
engaged  in  service  to  her  family.  Then,  too,  there  are  States  where 
women's  activities  in  public  work  are  tolerated  rather  than  welcomed; 
there  are  others  where  it  is  opposed. 

Naturally,  then,  a  comparison  of  the  ways  the  various  State  Di- 
visions carried  out  the  plans  given  to  them  would  be  worse  thaii 
odious;  it  would  be  unfair.  Outside  of  the  advantages  due  to  geo- 
graphical or  economic  conditions,  the  social  position  and  recognition 
of  women  and  the  possession  of  sufficient  funds,  tlie  degree  of  suc- 
cess enjoyed  by  a  State  Division  may  be  largely  attributed  to  the 
personality  of  the  chairman  or,  rather,  to  the  adaptability  of  her 
personality  to  her  special  problems.  Where  the  chief  problem  was 
to  harmonize  matters  with  the  State  Council  to  secure  financial  help 
the  personality  that  could  win  its  support  while  maintaining  its  re- 
spect was  absolutely  necessary.  A  much  better  organizer,  a  bora 
leader  of  women,  might  lack  this  ability  to  handle  men  and  thus 
weaken  the  success  of  the  State  Division.  This  may  not  seem  a  fajr 
way  to  state  the  matter.  One  might  insist  that  such  failure  in* any 
State  Division  was  due  to  the  personality  of  a  State  Council  which 
required  "handling."  But  since  the  social  machine  is  organized  RS 
it  is,  one  may  as  well  accept  the  fact  that  the  burden  of  harmony 
rests  with  the  women.  On  the  other  hand,  in  another  State  Division 
there  might  be  no  question  of  this  kind  to  meet.  The  chairman 
might  need  to  be  a  woman  utterly  dissociated  in  women's  minds  with 
any  one  woman's  organization  so  that  she  could  more  easily,  effec- 
tively and  fairly  coordinate  the  work  of  all  the  women's  organiza- 
tions in  that  State.  To  a  certain  degree  this  dependence  on  person- 
ality will  always  continue,  but  the  time  may  come  when  ability  to 
fight,  to  organize,  to  think,  will  rank  with  women  as  with  men,  as 
after  all  the  important  traits  of  leadership. 

But  it  would  not  be  fair  to  credit  all  the  success  of  the  State  Di- 
visions or  charge  all  their  failures  to  State  chairmen  or  even  the 
State  Executive  Boards.  While  executive  officers  can  never  evade 
the  responsibility  for  success  or  failure  that  rests  upon  them,  no  ex- 
ecutive officer  can  rouse  enthusiasm  where  the  germ  of  it  does  not 
exist  in  the  spirit  or  heart  of  those  he  leads.  Xo  board  can  create  out 
of  nothing  able  and  efficient  workers.  As  each  chairman  would  say 
that  what  success  her  division  enjoyed  was  due  to  the  splendid  type 
of  women  who  were  in  die  county  units,  so  must  the  burden  for  aay 
failures  there  were,  rest  upon  the  women  in  the  counties  who  refused 
to  respond  or  to  carry  their  responsibilities, 


100  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  'OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Yet  it  is  important  to  stress  again  the  fact  that  though  reports  of 
thousands  of  women  registered,  of  thousands  of  \vomen  placed  in 
industry,  of  tons  of  food  saved,  of  community  kitchens  organized, 
literature  distributed,  children  weighed,  are  thrilling  and  one  can 
not  but  honor  the  women  of  a  State  that  can  make  such  reports,  still 
it  is  impossible  from  reports  alone  to  measure  the  success  of  any 
State  Division.  A  small  State  Division  may  have  registered  few 
women,  but  these  ver^  women  may  have  come  more  miles  per  person 
to  sign  their  names;  the  sacrifice  per  person  in  hours  and  energy  may 
be  200  per  cent  more.  So  with  every  line  of  endeavor.  A  rich  State 
may  announce  an  organization  100  per  cent  efficient  on  the  word  of 
an  efficiency  expert,  but  the  weak  State  Division,  whose  chairman 
pounded  out  all  her  official  letters  on  a  little  typewriter  on  her  dining 
room  table,  which  was  able  to  solve  one  serious  problem  of  disloyalty, 
may,  in  the  long  run,  deserve  far  more  credit. 

From  the  task  of  appraising  the  work  of  the  various  divisions  it  is 
pleasant  to  turn  to  an  inventory  of  what  they  accomplished,  the  sum 
total  of  which  will  ever  be  a  monument  to  the  loyalty,  zeal,  and 
nbility  of  the  American  women.  A  perusal  of  the  reports  of  State 
nfter  State  leaves  the  reader  breathless  with  admiration.  Not  alone 
that  so  much  was  done,  not  alone  that  so  many  women  worked,  in 
season  and  out,  but  that  so  much  ingenuity,  so  much  originality,  so 
much  initiative  should  result  from  what  after  all  were  rather  bare 
and  meager  "general  orders."  .These  each  State  Division  inter- 
preted in  terms  of  its  own  situation,  making  its  own  application  of 
them  and  devising  its  own  methods  for  carrying  them  out.  It  is  not 
simply  in  the  amount  of  food  saved,  the  number  of  foreigners  made 
into  Americans  in  spirit  as  well  as  in  name,  the  number  of  women 
recruited  for  industry  or  for  the  nursing  reserves,  the  babies  saved, 
that  the  true  measure  of  the  work  of  the  State  Divisions  is  to  be 
found.  It  is  rather  in  an  understanding  of  the  things  they  did,  the 
immediate  attention  to  careful  detail  these  involved,  their  quick 
seizure  of  every  opportunity,  their  valiant  attack  at  any  weak  spot, 
or  their  equally  valiant  response  to  every  demand  upon  them. 

The  work  of  the  State  Divisions  could  be  divided  broadly  into 
three  parts,  the  first  dealing  with  the  work  of  educating,  rousing, 
enthusing,  and  organizing  the  women  for  war  work.  The  brunt  of 
this,  of  course,*  fell  upon  the  executive  board  and  the  headquarters. 
These  varied  in  the  States,  from  large  offices  staffed  by  competent 
paid  workers  with  expenses  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars,  to 
the  aforesaid  chairmen  holding  forth  in  their  own  dining  rooms 
where  women  gave  volunteer  work  daily.  This  work  was  supple- 
mented by  a  very  splendid  publicity.  Long  before  the  war  was  over 
it  became  apparent  to  many  a  Federal  department  that?  the  State 
Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  had,  next  to  the  Committee  of 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  101 

Public  Information,  one  of  the  best  "  through  lines"  to  the  people. 
A  story  sent  from  the  news  department  of  the  Committee  at  Wash- 
ington to  the  publicity  departments  of  the  State  Divisions  was  re- 
layed by  them  to  every  local  paper  of  their  States,  so  that  a  message 
from  Dr.  Shaw  or  a  request  to  join  in  a  rat-extermination  campaign 
reached  every  newspaper  reader  in  the  remotest  hamlets.  In  addi- 
tion, 13  of  these  State  Divisions  had  news  letters  or  publications  of 
their  own.  Local  news  stories  were  given  out  and  various  new  and 
clever  methods  of  promoting  publicity  developed  by  the  State  pub- 
licity chairmen.  One  State  Division  organized  a  magazine  publicity 
committee  of  100  women,  each  member  pledging  one  article  a  month. 

By  June  30,  1918,  33  State  Divisions  had  speakers'  bureaus  and 
22  of  these  reported  regularly  to  Washington,  sending  lists  of  from 
30  to  several  hundred  speakers,  who  were  supplied  with  material 
from  the  national  headquarters.  One  State  reported  having  sent 
speakers  to  32  localities  to  address  foreigners  in  their  own  tongue. 
Another  reported  over  k<3,000  speeches  in  six  months  'with  half  the 
counties  not  heard  from."  Eleven  States  held  training  classes  for 
speakers.  Study  groups  discussed  the  war;  rural  meetings  were 
held  in  schoolhouses;  war  topics  were  used  for  commencement 
themes,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  pamphlets  distributed. 

The  second  division  of  the  work  of  the  State  Divisions  has  been 
picturesquely  called  the  "preservation  of  the  social  fabric."  Under 
this  head  came  the  work  of  those  departments  that  have  already 
been  touched  upon  in  other  chapters,  the  Health  and  Recreation,  the 
Maintenance  of  Existing  Social  Service  Agencies,  and  the  Child 
Welfare  Department.  This  latter  sent  out  the  most  specific  detailed 
plan  of  work  of  any  department  of  the  committee.  Yet  even  this 
program  was  developed  in  many  different  ways  by  different  State 
Divisions.  In  the  first  place,  the  financing  of  it  was  left  to  them 
and  each  one  financed  it  to  different  amounts  and  by  different  means. 
Twenty-one  thousand  four  hundred  and  four  dollars  was  expended 
from  the  Elizabeth  McCormick  Memorial  fund  in  Illinois.  Minne- 
sota raised  $11,300  in  the  counties.  Many  States  resorted  to  the 
sale  of  "  bab}'  stamps,"  buttons,  or  arm  tags.  Much  originality,  too, 
was  displayed  in  methods  of  publicity  for  this  campaign.  Seven 
States  published  State  posters;  in  11  States  movies  were  used  to 
inform  the  public.  Michigan,  Connecticut,  and  Ohio  each  ran  a 
"  Baby  Special,"  a  motor  fully  equipped  for  weighing  and  measur- 
ing babies,  with  a  graduate  nurse  in  attendance,  a  moving  picture 
on  the  roof  for  combining  instructions  and  amusement,  and  quan- 
tities of  literature  aboard  for  the  instruction  of  mothers.  Patriotic 
Play  Week  was  celebrated  in  literally  thousands  of  communities,  the 
celebration  varying  from  a  pageant  put  on  by  the  city  to  a  half-day 
picnic. 


102  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

In  the  Women  in  Industry  Department  there  was  as  much  varia- 
tion in  achievement  as  there  is  variation  in  situation,  and  when  one 
compares  the  industrial  problems  of  States  like  Xew  York  with  those 
of  States  like  Idaho  or  Arizona,  one  realizes  not  only  the  scope  of 
that  statement  but  the  wixlom  of  a  plan  of  work  that  confined  itself 
to  "general  orders *'  and  left  the  application  of  them  to  State  Di- 
visions. 

Although  such  work  was  not  suggested  by  the  National  Commit- 
tee's chairman  on  Women  in  Industry,  many  States  made  notable 
surveys  of  the  conditions  nf_working  women.  Twenty-seven  States 
made_indui?trial  surveys,  gatherTrTg  information  concerning  replace- 
ment of  men  by  women,  the  labor  turnover,  wages,  hours,  conditions 
.fljjffiflrk,  sanitary  conditions,  and?  in  some  cases,  housing  conditions, 
As  a  result  of  such  surveys,  recommendations  were  niade  to  remedy 
conditions  detrimental  to  theliealtli  of  women  employees.  In  some 
cases  surveys  were  conducted  under  direction  of  some  State  authority, 
such  as  a  Minimum  Wage  Commission.  This  proved  especially  use- 
ful in  securing  a  great  amount  of  valuable  data  which  could  not 
have  been  collected  with  the  limited  paid  forces.  Some  States  de- 
voted their  surveys  to  peculiarly  local  phases  of  the  problem  of 
Women  in  Industry,  as,  for  example,  in  North  Dakota,  where  an 
investigation  of  the  hours  of  clerks  in  small  stores  during  the  harvest 
season  was  made.  Massachu setts  surveyed  day  nurseries,  with  a 
view  to  securing  State  legislation.  One  of  the  most  important  sur- 
veys was  that  made  by  Minnesota  to  secure  statistics  as  to  actual 
conditions  of  women  workers  in  war  times;  Ohio  investigated  some 
conditions  of  working  women  and  had  them  remedied;  Maryland 
investigated  the  conditions  in  19  industries. 

Many  State  Divisions  cooperated  closely  with  State  and  Federal 
employment  bureaus  in  regard  to  the  placement  of  women  workers. 
In  1917  the  Maryland  Division  recruited  workers  for  canneries  dur- 
ing the  tomato  season,  until  difficulty  over  wages  made  assistance 
seem  ill  advised.  Later  the  same  committee  found  women  workers 
for  textile  mills  and  factories  working  on  Army  orders. 

In  Des  Moines  the  committee  made  special  effort  to  secure  em- 
ployment for  women  who  had  come  to  the  city  in  order  to  be  near 
relatives  at  adjacent  military  camps.  Rhode  Island,  at  the  request 
of  the  Federal  Employment  Service,  had  recruited  some  GOO  women 
for  work  in  munition  factories  when  the  armistice  made  the  con- 
tinuation of  that  campaign  unnecessary,  . 

In  fact,  a  report  of  the  work  of  this  department  which  might,  to 
one  who  did  not  review  the  detailed  reports  of  the  States,  seem  con- 
fined to  publicity  and  to  sporadic  investigations  without  many  defi- 
nite achievements,  clearly  exemplifies  that  function  of  the  State 
Divisions  which  might  be  called  that  of  a  vigilance  committee, 


THE  WQJGDr ft  COMMITTEE.  103 

Although  given  no  definite  legislative  program  to  urge,  each  State 
chairman  of  this  department,  provided  she  could  make  the  necessary 
connections  with  her  own  State  Labor  Bureau  or  with  the  local 
Consumers'  League,  had,  and  usually  grasped,  a  wide  opportunity 
to  do  some  work  that  would  remedy  conditions  injurious  to  women, 
This  may  not  seem  to  be  a  large  contribution  if  one  is  thinking  of 
the  whole  story  of  the  exploitation  of  woman  lalx>r,  yet  each  little — 
and  effective — advance  against  wrongs  has  its  important  place,  more 
important,  perhaps,  because  it  is  "in  advance  r  of  the  general  pro- 
gram for  which  ofttimes  it  clears  the  way.  These  orders  further 
served  to  give  State  departments  the  portion  of  standing,  as  a  police- 
man on  his  beat,  ready  and  willing,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Knoxville, 
Term.,  unit,  to  forestall  a  condition  that  might  add  to  the  wrongs. 
This  unit  found  girls  flocking  into  the  city  for  instructions  and 
jobs,  with  no  adequate  housing  arrangements  available.  These  it 
proceeded  to  find. 

But  not  all  of  the  work  of  the  State  Divisions  was  directed  to  main- 
taining the  social  fabric  intact.  To  their  credit  stands  a  tremendous 
amount  of  intensive  war  work.  Of  this,  the  third  division,  undoubt- 
edly, which  dealt  with  the  food  problem,  would  rank  as  the  most 
•important.  It  probably  engaged  a  larger  number  of  women  than 
any  other  work  undertaken  by  the  State  Divisions.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  a  report  of  the  Departments  of  Food  Administration  and 
Food  Production  and  Home  Economics  of  the  State  Divisions  would 
include  the  larger  part  of  the  food  conservation  reports  of  the  Food 
Administrators  of  the  States.  In  addition  to  the  help  given  by  the 
State  Divisions  to  the  Food  Administration  in  canvassing  for  the 
food  drives,  in  distributing  its  literature,  in  giving  publicity  to  its 
plans;  in  addition  to  the  assistance  rendered  to  county  food  adminis- 
trators, where  oftimes  the  food  chairman  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
as  assistant,  performed  the  duties  of  the  office,  there  was  the  initia- 
tion of  new  activities.  Demonstrations,  institute  courses  of  instruc- 
tion on  canning,  and  cooking  were  given.  Displays  of  food  made 
from  substitutes  were  placed  in  store  windows  and  at  county  fairs, 
and  comm unity  canneries  and  community  kitchens  were  opened.  The 
effect  of  this  tremendous  amount  of  work  undertaken  in  collalx)ration 
with  the  Food  Administration,  and  Food  Production  and  Home 
Economics  departments  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  the  Extension 
Service  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  the  State  Agricul- 
tural colleges,  can  never  be  definitely  measured,  nor  can  a  dividing 
line  ever  be  drawn  and  a  report  state  u  lo,  here  or  lo,  there  "  belongs 
the  credit.  So  close  was  this  cooperation  between  the  various  agencies 
that  the  general  public  and  ofttimes  the  workers  themselves  never 
fully  understood  the  line  of  demarcation.  This  was,  for  a  time,  most 


104  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  Of  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

confusing  and  sometimes  it  seemed  to  make  for  delay  and  inefficiency, 
but  in  the  end  the  combined  efforts  produced  compensating  results. 

Waste  in  garden  truck  was  met  by  suggestions  for  drying  centers 
and  some  remarkable  experiments  in  community  industry  along  this 
line  resulted,  and  also  in  the  way  of  community  kitchens,  of  which 
hundreds  were  established,  the  Cash  and  Carry  Kitchen  in  St.  Louis 
being  the  largest 

There  were  interesting  incidents,  such  as  the  organization  of 
the  waitresses  in  Georgia  into  a  thrift  army  to  stop  hotel  wastage; 
and  many  specific  cases  of  saving  were  reported,  such  as  the  saving 
by  nine  hospitals  in  Pennsylvania  of  100  pounds  of  butter  and  1,000 
loaves  of  bread.  An  especially  effective  part  of  the  work  was  the 
preparation  of  literature  sent  out  for  fairs  and  exhibits.  This  con- 
sisted of  posters,  panels,  directions,  demonstrations,  and  displays. 
These  posters  often  suggested  to  the  women  original  methods  of  con- 
servation of  their  own  that,  in  their  union  with  a  million  others, 
fed  the  Allies  and  led  to  victory. 

A  complete  picture  of  what  the  women  of  America  did  in  support 
of  Mr.  Hoover's  program  for  conserving  foodstuffs  could  be  given 
if  one  could  paint  a  panorama,  not  otherwise.  It  would  need  show 
first  of  all,  the  primary  groups,  the  State  Chairman  of  Food  Con- 
servation, the  State  Extension  Director,  the  Assistant  Food  Adminis- 
trator and,  back  of  them,  the  mimeographing  machines,  the  news- 
papers, the  State  universities;  there  would  need  to  follow  the  host 
of  county  food  chairmen,  the  hundreds  of  county  home  demon- 
strators, meetings  of  earnest-faced  women  organizing  home  demon- 
stration associations  to  bring  home  demonstration  agents  to  counties 
that  had  none.  There  would  be  groups  writing  and  gathering  re- 
ceipts for  cookbooks;  there  would  be  institutes  by  the  thousands, 
where  women  were  being  taught  to  cook  and  can;  there  would  be 
against  the  horizon  of  the  picture  the  smoke  of  millions  of  kitchens, 
and  in  the  background,  millions  of  housewives  bending  over  kitchen 
stoves,  trying  to  relearn  their  job  of  cooking.  Even  so  it  would 
not  be  complete  until  another' panorama  had  shown  the  many  school- 
teachers who  went  into  the  farmhouses  during  the  summer  and 
cooked  for  harvest  hands;  the  other  women  who,  hearing  that  the 
berry  crop  would  waste  for  lack  of  pickers,  Jiurried  to  the  berry 
fields;  the  Women's  Land  Army,  with  its  units  of  10  to  70  women, 
each  camping  near  large  farms  and  laboring  for  the  farmers  near  by. 
There  would  be  shown  thousands  of  war  gardens,  tilled  by  boys  and 
girls  and  women. 

