History of The W oman s section of the Commission for Relief in Belgium Executive Offices : One Madison Ave., New York The Woman's Section of The Commission for Relief in Belgium Under the August Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians and H. R. H. The Duchess of Vendome Message from Her Majesty The Queen ot the Belgians to the Woman's Section of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium Headquarters Belgian Army November 29, 1914. It gives me great pleasure to accept the invitation which has been transmitted to me to become Patroness of the Woman's Section of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium. I wish to extend to the women of America the deep gratitude of the women of Belgium for the work which they are doing for my people. The food which your Country is daily providing to our women and children comes like a ray of sunshine in the darkest hour of Belgium's history. The Belgian women have fought a brave fight for the common cause of human liberty, so dear to every Amer- ican woman's heart. ELISABETH. Message from H. R H. The Duchess of Vendome I gladly accept your invitation to become Patroness of the Woman's Section of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium. I know that I speak for every Belgian woman and every Belgian child when I say that we thank God for what you are doing. Now that the extremity of our distress is be- coming known, we feel sure the tender hearts of the women of America will respond to our cry. Food is terribly needed by millions of my brave Brother's unhappy subjects who still remain in their native land. Be- fore winter is over the need will become more desperate. In the name of the suffering women and little children of Belgium, I ask the women of America to help us. HENRIETTE, Duchess of Vendome, Princess of Beleium. Dessin de J. SIMONT. Reproduced from L'lllustration No. 3739. Elisabeth, Reine des Beiges "Kile est la-bas, avec le roi Albert, au milieu des troupes qui combattent. Elle est venue de ville en ville, de camp en camp, de trancbee en trancbee. Elle console de vivre et console de mourir ; elle sourit, elle panse des blessures. Elle est toute la douceur et > toute la pitie dans ce pays de Flandre ou la brume lourde envellope le paysage triste, linceul de grisaille sur tant et tant de linceuls de lin. * * * Reine errante, mais reine comme ne le fut jamais l'epouse du roi le plus puissant, elle symbolise toute la patrie meurtrie et qui ne veut pas mourir. Lcin des cites orgueilleuses et des palais somptueux, elle va vers les soldats tombes sous la mitraille et quand elle passe pres d'eux, les paupieres des agonisants se soulevent, pour un dernier regard, une derniere larme." * * * — Roland de Mares {Le Temps). She is over there with King Albert in the midst of the fighting troops. From town to town, from camp | to camp, from trench to trench she goes. She in- spires the living, she consoles the dying; she smiles upon them, she binds up their wounds. There she is, so gentle, so pitying, in that Flemish land, that sad country wrapped in heavy mist, a gray winding sheet softly falling over so many rigid shrouds. Queen errant, but more a Queen than ever has been the consort of the most puissant King, she symbolizes ' her country, that country which is so gashed and wounded, but which will not die. Far from proud cities and sumptuous palaces she goes to the soldiers fallen beneath the leaden rain, and as she passes near * them the eyes of the dying are lifted up to her for a last look, a last tear. * * * — Roland de Mares {Le Temps). 4 APPEAL "For I was an hungered and ye gave me meat." Never before in civilized history has a whole na- tion faced famine. If in Begium over six million people, men, women and children, are to be kept alive, food must be sent, and at once. The American Commission for Relief in Belgium is internationally constituted. It has relation to six Powers — Belgium, France, Holland, England, Ger- many and America. We, its Woman's Section, make appeal to all the women of America to come to the rescue of a starving people. The highest aspirations and the finest achievements of the race are sym- bolized in this little country. The Belgians must be saved to the human family. We ask American women to recall and deserve anew the immortal tribute they won from our great Lincoln, and to here highly resolve that this people, under God, shall not perish from the earth. We sent forth to organizations, International, Na- tional and State, a request that they stand with us to spread the saving call. Between November 10th and December 10th there rallied to us the presi- dents of organizations representing collectively over six million women. To those not yet with us, we say come, that unitedly we may help in working out sal- vation for the famine-menaced Belgians. 