On the Home Front

With its edition of May 3, 1917, the Hobart News inaugurated a new feature: its front-page "War Notes" column. Previously, war news had been relegated to the interior pages, as matters pertaining to foreign lands. These days, it hit home.

Civilians were eager to do whatever they could to support the war effort. The Hobart Gazette of April 20 carried an article by S.J. Craig, the Lake County agricultural agent, describing, in forceful language, one way civilians could contribute: "Every productive acre of land in Lake county, Ind., must produce food this year, if we succeed in feeding our people and the allies. Turn that back lot, and, yes, the front yard, into a garden. Be a patriot and not a traitor. Help feed the men who go to the front and shoulder a gun as they are fighting for you…."

Ten days later, local farmers held a meeting in the Hobart library, presided over by John Dorman and addressed by County Agent Craig, who again urged an all-out effort to produce food. The farmers attending also resolved that each would raise an animal to the value of $10 and donate the proceeds of its sale to the Red Cross.

Even young people could help: parents were urged to set their boys to cultivating crops and their girls to preserving food. In mid-May a meeting of locals resulted in the appointment of a committee to organize the food-production effort. This committee, consisting of James Carpenter, John Killigrew, Professor Frace, F.W. Frank and J.A. Ayling, placed a notice in the Hobart News asking the public to volunteer their vacant land, their boys to cultivate it, and their plowing equipment and services.

The federal government had allotted to Indiana $41,000,000 in Liberty Bonds for sale. The state allocated that amount among its 92 counties. By mid-June, local citizens had expressed their patriotism in terms of hard cash, as the three Hobart banks reached a total of $12,000 in Liberty Bond sales. Lake County in general made a good showing, with its residents buying $2,084,450 in Liberty Bonds — nearly $325,000 over the county's allotment — although Indiana as a whole had bought $1,000,000 less than its allotment.

On June 19, a large group of citizens met in the Hobart High School auditorium to organize and elect officers for a local Red Cross society, with its purpose to raise funds for Red Cross work in Europe. A fund-raising drive that month brought in $856 in contributions.


Sources:
♦ "Banks of Hobart Dispose of $12,000 Worth of Liberty Bonds." Hobart News 14 June 1917.
♦ "Farmers Hold Enthusiastic Meetings Monday and Tuesday." Hobart News 3 May 1917.
♦ "Farmers to Aid the Red Cross." Hobart Gazette 4 May 1917.
♦ "From the County Agent." Hobart Gazette 20 Apr. 1917.
♦ "Here and There." Hobart News 21 June 1917.
♦ "Hobart Contributes Nobly to the Red Cross." Hobart News 28 June 1917.
♦ "Mobilization." Hobart Gazette 11 May 1917.
♦ "Notice." Hobart News 17 May 1917.
♦ "Red Cross Society Organized Here." Hobart News 21 June 1917.
♦ "War Notes." Hobart News 3 May 1917.