One  can  say  in  so  many  words  that  35  State  Divisions  reported 
that  they  had  promoted  war  gardens  and  arrangements  for  town 
women  to  relieve  the  farm  wife,  or  that  in  a  single  State  20,000  back 
vards  were  converted  into  war  gardens,  or  that  730  women  were 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  10S 

prepared  by  one  division  to  give  demonstrations,  or  that  300  towns 
in  one  State  had  opened  community  kitchens.  One  can  even  describe 
the  hardships  that  some  groups  of  women  endured  to  save  a  beiry 
crop  worth  $80.000,  or  the  immense  amount  of  hard  work  entailed 
in  opening  a  Community  Kitchen  like  the  one  established  in  St. 
Louis;  but  all  this  does  not  give  a  real  conception  of  the  amount 
of  food  work  done  by  the  women  of  America.  Every  woman  did 
some  part  of  it;  many  gave  a  long  10-hour  day  throughout  the  war 
to  it ;  and  not  the  quarter  nor  the  tenth  of  what  was  done  was  ever 
reported.  It  was  not  picturesque  work  or  easy  work.  It  did  not 
appeal  particularly  to  woman.  It  was  part  of  her  old-time  drudgery. 
And  the  making  over  of  the  habits  of  a  whole  trade  is  not  a  simple 
matter.  But  it  was  her  job  and  she  did  it,  unhesitatingly  and  thor- 
oughty.  Though  the  final  reports  of  what  was  accomplished  must 
remain,  and  will  remain,  in  the  archives  of  an  agency  directed  and 
managed  entirely  by  men,  the  busines  of  teaching  and  leading,  and 
of  bringing  the  American  'housewife  to  conserve  the  entire  amount 
of  food  needed  to  relieve  the  Allies  must  always  remain  the  one  big- 
gest undertaking  ever  accomplished  by  women.  The  record  of  all 
the  methods,  all  the  plans,  all  the  undertakings,  local,  county,  and 
State,  to  promote  food  conservation,  in  the  reports  of  the  State  Di- 
visions, shows  that  most  of  the  food  conservation  work  was  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  State  Divisions. 

Again  and  again  the  local  units  and  the  State  Divisions  would 
cry  out  for  a  specific  food  program,  for  a  detailed  order,  but,  though 
it  was  never  forthcoming,  they  set  themselves  to  their  job  and  the 
tremendous  amount  of  food  work  clone,  the  various  forms  it  took, 
the  result  accomplished,  make  one  wonder  whether,  after  all.  this 
system  of  leaving  the  States  so  largely  to  their  own  initiative  was 
not  a  spark  of  genius,  since  it  called  forth  all  the  ingenuity,  all  the 
initiative,  all  the  cleverness,  and  all  the  resources  that' the  women 
had,  at  the  same  time  appealing  to  that  latent  rivalry  through  which 
States,  organizations,  and  individuals  strive  to  excel. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  all  the  work  of  the  State  Divisions 
was  confined  to  department  work.  The  various  drives,  food,  student 
iiurse  reserve,  Civil  Service  Commission  drive  for  stenographers, 
were  all  their  work,  although  these  matters  are  reported  in  other 
chapters.  There  went  through  the  Washington  office  a  steady  stream 
of  requests  not  only  for  general  conservation,  for  thrift,  but  .requests 
for  specific  assistance  on  specific  campaigns,  such  as  those  for  an 
economical  Christmas,  for  the  extermination  of  rats,  etc.  Each  re- 
quest was  the  basis  for  a  State  campaign  and  program.  Nor  were  the 
activities  of  the  divisions  limited  to  these  requests  sent  from  Wash- 
ington. Requests  for  help  came  constantly  from  State  and  local 
authorities.  When  the  fuel  situation  was  at  its  worst,  such  appeals 


106  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL 'OF  tfATIOXAL  DEFENSE. 

were  made  to  many  of  the  local  units  of  the  Woman's  Committee. 
As  an  instance  of  the  way  these  requests  were  granted,  may  be  cited 
the  appointment,  in  Chicago,  of  ward  leaders  who  were  placed  in 
charge  of  investigating  the  appeals  for  coaL  Sixteen  thousand 
throe  hundred  and  ninety-nine  orders  for  coal  were  filled  by  these 
women.  In  Providence,  R.  L,  150  women  went  from  house  to  house 
to  solicit  coal  for  the  relief  of  those  in  need.  They  succeeded  in 
collecting  over  115  tons  in  two  days. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  matters  that  certain  parts  of  the  country 
had  to  handle  was  the  organization  of  the  colored  women.  Although 
the  National  Committee  sent  Mrs.  Alice  Dunbar  Nelson  to  visit  the 
State  Divisions  and  report  on  Negro  organization  and  give  assistance 
to  the  State  Divisions  in  organizing  Negro  workers,  the  handling  of 
this  was  naturally  a  matter  entirety  in  the  hands  of  the  State  Di- 
visions. The  problem  varied  with  the  social  conditions  of  the  lo- 
cality. And  the  solution  varied.  In  some  Northern  State  Divisions 
the  colored  women  worked  beside  the  white  women.  In  others,  sep- 
arate units  were  formed  known  as  the  Colored  Section  of  the  Wom- 
anrs  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  with  the  work 
under  the  leadership  of  a  capable  colored  woman.  Negro  women 
did  excellent  war  work  in  States  as  widely  separated  as  Colorado, 
Michigan,  and  South  Carolina.  Altogether  13  States  reported  Negro 
units.  In  every  State  where  there  was  a  branch  of  that  organization 
the  National  Association  of  Colored  Women  gave  its  ardent  sup- 
port to  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Committee. 

One  of  the  duties  the  State  Division  most  ably  performed  was  the 
coordination  within  the  States  of  the  national  and  State  organiza- 
tions of  women.  Whatever  war  work  was  undertaken  by  these  or- 
ganizations was  reported  to  the  State  Divisions.  To  find  the 
happy  line  between  duplication  of  work  and  stimulation  of  energy 
and  undertaking -was  its  task.  In  some  State  Divisions  this  was 
done  through  monthly  meetings  of  an  advisory  council  composed 
of  the  heads  of  the  women's  organizations,  when  reports  were  made 
by  the  organizations  to  the  executive  board.  In  others  it  was  ac- 
complished by  giving  over  to  certain  organizations  certain  tasks. 
Sometimes,  as  was  to  be  expected,  misunderstandings  ensued  and 
sometimes  organizations  that  felt  they  were,  or  should  be,  the 
leading  war  agencies  upset  the  smoothness  of  the  machinery  for  the 
time,  but  these  were  only  the  exceptions  that  must  be  expected.  As 
the  greatness  of  the  task  before  the  women  of  America  became  evi- 
dent, as  the  work  increased,  these  misunderstandings  and  difficul- 
ties melted  away.  An  illustration  of  this  cooperation,  taken  at  ran- 
dom which  could  be  duplicated  many  times,  indicates  the  extent  to 
which  this  cooperation  went,  and  far  offsets  the  few  exceptions,  iu 
one  county  in  Kentucky,  with  a  population  of  38,845,  27  organiza- 


THE  WOMAN'S 'COMMITTEE.  107 

tions  cooperated.    Another  Bounty  with  a  population  of  47,715  le- 
ported  45  organizations  affiliated. 

As  these  organizations  made  reports  to  the  State  Divisions,  the 
grand  total  of  the  achievements  of  the  State  Divisions  include* 
them.  For  instance,  the  reports  of  many  State  Divisions  include 
the  reports  of  the  Rod  Cross  in  that  State.  Also  the  work  of  the 
Y.  W.CIA.  One  chairman,  for  instance,  reports  the  work  of  the 
Y.  W.C,A.  in  training  100  girls  as  nurses'  aids  and  in  the  funda- 
mentals of  social  work.  This  is  rightly  so.  For  the  work  of  the 
State  Divisions  did  not  stop  with  transmitting  or  executing  die 
general  orders  of  the  National  Committee;  it  did  not  stop  with 
standing  on  guard  to  maintain  the  second  line  of  defense.  Its  work 
was  to  see  that  every  woman  in  the  land  was  doing  her  pail  in 
serving  and  strengthening  her  country.  All  the  specific  programs 
were  but  means  to  this  end.  The  greatest  means  of  all  was  the  pub- 
licity. It  did  not  matter  to  the  Woman's  Committee  or  State  Di- 
visions where  or  how  this  woman  served.  If  she  could  make  band- 
ages, to  the  Red  Cro>s  she  was  sent;  if  she  could  Americanize  Poles 
this  was  acceptable.  If  slie  did  nothing  but  conserve  food  in  her 
own  kitchen,  provided  it  was  the  extent  of  her  ability  to  serve,  well 
and  good.  The  object  of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  to  rouse  her 
and  to  direct  her  to  some  field  of  endeavor.  What  she  did  in  that 
field,  therefore  became  a  part  of  the  achievement  of  the  Stale  Di- 
vision, The  attitude*  of  the  State  Divisions  may  be  compared  to  the 
feeling  of  a  recruiting  officer  when  one  of  tlie  men  lie  enrolls  sub- 
sequently saves  the  Array,  The  officer  did  not  save  the  Army,  but 
he  was  the  instrument  by  which  die  soldier"  was  brought  to  his  op- 
portunity. The  heroism,  the  glory,  all  belong  to  the  soldier,  but 
the  officer  may  surely  be  proud  of  his  pait  in  the  result.  So,  while, 
the  executive  boards  of  the  State  Divisions  ma3T  not  have  directed 
all  the  war  work  of  the  women  in  that  State,  while  they  njay  not 
even  have  planned  it.  they  had  a  most  important  part  in  it,  since 
on  them  rested  the  responsibility  for  seeing  that  the  women  did  it. 

One  who  calls  himself  an  impartial  observer  lias  divided  the  State 
Divisions  into  classes  A,  B,  and  C. 

Into  class  A,  he  puts  Illinois,  under  the  leadership  of  Mrs.  Joseph 
T.  Bowen;  Minnesota,  under  Mrs.  Thomas  G.  Winter-  Michigan, 
under  Dr.  Caroline  Bartlett  Crane;  Ohio,  under  Miss  Belle  Sherwin; 
Wisconsin,  under  Mrs,  IleniT  H,  Morgan;  Nebraska,  under  Miss 
Sarka  B.  Hrbkova;  Missouri,  under  Mrs.  B,  F.  Bush;  Iowa,  under 
Mrs.  Francis  E.  AVhitley.  To  these  Middle  Western  States  he  adds 
Rhode  Island,  under  the  leadership  of  Mrs,  Rush  Sturges;  Massa- 
chusetts, under  Mrs.  Nathaniel  Thayer;  Connecticut,  under  Miss 
Caroline  Blitz-Bees;  Pennsylvania,  under  Mrs.  J.  Willis  Martin; 
Maryland,  under  Mrs,  Edward  Shoemaker;  New  Jersey,  under  Mrs. 


108  UNITED  STAIES  COUNCIL' Of  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Charles  W.  Stockton.  The  only  State  in  the  far  west  to  stand  in 
this  class  he  gives  as  California,  under  leadership  of  Mrs.  Herbert  A. 
Cable. 

Into  class  B  he  places  Delaware,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  with 
the  remark  that  this  may  be  unfair  to  Delaware  and  overkind  to  New 
York.  He  adds  from  the  west,  Kansas,  North  Dakota,  Oklahoma, 
Colorado,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Utah;  from  the  south, 
Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  Georgia. 

The  third  class  includes  Maine,  Vermont,  Arizona,  Montana,  Ne- 
vada, New  Mexico,  South  Dakota,  Wyoming,  Texas,  Alabama,  Flor- 
ida, North  and  South  Carolina.  Virginia,  and  West  Virginia. 

Judged  by  acts,  if  one  must  be  judged  by  definite  acts,  such  a 
rating  as  this  might  be.  to  some  extent,  justified.  But  any  such 
rating,  to  be  fair,  must  take  into  consideration  and  weight,  as  does 
the  statistician,  the  necessities,  population,  railroads,  problems,  and 
all  the  social  and  economic  conditions  that  affect  the  result.  Other- 
wise the  rating  may  merely  mean  that  the  first  State  in  class  A  is 
richer  in  money,  in  railroads,  in  women,  in  resources.  Undoubtedly 
man}7  of  the  Southern  States  worked  under  great  handicaps.  What 
they  have  accomplished  in  the  way  of  results  may  mean  more  energy 
expended  per  worker,  and  may  mean  a  greater  gain,  permanently,  to 
the  social  body,  than  that  of  the  States  in  class  A.  On  the  other 
hand  some  States  had  greater  need  for  organization,  greater  opportu- 
nities for  work.  A  State  like  Idaho  with  only  a  few  industrial  work- 
ing women  within  its  boundaries  would  not  be  inspired  to  make  the 
sacrifices  for  organization  that  Rhode  Island  would,  with  its  thou- 
sands of  women  in  industry  and  its  munition  plants  calling  for 
thousands  more.  A  State  with  a  large  percentage  of  colored  women 
would  be  not  be  able  to  make  as  large  returns  of  food  cards  as  a  State 
with  a  higher  percentage  for  Americanism  and  literacy. 

Besides  the  part  played  by  geographic  conditions,  economic  con- 
ditions, population,  that  which  was  called  in  an  earlier  chapter  the 
"  unfixed  status "  of  women  was  largely  responsible  for  results. 
Where  the  women  had  been  accustomed  to  working  together,  where 
they  had  had  some  experience  in  dealing  en  masse  with  social  and 
economic  conditions,  there  were  women  ready  trained  to  do  this  war 
work.  Where  the  men  recognized  women's  ability  and  the  need  they 
had  for  it,  even  when  they  did  not  accord  them  equality,  the  women 
of  the  State  Divisions  had  some  road  of  approach  to  the  State  ex- 
chequer. On  the  other  hand,  where  this  status  was  one  of  political 
equality,  added  to  economic  equality,  such  as  the  women  in  the  far 
west  enjoy,  the  women  needed  less  and  emphasized  less  a  separate 
State  Division  organization. 

To  those  who  in  the  beginning  wished  to  see  all  war  organizations 
centralized  after  the  military  model  and  who  said  there  should  be  * 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  109 

great  central  authoritative  committee  to  formulate  specific  programs 
of  work,  stimulate  organization  through  trained  and  well  equipped 
field  secretaries,  empowered  to  choose  the  best  State  executives  with- 
out regard  to  local  choice  and  demanding  reports  of  every  item  on 
the  program,  and  who  might  now  say  that  such  a  plan  would  have 
increased  the  total  of  achievements  of  the  Woman's  Committee  far 
in  excess  of  what  the  committee  can  now  call  theirs,  the  Woman's 
Committee  can  answer  with  pride,  "Look  at  our  State  Divisions." 
Whatever  the  Woman's  Committee  did  or  did  not,  there  can  be  no 
question  that  the  State  Divisions  of  (he  Woman's  Committee  effec- 
tively and  efficiently  mobilized  the  women  of  America ;  that  they  led 
these  women  to  the  objectives  set  by  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the 
Federal  departments,  and  that  by  valor,  courage,  patience,  and  en- 
durance finally  captured  them.  To-day  we  know  that  the  war  ended 
just  as  civilians  were  ready  to  fight.  But  to  have  organized  the  Amer- 
ican women  so  that  they  were  working  shoulder  to  shoulder  was  the 
great  achievement  of  the  State  Divisions,  to  which  every  canvasser, 
every  chairman,  every  worker  contributed. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ORGANIZATION  DIFFICULTIES  AND  ADJUSTMENT. 

Any  adequate  history  of  the  Woman's  Committee  must  be  com- 
posed of  many  strands,  but  all  these  strands  are  -wound  about  a 
central  cable.  There  are  various  departments  of  work,  each  with  a 
complete  record  of  its  own,  with  its  own  problems,  its  own  accom- 
plishments, and  its  own  program;  there  are  the  various  State  Divi- 
sions, each  complete,  with  its  own  problems  and  story  to  tell,  but 
all  of  these  wind  in  and  out  and  about  the  history,  the  problems,  and 
development  of  the  committee  which  sat  io  Washington.  Its  policy 
and  its  decisions  determined  the  direction  of  the  others,  just  as  the 
texture  of  the  others  determined  the  weight  and  strength  of  the 
whole.  An  understanding  of  its  difficulties  and  of  the  manner  in 
which  it  sought  to  overcome  them,  and  finally  evaded  them,  is  neces- 
sary to  any  complete  picture  of  the  American  women's  war  work. 

The  problem  of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  never  an  easy  one. 
To  direct  the  woman  power  of  the  country  toward  effective  service 
with  no  precedent  to  guide  it  was  difficult  enough,  but  the  difficulty 
was  further  complicated  by  duplications  and  misunderstandings  that 
were  entirely  extraneous  in  their  inception,  but  absolutely  blockading 
in  their  effect.  While  the  organization  had  been  going  forward  and 
great  achievements  attained,  the  Committee  had  been  slowly  and 
steadily  meeting  the  increasing  difficulties  of  its  position.  Organized 
to  be  a  channel."  it  found  Federal  departments  proceeding  to  organize 
their  own  machinery  in  the  States.  Designed  as  the  official  director 
of  woman's  work,  it  found  the  State  Councils  planning  to  direct  the 
women  of  the  States,  and  chafing  if  they  could  not.  The  attitude  of 
the  Woman's  Committee  is  clearly  expressed  in  one  of  its  letters  to 
the  Council  of  National  Defense: 

It  has  seemtd  *o  the  Woman's  Committee  that  the  existence  and  maintenance 
of  a  separate  and  inadequate  machinery  in  each  State  for  the  execution  of  war 
measures  of  e.'u>h  department,  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  women,  is  wasteful, 
uneconomical,  and  confusing;  that  the  efforts  of  these  different  governmental 
agencies  should  be  directed  toward  the  development,  improvement,  and  strength- 
ening of  one  organization  to  carry  out  each  project  as  it  is  suggested;  that  the 
present  method  Is  somewhat  as  if  each  shipper  desiring  to  carry  a  load  of  freight 
from  one  point  to  another  should  build  his  own  engine  and  lay  his  own  separate 
tracks,  instead  of  using  the  same  engine  and  tracks  for  each  load  to  be 
transport**!.  * 

110 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  Ill 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  desire  of  the  committee  for 
becoming  the  only  medium  between  the  Federal  departments  and 
the  women,  and  also  for  closer  cooperation  with  the  State  Councils, 
was  an  ideal  born  of  an  academic  theory.  Every  State  Division 
consistently  and  clearly  reiterated  to  the  Woman's  Committee  its 
own  dire  need  for  these  two  things.  The  lack  of  both,  they  claimed, 
was  an  obstruction  to  all  good  work  on  women's  part  The  Woman's 
Committee  would  not  have  performed  its  duty  to  these  women  if  it 
had  not  unceasingly  sought  to  remove  these  obstacles  to  success  from 
their  path. 

When  in  December,  1917,  the  time  arrived  for  the  committee  to 
make  its  report  to  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  that  document 
was  accompanied  by  recommendations  which  were  framed  after 
much  deliberation  and  thought,  as  offering  some  relief  from  the 
entanglement  of  the  situation,  and  as  looking  to  an  increase  of 
efficient  results.  This  letter  asked  that  an  effort  be  made  by  the 
council  to  have  the  Woman's  Committee  made  the  medium  through 
which  all  governmental  agencies  should  seek  to  interest  and  to 
reach  the  women  of  the  country,  the  need  for  coordination  being 
clear  and  apparent.  The  committee  had  i>een  used  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  Food  Administration,  Liberty  Loan  Commit- 
tee, Civil  Service  Commission,  Medical  Section  of  the  Council,  the 
Children's  Bureau,  Committee  on  Public  Information,  and  the  Com- 
mercial Economy  Board.  It  suggested  that  its  State  organizations, 
of  which  there  were  fhen  48,  offered  a  direct  channel  for  these  de- 
partments. It  further  suggested  that  a  closer  cooperation  between 
the  State  Divisions  and  the  State  Councils  seemed  advisable.  As  a 
means  to  that  end  it  suggested  that  the  "Connecticut  Plan"  be 
adopted  by  other  State  Councils  to  secure  this  cooperation  in  a 
practical  way. 

The  recommendations  then  took  up  each  Federal  department,  and 
giving  a  report  of  what  had  been  done  by  the  Woman's  Committee 
to  serve  that  department,  stated  its  desire  to  serve  it  further,  with 
brief  suggestions  as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  service  might  be 
rendered. 

In  particular  this  letter  urged  the  Council  to  secure  a  closer 
cooperation  with  the  Food  Administration,  in  order  that  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  Woman's  Committee  should  be  directly  utilized  for 
the  purpose  of  transmitting  the  plans  of  the  Food  Administration, 
so  faj  as  they  concerned  the  women  of  the  country.  In  fact  this 
was  a  demand  made  constantly  through  the  war  by  women  workers 
everywhere.  It  asked,  "In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  committee 
.was  organized  primarily  to  '  consider  women's  defense  work  for  the 
Nation'  in  deciding  questions  involving  the  work  of  women,"  that 


112  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

the  Woman's  Committee  should  be  called  into  conference  on  ques- 
tions involving  woman  labor.  It  also  recommended  a  s}rstem  of 
woman  patrols  around  camps,  similar  to  that  used  in  England. 