5 Many Governors, in co-operation with the Com- mission, have appointed Relief Committees. Other groups, similarly, are co-operating with it and its Woman's Section. We ask that the efforts of these, our allies, be supported in the States where they exist. The influence and momentum of organizations can be best exerted at the source, in the home towns, and we are striving for the greatest efficiency and economy. Where one dollar can represent a day's life for thirty people, we wish every dollar to fill its fullest service. We request State Committees and Local Organizations, until the Commission's official State Committee has been organized, to co-operate directly with the Woman's Section. In the united name of all our collective womanhood, we beg for the lives of the Belgians. We ask for food. The workmen in New York consume an average of forty ounces a day per man. The Commission has named a minimum for keeping the life spark aflame, an average of ten ounces a day per person, man, woman or child. America, the greatest country standing outside the circle of war, will surely, in this banner year of her harvests, give to the famish- ing dependent upon her bounty. Will you help us to save The Little Sister of the World ? 6 The Woman's Section of The Commission for Relief in Belgium November 1, 1914, the following cable letter was received in New York City: London, November ist, 1914- Mrs. Lindon Bates, 784 5th Ave., New York, N. Y. "The American Commission for Relief in Belgium which has been set up officially by the American Ambassadors to execute their International agreements for the provisioning of Belgium and which embraces American Ambassadors as Honorary Chairman, the American Consuls and American residents of England and Belgium as members, would like to have you undertake the formation of a great group of American women who would support us in securing food or money for the Belgian people. It is certain that the entire population of seven millions are on the verge of famine and that eighty thousand tons of cereals per month is the abso- lute minimum upon which body and soul can be kept to- gether, and this provides a ration of but ten ounces per capita per diem. The situation is one of gravest gravity. We have sent an appeal to the American press to open subscriptions for our purposes, all of which subscriptions we want translated into actual foodstuffs from the United States. We would be grateful for the help of yourself and all those women who rightly should come to your support." (Signed) Herbert Hoover, Chairman. To this Mrs. Bates replied : Herbert Hoover, Esq., 1 London Wall Building, London. "The official invitation of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium received. I accept with a deep sense of responsibility. I am forming a representative committee which will do its uttermost to enlist co-operation from American women." (Signed) MRS. LINDON BATES. November ist, 1914. The Committee was organized as follows : Mrs. Lindon Bates, Chairman. Miss Anne Morgan, Treasurer. Mrs. August Belmont. Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt. Miss Mary Parsons. Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt. Miss Maude Wetmore. 7 THE WO MAN' S SECTION November 10th the first meeting of the Board of the Women's Section was held after an informal luncheon at the Colony Club. The plan of organi- zation was set forth by the Chairman and adopted. In outline it was this: The Leaders of the great organizations of women, International and National, were to be asked upon an Executive Co-operating Committee to stand with the Board of Seven. In their collective name an appeal was to be issued for the rescue of the famine-menaced Belgians. Their collective help was to be asked in making the appeal effective. The obstacles in the way of realizing the plan were fully weighed. National organizations are conserva- tive. Officers are reluctant to commit themselves officially to any cause. They are rightly conserva- tive. When a parent federation embraces a move- ment, its constituents feel morally obligated to fol- low and to work for the same goal. In all bodies there is diversity of opinion and interests. Further, in this year of dreadful night the war had early called for activity in behalf of the Red Cross and of a dozen other specialized reliefs. All