Drive On

Drives, drives, drives. Just after Hobart went "over the top" in the latest Liberty Loan drive, Ross Township came "to the front" for the impending Red Cross drive. Early in May, Ross Township selected its own officers to organize the drive: Henry Kuehl as township chairman, William G. Woods as secretary, Fremont B. Price as treasurer, and Belle Blachly (J.B.'s wife) as chairman of the women's committee. They organized the usual patriotic rally, held at Merrillville on May 15. Among the speakers was Ensign Asa Bullock. The Campfire Girls presented a flag they had made; it bore 16 stars representing Ross Township "boys" in the service. Lydia Zuvers (widow of Silas) made a plea "on behalf of the mothers of the township … for cheerful bravery in those left behind." Schoolchildren sang. And then pledges were taken. Within a few minutes they amounted to $800. But the Ross Township organization was certainly not going to stop with that sum; it was determined to outdo the $1,700 it had just recently donated to the Knights of Columbus drive.*

Hobart, naturally, had its own organization: R.R. Peddicord as chairman, Deering Melin as secretary and Emil Scharbach as treasurer. They probably expected Hobart to go "over the top" yet again. The Gazette harangued its readers from the front page: "If you wake up in the night and you find your conscience hurting you, possibly you have not given to the Red Cross all that you can afford to give. … Every one should talk Red Cross donations until the drive ends next Monday. Every one should give something. There should be no slackers."

Meanwhile, upstairs in the Stommel building on Third Street, Miss Grace Thompson began a class, meeting thrice weekly, to teach "girls and women" to make surgical dressing for the Red Cross.

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*Ross Township made good on its determination, collecting $2,869.93 for the Red Cross.


Sources:
♦ 1920 Census.
♦ "Local Drifts." Hobart Gazette 24 May 1918.
♦ "Red Cross Drive On." Hobart Gazette 24 May 1918.
♦ "Red Cross War Fund Report for Crown Point District." Hobart News 13 June 1918.
♦ "Ross Township to the Front." Hobart Gazette 24 May 1918.
♦ "Surgical Dressings Class." Hobart Gazette 24 May 1918.