The  report  and  letter  were  read  in  full  at  the  meeting  of  the  coun- 
cil, December  11,  and  thoroughly  discussed,  after  which  it  was  de- 
cided that  all  the  committee's  recommendations  pertaining  to  the 
various  Federal  agencies,  both  permanent  and  emergency,  should  be 
referred  to  these  agencies.  On  the  question  of  woman  patrols, 
however,  the  council  did  ask  for  further  information,  with  detailed 
recommendations.  The  director  was  instructed  to  plan  for  better 
cooperation  between  the  State  Councils  and  State  Divisions  of  the 
Woman's  Committee,  and  also  to  draft  an  appropriate  letter,  express- 
ing to  the  committee  the  appreciation  of  the  council  for  the  construc- 
tive work  being  carried  on  by  the  Woman's  Committee,  and  request- 
ing it  to  continue  along  the  lines  indicated  in  its  effort  as  modified  by 
the  specific  action  of  the  council,  which  modification  consisted  of 
referring  all  recommendations  to  the  Federal  departments.  As  noth- 
ing further  was  heard  from  these  recommendations  and  the  situation 
continued  as  before,  the  members  of  the  committee  asked  themselves 
if  it  would  not  be  better  to  suggest  to  the  council  that  the  committee, 
having  no  authority  to  do  the  things  it  had  been  appointed  to  do,  had 
better,  in  the  interests  of  all  concerned,  go  out  of  existence.  The 
action  suggested,  however,  met  with  the  disapproval  of  the  council, 
and  the  women,  desiring  above  all  else  to  take  the  course  that  would 
make  for  victory,  withheld  their  own  wishes  in  the  matter  and  con- 
tinued valiantly  to  seek  for  a  way  out  of  their  difficulties. 

In  January  another  attempt  was  made  by  the  committee  to  arrive 
at  some  new  and  workable  plan.  But  again  an  impasse  seemed  to 
have  been  reached.  In  February,  1918,  the  Council  of  National  De- 
fense authorized  the  Woman's  Committee  to  call  a  conference  of 
the  chairmen  and  certain  representatives  of  the  State  Divisions.  At 
that  meeting,  to  be  held  in  May,  which  was  designed  primarily  to 
bring  these  officers  in  touch  with  the  whole  situation,  the  matter  could 
be  discussed  with  those  who  were  in  direct  contact  with  the  difficulties 
in  the  field.  Again  and  again,  in  speaking  of  the  work,  the  members 
of  the  National  Committee  had  said :  "  So  long  as  we  have  big  women 
in  the  States,  no  obstacle  and  no  problem  can  stop  the  splendid  ac- 
complishment of  American  women."  This  conference  would  bring 
together  these  big  women  of  the  States,  representative  of  all  that  is 
best  and  most  self-sacrificing  in  American  womanhood,  whose  earn- 
estness, strained  eagerness,  wise  caution,  and  frank  recognition  of 
facts  justified  the  message  sent  them  by  the  President: 

The  work  which  has  been  undertaken  by  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  National  Defense  hns  my  warm  approval  and  support.  Already?  what  the 
committee  hns  been  able  to  accomplish  has  been  most  encouraging,  and  has  ex- 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  113 

ceeded  the  first  expectations  of  those  who  were  Instrumental  In  constituting  It 
Many  barriers  have  been  broken  down,  many  uew  ties  of  sympathy  and  coopera- 
tion established,  and  a  new  spirit  of  cooperation  and  of  devotion  to  a  common 
cause  aroused,  circumstances  which  are  not  only  of  the  greatest  immediate 
bervice  to  the  Nation,  but  which  promise  many  fine  things  for  the  future.  I 
hope  that  the  conference  to  be  held  on  May  13,  14,  and  15  will  be  fruitful  of 
the  finest  results. 

Cordially  and  sincerely,  yours, 

(Signed)  WOODBOW  WII.KOX. 

The  conference  was  held  May  13,  14,  and  15.  It  was  called  by 
the  250  women  who  attended  it,  the  greatest  inspiration  of  their 
lives,  and  indeed  the  great  speech  of  Dr.  Shaw,  at  the  public  meeting 
in  the  D.  A.  R.  Memorial  Hall,  was  qufae  enough  to  inspire  anyone, 
as  she  ended: 

I  see  in  every  stripe  of  red  the  blood  of  every  man  and  woman  and  their 
nrpiration  for  that  Democracy  for  which  we  are  fighting  to-day;  and  In  every 
stripe  of  white  I  see  purity  of  democracy,  that  great  spiritual  and  definitely 
uplifting  power;  and  in  every  star  in  that  ficli'  blue,  I  see  the  hope  of  the 
world,  and  we  are  all  straining  and  straining  to  se«  the  stars  and  stripes  and 
our  boys  In  khaki  going  over  the  top. 

And  so  because  of  the  synfbols  of  our  standards,  and  because  of  the  ideals 
upon  which  we  are  so  intent,  and  because  of  the  hope  that,  by  the  service  and 
sacrifice  of  men  and  women,  our  nation  may  incorporate  the  ideals  of  the  flag, 
we  women  offer  to  our  President  and  to  our  country  our  service. 

Impressive,  indeed,  it  must  have  been  to  listen  to  the  secretaries 
and  the  representatives  of  the  Federal  agencies,  one  by  one,  as  they 
appealed  to  the  women  of  the  country.  What  the  set  program  was 
mattered  nothing.  Even  the  honor  paid  them  by  the  Chief  Execu- 
tive of  the  Land,  as  he  and  Mrs.  Wilson  received  the  delegates  in 
the  East  Room  of  the  White  House,  sunk  into  insignificance  as 
compared  with  the  determination  of  these  earnest  devoted  women 
to  face  all  difficulties  and  find  a  way  out  of  them. 

During  the  three  days  a  conference  of  the  State  representatives 
of  each  department  of  work  was  held  and  every  problem  was  dis- 
cussed. Each  conference  and  discussion  brought  out  the  same  in- 
sistent questions:  What  is  the  relation  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
to  Federal  Committees  appealing  to  women  for  help  such  as  the 
Liberty  Loan  Committee  and  Food  Administration?  What  is  the 
financial  backing  of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  the  official  stand- 
ing of  the  Woman's  Committee  as  a  governmental  agency?  These 
questions  were  reiterated  again  and  again  as  women  held  before 
their  eyes  a  clear-cut  picture  of  an  efficient  machine  and  sought  for 
methods  of  making  and  running  one. 

The   whole   meeting   was   tense   with   pent-up   emotion.     These 

women,  many  of  them,  were  mothers  of  boys  even  then  marching  off 

to   eternity.     The   youngest   State   Chairman   was  bidding  good- 

by  that  very  week  to  her  soldier  husband.    They  had  come  from  all 

141G340— 20 8 


114  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  01*  XATIOXAL  DEFENSE. 

1  arts  of  die  country  to  lay  before  their  chiefs  their  reports  of  the 
big  task  well  done:  The  organization  of  their  States.  They  had 
come  to  say,  "Now  we  are  ready,  all  else  was  preparation.  Tell  us 
the  task  and  it  shall  be  done."  For  three  days  they  listened  to 
Speeches  from  women  newly  returned  from  the  devastated  fields  of 
war-torn  France  with  the  tears  running  down  their  cheeks,  not  tears 
that  weaken,  but  the  tears  that  are  baptismal  waters  of  consecration. 
Jn  the  end,  emotion  gave  way  to  determination,  variously  expressed 
and  apparent  to  all  who  saw  these  women  or  shared  their  counsels 
but  epitomized  in  these  words :  ''We  pledge  ourselves  to  see  this  war 
through  no  matter  how  hard  the  road,  nor  who  places  obstacles 
there,  nor  what  those  otetacles  are,  nor  how  they  get  there.  We 
represent  the  women  of  this  country,  we  mean  to  help." 

In  other  words,  the  departments  might  continue  to  give  orders 
that  confused  them,  finances  be  a  problem,  State  Councils  make 
difficulties.  But  the  women  of  the  States  would  march  on,  doing  what 
they  were  asked  to  do,  reporting  when  told  to  do  so.  filling  as  many 
lanes  as  were  opened  up  by  the  Government,  striving  to  overcome  dif- 
ficulties, and  to  bridge  differences,  as  long  as  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee kept  at  its  task  of  strengthening  these  valiant  souls  forced 
to  do  their  work  without  recognition,  a  hard  and  difficult  way. 

After  the  three  days,  the  conference  passed  a  set  of  resolutions 
embodying  the  opinions  and  hopes  of  this  representative  group  of 
patriotic  women.  These  resolutions  are  not  to  be  read  lightly.  They 
set  forth  in  a  large  way  the  extent  and  the  interest  of  women  war 
workers.  In  regard  to  labor  questions  and  to  food,  they  went  into 
great  detail,  giving  suggestions  for  effective  service.  They  reiter- 
ated women's  keen  desire  to  serve.  They  asked  that  women,  in 
order  to  fulfill  their  obligations  as  women  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  be  given  the  opportunity  to  serve  in  such  direct  cooperation 
as  made  possible  the  magnificent  work  of  the  English  women,  out- 
lining a  way  to  cooperate  through  the  following  resolutions: 

Kcsolvcd,  That  we  respectfully  urge  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States 
the  immediate  consideration  of  the  following  requests: 

First.  That  on  all  Government  boards  and  commissions  controlling  the  work 
of  women  or  affecting  their  interests  one  or  more  properly  qualified  women 
shall  be  associated  with  the  central  direction  and  administration  in  positions 
of  :«uthority  and  responsibility. 

Second.  That  whenever  great  bodies  of  women  are  employed  in  war  work 
the  conditions  under  which  they  work  and  live  shall  be  under  the  immediate 
BuiK?rvision  and  control  of  women  officials  with  adequate  authority. 

Third.  That  in  order  to  secure  the  highest  efficiency  at  the  present  time 
we  respectfully  urge  that  women  be  appointed  to  the  following  positions: 

(a)  Assistant  Federal  Food  Administrator. 

(b)  Assistant  Director  for  Housing,  who  snail  deal  with  the  bousing  of 
women  workers.  - 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  115 

(c)  An  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Department  of  Labor  In  charge  of  a 
woman's  division,  who  shall  deal  with  all  questions  of  the  employment,  work, 
and  living  conditions  of  women  in  war  industries  and  women  on  the  land. 

(d)  Members  of  the  War  Council  on   the  American  Red  Gross  find  also 
Deputy  Commissioner  in  the  Red  Cross  work  abroad. 

Fourth.  That  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense, 
which  has  been  designated  by  the  Government  as  the  official  representative  of 
all  women's  organizations,  be  permitted  to  make  recommendations  for  the 
above  and  other  positions. 

Another  resolution  asking  for  further  opportunity  for  unlimited 
service  ended  with  a  statement  of  the  committee's  valuation  of  its 
ability  to  serve. 

The  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  Notional  Defense  puts  on  record  Its 
desire  to  cooperate  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  to  the  full  of  its  capacity,  wifli 
all  governmental  agencies,  such  as  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  the  Federal 
Food  and  Fuel  Administrations,  the  Ked  Cross,  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee,  the 
War  Savings  Committee,  the  Children's  Bureau,  the  Commission  on  Training 
C:imp  Activities,  and  such  other  authoritative  agencies  as  are  necessary  to  the 
successful  prosecution  of  the  war. 

That  we  respectfully  request  that  none  of  the  above  governmental  agencies 
will  hesitate  to  put  their  full  requirements  (however  drastic  they  may  be)  be- 
fore; the  Woman's  Committee.  In  making  this  request,  our  wish  is  to  spare  these 
agt  ncies  the  time  nnd  effort  necessary  to  educating  us  by  half  measures,  as  we 
believe  our  understanding,  organization,  aud  temper  are  jiow  equal  to  meeting 
the  ultimate  necessities. 

The  final  resolutions  read: 

Whcresis  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  was 
appointed  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense  to  coordinate  tbe  war  work  of  the 
women  of  America  in  order  that  the  woman  power  of  the  Nation  might  be  made 
available  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  ami  that  women  might  Lave  a  place  and 
a  part  in  this  great  National  undertaking,  and 

Whereas  the  women  of  America  are  MOT  only  willing  but  eager  to  render 
war  service,  and  have  responded  loyally  and  efficiently,  by  organized  and  indi- 
vidual effort,  to  every  request  and  appeal  of  the  Federal  Government,  and, 
through  the  various  branches  of  the  Woman's  Committee  of  tbe  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense,  have  provided  an  efficient  working  machinery  for  the  carrying 
on  of  all  kinds  of  war  work  among  women  in  every  State  in  the  United  States, 
and 

Whereas  the  exj»erience  of  the  other  nations  at  war  and  our  own  experience 
so  far  has  shown  that  efficient  accomplishment  is  dependent  upon  close  coordi- 
nation and  cooperation,  and  that  duplication  and  friction  and  misunderstanding 
result  from  lack  of  unity  in  purpose  and  effort:  Therefore, 

Be  it  rewired,  That  we,  the  heads  of  the  various  divisions  of  the  Woman's 
Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  and  the  department  chainven  of 
such  organizations  in  conference  assembled,  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  13,  14.  and 
15,  1918,  urgently  request  the  Council  of  National  Defense  to  direct  its  various 
committees  to  conduct  all  war  work  among  women  through  the  channel  which 
was  provided  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
for  this  purpose,  namely,  the  Woman's  Committee  and  its  branches,  and  to 
recommend  similar  action  to  all  other  governmental  agencies  conducting  war 
work  among  the  women  of  the  country; 


116  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

And  le  it  further  rcsoJrcd,  That  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  sent  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  to  the  heads  of  the  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment in  Washington,  to  the  members  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  and 
lo  the  hends  of  all  authorized  governmental  agencies  organized  for  war  work. 

These  resolutions  indicate  that  women  of  the  State  Divisions  not 
only  wanted  recognition  and  utilization  both  by  State  Councils  and 
Federal  Government,  but  recognition  of  women  on  the  part  of  the 
various  departments. 

The  resolutions  were  subsequently  adopted  by  the  Woman's  Com, 
mittee  in  executive  session  and  on  May  27  were  presented  to  the 
Council  of  National  Defense.  A  resolution  which  requested  closer  re- 
lationship with  the  State  Councils  was  approved  and  the  Director  of 
the  Council  was  asked  to  draft  a  letter  laying  the  circumstances  be- 
fore the  State  Councils.  There  was  found  to  be  no  objection  to  per- 
mitting the  women  to  set  before  the  President  the  resolution  urging 
the  appointment  of  women  to  important  positions  in  the  Government. 
Jn  connection  with  the  resolution  urging  the  Federal  departments  to 
use  the  machinery  of  the  Committee,  there  was  discussed  a  telegram 
from  Secretary  Lane,  who,  on  his  way  home  from  a  trip  to  Hawaii, 
had  wired  from  Chicago: 

In  talking  to-day  with  Samuel  Insull,  chairman  of  State  Council  of  Defense, 
he  suggested  advisability  of  asking  representatives  from  each  of  the  State 
Councils  to  come  to  Washington  for  a  business  conference  In  which  there  would 
also  participate  representatives  of  Treasury,  Fuel,  Food,  and  other  administra- 
tions, so  that  friction  which  has  arisen  by  reason  of  multiplicity  would  be 
eliminated.  He  has  a  strong,  active,  and  efficient  organization  throughout  the 
State,  but  says  there  is  a  constant  movement  from  Washington  to  deal  directly 
with  local  organizations  which  makes  against  the  State  Council's  authority. 

Then  followed,  according  to  the  Council's  minutes, "  a  discussion  of 
the  general  question  of  securing  proper  harmony  and  cooperation  be- 
tween the  various  executive  departments  of  the  Government  and  the 
State  Councils  of  Defense,  particularly  with  reference  to  the  friction 
created  by  setting  up  new  agencies  in  the  States  for  work  which  the 
State  Councils  and  the  Woman's  Committee  felt  their  organizations 
could  handle.  The  sense  of  the  meeting  was  in  favor  of  the  sugges- 
tion that  each  Government  department  might  appoint  its  own  repre- 
sentative in  each  State,  it  being  understood,  however,  that  the  exist- 
ing organizations  of  the  State  Councils  and  the  Woman's  Committee 
would  be  used  to  the  fullest  possible  extent  under  the  direction  of 
such  representative  and  that  the  State  Councils  and  the  Woman's 
Committee  should  afford  the  closest  cooperation  and  assistance.  The 
chairman  was  requested  to  lay  the  matter  before  the  President, 
action  on  the  suggestion  made  by  Mr.  Samuel  B.  Insull  and  the  ques- 
tion raised  by  Dr.  Shaw  meanwhile  to  be  held  in  abeyance." 

When  the  letter  asking  for  closer  cooperation  between  the  State  Di- 
vision and  State  Council,  drafted  at  the  request  of  the  council,  was 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  117 

presented  to  the  Woman's  Committee  for  its  approval,  it  was  found 
to  be  but  a  reaffirmation  of  the  policy  agreed  to  in  the  preceding 
July.  Since  difficulties  had  multiplied  increasingly  during  the  time 
it  was  in  effect,  the  committee  could  not  see  that  its  reaffirmation 
would  help  matters,  and  did  not  approve  it  At  the  same  time  it 
presented  its  resignation  to  the  chairman  of  the  council  in  order  to 
leave  the  council  free  to  adopt  any  solution  of  the  difficulties  that 
seemed  wise.  Secretary  Baker  wrote  President  Wilson  on  June  15, 
describing  the  work  of  the  committee  and  asking  whether  the 
President  did  not  feel  it  should  continue.  A  reply  was  written 
under  date  of  June  19: 

Replying  to  your  letter  of  June  15,  I  entirely  concur  In  the  judgment  of  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  that  not  only  is  the  usefulness  of  the  Woman's 
Committee  of  the  council  not  at  an  end,  but  that  It  is  indispensable  that  the 
committee  continue  to  exercise  the  function  originally  assigned  to  it.  I  be- 
lieve that  it  would  be  possible,  and  it  is  certainly  desirable,  for  the  council  to 
brii.g  about  such  a  conference  between  the  women's  organizations  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  the  Food  Administration,  and  such  other  departments 
as  have  organized  auxiliary  committees  of  women  as  would  coordinate  what 
I  entirely  agree  with  you  in  thinking  it  is  not  desirable  to  have  separated, 
and  if  I  can  assist  in  any  way  in  effecting  such  a  coordination,  you  may  count 
upon  my  assistance, 

I  think  we  should  not  only,  continue  the  Woman's  Committee,  but  that  we 
should  In  every  way  seek  to  assist  the  committee  in  performing  its  functions, 
in  enriching  them,  and  in  adding  to  them  along  appropriate  lines. 
Cordially  and  sincerely,  yours, 

(Signed)  WOODROW  WILSON. 

The  answer  to  this  was  a  letter  to  the  chairman  of  the  council, 
elated  June  26,  giving  a  frank  statement  of  the  committee's  diffi- 
culties and  problems,  and  an  appeal,  straight  and  direct,  for  relief. 
Stating  concisely  what  this  history  has  covered  in  some  detail — the 
creation  of  the  committee,  its  endeavors  and  its  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  realizing  them,  the  letter  offered  a  clear-cut  plan: 

1.  That  there  should  be  one  War  Board  or  other  Federal  agency,  composed 
of  women  and  charged  with  the  duty  of  coordinating  the  war  work  of  women, 
both  organized  and  unorganized,  and  that  of  creating  a  direct  channel  be- 
tween the  Government  and  the  women  of  the  country. 

That  for  this  purpose  such  a  State  machinery  as  has  been  created  by  the 
present  Woman's  Committee  is  capable  of  far  more  intensive  organization 
than  now  exists,  and  that  no  better  or  more  effective  medium  could  be  found 
for  the  purpose  of  stimulating  and  directing  the  war  activities  of  women 
and  transmitting  for  effective  execution  the  war  measures  of  the  Government 
In  so  far  as  they  relate  to  women. 