groups of women had, since mid-summer, been rallying help for these movements. The Presidents would be re- luctant to ask their women to unite again and center upon one relief. Further, National Leaders have worked upward to their places through a long dis- cipline in organization-methods and limitations. They act only when certain of the support of their Boards. The latter cannot always be got together rapidly, and if assembled may not be willing to commit the parent organization till the constituents have ex- pressed their willingness to follow. All these facts had been considered by the Wom- an's Section, yet it moved to its plan in a strong faith that the tragedy of Belgium could be set in such a light that the great International and Na- 8 THE WOMAN' S SECTION tional Organizations of Women would line up to work for its deliverance. Nothing that has ever been attempted in America gives such a testimonial to the meaning, power and future of the Woman Movement as this rally. In the month between November 10th and December 10th, there had been drawn, and were standing to- gether, the Presidents of International and National Organizations representing collectively over five and a half million women. The plan did not contemplate asking all National Organizations. The Woman's Section would have been gratified in having all, for each organization added to its strength, but its cause of being was food, its office was to save the life of the famishing. It was seeking hurriedly only a sufficiently repre- sentative voice to warrant going before the country with a great appeal. It planned for the same reason to invite individually, only one State body — the Fed- eration of Clubs. The reason for this should be de- tailed. A movement for saving seven millions of people standing on the brink of death had manifestly to avail itself of channels already existing. It had to take the lines of least resistance. Several of its strongest and most precious National Allies were specialized groups— like the W. C. T. U. By reason of their specialized reformatory nature, they were less able to rally the diversified forces of a State than the more broadly representative group of the Federated Clubs. The latter were therefore asked separately. The Section had not purposed asking any city organizations. Here, too, of course, it would have been overjoyed at the co-operation of them all, but their numbers were legion, and, as in the States, urgency limited the Section to a reasonable volume only of support. 9 THE WOMAN' S SECTION One city organization is enrolled because the Woman's Section was unreconciled to issuing a call in the name of so many women with no official rep- resentation of the group whose name was a symbol of its mission of mercy. On the Executive Committee one National is not enrolled which the Woman's Section counts none the less in the spirit. No group asked was more warmly responsive and more longing than the officers of the National that is not with us — the Women's Trade Union League. They did not wish to stand in name when they could not materially contribute, and in this year of great unemployment their funds were drained. The Colorado strike had also thrown upon the National the provision for many unwonted bur- dens. Their women were all of the laboring class — heavy-laden in the war's reaction here. Their Offi- cers did not feel that they could ask these toilers to lift also on the tragedy of Belgium. The Woman's Section agreed, and gratefully thanked them for the beautiful comradeship and sympathy which were their contribution. When the roll is called of our Nationals, there is one of which we say, "Absent but not missing." The two most important movements of the century are the organizing of labor and the organizing of women— both are at root allied. Counting the Fed- erations of Clubs, and not including separately the Council of Jewish Women, one Suffrage, and the Anti group, the organizations co-operating with the Woman's Section December 30, 1914, represented over six million. That in seven weeks there could be rallied to any cause leaders of such numbers of women, must speak volumes to those who have ears to hear. The Woman's Section is but a temporary creation, born of the catastrophe of a people, but within the coming months the largest National organizations in in THE WO MAN' S SECTION America are to be federated and welded permanently. At the moving of one lever organized women to the number of five million will be officially aligned to act unitedly — there are some things hopeful for the fu- ture. To the winning of