2.  That  this  committee  or  War  Board  should  be  appointed  by  the  President 
and  be  accountable  to  him. 

3.  That  it  should  be  given  an  appropriation  for  its  work  which  should  be 
directly  at  the  disposal  of  the  committee  itself. 

4.  That  it  should  be  authorized  to  appoint  its  representatives  in  the  States. 


118  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

5.  That  in  providing  a  channel  for  the  use  of  existing  executive  departments 
and  Federal  agencies,  this  Board  should  have  power  to  initiate  methods  of 
procedure,  e^pecinlly  adopted  to  the  carrying  out  of  such  war  measures  as  are 
peculiarly  the  province  of  women. 

That  all  executive  departments  and  Federal  agencies  should  be  advised  of 
the,  fact  that  this  Board  has,  as  one  of  its  objects,  the  enlistment  of  the 
services  of  all  the  women  in  the  country  nnd  that  they  should  be  requested  to 
use  the  State  machinery  for  any  and  every  war  measure  in  which  the  coopera- 
tion of  women  is  desired. 

That  such  divisions  of  the  various  governmental  agencies  as  direct  the 
activities  of  women  should  formulate  their  plans  and  present  them  to  the 
Woman's  War  Board  to  be  transmitted  to  the  State  Divisions  for  execution. 

It  is  the  belief  of  the  present  Woman's  Committee  thaf"a  central  organiza- 
tion to  carry  out  all  women's  war  work  in  "the  States  is  the  only  effective  kind 
of  an  organization  for  this  purpose  nnd  that  other  plans  and  methods  are 
disintegrating  in  their  effect 

The  powers  and  functions  of  such  a  Board,  while  limited  to  the  execution  of 
the  war  measures  of  the  Government  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  women,  would 
nevertheless  be  very  great;  ami  the  present  Woman's  Committee  earnestly 
recommends  that  such  a  Board  be  aj>pointed  by  the  President,  oomi»osed  of 
women  of  sufficient  wisdom  and  discretion  to  be  entrusted  safely  with  such 
powers. 

To  understand  the  relief  offered  the  Woman's  Committee  by  this 
plan  it  is  necessary  to  hark  back  once  more  to  what  has  been  called 
the  "unfixed  status,"  and  to  remember  that  the  appointment  of  the 
Woman's  Committee  was  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
to  even  up  this  status  by  recognition.  This  recognition  was  useful, 
however,  only  in  so  far  as  the  Government  could  enforce  it.  Believ- 
ing the  appointment  conveyed  this  authority,  the  committee  had 
organized  its  State  Divisions  only  to  discover  that  as  a  committee 
of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  it  had  no  power  to  enforce 
recognition  of  its  divisions  either  by  Federal  departments  or  State 
Councils. 

The  plan  outlined  by  the  committee  provided  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Woman's  War  Board  by  the  President,  to  report  directly 
to  him,  as  did  the  Food  Administrator.  Such  an  appointment  would 
give  the  committee  the  status  enjoyed  by  every  other  body  appointed 
by  the  President,  and  the  women  could,  therefore,  go  to  the  Federal 
departments  and  to  State  Councils  with  an  authority  that  must 
receive  recognition.  This,  at  least,  was  the  belief  and  argument  of 
the  Woman's  Committee  when  it  presented  this  letter  to  the  council. 
With  this  idea  the  council  did  not  agree.  In  its  opinion  the -direct 
Presidential  appointment  was  not  advisable.  At  its  meeting  the 
opinion  was  expressed  that  the  solution  to  the  difficulties  had  not 
yet  been  found. 

The  question  persistently  asks  itself,  "Sines  the  council  did  not 
approve  the  only  plan  the  committee  suggested,  why  did  it  not 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  119 

accept  the  resignations  of  this  committee  and  try  another  which 
might  have  a  plan  in  line  with  the  council's  ideas?" 

The  answer  is  so  fairly  simple  that  it  might  be  easily  overlooked. 
The  council  was  completely  satisfied  with  the  Woman's  Committee. 
All  that  it  asked  was  that  the  Woman's  Committee  should  be  satis- 
fied with  itself.  This  the  committee,  with  a  complete  picture  in  its 
mind  of  its  field  of  usefulness  and  a  realization  ever  present  of  the 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  occupying  »t,  could  not  be. 

The  whole  question  of  what  women  could  do  and  what  women 
should  do,  and  how  they  could  do  it,  was  so  new  to  any  governmental 
agency  that  from  the  men's  point  of  view  all  that  was  accomplished 
•was  just  that  much  to  the  good.  Every  step  taken  was  to  the  men 
"  an  amazing  one."  They  could  not  gue<-s  it  seemed  more  "  amaz- 
ing" to  the  women  in  the  light  of  how  much  more  could  have  been 
done  and  should  have  been  done,  that  the  men  should  so  appraise  it. 
That  the  whole  experiment  of  this  official  recognition  of  woman 
and  of  her  injection  iuto  the  work  of  the  council  as  one  of  the  re- 
sources of  the  Nation  was  tried  out  under  men  so  liberal  in  their 
views,  so  sympathetic  in  their  attitude,  must  ever  be  cause  for  grati- 
tude among  women  who  seek  further  opportunity  for  service. 

Though  the  council  did  not  agree  to  the  pi  an  described  in  the  com- 
mittee's letter  of  July  26,  which  may  be  said  to  have  set  forth  com- 
pletely the  ideas  of  the  committee  as  to  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
women's  war  work  and  a  way  out  of  them,  it  agreed  with  the  position 
taken  by  the  committee  that  the  efficiency  of  women's  war  work  was 
utterly  dependent  on  the  women's  right  to  decide  for  themselves 
what  they  should  do  and  how  they  should  do  it,  and  that  this  right 
could  only  be  secured  under  the  unfixed  status  by  some  official  recog- 
nition of  women's  right  to  control  their  activities.  Where  there 
arose  a  difference  of  opinion  between  the  council  and  the  commit- 
tee it  was  as  to  how  this  recognition  could  best  be  secured.  It  was 
suggested  by  the  director  of  the  council  that  a  letter  from  the  Presi- 
dent asking  the  various  Federal  departments  to  use  the  State  Di- 
visions of  the  Woman's  Committee  might  help  in  this  direction.  It 
v»as  also  suggested  that  a  commission  of  women  from  the  Allies, 
which  had  been  discussed  once  before  by  the  committee,  bringing  a 
message  to  the  women  of  this  country  might  have  the  same  effect, 
if  this  commission  game  under  the  auspices  of  the  Woman's  Commit- 
tee. Greater  support  from  the  council  in  presenting  the  advantages 
which  the  machinery  of  the  Woman's  Committee  offered  to  other 
governmental  agencies  was  also  suggested.  The  Woman's  Commit- 
tee did  not  think  these  proposed  remedies  would  bring  about  the  de- 
sired result. 

When  the  committee  found  that  there  was  no  possibility  of  secur- 
ing a  recognition  that  would  give  the  State  Divisions  weight  with 


120  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

the  State  Councils  by  means  of  a  presidential  appointment  of  u 
Woman's  Commission  or  Board,  it  set  about  for  other  means  whereby 
il  might  obtain  for  these  State  Divisions  the  desired  recognition. 

To  recapitulate,  the  situation,  simply  stated,  was  this:  A  Federal 
Woman's  Committee  had  organized  the  women  into  State  Divisions 
without  a  means  of  support;  in  the  States  there  was  also  a  machine 
to  do  war  work  for  all  the  people,  including  women,  financed  by 
State  appropriations.  The  women  in  the  States  wished  to  continue 
their  connection  with  the  Federal  Woman's  Committee,  because  by 
this  connection  they  were  enabled  to  maintain  some  executive  control 
over  their  work,  but  they  wished  the  State  Councils  to  finance  their 
work  from  the  State  appropriation.  There  were  other  questions  in- 
volved that  need  not* be  discussed  here.  The  chief  problem  of 
Woman's  Committee  was  to  secure  financial  assistance  for  the  women 
without  their  losing  executive  control  over  their  wdrk. 

In  the  first  place,  the  Committee  could  count  on  the  willingness  of 
the  Council  of  National  Defense  to  give  the  women  all  the  authority 
and  recognition  in  its  power.  In  the  second,  the  State  Councils  of 
Defense  were  accustomed  to  receiving  suggestions  from  the  council. 
With  these  two  things  in  mind,  the  Committee  set  about  to  frame 
suggestions  that  would  accomplish  the  desired  result.  In  this  en- 
deavor it  had  the  help  of  the  Secretary  of  the*  Interior,  who  had 
always  been  interested  in  the  Woman's  Committee  and  particularly 
so  since  his  visit  to  Chicago  had  brought  him  into  direct  contact 
with  the  problems  of  the  State  Defense  bodies. 

Now  the  State  Councils  received  the  instructions  and  suggestions 
from  the  council  through  what  was  known  as  the  State  Councils 
Section,  previously  referred  to  in  this  history  as  the  Section  on  Co- 
operation with  the  States.  In  no  sense  could  this  section  be  con- 
sidered coequal  in  status  to  the  Woman's  Committee,  which  was  an 
advisory  committee  of  the  council.  The  function  of  the  State  Coun- 
cils Section  was  merely  administrative.  On  matters  of  administra- 
tive detail,  however,  the  Woman's  Committee  often  came  into  contact 
with  this  State  Councils  Section.  It  occurred  to  Secretary  Lane, 
therefore,  that  the  union  of  the  btaff  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
with  the  State  Councils  Section,  under  an  entirely  new  board,  might 
set  an  example  to  the  State  Councils  of  the  proper  amalgamation 
of  the  work  of  men  and  women  that  would  ultimately  lead  to  an 
amalgamation  of  the  State  Councils  and  State  Divisions. 

On  July  11,  1918,  Secretary  Lane  wrote  a  letter  to  Secretary 
Baker  setting  forth  his  suggestions: 

I  have  given  considerable  thought  to  the  letter  sent  to  the  council  by  Dr. 
Shaw,  chairman  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  and  have  had  a  talk  with  her 
and  other  members  of  that  committee.  The  first  conclusion  that  I  hpve  ar- 
rived at  is  that  the  trouble  as  to  this  committee  would  not  be  in  any  way 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  121 

assuaged  or  avoided  by  the  constitution  of  a  presidential  committee  such  as 
has  In-en  suggested.  My  second  conclusion  is  that  women  ought  to  be  Identi- 
fied with  our  work  and  that  the  organization  throughout  the  States  which 
these  women  have  effected  should  be  retained,  but  I  think  it  will  be  necessary 
to  dissolve  the  Woman's  Committee  as  such. 

To  meet  the  situation  I  suggest  that  a  committee  of  10  be  appointed,  5  men 
and  5  women,  who  shall  be  the  committee  representing  the  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense  having  charge  of  all  the  work  done  through  the  State  Councils 
of  Defense  and  the  State  Woman's  Committees;  in  other  words,  create  a 
new  organization  made  up  of  men  and  women  who  will  direct  the  work  of 
all  these  organizations  which  we  have  throughout  the  country,  with  their 
State  Councils  of  Defense  or  women's  organizations  of  one  kind  and  another, 
merging  the  State  Councils  Division  with  the  Woman's  Committee. 

We  should  select  these  10  people  and  let  them  organize  themselves  into  a 
small  executive  committee  and  an  executive  head,  who  should  deal  with  ns 
through  Mr.  Giflford.  The  five  women  might  be  taken  from  the  present  Woman's 
Committee,  and  I  think  this  should  be  done.  We  should  associate  with  them 
five  representative  men  of  some  national  importance.  This  larger  committee 
would  function  through  an  executive  committee  that  would  have  an  executive 
office.  By  this  means  we  can  make  use  of  all  the  organizations  the  Woman'! 
Committee  has.  They  would  then  become  blended  with  the  State  Councils. 
That  this  is  practicable  and  would  meet  the  full  needs  of  the  situation  the 
women  with  whom  I  have  talked  agree.  This  being  done  they  would  not  think 
it  necessary  to  have  any  presidential  appointment  or  to  continue  the  present 
Woman's  Committee, 

Since  such  an  amalgamation  would  involve  ultimately  the  entire 
defense  work  of  men  and'women  in  the  States  and  would  also  greatly 
affect  the  status  of  women,  it  was  necessary  for  the  details  to  be 
worked  out  with  great  care.  After  many  conferences  between  the 
members  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  the  members  of  the  Council 
of  Defense,  its  acting  director,  Mr.  Clarkson,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
new  organism  should  be  known  as  the  Field  Division  of  the  Council 
of  National  Defense ;  that  its  governing  board  should  consist  of  six 
men  and  six  women  of  national  prominence,  with  Secretary  Lane 
as  chairman ;  and  that  the  work  of  both  the  State  Councils  and  State 
Divisions  should  be  administered  by  the  new  division. 

On  August  31,  1918,  the  resolution  thus  perfected  was  forwarded 
to  the  Woman's  Committee.  It  read  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  Council  of  National  Defense  hereby  create  a  subordinate 
body  to  be  known  as  the  Field  Division  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense, 
said  Field  Division  to  be  presided  over  by  the  Hon.  Franklin  K.  Lane,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Interior,  and  the  governing  body  of  said  Field  Division,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  to  be  composed  of  five  men  and  five  women ; 
that  Secretary  Lane  present  to  the  council  the  names  of  the  five  men  to  be 
selected  and  that  the  Woman's  Committee  present  to  the  council  the  names  of 
ten  women  from  whom  five  shall  be  selected  by  the  council  to  act  on  the  said 
governing  body,  and  that  the  Woman's  Committee  also  recommend  to  the 
council  the  names*  of  women  who,  In  the  judgment  of  the  Woman's  Committee, 
Shall  be  qualified  to  act  as  director  of  the  women's  activities  forming  a  part 
of  said  Field  Division  to  the  end  that  such  a  director  be  selected;  that  the 
selection  of  a  man  as  director  of  the  activities  of  said  Field  Division,  other 


122  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

tluui  those  pertaining  exclusively  to  the  activities  of  women,  be  deferred  until 
a  later  date,  and  that  the  organization  of  the  State  Councils  Section  as  now 
existing  be  utilized  as  it  is  now  composed  in  respect  of  personnel  to  curry  on 
the  present  duties  of  coordinating  the  activities  of  the  State  Councils  of 
Defense. 

'  It  is  agreed  that  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  council  as  at  present  con- 
stituted shall  continue  until  such  time  as  the  Field  Division  shall  be  perma- 
nently established,  and  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  a  loss  of  morale  need  not 
l>e  feared  in  connection  with  the  direction  of  women's  activities  for  the  war 
throughout  the  country;  the  Woman's  Committee  in  the  meanwhile  transfer- 
ring to  the  Field  Division,  a.<  rapidly  as  the  Field  Division  shall  be  able  to 
take  care  of  it,  all  of  the  work  now  being  done  by  the  Woman's  Committee 
through  its  State  Divisions. 

The  Woman's  Committee  begged  to  be  relieved  of  the  duty  of 
nominating  to  the  council  the  names  of  10  women  for  membership 
on  the  Field  Division,  but  stated  that  it  was  the  judgment  of  tho 
other  members  of  the  committee  that  three  jof  the  existing  Woman's 
Committee,  namely.  Dr.  Shaw,  the  chairman,  Mi's.  Lamar,  chair- 
man of  organization,  and  Miss  Patterson,  resident  director,  should 
l»e  placed  on  the  Governing  Board.  The  Woman's  Committee  also 
a=ked  that  the  director  of  women's  activities  be  made  associate  direc- 
tor of  the  Field  Division,  and  recommended  that  Miss  Patterson  be 
appointed  to  that  position. 

Miss  Tarbell  moved  that  the  Woman's  Committee  pledge  itself 
to  make  the  transfer  of  the  activities  relating  to  the  State  Divisions 
as  promptly  and  smoothly  as  possible,  and  at  all  times  to  do  its 
utmost  to  make  the  work  of  the  Field  Division  effective. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  Woman's  Committee  was  continued  in 
an  advisory  capacity. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  council  on  September  16,  further  plans  for 
the  new  Field  Division  were  made.  There  were  selected  for  the 
Governing  Board  the  following  well-known  men:  Daniel  Willard, 
president  of  the  Baltimore  A  Ohio  Railroad,  chairman  of  the  Advi- 
sory Commission  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense;  George  L. 
Berry  of  Tennessee,  president  of  the  International  Printing  Press- 
men and  Assistants'  Union  of  North  America;  Fuller  Callaway,  of 
Georgia,  H.  M.  Robinson  of  California,  and  R.  M.  Bissell,  of  Con- 
nect icutt.  Five  equally  well-known  women  were  also  chosen,  as 
follows:  Dr.  Anna  Howard  Shaw,  Miss.  Ida  M.  Tarbell,  Mrs. 
Joseph  R.  Lamar,  Mrs.  Stanley  J.  McConnick,  and  Miss  Agnes 
Nestor.  Dr.  Anna  Howard  Shaw  was  chosen  for  vice-chairman  of 
the  Governing  Board,  of  which  Secretary  Lane  had  already  con- 
sented to  act  as  chairman.  Grosvenor  B.  Clarkson,  Secretary  of  the 
Council  and  later  its  Director,  was  made  director  of  the  Field 
Division  as  well,  and  Miss  Hannah  J.  Patterson,  associate  di- 
rector. In  addition  to  holding  these  executive  positions,  both  Mr. 
Clarkson  and  Miss  Patterson  were  named  as  members  of  tfie  board, 
thus  making  a  total  of  six  men  and  six  women. 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  123 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee the  appointment  of  Secretary  Lane  to  the  chairmanship  of 
the  governing  board,  and  of  Mr.  Clarkson  to  the  directorship  of  the 
Field  Division,  were  equally  happy,  since  the  liberal  attitude  of 
both  toward  woman's  work  and  their  entire  sympathy  with  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Woman's  Committee  gave  assurance  that  under  their 
direction  the  policy  of  the  Field  Division  would  lead  to  such  inclu- 
sion of  women  in  the  planning  of  the  work  as  the  committee  had 
from  the  first  desired. 

On  September  19  announcement  of  the  creation  of  the  Field  Di- 
vision was  given  to  the  public,  and  on  September  18  a  letter  sent  to 
the  State  Chairmen  of  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee explaining  the  new  alignment.  "  For  some  time,"  said  Dr. 
Shaw,  "  it  has  been  apparent  to  the  Woman's  Committee  that  some 
plan  should  be  devised  by  which  the  service  of  the  whole  people 
should  be  coordinated;  that  it  was  impossible  to  separate  the  work  of 
men  from  that  of  women;  that  it  is  illogical  that  the  one  should  be 
sanctioned,  directed,  and  financed  by  the  State,  while  the  other  is 
sanctioned  and  directed  by  the  Government  in  Washington,  although 
obliged  to  look  to  the  State  for  financial  support,  or  failing  that,  to 
depend  upon  voluntary  contribution  from  private  resources." 

The  advantages  to  the  State  Divisions  of  the  amalgamation  were 
obvious.  The  messages  of  the  Government  would  now  come  to  them 
from  one  source  and  from  one  channel.  To  those  State  Divisions 
that  had  been  serving  as  divisions  of  the  State  Council  of  Defense 
as  well,  that  would  mean  a  great  saving  of  time  and  energy,  since 
the}-  would  not  have  to  receive  two  messages  and  check  one  against 
the  other.  Since  a  Cabinet  officer  was  chairman  of  the  Field  Division, 
the  work  in  the  States  won  Id  be  brought  into  intimate  touch  with  the 
Government,  while  the  fa--t  that  both  women  and  men  would  serve 
on  the  governing  board  gave  assurance  to  the  women  of  the  State 
Divisions  that  their  needs  would  be  considered  and  that  the  measures 
proposed  woujd  be  adapted  to  the  capacity  and  requirements  of 
women  as  well  as  men.  By  its  creation,  the  State  Divisions  were 
brought  to  as  direct  a  connection  with  the  Federal  Government,  be- 
yond any  question,  as  the  State  Councils.  Never  again  could  there 
be  an  argument  as  to  which  had  the  closest  connection  since  both  had 
the  same. 

To  the  women  this  meant  a  great  deal.  It  meant  that  for  the  first 
time  women  were  placed  beside  men  in  a  position  of  Federal  author- 
ity, of  deciding  on  what  should  or  should  not  be  done.  It  meant  that, 
though  asked  to  join  with  the  men  in  their  States,  they  were  not 
losing  the  hand  the  Woman's  Committee  had  held  out  to  them  all 
through  their  war  experiences,  a  clasp. that  meant  "Be  of  good  cour- 


324  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

age ;  since  we  represent  }TOU  here,  you  are  not  servants,  but  copartners 
in  this  war  service." 

It  must  not  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  the  Woman's  Committee 
|  accepted  the  formation  of  the  field  division  that  it  considered  this 
a  perfect  solution.  From  the  first  the  Woman's  Committee  had  ac- 
cepted the  task  laid  upon  it  and  addressed  itself  to  meeting  it  with 
I  lie  resources  and  equipment  at  its  command.  It  did  not,  however, 
believe  that  it  should  limit  its  success  by  its  obstacles.  In  finding 
a  way  around  some  of  these  obstacles  it  had  sought  reorganization 
ns  a  development  that  would  take  it  further  on  its  way  of  accom- 
lisliment.  Failing  the  acceptance  of  its  own  plan  of  reorganization, 
it  accepted  this  as  a  workable  substitute. 

Had  it  been  possible  in  April,  1917,  to  have  appointed  a  field 
division  and  said  "Go  forth  and  organize  men  and  women  in  the 
States,  giving  to  both  men  and  women  equal  representation  in  these 
State  Councils,"  time  and  energy  might  have  been  saved.  At  that 
time  such  an  appointment  would  not  have  been  made.  Before  a  field 
division,  giving  recognition  to  women  cq<ml  to  that  given  men,  could 
be  established  by  a  council  resolution,  it  was  necessary  for  the 
women  of  America  to  organize  themselves. 

Having  first  organized  the  women  of  the  States,  the  Woman's 
Committee  was  able  to  bring  to  the  field  division,  when  it  was  created, 
50  divisions,  including  territories,  each  with  its  own  leader  and 
director,  all  enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  women  of  their  States 
and  trained  to  the  needs  of  the  hour.  This  organization,  built  up 
by  the  Woman's  Committee,  made  it  possible  to  create  a  field  division 
with  true  equality  of  authority  and  an  equal  acceptance  of  the  work 
of  men  and  women. 

"  The  lesson  of  to-day,"  wrote  Dr.  Shaw,  "  is  union,  and  in  a  deeper 
sense  than  we  have  ever  before  realized.  All  the  old  catchwords 
and  shopworn  phrases  about  cooperation  and  combination  become 
quick  and  vital;  burned  into  our  consciousness  by  the  fire  through 
which  we  are  passing  and  by  which  we  are  being  tried.  At  last  our 
soldiers  are  united  in  one  body  and  fighting  under  one  leader  in 
France;  our  industries  and  our  public  utilities  are  combined  into 
weapons  of  offense,  not  less  effective  than  the  guns  which  thunder  so 
close  to  the  German  border;  all  of  our  available  man  power  is  listed 
and  pledged,  and  the  time  is  overripe  when  the  civilian  men  and 
women  of  the  nation  should  join  hands  in  one  vast  reserve  to  stand 
invincibly  back  of  our  battle  lines.'* 


CHAPTER  XL 

WHERE  THE  ARMISTICE  FOUND  THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE. 

Beginning  with  the  creation  of  the  Field  Division,  the  history  of 
the  "Woman's  Committee  falls  into  two  parts,  the  part  that  has 
to  do  with  the  departments  of  work  and  the  activities  of  the 
State  Divisions,  and  the  part  that  is  concerned  with  the  advisory 
function  of  the  committee  which  did  not  pass  over  to  the  Field 
Division.  Thereafter,  the  first  part  is  lodged  in  the  history  of  the 
Field  Division,  and  had  the  war  continued  would  have  lost  its 
identity  as  Woman's  Committee  history.  But  since  the  armistice 
was  signed  only  six  weeks  after  this  event,  it  is  possible  so  to  dis- 
entangle the  threads  that  this  stage  of  the  Woman's  Committee  may 
be  set  forth  without  going  into  a  discussion  of  the  activities  of  the 
entire  Field  Division,  dealing  with  State  Councils. 

On  October  1,  1918,  the  staff  of  the  Woman's  Committee  moved 
from  its  beautiful  home  at  1814  N  Street,  into  an  office  building  at 
1217  Connecticut  Avenue,  where  it  was  merged  with  the  staff  of 
what  had  been  the  State  Councils  Section,  into  the  staff  of  the  Field 
Division.  The  story  of  this  merger  is  worth  recording,  not  that 
its  details  were  of  great  importance  compared  with  the  question  of 
policy  which  had  passed  from  the  Woman's  Committee  to  the  gov- 
erning board  of  the  division,  but  because  it  offered  an  interesting 
example  of  an  attempt  to  amalgamate  the  work  of  men  and  women. 
As  told  in  chapter  7,  the  women  in  the  States  were  accustomed  to 
working  through  the  departments  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  On 
the  other  hand  the  work  suggested  to  the  State  Councils  by  the  State 
Council  Section,  had  consisted  of  a  series  of  unrelated  campaigns  or 
suggestions  for  work.  It  was  thought  advisable  to  continue  as  far 
as  possible  the  plan  established  by  the  Woman's  Committee,  until 
an  amalgamation  of  some  kind  had  taken  place  between  the  State 
Divisions  and  the  State  Councils.  When  the  work  of  these  depart- 
ments dealt  with  the  State  Divisions  it  was  directed  and  the  cor- 
respondence signed  by  the  women  who  had  previously  served  as 
executives  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  In  this  way  the  women  in 
the  States  did  not  feel  that  their  connection  with  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee, which,  in  many  cases,  seemed  to  them  a  personal  one,  was 
severed.  The  work  of  dealing  with  the  State  Councils  was  left 
largely  to  the  men  who  had  staffed  the  State  Councils  Section.  - 

126 


126  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Those  departments  that  had  existed  in  both  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee and  State  Councils  Section  were  combined  under  one  head. 
Americanization  was  placed  in  charge  of  Mrs.  Martha  Evans  Mar- 
tin, of  the  Woman's  Committee;  the  Speakers  Bureaus  and  Com- 
munity Singing  in  charge  of  Mr.  Frederick  L.  Allen;  organization 
and  information  were  combined,  under  Mr.  Elliott  D.  Smith,  with 
MLss  Ruth  Wilson  as  assistant;  Xews  with  Miss  Tarbell  as  chief, 
and  Mr.  D.  M.  Re}Tnolds  as  executive.  Of  the  departments  that  had 
existed  in  the  Woman's  Committee  alone,  Women  iii_Industry  and 
Food^Production  and  Home  Economics  became  part  of  a  newly  cre- 
ated 3firtion_with  Mr.  John  S.  Cravens  as  chief  and  Mrs.  Samuel  B. 
Harding  and  Miss  Atwater  of  the  Woman's  Committee  and  a  new- 
comer to  the  council,  Miss  Grace  Frysinger,  as  assistants  to  look  after 
the  work  of  these  departments  respectively  and  maintain  connections 
with  the  women  of  the  State  Divisions;  Child  Welfare  with  Dr. 
Peixotto  of  Woman's  Committee  as  chairman  was  taken  over  bodily 
by  the  Field  Division  and  rechristened  Child  Conservation  Section. 
Later  when  Dr.  Peixotto  was  recalled  by  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia, Mrs.  Ina  J.  N.  Perkins  became  chief  of  this  section  of  the 
Field  Division.  The  departments  of  Registration.  Home  and 
Foreign  Relief,  Maintenance  of  Existing  Social  Sen-ice  Agencies, 
Liberty  Loan  and  Health  and  Recreation  were  discontinued.  An. 
Office  Management  Section  was  established  under  Mr.  C.  L.  Buehl 
who  had  been  secretary  of  the  State  Councils  Section.  It  will  thus 
l>e  seen  that  the  department  work  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  though 
organized  under  different  heads,  continued  much  as  before. 

Though  interesting,  neither  this  amalgamation  of  the  staffs  of 
the  Woman's  Committee  and  the  State  Councils  Section,  nor  the 
passing  of  the  function  of  the  Woman's  Committee  to  a  govern- 
ing board  composed  of  six  men  and  six  women,  were  offered  to 
the  State  Divisions  and  State  Councils  as  an  example  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  the  States.  In  point  of  fact  the  Field  Division  left  to 
the  State  bodies  wide  leeway  in  the  application  of  a  general 
policy.  "It  is  hoped  and  expected,"  said  a  letter  signed  jointly 
by  Secretary  Lane  and  Dr.  Shaw,  "  that  a  policy  of  joint  action  will 
be  adopted  wherever  possible,  and  that  amalgamation  of  the  work 
of  women  with  that  of  men  shall  be  the  ultimate  aim  of  every  State." 
The  expression  of  this  hope  and  this  expectation,  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  effort  to  secure  from  State  Councils  the  recognition 
for  the  work  of  women  which  the  Woman's  Committee  had  so  long 
sought.  It  was  recognized  that  in  each  particular  State  the  State 
Council  and  State  Division  must  have  wide  choice  as  to  the  man- 
rer  in  which  the  amalgamation  should"  be  worked  out,  but  that 
women  representing  the  State  Divisions  should  have  a  voice  in  mak- 
ing State  Council  plans  after  the  State  Divisions  merged  into 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  127 

State  Councils  was  considered  essential.  No  other  amalgama- 
tion would  be  regarded  as  fulfilling  the  Field  Division  plan.  Equal 
i-epresentation  of  men  and  women,  such  as  the  governing  board  of 
the  Field  Division  offered,  was  not  asked  since  it  was  recognized 
that  many  interests,  commercial,  industrial,  and  professional,  which 
might  better  be  represented  by  men,  must  be  included  on  a  State 
board,  but  the  Field  Division  insisted  on  the  principle  that  women 
should  have  a  voice  in  the  decisions  of  the  council. 

Although  patterns  for  amalgamation  were  discussed  and  the  gov- 
erning board  wished  amalgamation  in  the  States,  the  difficulties 
of  putting  through  any  uniform  plan  of  reorganization  in  the 
States  were  recognized,  and  no  immediate  suggestions  were  made 
either  to  State  Councils  or  State  Divisions,  Secretary  Lane,  how- 
ever, was  impatient  of  delay,  and  at  his  instance  a  telegram  was 
drafted  in  accordance  with  what  had  J>een  called  "the  Connecticut 
plan '"  and  on  October  11  was  sent  to  both  State  Councils  and  State 
Divisions.  This  telegram  stated: 

Council  National  Defense  strongly  urges  immediate  amalgamation  State 
Council  and  State  Woman's  Division.  Details  should  be  arranged  in  conference 
between  State  Council*;  and  Woman's  Division  Executive  Committee.  As  far 
as  compatible  with  local  conditions  and  statutes,  following  basis  of  amalgama- 
tion is  recommended:  One,  creation  of  single  Council  Defense  organization  for 
entire  State  representing  women  as  well  as  men  by  including  State  OnincUs, 
and  in  Governing  Committee  more  than  one  woman.  Two,  inclusion  of  women  in 
all  committees  whose  work  at  all  concerns  women,  merging  existing  departments 
of  Woman's  Divisions  with  existing  committees  of  State  Council  wherever  pus- 
sible,  changes  in  chairmanship  being  made  as  occasion  demands.  Three,  con- 
stitution of  remaining  committees  of  Woman's  Division  as  standing  committees 
of  the  council.  Four,  creation  of  small  Wornaifs  Executive  Committee  to  keep  in 
touch  with  voluntary  organizations  of  women  and  to  advise  State  Council  in 
regard  to  conduct  of  sj>ecial  campaigns  primarily  of  interest  to  women  and  tb« 
development  and  maintenance  of  the  council  organization  in  such  way  as  to 
most  effectively  reach  all  women.  In  this  reorganization  personnel  of  existing 
committees  should  be  retained  as  far  as  consistent  with  highest  efficiency. 
Wherever  statutory  provision  or  other  circumstances  prevent  the  immediate 
adoption  of  these  fundamental  provisions,  the  nearest  possible  approximation 
thereto  should  be  effected  and  an  effort  be  made  to  secure  amendments  of  the 
statutes  and  otherwise  to  bring  about  the  ultimate  attainment  of  these  prin- 
ciples, 

FBAXKIJN  K..  LANE, 
Chairman  Field  Division,  Council  Xalional  Defente, 

and  Secretary  of  the  Interior. 

Some  confusion  resulted.  Many  of  the  State  Councils  felt  they 
were  being  rushed.  Others  misunderstood  the  purpose  and  plan  of 
amalgamation.  From  the  correspondence  with  the  State  Divisions  it 
was  plain  that  they,  too,  failed  to  understand  the  meaning  and  inten- 
tion of  the  merger.  Some  of  them  felt  that  they  had  been  deserted, 
that  the  strong  backing  afforded  them  by  their  connection  with  the 


128  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF   NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Woman's  Committee  had  been  withdrawn,  and  that  they  had  been 
forced  into  the  arms  of  the  State  Council.  Far  from  this  being  the 
case,  the  position  of  the  State  Divisions  had  been  strengthened,  for 
the  Field  Division  of  the  council  held  that  any  State  Division  was 
entirely  justified  in  remaining  out  of  any  reorganization  that  did  not 
give  the  women  the  recognition  that  would  make  their  work  effective. 
The  burden  of  refusing  the  women  financial  aid,  together  with  recog- 
nition, thereafter  would  rest  with  the  State  Councils. 

Some  of  the  State  Divisions  welcomed  Secretary  Lane's  telegram 
as  bringing  the  relief  they  craved.  Still  others  hailed  it  as  a  sign 
that  the  Government  at  Washington  recognized  the  importance  of 
women's  war  work  and  realized  that  the  amalgamation  was  a  great 
step  in  the  partnership  of  men  and  women.  There  were  still  a  few 
State  Divisions  who  desired  a  closer  relationship  with  their  State 
Councils,  but  thought  that  better  work  could  be  accomplished  by 
keeping  the  women's  organization  intact.  Such  objections  could 
have  been  met,  however,  by  having  these  State  Divisions  made  a  part 
of  the  State  Councils,  with  a  larger  representation  on  the  State  Coun- 
cil. Had  the  war  continued,  this  would  probably  have  been  the  solu- 
tion in  the  majority  of  the  States.  If  this  had  come  to  pass  and  the 
stress  and  strain  of  Avar  had  brought  men  and  women  to  their  full 
capacity  for  work  and  sacrifice,  not  only  of  time  and  money,  but  of 
prejudices  as  well,  it  is  more  than  likely  that  several  years  of  such 
partnership  would  have  caused  the  dividing  line  between  men's  and 
women's  interests  to  disappear  and  have  altered  the  present  system 
of  dividing  tasks. 

During  the  month  that  elapsed  between  the  sending  of  Secretary 
Lane's  telegram  and  the  signing  of  the  armistice  little  progress  was 
actually  made  in  the  way  of  amalgamation  of  State  Divisions  with 
State  Councils.  So  various  were  the  ideas  as  to  what  constituted 
amalgamation,  and  so  quickly  were  well-laid  plans  altered  by  the 
armistice,  that  it  is  impossible  to  give  an  accurate  account  of  what 
was  actually  accomplished  in  this  direction. 

Nine  States  protested  that  their  present  organization  fulfilled  the 
.spirit  if  not  the  letter  of  the  council's  plan.  Eight  others  reported 
plans  for  more  or  less  thorough  reorganization,  which  were  never 
put  into  effect.  In  five  States  the  State  Division  became  virtually 
the  State  Council's  Committee  on  women's  work;  and  in  another, 
where  statutory  limitations  made  true  amalgamation  difficult,  a  joint 
*•  steering  committee"  was  organized.  Three  States,  in  the  end, 
achieved  actual  amalgamation,  closely  approaching  the  plan  put 
forth  by  the  Field  Division,  and  in  two  of  these  instances  the  chair- 
man of  the  State  Divisions  became  vice  chairman  of  the  reorganized 
State  Council.  ? 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  129 

While  the  State  Divisions  and  the  State  Councils  were  discussing 
their  reorganization,  the  Field  Division  in  Washington  was  com- 
pleting the  Federal  organization  that  was  ultimately  to  serve  the 
reorganized  State  Divisions,  and  in  the  meantime,  through  a  system 
of  bulletins  and  circulars,  was  keeping  both  State  agencies  in  touch 
with  the  Federal  work. 

In  addition  a  statement  of  the  achievements  of  the  State  Councils 
and  a  standing  program  of  work  for  the  State  Divisions  of  the 
Woman's  Committee  were  issued,  and  the  first  number  of  the  new 
magazine,  The  National  Defense,  appeared,  replacing  the  monthly 
News  Letter  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  and  the  Noteworthy  Activi- 
ties circular  of  the  State  Councils. 

During  the  period  that  reorganization  in  the  States  pended,  the 
Field  Division  was  able  to  be  of  service  to  the  State  Divisions  in 
many  ways.  For  a  long  time  the  Woman's  Committee  had  felt  the 
need  of  field  secretaries  to  bring  the  women  of  the  State  into  closer 
touch  with  Washington,  but  lack  of  funds  had  prevented  them  from 
making  such  appointments.  With  the  increased  funds  at  its  dis- 
posal, the  new  Field  Division  was  able  to  supply  this  need.  The 
governing  board,  which  had  already  decided  upon  field  representa- 
tives for  New  England,  the  northeastern  territory,  the  South  and  the 
Southwest,  asked  the  women  of  the  board  to  suggest  the  names  of 
one  or  two  women  to  serve  as  field  secretaries  among  the  State  divi- 
sions. Since  the  very  first  appointment  of  temporary  chairmen  the 
State  Divisions  had  been  clamoring  for  the  franking  privilege. 
Various  efforts  had  been  made  by  the  Women's  Committee  to  secure 
it  for  them,  but  with  no  success.  Now,  the  Field  Division  was  able 
to  induce  the  Post  Office  Department  to  approve  the  granting  of  the 
frank  to  a  u  Federal  Field  Secretary  of  the  Council  of  National  De- 
fense" in  each  State,  and  the  State  Divisions  were  asked  to  join  the 
State  Councils  in  the  nomination  of  such  a  secretary. 

Thus  by  November  1.  1918,  within  a  few  weeks  after  the  creation 
of  the  Field  Division  the  State  Divisions  had  profited  to  some 
degree  from  the  amalgamation  at  Washington.  The  amalgamation 
in  the  States  had  been  set  under  way.  The  purpose  of  the  Woman's 
Committee  was  on  the  way  to  realization.  This  purpose  received  a 
still  greater  stimulus  in  a  way  not  expected.  When  the  committee 
had  abandoned  its  plan  for  a  Woman's  War  Board  it  had  tempo- 
rarily abandoned  its  efforts  to  secure  for  the  State  Divisions  greater 
recognition  from  the  Federal  agencies  of  the  one-channel  theory. 
The  committee  had  turned  its  entire  attention  to  relieving  the  com- 
plication between  the  State  Divisions  and  the  State  Councils  only 
to  find  that  the  solution  of  one  difficulty  promised  help  in  solving 
the  other.  - 

141634*— 20 9 


130  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

As  explained  in  chapter  3,  the  one-channel  theory  had  been  held 
for  the  State  Councils  as  well  as  for  the  State  Divisions,  This 
theory  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  unfixed  status  of  women.  The 
difficulty  in  applying  it  was  a  complication  inherent  in  the  Federal 
and  State  system.  The  appointment  of  a  member  of  the  Cabinet 
to  head  the  governing  board  of  the  Field  Division  promised  some 
relief  from  that  difficulty,  since  by  this  means  there  was  given  to  the 
State  defense  system  greater  recognition  as  a  Federal  agency.  This 
importance  was  further  emphasized  by  a  letter  from  the  President 
to  Secretary  Lane,  expressing  liis  own  desire  that  this  defense  system 
be  employed  whenever  possible. 