the largest goal the Woman's Section will have helped mightily. Not alone has it gathered to its bosom the greatest number of Inter- national and National organizations ever standing together in any cause, but it has drawn several of the ultra-conservative groups, chary of affiliations. These and the detached clubs and the unorganized groups are all coming together into working "relief committees." Those less social will grow used to collective activity. They will feel the warmth of the community spirit — the strength of the community will. Later, they will be found, we hope, united in the "Council of National Organizations of Women." The spirit in which these tried, restrained women came should win for them a place in grateful mem- ory. The President of the Council of Women, the largest of the Nationals, was traveling and speaking in the West. For a week the Chairman's letters and wires trailed without reaching her. Meanwhile the President saw in a local journal confirmation of the appalling conditions of the starving Belgians. She read of the Woman's Section, its mission, its proposed system under the chairmanship of a com- rade in organization. Knowing that hers would probably be the first National asked, she moved at once. Arranging her authorization, the President of the Council of Women sent to the Chairman her moving acceptance of co-operation. "Use us for Belgium !" This first hand reached to the Woman's Section was surely both hospitable and inspiring. Another leader written to at headquarters was traveling and speaking through the South. Her Sec- retary took the matter up with the Officers and 11 THE WOMAN' S SECTION started a wire on the trail of the President. This Chief sent duly a message which has thrilled along our whole movement and has roused like a bugle call— "300,000 White Ribboners will stand with the Woman's Section." They have been as good as their word, these White Ribboners. The contributions have been everywhere disproportionately large from the W. C. T. U. Other smaller groups have come in the same heart- stirring way. From Georgia we received the fol- lowing message : "Count on our twenty-five thou- sand Georgia club-women for your work," and from Texas, "Fifteen thousand Texas club-women will co-operate with the nation-wide efforts to save famine-stricken Belgium." Each leader who has come has brought a definite note in her acceptance, and has made her own place in the gratitude of the Section. The Suffrage groups ! How much has been said of the flinty hearts they had developed and their obduracy to all appeals till the vote was won ! As though a woman would ever be anything but a women when the hu- man was agonized ! Without any reservations and in most gracious and helpful sympathy came both Suffrage Presidents. If the Woman's Section has done nothing else, it has shown to America that our Suffrage sisters have not been unsexed ; that they i are still in the old sense gentle-women ! The Antis joined the effort for Belgium just as unswervingly. Their President took counsel with the Chairman as to where her groups were strongest, and wrote per- sonally, asking her lieutenants to move their forces in behalf of Belgium. The Daughters of the American Revolution, stately, formal, in executive session passed unani- mously a vote to sustain this movement. Their Presi- dent called upon her States to assist, and loyally 1? THE WOMAN'S SECTION they have aided. The Council of Jewish Womer voted also unanimously in their National Board, t( support the cause of the Belgians. Their women philanthropic and open-hearted always, have beer generous friends in this crisis. The college group was approached at first with some misgiving. They are not of the gregarious temperament. They move slowly after judicial analysis, and are wary of emotional causes. But both Collegiate Nationals came. Indeed, in Ohio, the first Belgian Relief Committee organized under the Woman's Section was rallied by the President of the National Federation of College Women. She gathered her people, started collecting food and money, and sent a hurry call for literature. A Needlework Guild had established in Lyons, France, eight ouvroirs where, the material being sup- plied, unemployed girls were given temporary work making women's and children's garments. The Bel- gian refugees in their district are very numerous. The Belgian mothers and babies are given a whole- some meal and are clad in these warm garments, thus tiding over the awful winter. Two additional workshops are being opened. This movement was brought into co-operation with the