I  am  very  glad  to  hear  of  the  creation  of  the  Field  Division  of  the  Council  of 
National  Defense,  which,  by  amalgamating  the  executive  functions  of  the 
State  Councils  Section  and  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  council,  has  become 
the  single  connecting  link  between  the  council  and  the  other  Federal  depart- 
ments and  administrations,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  State  Councils  of  Defense 
and  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee,  on  the  other.  I  have  already 
had  occasion  more  than  once  to  express  my  warm  appreciation  of  the  accom- 
plishments of  the  State  Councils  and  the  national  organization  of  the  Woman's 
Committee.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  action  which  you  have  now  taken,  recog- 
nizing as  it  does  a  policy  of  joint  action  and  common  effort  on  the  part  of  men 
and  women,  is  sound  in  principle  and  serves  the  interest  of  efficiency.  It  la 
gratifying  to  know  that  this  policy  has  already  been  followed  in  a  large  num- 
ber of  States,  and  I  am  sure  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  it  is  worthy  of 
adoption  generally  throughout  the  country. 

The  existence  of  the  Council  of  Defense  system,  available  at  all  times  to 
the  various  departments  and  administrations  of  the  Federal  Government  for 
the  execution  of  their  war  work  in  the  States,  makes,  of  course,  for  economy 
of  effort  and  renders  unnecessary  the  creation  of  much  local  Federal  machinery 
which  otherwise  would  have  to  be  set  up  at  great  expense  for  the  performance 
of  specific  tasks.  Unquestionably  tliis  system  should  be  utilized  as  far  as  pos- 
sible. Will  you  not,  therefore,  communicate  to  the  heads  of  such  departments 
and  administrations  in  Washington  my  wish  that  when  they  are  considering 
extensions  of  their  organizations  into  a  State,  or  new  work  to  be  done  in  the 
States,  they  determine  carefully  whether  they  can  not  make  use  of  the  Council 
of  Defense  system;  and  that  they  transmit  all  requests  for  action  by  this 
system  through  the  Field  Division  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense? 

It  is  likewise  apparent  that  the  county  and  community  units  of  the  Council 
of  Defense  system  are  similarly  of  great  present  value  and  still  greater  po- 
tential value  to  the  State  representatives  of  those  Federal  departments  and  ad- 
ministrations. Would  it  not  be  advisable  also  to  ask  the  department  heads 
at  Washington  to  recommend  to  their  State  representatives  that  each  of  them, 
in  consultation  with  the  State  Councils  of  Defense  should  take  the  fullest 
advantage  of  this  unique  machinery  for  getting  into  contact  with  the  people 
of  the  State,  both  men  and  women?  I  should  be  glad  to  have  you  say  that  suck 
a  request  has  my  sincere  indorsement  and  support.  The  organization  of  the 
country  for  war  can  attain  its  maximum  effectiveness  only  if  we  all  of  us  util- 
ize to  the  utmost  the  resources  we  have  in  common. 
Cordially  and  sincerely,  jours, 

(Signed)  WOODBOW 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  131 

The  effect  of  this  letter  was  not  only  to  give  presidential  indorse* 
nient  to  the  work  of  women  and  recognition  to  the  principle  of  vest- 
ing in  the  women  some  of  the  authority  for  planning  work,  but  also 
to  give  presidential  approval  to  the  policy  of  using  the  State  de- 
fense agencies  us  channels  for  reaching  the  people  of  the  State  with 
Federal  programs. 

The  Field  Division,  therefore,  planned  a  wide  distribution  of  the 
letter  to  the  heads  of  Federal  departments  in  Washington.  What  its 
effect  on  the  "channel  theory"  might  have  been,  however,  can  not  be 
known,  since  it  was  dated  October  26,  and  the  armistice  was  signed 
November  11.  With  that  event  the  great  need  for  both  amalgamation 
and  the  one  channel  was  removed.  The  future  development  of  the 
Field  Division,  State  Divisions,  and  State  Councils,  depended  on 
conditions  not  yet  known.  Like  the  rest  of  the  country,  they  waited 
to  see  what  these  conditions  might  be. 


CHAPTER  XIL 

THE  POST-ARMISTICE  PERIOD. 

The  signing  of  the  armistice  wrought  a  great  change  in  the  position 
of  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  All  efforts  toward 
amalgamation  automatically  ceased.  Both  State  Divisions  and  State 
Councils  became  more  absorbed  with  the  problem  of  whether  they 
should  continue  in  any  form  than  with  the  problem  of  reorganiza- 
tion. For  the  State  Divisions  this  problem  was  a  complicated  one, 
not  to  be  solved  by  its  own  desires.  Whether  a  State  Division  had 
become  amalgamated  with  the  State  Council  or  not,  whether  it  was 
an  auxiliary  or  merely  a  coworker,  its  future  plans  had  in  most  cases 
become  dependent  upon  the  fortunes  of  the  State  Councils. 

The  situation  was  this:  The  State  Divisions,  like  the  State  Coun- 
cils, were  war  emergency  bodies.  They  made  the  same  appeal  to  the 
interest  of  the  public  and  were  alike  dependent  upon  arousing  this 
interest  for  success  in  their  work.  If,  therefore,  the  State  Councils 
announced  the  war  emergency  over  and  disbanded,  the  effect  on  the 
public  would  be  such  as  to  make  the  continuance  of  the  State  Di- 
visions almost  impossible.  The  dissolution  of  the  State  Council,  the 
State's  official  war  emergency  body,  was  equivalent  to  an  announce- 
ment by  the  State  authorities  that  the  war  emergency  had  passed. 
A  similar  war  emergency  body,  appealing  to  women,  even  though  its 
work  was  not  finished,  would  find  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to 
pursuade  the  public  to  continue  to  support  it.  The  continuance, 
then,  of  the  State  Divisions  was  largely  dependent  upon  the  continu- 
ance of  the  State  Councils. 

These  State  Councils,  many  of  them,  had  been  created  by  legislative 
act  for  the  period  of  the  war  only.  Many  of  them  were  composed  of 
business  men  who  had  given  freely  of  time  and  energies  for  war 
emergencies,  but  with  the  imminence  of  peace  desired  to  re- 
i  urn  to  their  own  pursuits.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  armistice 
did  not  come  to  America  a  complete  surprise.  Rumors  of  it  had 
"been  spreading  for  weeks,  and  so  weakened  the  morale  of  the  defense 
organism  that  Secretary  Lane  telegraphed  the  State  Councils  and 
State  Divisions  a  few  days  before  the  armistice: 

I  earnestly  beg  you  nut  to  relax  your  efforts  in  the  slightest  degree  on  ac- 
count of  the  possibility  of  an  early  armistice.    Even  if  an  armistice  should  be 
concluded  this  does  not  mean  that  the  war  Is  over  and  in  any  case  the  emer- 
132 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  133 

gency  will  not  be  over  for  a  long  time.  Most  of  the  work  which  you  have  been 
called  on  to  perform  must  go  on  undiminished,  and  I  hope  every  man  and  woman 
in  the  Council  of  Defense  system  will  stay  on  the  job.  In  a  few  days  will  write 
you  as  to  the  outlook  for  future  work. 

In  spite  of  this  message  there  was  a  tendency  among  the  State 
Councils  immediately  following  the  signing  of  the  armistice  to  con- 
sider the  need  for  their  existence  at  an  end.  On  November  20  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety  of  Massachusetts  resigned,  leaving  a 
committee  of  nine  to  wind  up  the  work.  About  the  same  time  the 
State  Council  of  Rhode  Island  adjourned  sine  die.  Three  days  after 
hostilities  ceased,  the  Michigan  War  Preparedness  Board  announced 
that  it  was  closing  up  business  and  asked  its  county  boards  to  disband. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  were  a  number  of  State  Councils  willing 
to  go  on.  It  is  probable  that  the  majority  would  have  continued  had 
there  been  a  definite  piece  of  reconstruction  work  given  them  at  once. 
There  was  no  such  piece  of  work  ready.  It  can  not  be  said  that  the 
problems  of  reconstruction  had  not  been  considered.  Even  before 
the  signing  of  the  armistice  a  reconstruction  research  staff  had  been 
organized  by,  and  was  reporting  on  this  subject,  to  Mr.  Clarkson, 
acting  director  of  the  council  since  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Gifford,  in 
October.  As  director  of  the  Field  Division,  Mr.  Clarkson  had  pre- 
pared and  took  up  vigorously  with  the  council,  a  memorandum  which 
set  forth  in  detail  the  services  the  Council  of  Defense  system  might 
be  called  upon  to  render  the  Nation  during  the  readjustment  period. 
This  memorandum  called  attention  to  the  continuing  importance  of 
Americanization,  highways  transportation,  food  and  fuel  conserva- 
tion, food  production,  child  welfare,  supervision  of  nonwar  construc- 
tion, housing,  community  organization,  community  singing,  the  voca- 
tional rehabilitation  of  the  disabled  men  and  other  activities  m 
which  the  council  was  engaged  or  in  which  it  might  engage. 

Throughout  the  war  there  ran  two  currents  of  thought,  almost 
side  by  side  and  often  intermingling.  One  was  a  desire  that  the  war 
machinery  should  be  available  after  the  war  for  reconstructing  the 
social  fabric  and  making  America  all  that  true  Americanism  might 
desire  it,  that  the  cooperative  spirit  developed  under  war  needs  might 
be  salvaged,  and  that  the  country  should  profit  from  all  it  had  spent 
of  life,  and  substance;  the  other  was  a  distinct  fear  that  organiza- 
tions built  up  for  war  needs  might  be  perpetuated  during  peace  times 
until  they  became  a  heavy  incubus  on  the  social  structure,  that  the 
personal  liberty  yielded  for  the  sake  of  national  strength  should  not 
be  returned,  that  Federal  authority  would  usurp  State  control.  With 
the  imminence  of  peace  the  former  hope  and  latter  fear  found  ex- 
pression in  reconstruction  plans  advocated  by  different  groups.  ' 

Steering  its  way  between  these  views,  the  Council  of  Defense  went 
on  record  November  29  by  instructing  Secretary  Baker,  as  chairman 


134  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

of  the  council,  "  to  write  to  the  President  expressing  the  view  that 
in  general  the  problem  of  reconstruction  was  rather  one  of  removing 
restrictions  imposed  during  the  progress  of  the  war  than  of  formu- 
lating any  new  policy,  it  being  the  thought  of  all  present  that  Ameri- 
can industry  and  commerce  would  readjust  itself  and  undertake 
peace-time  occupations  as  soon  as  the  raw  materials  and  labor  of  the 
country  were  available  for  such  resumption.1"  Meeting  with  the 
council  were  Mr.  Baruch  and  Mr.  Peek,  of  the  War  Industries  Board ; 
Dr.  Garfield,  of  the  Fuel  Administration;  Mr.  Edgar  Rickard*,  the 
Acting  Food  Administrator;  and  Mr.  R  C.  Leffingwell,  representing 
the  Treasury  Department.  Those  present  thought  that  the  emergency 
agencies  would  be  able  rapidly  to  withdraw  from  their  war  work 
except  the  War  Trade  Board,  which  would  continue  to  have  impor- 
tant functions.  The  inference  may  be  fairly  drawn  that  the  council 
believed  emergency  bodies  should  withdraw,  as  soon  as  their  useful- 
ness ceased,  and  this  may  be  taken  as  the  council's  attitude  at  this 
time  toward  the  continuance  of  the  Field  Division  and  the  State 
Councils  and  State  Divisions.  The  question  of  continuance  seemed 
to  resolve  itself  into  one  as  to  usefulness. 

During  the  latter  part  of  November  and  December  a  few  bulle- 
tins went  from  the  Field  Division  to  the  States  recommending  that 
the  State  Councils  should  assist  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Training  and  the  Bureau  of  War  Risk  Insurance,  and  that  they 
should  hold  together  and  strengthen  their  legal  committees  which 
were  to  look  after  the  civil  rights  of  soldiers  and  sailors.  The  State 
Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  were  asked  to  assist  in  a  food 
conservation  program.  Both  councils  and  divisions  were  asked  to 
help  the  Federal  health  authorities  in  fighting  the  influenza  epi- 
demic, but  these  were  not  programs  of  work  requiring  the  main- 
tenance of  extensive  and  intensive  State  machinery.  On  December 
2.  however,  there  appeared  above  the  horizon  a  piece  of  work  so 
big  that  its  execution  demanded  the  entire  resources  of  the  Nation. 
It  was  the  immediate  necessity  of  finding  jobs  for  the  returning 
and  demobilized  soldiers,  sailors,  and  war  workers.  This  was  the 
particular  task  of  the  United  States  Employment  Service,  but  since 
the  undertaking  was  almost  as  huge  as  the  operation  of  the  draft, 
the  Employment  Service,  like  the  War  Department,  besought  the 
assistance  of  all  war  agencies  which  could  help  in  its  performance. 
Th*>  particular  part  of  the  work  assigned  to  the  Council  of  National 
Defense  was  that  of  urging  employers  in  the  local  communities  to 
provide  the  necessary  jobs  for  their  returning  soldiers. 

A  complete  plan  had  been  drawn  up  by  which  all  agencies  inter- 
ested in  the  welfare  of  soldiers  were  to  cooperate,  those  in  the  camp, 
su«h  as  the  Army,  the  Y,  M.  C.  A.,  the  War  Camp  Community 

» From  minute*  of  Council  of  National  Defense. 


THE  WOMAN'S   COMMITTEE.  135 

Service,  the  Red  Cross,  connecting  with  the  soldier  before  lie  was 
demobilized,  to  ascertain  his  training  as  to  trade,  his  need  and  pref- 
erence as  to  location;  the  agencies  in  the  home  community,  such  as 
the  State  Council,  State  Division,  and  the  Red  Cross,  working  to 
secure  the  job.  The  connection  between  these  two  terminals  was 
to  be  made  by  the  United  States  Employment  Service.  To  the  State 
Council  was  to  be  given  the  authority  to  organize  a  local  board 
composed  of  all  local  agencies  in  the  community  whose  work  it 
would  be  to  provide  a  local  employment  bureau  for  the  soldier. 

A  meeting  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  was  called  and  Mr. 
Clarkson  presented  to  it  this  plan,  and  the  request  from  the  United 
States  Emplo}rment  Service  for  the  cooperation  of  the  State  Councils. 
Mr.  Clarkson  pointed  out  to  the  council  that  this  request  for  the 
aid  of  the  State  Councils  brought  up  sharply  the  question  whether 
or  not  the  Council  of  Defense  system  should  be  continued  for  Fed- 
eral purposes  during  the  demobilization  period.  A  long  discussion 
followed,  at  the  end  of  which  the  following  revSolution  was  adopted: 

Resolved,  by  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  composed  of  the  Secretaries 
of  War.  Navy,  Interior,  Commerce,  Agriculture,  and  Labor,  that  the  Council 
of  Defense  system,  composed  of  State,  county,  community  and  municipal  coun- 
cils, and  the  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of 
National  Defense,  he  continued  in  the  national  Interest  for  the  purpose  of 
cooperating  with  and  supplementing  Federal  agencies  in  meeting  the  exi- 
gencies and  emergencies  incident  to  postwar  readjustment,  and  especially  for 
the  purpose  of  bringmg  about  a  normal  demobilization  of  soldiers,  sallow, 
and  war  workers,  to  the  end  that  they  may  most  wisely  be  reabsorbed  into 
pence-time  pursuits;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  to  consummate  this  purpose  the  Council  of  National  De- 
fense recommends  that  it  does  hereby  recommend  to  the  several  governors, 
State  Councils,  and  State  legislatures  that  all  legislative  acts  creating  State 
Councils  or  Committees  of  Public  Safety  be  so  amended  where  necessary  as 
to  make  it  possible  for  the  Council  of  Defense  system  throughout  the  country 
to  perform  the  foregoing  functions  so  long  as  they  shall  appear  to  be  neces- 
sary. 

The  State  Councils  and  State  Divisions  were  informed  of  the 
act  of  the  council  and  were  asked  to  carry  out  the  plans,  as  re- 
quested by  the  United  States  Employment  Service, 

In  spite  of  this  one  big  task,  it  seemed  apparent  to  the  State  Coun- 
cils that  their  continuance  on  the  ground  of  usefulness  could  not  be 
justified,  for  they  continued  to  go  out  of  business. 

To  give  the  dates  on  which  the  several  councils  ceased  to  exist  is 
not  necessary.  By  May  1  the  line  of  communication  between  the 
Field  Division  and  the  State  Councils  was  entirely  down,  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  receiving  stations  had  gone  out  of  business.  Twenty 
State  Councils  had  either  adjourned  or  disbanded;  3  had  paper  or- 
ganizations or  were  inactive;  8  had  greatly  reduced  their  force, 
although  still  in  existence;  3  had  turned  their  business  over  to  new 


136  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

agencies.  Only  12  were  really  alive.  Of  course  this  did  not  occur 
all  at  once.  It  was  a  gradual  process  covering  a  period  of  nearly 
six  months. 

The  Field  Division  meantime  had  been  engaged  in  promoting 
the  organization  of  what  might  be  called  its  residuary  legatee,  by 
name  the  Community  Council.  Before  the  days  of  the  Field  Divi- 
sion, the  terminals  of  the  State  Council  system  were  known  as  Com- 
munity Councils.  When  the  Community  Council  idea  was  first  pro- 
mulgated both  the  State  Council  Section  and  the  Woman's  Commit- 
tee urged  upon  State  Councils  and  State  Divisions  that  Community 
Councils  be  jointly  organized  in  the  communities.  The  organiza- 
tion of  these  had  been  promoted  and  stimulated  through  many  bulle- 
tins to  State  Councils  and  to  State  Divisions  of  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee. The  plan  was  the  same  as  that  provided  by  the  Woman's 
Committee  in  forming  its  own  local  units,  except  that  the  Community 
Council  was  not  limited  to  a  federation  of  the  organized  and  unor- 
ganized women  of  the  community,  but  included  every  one  in  the 
community  as  well  as  all  organizations.  During  January  new  bul- 
letins were  issued  to  the  State  Councils  and  State  Divisions  urging 
them  to  organize  Community  Councils  in  every  neighborhood  and 
giving  specific  directions  for  so  doing.  By  means  of  these  Com- 
munity Councils  in  which  all  people  would  be  reached  and  in  which 
all  would  have  representation  it  was  hoped  that  some  of  the  spirit 
of  service  that  the  war  had  roused  might  be  salvaged  for  the  benefit 
of  the  community. 

In  order  to  make  theSjC  Community  Councils  permanent,  State 
Councils  were  urged  to  secure  State  legislation  to  provide  for  the 
development  of  community  organizations  and  for  permanent  State 
leadership  to  all  organized  communities.  The  creation  by  legis- 
lative act  of  a  bureau  or  commission  composed  of  representatives  of 
those  State  departments,  such  as  of  agriculture,  labor,  and  educa- 
tion, which  come  in  most  intimate  contact  with  small  communities, 
to  stimulate  the  organization  of  the  councils,  to  serve  as  a  connect- 
ing link  between  these  councils  and  the  Federal  departments  at 
Washington,  and  to  provide  and  transmit  programs  of  health,  edu- 
cation, and  general  welfare,  was  suggested. 

At  the  same  time  the  State  Councils  were  deciding  that  they  would 
not  go  on  the  State  Divisions  were  facing  their  future.  The  situa- 
tion of  the  two  bodies  was  quite  unlike.  Many  of  the  State  Divisions 
felt  that  their  work  was  just  begun.  Painstakingly  they  had  built 
up  a  machine  that  reached  the  women  of  the  remotest  hamlet  and, 
under  the  stimulus  of  patriotism,  had  undertaken  elaborate  programs 
of  work.  Since  these  programs  were  concerned  with  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  social  fabric,  since  many  of  them  grew  out  of  an  Inten- 
tion to  improve  social  conditions,  they  seemed  as  essential  and  im- 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  .  137 

portant  in  peace  times  as  in  war  time.  Dr.  Shaw  emphasized  this 
point  of  view  in  her  message  to  American  women  on  November  25, 
a  message  that  found  a  ready  response  among  war  workers: 

The  victory  for  which  America  has  organized  and  labored,  sacrificed,  and 
borne  is  about  to  be  ours.  Although  a  period  of  months  must  elapse  before 
the  declaration  of  peace,  the  enemy  is  vanquished,  and  we  may  look  forward 
to  the  end  of  the  Great  War  as  imminent 

Toward  the  accomplishment  of  this  victory  the  women  of  America  have  con- 
tributed their  part.  Whether  we  were  asked  to  save  food,  to  enter  industry 
in  the  places  men  had  hitherto  filled,  to  make  bandages  for  the  wounded,  to 
sell  and  buy  bonds,  to  give  up  husbands,  brothers,  and  sons  to  the  danger  of 
death,  or  to  cross  the  hazardous  sens  and  stand  beside  them  as  nurses,  we 
have  responded  by  the  thousands  or  hundred  thousands  as  the  call  demanded. 