Section. One of the first alliances sought was that of the Catholics. The Belgians and their Queen are Catho- lics, and it seemed eminently fitting that in the rescue of the country people their co-religionists should have a vital place. But this group works chiefly alone and is reluctant to join movements. However, the "Conference of Catholic Charities" came in Janu- ary to stand as the twenty-first National Organiza- tion upon the Executive Co-operation Committee of the Woman's Section. Having secured a collective voice of appeal, the Section occupied itself next with organizing the States for detailed work. Here was where the Fed- 13 THE WOMAN' S SECTION eration of Women's Clubs was so serviceable. Since the effort to save the Belgians was undertaken through organizations, and the "Federation" was the most representative group in each State, the Sec- tion invited the President in as many States as it had their co-operation to accept its chairmanship. Of twenty-six States organized December 31, 1914, the chairmanship in seventeen was held either by the President of the State Federation of Clubs or by a woman selected by and representing her. Of thirty-four States organized February 1, 1915, twenty-five chairmanships of the Woman's Section were thus held. The credit therefore for the actual achievements and for the contributions in money and food for these stricken people goes supremely, so far as women are concerned, to the State Federation of Women's Clubs. It is the noblest memorial that could have been erected to their honor. In the remaining nine States the chairmanships carried fitting dignities. Four of these Chairmen were named by the Governors upon their commit- tees of men. Three were especially selected for the Section by Governors ; another, an Honorary Chair- man, was the wife of the Governor, who selected also an active Chairman. On this date of publication, February 26, thirty-seven States are organized under the Woman's Section. When the State Chairmanships were arranged, the folder appeals were sent to all the clubs of the State, together with a circular letter, stating who was representing the Section. These folders had on the front page the frontispiece of "LTllustration" with the portrait of the Queen of the Belgians, and the touching text beneath it by Roland de Mares. On the second page were the two messages, one from the Queen and the other from the sister .of the King, the Duchess of Vendome, accepting places as patronesses of the Section. These messages, well- 14 THE WOMAN'S SECTION ing out of agonized hearts, were so profoundly piti- ful and appealing that they told as nothing else could, the extremity of sorrow and suffering in Belgium. The third page had the Woman's Section personnel — Board and co-operating committee. The fourth and fifth pages had the collective appeal for the life of the Belgians. The sixth, the shipping in- structions ; the seventh, the personnel of the Com- mission for Relief in Belgium. Into the hands of each State Chairman was put a list of the leaders of other Nationals in her State, who, with the support of their Presidents, could be asked to help. From the files were added clippings on all the detached Belgian Relief movements in her State, and the names of the Commission Executives with whom she was asked always to co-operate. The Commission and its Woman's Section aimed primarily to serve as a clearing house for the States. The organizations were asked to work where their influence and momentum were greatest — at the source, in the home towns, to use their funds in conjunction with the Commission's State Committees and to ship contributions collectively. Thus har- mony was insured and economy in buying and in transporting. The principle was laid down that in the States where money was contributed it should, if possible, be spent. A National movement carries something of value which local activity cannot inspire. Its sweep of sentiment, its comradeship, its communal effort, its emulation in well-doing— these are real elements. Several of the men's committees wrote gratefully to the Woman's Section of the help which head- quarters had brought them in their own States. The intensiveness of organization in any State has depended primarily upon the activities of the two Committees, that of the Commission and of the Woman's Section. In several splendidly organized 15 THE WOMAN' S SECTION States each Mayor of a town was asked to appoint a committee. The local papers were asked to in- terest their patrons and to collect funds. Pastors were asked to preach from the pulpits on this Bel- gian tragedy and to allow contributions to be taken in behalf of the people. Granges were asked for food, lectures were arranged, and in a very few places, moving picture films were made available. The system of seeking contributions has been vir- tually the same everywhere — a direct appeal. Clubs have been asked to give collectively, or to donate through individuals separately, as they prefer. In some States, groups have been asked to pledge certain fixed sums monthly until the famine is over. The Leland Stanford University students have a fund of this nature. Elsewhere in California monthly sums have been pledged. The plan has obtained more su'^eisfully among schools than elsewhere. In one county in New York clubs of women have been asked to contribute one dollar a month, each member, for six months. The President of a small National organization has asked each member to contribute a can of food — beans or milk preferably. In one State all the clubs have been asked to contribute a certain number of barrels of flour. In another "pounds" of food. In a Southern town a Belgian day was named. At a certain hour whistles blew, the church bells rang, and the women went forth to collect money and food for the Belgians. In four States there has been a tag day; in several, flag days. The lunch-room boxes have been successful, espe- cially in restaurants. Some motto, "You are about to eat, and the Belgians are without food," seems to strike at the psychological moment when the hor- rors of starvation are borne in upon them. 16 THE WO MAN' S SECTION The chain-letter system, which was supposed to be extinct, was extremely successful in another State, one group collecting in about eleven days some $2,300. Sewing circles have contributed thousands of gar- ments. In the cities a double service has been rendered by securing material and giving work to the unemployed who make up the garments. A friend of the Belgians in Colorado Springs started a "thank offering" because she lacked not food. She asked her neighbors to join her thanks- giving. Soon she left for Pasadena and continued the work. From this single friend the Woman's Section received, for milk for the babies within four weeks, $4,690.93. Next she has started the "Adopt a Belgian Baby Campaign." The adoption is by proxy only. "Two Dollars a Month" keeps the infant in its own mother's care. The public is in- vited to adopt a whole baby or a fraction thereof. The idea, which surely is an inspiration, is finding great favor in Southern California. The food boxes are proving one of the most popu- lar features of the movement. The basis of their possibilities lies in the transportation fund available to the Commission. The Commission is Interna- tionally constituted and has relation to eight Gov- ernments. In connection with these a transporta- tion fund has been provided. Arrangements have been made with express companies and with the parcel post whereby packages of sizes to be handled by them can be sent under Commission payments. It becomes easy therefore for persons' willing to con- tribute smaller consignments to send them along "collect." Through this fund those relieving the Bel- gians by the agency of the Commission can have all their money represented in food itself. 17 THE WOMAN'S SECTION Circles of Mercy have been very successfully em- ployed in Kingston, N. Y. The Woman's Section in Minneapolis organized a great Municipal Ball with "Belgian Sunday" fol- lowing. They wired to headquarters for 4,000 mite boxes. The "penny a day" or "five cents a week" con- tribution from school children is a feature of the New York State campaign. Concerts, dances, silver teas, raffles and many other varieties of social affairs have been given. Artists have contributed pictures, authors books to be sold in behalf of the Belgians. Two large life-like dolls were installed in the window of a prominent shop in Pasadena. One — warmed only by its nether garment — held in its ex- tended hands a placard — "I am freezing and starv- ing." The other reached to it, food and clothes. These two dolls drew large contributions in behalf of the children of Belgium. Bambino cards and calendars have been circulated. The exclusive feature of the Commission is the bread-line ticket. These are memorials of the famine, straight from the front. They are the food- cards which are stamped or punched for each dis- tribution. They give the name of the recipient and the number registered in the family and supplied from this ticket. Several have blanks representing days when the Commission could not supply