We  have  done  more.  We  have  organized  a  great  second  army  of  defense  to 
preserve  the  home,  to  care  for  the  children,  to  protect  women  from  the  dangers 
of  industry,  with  the  avowed  purpose  of  making  the  country  for  which  our 
men  have  died  worthy  of  their  sacrifice.  With  this  In  mind,  we  taught  thrift 
and  economy  to  our  people,  we  planned  and  carried  out  a  program  for  Chil- 
dren's Year,  we  advocated  proper  standards  for  women  in  industry,  we  worked 
on  health  and  educational  problems. 

This  task  is  not  finished  with  the  imminence  of  victory,  not  even  with  victory 
itself.  There  remains  the  greater  and  more  difficult  part :  To  garner  the  fruits 
of  victory.  It  is  not  enough  for  women  who  have  given  up  their  sons  on  the 
battle  field  that  Alsace-Lorraine  shall  be  given  back  to  France ;  there  must  be 
given  to  other  sons,  or  other  mothers'  sons,  a  chance  to  grow  up  well  and 
strong  here  in  America.  It  is  not  enough  for  widowed  mothers  that  autocracy 
across  the  sea  is  dead ;  there  must  be  freedom  here  at  home  for  their  daughters 
to  win  their  daily  bread  under  conditions  that  make  for  health  and  happiness 
and  honor.  The  work  of  the  women  of  America  will  not  be  done  until  the  fruits 
of  victory  shall  include  the  making  of  America  a  better,  safer  place  for  all 
children  than  it  was  before  August,  1914. 

This  is  not  reconstruction;  it  is  not  even  readjustment.  There  must  be  a 
measure  of  both,  and  both  include  problems  in  which  women  and  their  interests 
are  a  serious  factor  and  in  the  solution  of  which  they  must  have  a  voice, 
This  is  an  intention  that  our  sacrifices  shall  not  have  been  in  vain.  It  is  a 
realization  of  the  aim  for  which  we  made  them. 

In  war  time  it  was  found  that  what  had  been  called  "  women's  interests," 
namely,  food,  thrift,  health,  morals,  were  the  interests  of  a  whole  people  and 
had  an  integral  part  in  the  organization  for  victory.  It  was  also  found  that 
they  were  intimately  tied  up  with  the  great  financial,  industrial  programs. 
In  i>eace  times  they  will  no  less  be  the  interests  of  the  whole  Nation,  and  in 
realization  of  war  aims  they  have  an  important  place.  No  peace  that  ignores 
them,  no  program  that  overlooks  them,  can  claim  to  represent  the  aims  for 
which  we  fought  It  therefore  becomes  the  duty  of  the  womanhood  of  America 
to  interest  itself  vitally  in  the  terms  of  the  peace  and  to  prepare  ourselves  to 
perform  our  obligation  to  make  the  victory  complete. 

During  the  movement  of  a  nation  from  a  war  basis  to  a  peace  basis  great 
changes  must  inevitably  take  place,  changes  economic,  industrial,  social.  No 
thinking  person  can  expect  that  the  change  will  be  altogether  back  to  a  pre- 
war basis.  The  women  can  be  no  more  relieved  from  their  obligation  to  see 
that  these  changes  make  for  a  richer  heritage,  healthier  environment,  and 
freer  opportunity  for  their  children  than  they  were  from  their  obligation,  now 
faithfully  performed,  to  see  that  their  soldier  sons  bad  every  protection,  physical 


138  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

and  moral,  thrown  about  them,  both  in  the  camp  and  on  the  firing  line.  Thej 
can  not  neglect  their  duty  to  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  men  who  will  not 
come  back  to  them,  nor  can  they  meet  the  returning  soldiers  with  anything 
less  than  an  honest  "  We  have  done  all  we  promised  yon.** 

For  all  these  reasons  it  is  imperative  that  there  shall  be  no  demobilization 
of  the  woman  power  of  America.  It  must  remain  organized,  equipped,  and 
ready  for  action.  We  do  not  know  the  program  that  will  be  laid  before  us; 
we  can  not  say  what  our  part  in  it  will  be.  We  only  know,  in  a  general  way, 
what  some  of  the  problems  will  be.  There  will  be  those  things  that  women 
have  ever  held  dear — the  safeguarding  of  little  children,  the  education  of 
youth,  the  health  of  a  people,  and  such  great  tasks  as  supplying  to  every  willing 
worker  a  job  and  providing  for  the  whole  world  food.  But  what  we  do  know 
is,  there  can  be  no  great  performance  in  which  women  do  not  play  a  part. 

Our  present  duty,  then,  is  to  emulate  our  brothers  and  sons  in  France.  There 
the  men  wait  with  vigilance  as  keen  as  ever,  ready  to  spring  to  action  at  the 
word  of  command,  whether  that  word  be  to  attack  the  enemy  again  or  to  garri- 
son a  vanquished  foe.  We,  no  more  than  they,  are  mustered  out 

On  the  other  hand,  all  the  programs  of  work,  even  those  purely 
social  in  value,  had  been  put  forward  as  war  work.  Their  primary 
appeal  to  workers  was  that,  in  some  way  or  other,  they  helped  win 
the  war.  Now  that  the  war  was  practically  won,  would  it  be  possible 
to  secure  from  the  women  the  same  response,  would  patriotism  in 
the  garb  of  social  welfare,  or  reconstruction,  make  the  same  appeal 
as  when  dressed  as  a  minion  of  Mars?  An  affirmative  answer  to 
this  question  was  made  doubtful  by  the  disposition  in  some  quar- 
ters to  regard  all  war  work  as  finished  and  to  relax  at  once.  In 
financing  their  undertakings,  the  State  Divisions  had  depended 
upon  the  war  appeal.  Whether  public  contributions  would  be  as 
liberal  for  a  peace  program,  was  a  question.  Many  State  Divisions 
were  dependent  upon  their  State  Councils  for  support.  The  ap- 
proaching dissolution  of  the  latter  affected  the  ability  of  the  former 
to  continue,  even  if  they  wished. 

Yet.  it  is  probable  that  all  of  these  objections  could  have  been 
met  by  those  State  Divisions  desiring  to  go  on  with  reconstruction 
work  if  they  could  have  counted  upon  a  definite  program  from  the 
Field  Division.  This,  as  has  been  shown,  the  Field  Division  was 
in  no  position  to  give  them,  since  the  Government  was  putting  forth 
no  reconstruction  program. 

The  situation  in  which  the  women  found  themselves  was  this: 
War  work  had  opened  up  tremendous  possibilities  to  women  for 
public  service.  The  organization  of  the  Woman's  Committee  had 
interested  and  placed  in  such  service,  millions  of  women  who  had 
not  hitherto  been  connected  with  public  work.  The  State  chairman 
of  one  State  reported,  for  instance,  that  the  largest  women's  organi- 
zation in  her  State,  prior  to  the  war,  had  reached  12,000  women. 
The  State  Division  of  the  Woman's  Committee  was  able  to  reach 
82,000.  The  leaders  could  not  bear  to  think  of  losing  the  voluntary 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  *  139 

service  of  these  millions  of  women  when  there  remained  important 
work  to  be  done  for  the  public  welfare  in  Americanization,  for  Child 
Welfare,  and  for  Women  in  Industry.  The  question  these  women 
asked  was  this:  If  the  Field  Division  goes  out  of  existence,  how 
can  this  energy  and  spirit  be  utilized  for  the  country's  benefit! 

The  same  question  had  been  asked,  immediately  after  the  signing 
of  the  armistice,  by  members  of  the  Woman's  Committee.  This  com- 
mittee, it  will  be  remembered,  had  not  gone  out  of  existence  with  the 
creation  of  the  Field  Division,  but  continued  in  its  advisory  func- 
tion. This  committee  met  on  November  16,  and  again  on  the  22d, 
to  consider  what  recommendations,  if  any,  they  should  make,  now 
that  the  armistice  was  declared.  They  considered  the  question  of 
calling  a  conference  of  the  chairmen  of  the  State  Divisions  and  of 
the  presidents  of  the  national  women's  organizations  similar  to  the 
one  held  in  May,  1918.  It  was  finally  determined  to  let  the  women  in 
the  States  decide  whether  such  a  meeting  should  be  held.  The  net 
result  of  the  questionnaire  sent  out  to  the  States  was  that,  if  the 
Government  had  a  definite  program  it  wished  to  place  before  the 
women,  such  a  conference  was  desirable,  but,  lacking  such  a  definite 
program,  a  conference  was  not  necessary. 

In  the  meantime  an  unofficial  group  of  women  had  arranged  to 
hold  a  Victory  Conference  in  Washington  on  February  12,  and  the 
Woman's  Committee  invited  such  of  its  chairmen  as  were  coming 
to  Washington  for  that  conference  to  meet  with  them  informally  on 
February  11.  Xo  action  was  taken  at  this  meeting  except  that  those 
present  strongly  recommended  the  community  council  idea  and  in- 
dorsed equal  pay  for  equal  work  and  equal  opportunity  for  women* 

In  the  light  of  these  postarmistice  developments  none  of  the  State 
Divisions  could  expect  to  continue  permanently  as  State  Divisions. 
The  question  to  be  settled  was  as  to  the  best  way  to  make  permanent 
their  work.  Such  was  the  recommendation  made  to  them  by  the 
Field  Division.  Fifteen  of  the  State  Divisions  reported  plans  to  this 
effect.  In  six  States  the  divisions  handed  over  a  part  at  least  of  their 
work  to  a  new  agency.  In  some  cases  the  divisions  were  instrumental 
in  forming  this  new  agency,  as  in  Michigan  where  the  State  Division 
was  asked  to  appoint  the  six  women  members  to  the  State  Reconstruc- 
tion Commission.  In  Alabama  the  chairman  of  the  State  Division 
was  made  a  member  of  the  new  body;  in  California  the  Food  Chair- 
man was  placed  on  the  State  Committee  on  Readjustment.  In  two 
States  the  division  was  reorganized  under  a  new  name,  going  ahead 
as  a  voluntary  organization.  In  Indiana  it  became  the  Woman's 
Chamber  of  Commerce ;  in  Rhode  Island,  the  Rhode  Island  Woman's 
Committee  of  Civic  Welfare,  which  was  financed  by  the  governor 
to  take  up  such  lines  of  work  as  Child  Welfare*  Americanization, 
Women  and  Children  in  Industry.  In  six  States  the  work  was 


140  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

handed  over  to  different  existing  agencies.  In  some  cases,  these 
agencies  are  of  a  volunteer  character,  and  in  others  official.  Some  of 
the  earlier  States  to  disband  made  provision  for  the  continuation  of 
part  of  their  -work.  The  Missouri  Division  went  out  of  existence 
February  27,  but  its  departments  of  Child  Welfare  and  Patriotic 
Education  have  been  maintained.  Minnesota,  though  disbanded, 
plans  to  call  a  meeting  of  the  State  and  local  chairman  every  year 
in  order  to  make  plans  for  coordinating  women's  work. 

In  several  States,  besides  those  which  had  turned  the  local  machinery 
over  to  the  new  agencies  taking  over  the  work  of  the  State  Divisions, 
plans  have  been  made  for  making  the  local  units  permanent.  Many 
of  the  divisions  report  efforts  being  made  to  form  Community  Coun- 
cils as  the  final  residuary  legatee  of  both  the  endeavors  and  the  spirit 
of  the  Woman's  Committee.  The  most  striking  instance  has  been 
furnished  by  the  Illinois  State  Division,  which  set  up  a  committee 
of  men  and  women  to  further  the  movement  for  community  organi- 
zation, engaged  a  State  organizer,  and  backed  the  movement  with 
funds  and  speakers.  In  Missouri  the  State  Division  has  employed  a 
field  secretary  to  undertake  this  work.  The  Wisconsin  Division, 
whose  chairman  so  enthusiastically  advocated  Community  Councils 
at  the  informal  conference  held  in  February  has  been  successful  in 
effecting  some  350  councils.  Local  work  is  the  last  to  be  reported 
to  the  Washington  office,  but  newspaper  clippings  would  lead  to 
the  conclusion  that  in  many  parts  of  the  country  the  local  units  have 
taken  upon  themselves  the  responsibility,  to  quote  one  of  the  Field 
Division's  own  bulletins,  "  of  conserving  to  posterity  the  new  unity 
which  has  been  one  of  the  most  signal  benefits  conferred  upon  us 
by  the  war  and  which  is  a  great  stride,"  as  President  Wilson  has 
said,  in  writing  of  community  councils,  "  toward  welding  the  Nation 
together  as  no  nation  of  great  size  has  ever  been  welded  before." 
Many  of  the  smaller  Woman's  Committee  units,  feeling  their  respon- 
sibility, established  their  local  machinery  upon  a  peace  basis,  some- 
times as  an  independent  woman's  organization,  sometimes  in  con- 
nection with  an  existing  civic  association  of  men. 

While  the  State  Divisions  were  making  these  plans,  the  Woman's 
Committee  had  been  closing  up  its  own  affairs.  Some  time  prior  to 
February,  1919,  the  Resident  Director  had  communicated  to  the 
chairman  of  the  council,  the  desire  of  the  committee  to  dissolve  as 
*oon  as  the  need  for  its  service  had  passed.  The  chairman  of  the 
council  had  thereupon  requested  that  the  committee  remain  until 
peace  was  consummated,  or  until  it  appeared  that  there  was  no  further 
need  of  the  committee.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
held  February  12,  its  last  meeting,  as  it  happened,  Dr.  Shaw  was 
instructed  to  write  to  the  Secretary  of  War:  "The  Woman's  Com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  serve  for  the  duration  of  the  war  and  as  long 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.-        .  141 

thereafter  as  the  Council  of  National  Defense  may  direct.  In  the 
opinion  of  the  committee,  their  work  is  at  an  end,  but  at  the  request 
of  the  Secretary  of  War,  the  chairman  of  the  council,  the  Woman's 
Committee  holds  itself  subject  to  the  call  of  the  Council  of  National 
Defense,  and  herewith  tenders  its  resignation  to  take  effect  when,  in 
the  judgment  of  the  council,  the  services  of  the  Woman's  Committee 
may  no  longer  be  required." 

This  resignation,  submitted  to  take  effect  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
council,  was,  on  February  27,  1919,  accepted  by  the  President  in  the 
following  letter: 

The  Secretary  of  War  has  presented  to  me  your  letter  of  February  17,  setting 
forth  a  copy  of  the  resolutions  of  the  Woman's  Committee  tendering  the  resigna- 
tions of  its  members  and  effecting  the  dissolution  of  the  committee.  This  action, 
1  understand,  is  taken  because,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee,  its  distinctive 
work  is  at  an  end,  and  so  much  as  remains  to  be  done  is  covered  by  the  Field 
Division  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense.  In  accepting  these  resignations  and 
consenting  to  the  dissolution  of  the  committee,  it  would  be  invidious  to  make 
any  assessment  of  its  work  by  way  of  comparison  with  that  of  any  other  agency 
organized  in  the  great  emergency  through  which  the  country  has  Just  passed. 
Rut  surely  you  and  the  members  of  the  committee  must  be  confident  that  the 
women  of  America  responded  in  this  war  with  service  and  patriotic  enthusiasm 
which  were  at  once  an  invaluable  aid  to  the  Nation's  cause  and  a  wholesome 
demonstration  of  the  solidarity  of  opinion  and  feeling  among  our  people.  In 
the  midst  of  sacrifice  the  women  of  America  found  their  consolation  In  serv- 
ice. The  organization  of  this  work  was  intrusted  to  ninny  agencies  of  specialized 
kinds,  but  the  centralization  of  the  impulse  was  largely  the  work  of  .the 
Woman's  Committee, 

It  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate  the  importance  of  the  function  the  com- 
mittee has  served  in  being  both  a  vast  bureau  for  the  dissemination  of  informa- 
tion, and  itself  a  wellspring  of  inspiration  and  zeal.  I  beg  you  to  accept  for 
yourself  and  the  members  of  the  committee  this  expression  of  my  deep  apprecia- 
tion of  the  service  they  have  rendered  the  Nation. 

In  transmitting  the  President's  letter  to  the  Woman's  Committee, 
the  chairman  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense  took  occasion  to  ex- 
press, both  as  chairman  of  the  council  and  Secretary  of  War,  his  own 
valuation  of  their  services,  as  follows: 

The  President  has  accepted  the  judgment  of  the  Woman's  Committee  as  to 
the  conclusion  of  its  work,  and  as  the  designation  of  the  committee  proceeded 
directly  from  the  President  his  letter  to  you  is,  of  course,  the  official  recognition 
of  the  completion  of  your  great  task.  I  beg  you  to  permit  me,  however,  as  chair- 
man of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  and  if  I  may  without  confusion  add  as 
Secretary  of  War,  to  add  my  own  word  of  appreciation  of  the  committee's 
effective  work.  When  we  went  into  the  war  there  were  many  agencies  for 
the  expression  of  opinion  and  the  coordination  of  the  energies  of  men.  The 
great  body  of  the  women  of  the  country,  however,  were  not  organized  In  any 
groups  or  associations  which  bore  a  direct  relationship  to  the  Government  or 
to  the  emergencies  which  faced  the  people.  Everywhere  the  voices  of  women 
mingled  with  those  of  men  in  asking  that  some  authoritative  direction  be  given 
to  the  impulse  which  moved  them  to  help,  and  many  sorts  of  societies  began  to 


142  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL,  DEFENSE. 

be  organized  which  were  local  and  special,  but  had  no  central  object  ami  no 
representative  here  In  Washington  to  which  they  could  all  look  for  guidance 
and  understanding.  The  Woman's  Committee  at  once  upon  its  organization 
became  such  an  agency  and  representative.  That  there  have  been  difficulties 
iri  establishing  the  work  of  the  committee  goes  without  saying.  It  was  a  new 
task  and  had  to  be  conceived  upon  very  large  and  yielding  lines;  but  tbe  result 
I  think,  may  be  viewed  with  both  gratitude  nnd  enthusiasm. 

No  other  national  emergency  will  find  us  in  the  same  situation.  Landmarks 
have  been  set  and  we  have  discovered  the  capacity  of  women  for  organized 
and  associated  cooperation  with  the  Government  In  the  gravest  problems  of 
our  national  life,  and  the  history  of  the  war  will  undoubtedly  contain  perma- 
nent evidence  both  of  the  work  done  by  the  committee  and  the  ground  broken 
and  prepared  by  it  for  future  cultivation.  How  much  all  of  this  helped  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  it  would  be  impossible,  briefly,  to  say.  Indeed,  the 
Council  of  National  Defense  during  its  war  phase  and  aside  from  its  peace- 
time functions  was  a  curious  agency — organizing  and  disappearing;  creating 
nud  turning  over  to  others  the  work  which  it  had  planned.  To  some  extent  the 
Woman's  Committee  partook  of  the  character  of  the  council,  and  the  net  result 
was  a  widespread  and  helpful  association  between  men  and  women  in  practically 
all  of  the  field  of  endeavor  which  went  to  make  up  the  aggregate  of  our  national 
strength  of  sentiment  and  action. 

I  beg  you  to  convey  to  your  associates  on  the  committee  some  portion  of  the 
sentiment  which  I  here  express,  which,  in  brief,  Is  one  of  grateful  appreciation. 

Announcement  of  the  resignation  and  its  acceptance  was  formally 
made  on  March  15, 1919,  and  the  Woman's  Committee  passed  out  of 
existence.  For  the  State  Divisions  that  were  carrying  on  or  closing 
up  their  business  there  yet  remained  a  connection  with  Washington 
through  the  Field  Division. 


CHAPTER  XHL 

CONCLUSION. 

In  some  foreign  countries  it  is  customary  when  an  "  Ouvre "  has 
been  finished  to  call  together  representatives  of  all  the  workers, 
together  with  representatives  of  the  public  and  the  Crown,  in  order 
that  those  responsible  may  make  a  report  to  that  assemblage  of  the 
work  undertaken,  telling  its  purpose  as  well  as  its  accomplishments. 
Such  meetings  are  said  to  be  very  impressive,  conducted  as  they  are, 
in  the  picturesque  but  stately  old-world  fashion.  In  a  country  30 
immense  as  America,  with  so  many  people  concerned  in  every  large 
undertaking,  such  a  custom  could  not  take  root.  Loss  of  the  personal 
touch  is  the  penalty  of  "bigness."  Certainly  it  would  never  have 
been  possible  to  gather  together  in  such  a  way  those  interested  in  the 
Woman's  Committee.  The  women  who  were  responsible  simply  for 
executing  the  work  would  fill  the  largest  forum  the  world  has  ever 
built. 

This  history  is  the  more  prosaic,  American  way  of  making  such  a 
report.  Its  audience  is  composed  of  those  who  in  any  way  contrib- 
uted to  that  great  experiment,  called  the  "Woman's  Committee;  its 
purpose  to  make  available  in  another  time  of  need  the  results  of 
that  experiment.  It  becomes  necessary,  therefore,  to  close  this 
book  with  some  comments  as  to  the  benefits  gained.  Other- 
wise this  report  might  wrongly  seem  to  be  a  mere  chronicle  of  diffi- 
culties and  adjustments.  It  is  true  much  emphasis  has  been  laid 
upon  some  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  the  committee;  much  of  the 
story  is  devoted  to  adjustments;  achievements  are  mentioned  only 
incidentally,  or  to  bring  home  a  conclusion.  This  has  seemed  neces- 
sary in  order  that  such  difficulties  may  never  occur  again.  If  prog- 
ress is  the  end,  and  not  self-praise,  handicaps  must  be  recognized.  It 
is  only  as  handicaps  that  difficulties,  conflicts,  and  disagreements 
have  been  mentioned,  never  as  complaints.  Even  so,  these  handicaps 
have,  in  many  instances,  been  acknowledged  as  unavoidable  or  in-' 
herent  in  the  situation. 

In  all  discussions  of  the  development  of  the  Woman's  Committee  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  primary  purpose  of  the  council  in  ap- 
pointing the  Woman's  Committee  was  to  coordinate  and  mobilize 
the  women  of  the  country  for  the  winning  of  the  war.  The  means 
the  council  used  to  accomplish  this  and  its  effects  on  women,  their 

143 


144  UNITED  STATES  COUNCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

status  in  government,  are  presented  here  because  they  are  of  interest 
and  value,  but  it  is  important  for  the  reader  to  differentiate  between 
the  means  employed  and  their  result;  the  end  sought  and  its  achieve- 
ment. 

The  great  need  that  faced  the  Government  at  the  time  the  Woman's 
Committee  was  appointed  was  for  an  immediate  and  loyal  support 
to  the  prosecution  of  the  war  and  a  wave  of  unselfish  patriotism. 
The  problem  of  the  Government  was  to  bring  to  the  people  the 
necessary  information  and  to  arouse  such  patriotism.  To  this  task 
the  "Woman's  Committee  primarily  addressed  its  efforts  and  in  the 
accomplishment  of  it  reached  practically  the  entire  womanhood  of 
America.  What  the  union  of  the  women  of  the  country  into  an 
immense  sisterhood  may  mean  to  the  country  it  is  too  soon  to  inquire. 
Undoubtedly  the  effects  of  such  work  must  persist  long  after  the 
work  itself  seems  to  have  ceased.  Just  as  the  country  waits  to  see 
what  effect  these  2,000,000  soldiers  will  have  on  its  civic  life 
when  they  return  to  it.  so  must  one  wonder  what  effect  these  women, 
organized,  aroused,  informed,  and  trained  by  the  Woman's  Com- 
mittee will  have  on  the  civic  life  of  to-morrow  and  the  next  .day. 
Everyone  realizes  that  the  discipline  of  camp  life,  the  strain  and 
stress  of  the  struggle,  the  daily  facing  of  death  and  the  knowledge 
gained  of  new  countries  and  other  peoples,  must  make  some  change 
in  the  man  who  has  been  in  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces. 
His  idea  of  citizenship,  his  sense  of  values,  his  demands  from  his 
Government  and  of  his  Government  will  not  be  those  of  the  older 
generation. 

So  one  knows  that  the  hard  work  done,  the  sacrifices  made,  the 
patriotism  aroused,  and  the  vistas  opened  up  to  the  women  by  the 
war  work,  must  make  a  change  in  women,  but  no  one  can  say  just 
what  that  change  will  be.  One  can  only  hope  that  when  these  two 
forces  join  hands,  the  men  who  fought  and  the  women  who  worked, 
a  new  vision  of  democracy  will  result,  finer  than  any  that  has  yet 
been  conceived.  If  there  remain  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  women, 
from  this  experiment,  a  wider  vision  of  their  usefulness,  a  deeper 
appreciation  of  their  abilities  and  a  keener  sense  of  their  obligation 
to  their  Government,  if  there  remain  with  the  Government  a  wider 
vision  of  the  interests  of  women  and  their  place  in  government,  a 
deeper  appreciation  of  the  work,  abilities,  and  services  of  women, 
and  a  keener  sense  of  their  place  in  the  counsels  that  arrange  and 
plan  and  adopt  policies,  it  is  enough.  Above  and  aside  from  what 
the  country  gained  of  actual  contributions  towards  the  prosecution 
of  the  war,  women  will  have  grown  stronger  and  the  Government 
will  have  become  richer  because  of  the  appointment  of  the  Woman's 
Committee.  Into  the  war  the  country  poured  its  treasure,  lx>th  of 


THE  WOMAN'S  COMMITTEE.  145 

money  and  of  life,  asking  no  gain,  but  only  that  it  might  make 
safe  all  that  America  then  had,  of  liberty  and  opportunity,  freedom 
and  equality.  If  the  Woman's  Committee  has  been  able  to  bring  to 
the  country  some  further  profit,  if  it  has  shown  a  better  way  to 
utilize  one  of  the  country's  resources,  made  that  better  way  easier 
for  women,  then  well  may  it  be  said  to  have  been  an  experiment 
worth  while. 

That  the  Government  of  the  United  States  considers  it  worth  while 
there  is  evidence.  America  has  her  way  of  voicing  approval  and 
commendation  of  services  rendered. 

In  a  small  room  in  the  State,  War,  and  Xavy  Building,  in  Wash- 
ington, there  took  place  an  event  May  19,  1919,  which  typified  this. 
Gathered  in  an  informal  group  beneath  the  photographs  of  former 
Secretaries  of  War,  and  the  silken  flags  of  our  Nation,  were  heads  of 
Federal  departments,  men  high  in  the  councils  of  the  Government, 
women  leaders  of  women,  women  workers  for  the  cause  of  women  in 
politics  and  industry,  and  women  workers  themselves,  the  staff  of 
the  Woman's  Committee. 

Across  the  table  from  this  group  stood  another,  ranged  in  a  semi- 
circle. In  this  group  were  men  back  from  France,  who  by  their 
courage,  endurance  or  wisdom  had  organized  the  fighting  forces 
or  kept  them  well,  or  fed  them,  or  transported  them,  men  who  by 
their  tireless  service  had  stopped  pestilence  and  conquered  a  disease — 
officers  from  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces,  about  to  receive 
the  distinguished  service  medal.  But  the  attention  of  the  group 
across  the  table  from  them  was  not  centered  on  these  men  with  their 
grave  faces  showing  the  importance  of  this  occasion  to  them.  The 
men  and  the  women  present  were  looking  at  the  figure  at  the  end  of 
the  line,  a  woman,  gray  and  slightly  bent,  in  whose  face  was  the 
strength  of  a  warrior.  The  Secretary  of  War  entered,  attended  by 
an  aid.  In  a  few  simple  words  he  explained  what  the  order  meant, 
and  called  the  first  name  on  his  list,  Dr.  Anna  Howard  Shaw.  The 
only  woman  in  the  line  stepped  forward.  The  citation  which  pref- 
aced the  simple  ceremony  of  pinning  on  her  breast  the  insignia  of 
this  honor  was  read: 

Dr.  Anna  Howard  Shaw.  For  especially  meritorious  and  conspicuous  services 
as  chairman  of  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense, 
She  coordinated  the  mobilization  and  organization  of  women  throughout  the 
country  in  every  phase  of  war  work,  including  the  securing  of  women  for  some 
of  the  various  branches  of  the  Army. 

On  still  another  occasion,  similar  in  setting  and  ceremony,  the 

woman  who  had  served  the  Woman's  Committee  and  by  this  means 

her  country,  first  as  resident  director  and  later  as  associate  director 

of  the  Field  Division,  was  similarly  honored.    The  citation  for  which 

141634*— 20 10 


146  UNITED  STATES  COUXCIL  OF  NATIONAL  DEFENSE. 

Mi.ss  Hannah  J.  Patterson  received  the  distinguished  service  medal 
was  as  follows: 


Hannah  .T.  Patterson.  For  distinguished  and  meritorious  service,  in 
thflt  she  devoted  herself  throughout  the  whole  period  of  the  war  to  executive 
work  of  the  Woman's  Committee  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  devoting 
!iei>elf  with  great  ability  and  energy  to  the  organisation  of  the  activities  and 
interests  of  the  women  throughout  the  United  States  in  the  interest  of  the  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  war  and,  by  her  efforts,  contributed  to  the  splendid 
cooiterution  on  the  part  of  the  women  of  the  country  in  the  great  national 
emergency. 

By  these  two  decorations  was  honored  the  Woman's  Committee  of 
the  Council  of  National  Defense,  and  through  it  the  women  of  Amer- 
ica. It  in  no  way  lessens  the  honor  to  these  two  women  for  their 
ability,  zeal,  and  devotion  that  their  decoration  is  the  official  recog- 
nition of  the  women  whom  they,  as  chairman  and  as  resident  director 
of  the  Woman's  Committee,  led  throughout  the  Great  War  to  the 
service  of  their  country. 


<•:«,   ',  .-••-      ..    •    u!  .  ' 

;Ur:  * 

\ 


INDEX 


Agriculture.  Department  of 13,20,78.77,103.104,111 

Allen,  F.  L, 126 

Americanization _        85 

Armistice 125, 132 

Army  School  of  Nursing 90 

Atwater,  Helen 75, 76,  77 

Baker,  Newton  D.,  Secretary  of  War  and  chairman  of  Council  of  Na- 
tional Defense 17,91. 117, 133, 140,141,145 

Foreward  by »          5 

Baruch,  B.  M 184 

Belgium,  Elizabeth,  -Queen  of S9 

Berry,  George  L 122 

Bissell,  R.  M 122 

Blalne,  Mrs.  Eminem* 28 

Bowen,  Mrs.  Joseph  T 47,48,107 

Buehl,  -C.  L 120 

Bush,  Mrs.  B.  F 107 

Cable,  Mrs.  Herbert  A 108 

Callaway,  Fuller 122 

Catt,  Mrs.  Carrie  Chapman 16,30.85 

Census  Bureau '. 20.67 

Child  Welfare,  Department  of 20,  42,  80,  1 01. 126. 133 

Oiildreu's  Bureau 33, 34,  81,  111 

Children's  year 82, 83, 101 

Civil  Service  Commission 92,105,111 

{Tlarkson,  Gnisvenor  B 16,121,122,123,133,135 

Otunmercial  Ecoiiomy  Board 34,91.93,111 

O«»mmittce  on  public  information 86.  Ill 

Ominunity  councils 133,136,1441 

Community  kitchens 104, 10T> 

Connecticut  plan 40,111,127 

Cooperation  with  the  States,  section  on 41,42 

Council  of  National  Defense: 

Creation  and  functions  of 14 

Early  organization  of___  15,  2U,  1U»,  112,  116,  117, 119, 120,  121, 133,  134,  135 

County  home  demonstration  agents 7t» 

Courses  of  instruction 71 

Cowles,  Mrs.  Josiah  Evans 16,80 

Crane,  Dr.  Caroline  Bartlett 40,  48, 107 

Cravens,  Jobn  S - 120 

Daughters  of  American  Revolution 13 

Distinguished  service  medal -  1       145 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Belgium _— . .        89 

Employment  service 81.1^4,135 

147 


148  INDEX. 

England,  Mary,  Queen  of . 9') 

Fairbanks,  Mrs.  C.  W 3'> 

Federal  field  secretary 129 

Field,  Mrs.  Amy  Walker 83 

Field  Division __-  121, 122, 125, 131, 133, 134, 136,  139,  142,  145 

Field  secretaries 129 

Fowl  administration 18,  20,  27,  28,  29,  38,  56,  59,  70,  76,  77, 103, 104,  111 

FO<K!  drive 57. 63 

Food  production  and  home  economics,  department  of 20, 75, 103, 126, 133 

Franking  privilege 129 

Fryslnger,  Grace 126 

Funk,  Mrs.  Antoinette 16, 19, 30, 31, 32 

Garfield,  H.  A 134 

General  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs 13 

General  Medical  Board ;„.        94 

General  Munitions  Board ] 15 

Giflford,  W.  8 16,26,36,133 

Gold  Star,  organization  of 91 

Gompers,  Samuel „— ^.^ . „ 29, 30 

Green,  Elizabeth 64 

Halliday,  Mrs.  Edward 17 

Harding,  Mrs.  Samuel  B 126 

Harriman,  Mrs.  J.  Borden 29 

Health  and  recreation  department 20, 79, 101 

Helene,  Queen  of  Italy . 90 

Hinman,  Mary  Woods 79 

Home  and  foreign  relief  department 75 

Honorary  committee 11,12 

Hoover,  Herbert 27, 28, 38, 57, 58, 61,  62, 63 

Housing 84 

Hrbkova,  Sarka  B 107 

Information  department 64 

Insull,  Samuel  B ^      116 

Italy,  Helene,  Queen  of I 90 

Labor,  Department  of 13, 29, 33, 83 

Lamar,  Mrs.  Joseph  R 16,51,76,122 

Lane,  Franklin  K 15, 116, 120, 121, 122, 123, 126, 127, 132 

Lathrop,  Julia 20, 33, 80, 82 

Leffingwell,  R.  C 134 

Liberty  loan  committee 21, 30, 31, 32, 79,  111 

Mack,  Judge  Julian 35 

McAdoo,  Mrs.  W.  G 30 

McCormick,  Elizabeth,  memorial  fund 101 

McCormick,  Mrs.  Stanley  J 16,18,75,76,122 

Maintenance  of  existing  social  service  agencies,  Department  of 20, 77, 101 

Marie,  Queen  of  Roumania 89 

Martin,  Mrs.  J.  Willis 107 

Martin,  Mrs.  Martha  Evans 85, 120 

Mary,  Queen  of  England > 90 

Medical  Section,  Council  of  National  Defense 111 

Moore,  Mrs.  Philip  North 16, 18, 77, 79 

Morgan,  Mrs.  Henry  H ^      107 

Motor  Corps 13 


INDEX.  149 

Mourning  brassard . 01 

National  American  Woman  Suffrage  Association . , 13, 16 

National  Council  of  Women 13,24 

National  League  for  Women's  Service 13, 29, 80 

National  Women's  Liberty  Loan  Committee 81, 32 

Negro  women 106 

Nelson,  Alice  Dunbar ^ 106 

Nestor,   Agnes 16, 18, 83, 122 

News,  department  of 87, 101, 126 

Nims,  Marion 87 

Obenauer,  Marie : 29, 80 

Patterson,  Hannah  J 16,75,122,123,146 

Peek,  George  N 134 

Peixotto,  Dr.  Jessica  B 80,82,126 

Perkins,  Ina  J.  N 126 

Peters,  Ira  Lowther .        77 

Poincare,   Madame .        90 

Provost  Marshal  General .        90 

Public  Health  Sen-ice 94 

Red  Cross 18,  21, 22, 47, 73, 107, 135 

Registration  for  service 20,66,73 

Resident  director 7G,  87, 122 

Resolution  of  May  conference 114 

Reynolds,  D.  M 126 

Rickard,  Edgar 134 

Robinson,  Henry  M ...      122 

Roumania,  Marie,  Queen  of 89 

Rutz-Recs,  Caroline 107 

Scapecclil,  C 1 89 

Shaw,  Dr.  Anna  Howard 1 -^-f-  -T---f—i*-7^-r l«^t  H£, 

24/#f  jj£  GB,  GVpO,  M,  95,  lirf,  115; 
lltf  122,  12<  !»,  1*6,  137,  140,  145 

Shelby,  Gertrude  Matthews 87 

Sherwin,  Belle 107 

Shipping  Board 93 

Shoemaker,  Mrs.  Edward 107 

Smith,  Elliott  D 120 

State  chairmen,  conference  of 113, 139 

State  councils  of  defense 36,37, 

38,  39,  40,  41,  -12,  43,  44,  45,  46,  48,  49.  50,  51,  54,  55, 
57,  61,  69,  110,  111,  112.  114,  116,  118,  120,  121,  123, 
125,  126,  127,  12S,  129,  130,  131,  132,  133,  135,  136.  138 

State  divisions 37, 38.  39, 

40,  41,  42,  43,  44,  45,  4<5,  48,  49,  50,  51,  54,  55,  57,  61, 
69,  110.  Ill,  112,  114,  116,  118,  120,  121,  123,  125,  126, 
127,  12S,  129,  130,  131,  132,  135,  136,  138,  139,  140,  142 

Stockton,  Mrs.  Charles  W 108 

St urges,  Mrs.  Rush 107 

Surgeon  General — ^..^ _,_„_,,..,„ _        91 

Survey  of  cooked-food  agencies 77 

Tabor,  Grace _ 77 

Tarbell,  Ida  M 16, 18, 29,  87, 122, 126 

Thayer,  Mrs.  Nathaniel ; 107 


150  INDEX. 


Truth  toller  series  _______________________________  ____  ____        83 

rnited  States  Student  Nurse  Reserve  ________________  $£,94,97 

Van  Khun*,  Mary  __________________________________  .  ___  ..  30,  83t  S4 

Vocational  Training,  Federal  Board  for  _____  „  _  —  _.„__  ____      134 

War  Camp  Community  Service  -------------------------------      134 

War  Industries  Board  _______  .  _________________  -__  ____  *  _____  nm-..>-  15,134 

War  Risk  Insurance  _____  .  --------------  ..  ---------  .  -----  .  _____      134 

War  Tmde  Board  ______________________________________________      134 

War  work  for  women,  handbook  ________________  .  _________  .  ,  ______  „         64 

Wetmore,    Maude  ------------------------------------------  16,  75 

Whitley,  Mrs.  Francis  E  ----------------------------------      107 

Wllkes,  AHine  T  _____________________________________________  __        87 

WUlard,  Daniel  ----------------------------------  .  __________      122 

Wilson,  Kuth  _____________________________________________      126 

Wilson,    Woodrow  _____________________________  112,  113,  116,  117,  130,  134,  141 

Wilson,  Mrs.  Woodrow  _____________________________  _  _____________      113 

Woman's  Committee  -------------------------------------  -----          9 

Raster  of  State  and  Territorial  divisions.  ____________________  .  9,  10,  11 

Honorary  committee  -------------------------------------  11,  12,23 

Plan  of  organization  _________  _______________________  19.  20,  107 

Plan  of  work  _________________________________________  18,20,28,74 

Women  In  industry,  department  of  _______________  20,  29,  30,  43,  83,  84,  102,  12C 

Wood,  Mrs.  Ira  Couch  ------------------------------------  18.26,47 

Winters.  Mrs.  T.  G  -------------------------------------  49,107 

Woman's  Land  Army  of  America  ---  _  ----  ,  -------------------  70,  76,  104 

T.  M.  C.  A  ____________________________  —  _______________      134 

Y.  W.  C.  A  _________  —  ___  —-  TT,.-  _________________________  _      107 

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SIGMUND  SAMUEL  LEBHABI