food and the people all — men, women and children — went foodless. When one recalls that upon feeding day the ration is less than one-quarter of that consumed by the average American, the suffering of foodless days can be imagined. The spirit of humanity and generosity was so uni- versally shown that one cannot name one State with- out recalling that each other State had a distinctive something calling for just as hearty mention. The IS THE WOMAN'S SECTION want of space alone hinders here what certainly shall be recorded in the final history of the Com- mission — the pean of the State achievements in be- half of the dying Belgians. How many beautiful incidents will be reflected can be surmised from the story of one — the first into the held — lion- hearted California. Their pride, their money anc their hope were centered in their Panama Exposition; this which was to celebrate the freeing of their coast, and the greatest engineering triumph in the world's history. They wanted one special building and the hundred thousand dollars were in sight Then came the disaster in Belgium and the call foi help. They recalled the earthquake. They under- stood horrors, they had had tragedies ; they remem- bered the rush of the world to relieve them. With- out a look backward, they jumped into the rescue. Before certain other States realized what was going on in Belgium, a California ship loaded with food had sailed away for the new route and succor to the people. Later, when the disaster was becoming worse, the Commission appealed anew to California At first the way was not clear to compass more, bul there was no wavering. They set strong shoulders against the problem, the adjacent States rallied tc the common task, and today a second California shipload — the third from the Coast, is secured foi the people hemmed in behind the wall of steel. Kan- sas — regal Kansas, and Iowa — wonderful Iowa, and Minnesota and Ohio— the whole central tier, how they answered ! Nebraska with her cargo of corn, and Illinois, latest come, promising to surpass them all ! Then Oregon and Washington with theii memorable ship, and Idaho helping — Idaho, with our devoted little Wallace! Wallace and Tacoma lie warm against the heart of the Woman's Section And the poor cotton-stricken South ! The South was more wonderful than any other section, because 19 THE WO MAN' S SECTION it gave out of such dire need of its own. Maryland and Virginia with festal ships, and brave Roanoke sitting it out with her pledge ! Then Louisiana and Alabama — what superb spirit and what heartiness ! And Arkansas, dear Arkansas ! How tenderly the Woman's Section remembers it ! They told of their cotton, of their closed mills and the unemployment, and the easy, improvident colored brother whom they must tide along. But not for anything would Arkansas fail Belgium, or be missing from a Na- tional appeal. It was the same story throughout the South everywhere. No letters so warmed the heart of the Chairman as those from her Southern lieu- tenants. The loaded cars will gather to many centers, and the ships from the States will pass from many ports. On the mission of rescue their mercy-cargoes sail. The White Fleet speeds with the glad, grateful, bless- ing of the Woman's Section. 20 THE WOMAN' S SECTION The Woman's Section of The Commission for Relief in Belgium Mrs. Lindon Bates, Chairman Miss Anne Morgan, Treasurer Mrs. August Belmont Mrs. William K. Vanderbilt Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt Miss Maude Wetmore Miss Mary Parsons Miss Grace Cotton, Secretary EXECUTIVE CO-OPERATING COMMITTEE Presidents of International and National Organizations Mrs. Kate Waller Barrett National Council of Women Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, International Woman's Suffrage Alliance Mrs. Truman H. Newberry .... Needlework Guild of America Mrs. Frederic Schoff Congress of Mothers Mrs. Wm. Cumming Story, Daughters of American Revolution Miss Frances W. Sibley. .Girls' Friendly Society in America Mrs. Mary Boomer Page. . International Kindergarten Union Miss Caroline L. Humphrey .Association of Collegiate Alumna Mrs. Henry Olesheimer, National Federation of Women Workers Miss Maude Wetmore, Chairman, National Civic Federation, Woman's Department Mrs. Joseph M. Strout, Woman's National Rivers and Harbors Congress Mrs. Wm. O. Thompson, National Federation of College Women Mrs. Henry C. Coe. National Society of New England Women Miss Anna A. Gordon. . National Woman's Temperance Union Mrs. John W. Stewart, National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge, National Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage Miss Julia Chester Wells Daughters of the Cincinnati Rev. Anna H. Shaw, National American Woman Suffrage Association Mrs. Clarence L. Bleakley Daughters of the Revolution Mrs. Nathaniel E. Harris, National Council of Jewish Women Mrs. Teresa M. Molanthy, Woman's Section of the National Conference of Catholic Charities 21 THE WOMAN'S SECTION executive; co-operating committee Presidents of State Federations of Woman's Clubs Mrs. I. J. Haley Alabama Mrs. John I. Moore Arkansas Mrs. Lillian Pray-Palmer California Mrs. S. J. Reynolds Delaware Mrs. Ellis Logan District of Columbia Mrs. W. S. Jennings Florida Mrs. Z. I. Fitzpatrick Georgia Mrs. Benj. B. Clark I owa Mrs. C. B. Walker Kansas Mrs. Frederick P. Abbott Maine Mrs. Edward C. Wilson Maryland Mrs. R. H. Ashbaugh Michigan Mrs. J. J. McGrath Mississippi Mrs. W. R. Chivvis Missouri Mrs. Tylar B. Thompson Montana Mrs. C. P. Squires Nevada Mrs. Wm. T. Ropes New Jersey Mrs. Rupert F. Asplund New Mexico Mrs. Albert H. Hildreth New York Mrs. Tom Hope Oklahoma Mrs. Samuel Semple Pennsylvania Mrs. Wm. M. Congdon Rhode Island Mrs. J. W. Allen South Carolina Mrs. Zillah E. Wilson South Dakota Mrs. Henry B. Fall Texas Mrs. Emeline B. Wells Utah Mrs. Geo. H. Smilie Vermont Mrs. M. M. Caldwell Virginia Mrs. R. L. Hutchinson West Virginia Mrs. R. A. Morton Wyoming Presidents of City Oiganizations y Mrs. James S. Cushman, Young Women's Christian Association of New York 22 THE WOMAN'S SECTION STATE CHAIRMEN Mrs. Cyrus P. Orr, 2704 Highland Ave., Birmingham, Alabama Mrs. John I. Moore, Helena Arkansas Mrs. William H. Crocker, Crocker National Bank, San Francisco, California Mrs. S. J. Reynolds, Smyrna Delaware Mrs. W. S. Jennings, Jacksonville Florida Mrs. Z. 1. Fitzpatrick, Tliomasville Georgia Mrs. H. R. Allen, Wallace Idaho Mrs. H. W. Spaulding, Grinnell Iowa Mrs. C. B. Walker, Norton Kansas Mrs. Luther E. Hall (Honorary), New Orleans. . .Louisiana Mrs. Frederick W. Parham, 1429 Seventh St., New Orleans, Louisiana Mrs. Frederick P. Abbott, Saco Maine Mrs. Edward C. Wilson, Bellona Ave., Govans. ... Maryland Mrs. David O. Mears, 3 Fuller Place, Cambridge, Massachusetts Mrs. R. H. Ashbaugh, 43 Boston Boulevard, Detroit, Michigan Mrs. Cassius M. Ferguson, 124 East 13th St., Minneapolis, Minnesota Mrs. J. J. McGrath, Canton Mississippi Mrs. W. R. Chivvis, 4232 West Pine Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri Mrs. Tylar B. Thompson, Missoula Montana Mrs. W. G. Langworthy-Taylor, 435 North 25th St., Lincoln, Nebraska Mrs. C. P. Squires, Las Vegas Nevada Mrs. Wm. T. Roper, 19 Gates Ave., Montclair. .New Jersey Mrs. S. C. Nutter, Clovis New Mexico Mrs. Albert H. Hildreth, 752 Comstock Ave., Syracuse, New York Mrs. Wm. O. Thompson, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio Mrs. Tom Hope, 530 East 10th St., Ada Oklahoma Miss Henrietta E. Failing, Portland Oregon Mrs. Samuel Semple, Titusville Pennsylvania Miss Jane B. Evans, Florence South Carolina Mrs. J. E. Bird, Watertown South Dakota Mrs. Henry B. Fall, Houston Texas Mrs. Arthur E. Raze, Earlham Court, Tacoma. .. Washington Mrs. R. L. Hutchinson, 1509 6th Ave., Huntington, West Virginia Mrs. W. W. Coleman, 323 Juneau Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mrs. Archie Allison, Cheyenne Wyoming 23 The Commission for Relief in Belgium 71 Broadway, New York American Commission for Relief in Belgium Spanish Commission for Relief in Belgium Italian Commission for Relief in Belgium Comite National de Secours et D' Alimentation Honorary Chairmen His Excellency Walter Hines Page The American Ambassador in London His Excellency James Gerard The American Ambassador in Berlin His Excellency William G. Sharp The American Ambassador in Paris His Excellency Senor Don Alfonso Merry Del Val Y Zulueta The Spanish Ambassador in London His Excellency Le Marquis de Villalobar The Spanish Minister in Brussels His Excellency Brand Whitloclc The American Minister in Brussels His Excellency Henry Van Dyke The American Minister in The Hague Executive Officer — London Herbert C. Hoover, Chairman Executive Officers — New York Lindon W.Bates, Vice-Chairman Robert D. McCarter, Hon. Secretary The Woman's Section No. I Madison Avenue, New York Mis. Lindon Bates, Chairman Miss Anne Morgan, Treasurer Mrs. August Belmont Miss Mary Parsons Mrs. Edward R. Hewitt Mrs William K. Vanderbilt Miss Maude Wetmore Auditors and Accountants Deloitte, Plender, Griffiths & Co. New York and London Bankers National City Bank 55 Wall Street, New York Guaranty Trust Co 140 Broadway. New York