KEEPING THEIR HOME FIRES BURNING

Among the various voluntary war organizations working in Canada, or among the Canadian troops overseas, the most extensive in its scope was the Canadian Patriotic Fund. It was a form of war relief peculiar to Canada, a product of public initiative, entirely unrelated to the Government, being inspired by individual sympathy with the individual needs of service men and by the intimate and old-fashioned neighborly spirit that made all men brothers in an emergency. As a Canadian innovation, arising from the Dominion's own particular problems, and reflecting in a tangible form her characteristics as a nation, the fund was nation-wide in its workings, both in the source of its contributions and their distribution. It represented a voluntary "drive" for money which continued throughout the war period, and its administration was no less notable than its collection. Throughout the Dominion there was a coordination of effort and sympathies on the part of the fund's dispensers, with a complete elimination of overlapping and its attendant waste of time, money, and energy.

The Fund in every respect was a national organization covering all the Provinces except Manitoba (which created a fund of its own), and its object was to assist, wherever necessary, the dependent relatives resident in Canada of Allied soldiers and sailors serving in the war. It was administered locally through committees serving gratuitously, who, while they acted on general instructions from headquarters, also had discretionary powers in approving applications and naming the amount to be granted. As to the service of the Fund, from June, 1916, to November, 1918, it yielded an average amount of $900,000 a month for relief work and provided assistance to between 50,000 and 60,000 families. The Fund represented voluntary contributions from everybody in the Dominion and reached the impressive figure of nearly $43,000,000.

The dispensers of the Fund had one thought in mind. It was the home the service man had left behind him, with special recognition of the size of a man's family and local conditions affecting the cost of living, both being determining factors in the budget making necessary for the right and equitable distribution of such a fund. It was an additional prop for the support of soldiers' families in the absence of the breadwinner, in that it provided a supplementary income to that allowed by the Government.

On enlistment the wife of every soldier received from the War Ministry a separation allowance, originally of $20, later increased to $25. She also received a part of her husband's assigned pay, which differed according to rank. The two payments averaged $35 a month, a sum inadequate for the upkeep of a home, and hence the beneficence of the work of the Fund in augmenting the income of a soldier's wife or other home folks to the level of the cost of living became apparent. It supplemented the home income at the point of deficiency, adding to the Government allowance a sufficient sum to overcome difficulties of living due to local conditions and to the size of the families. Instead of $35 a month, a typical Canadian soldier's family, consisting of a wife and two children, received about $51.25 a month from all sources with the help of the Patriotic Fund's disbursements.

One of its prime objects lay in inspiring the sympathetic atmosphere and attitude so necessary in war times. This object was achieved by reason of the character of the Fund's personnel, especially in local branches, where much, if not all, of the executive work was in the hands of warm-hearted, patriotic women, who did not spare themselves, but gave of their best to the cause they had made their own.

"Keeping the home fires burning" had an appealing sound. The neighborly spirit which animated the giving of contributions kept the home fires burning in that the giving was not spasmodic but sustained, enabling a continuous expansion of the Fund. It was this "touch of nature that makes the whole world kin"—that made all Canada kin—which endeared the Fund to every Canadian, rich and poor alike, and alone accounted for the great response made to every appeal for contributions. Every Canadian regarded his participation in the fund as a personal promissory note; he felt that he was "backing" the service man in a very near and individual sense.

Once the monthly output exceeded the income. In 1915 the monthly output increased from $175,000 to $325,000, which showed how Canadians regarded the Fund. These were anxious times for the Fund executive, and it was at this time that the value of making the appeal Dominion-wide became apparent. Reviewing the difficulties of this period in handling the Fund, Sir Herbert Ames wrote:

"As a rule recruiting was greatest in Provinces least favorably situated financially. Common service, common sacrifice, the principle of giving money or men saved the day. By 1916 the needs of the fund were placed at $8,000,000. 'Give till it hurts,' became the slogan. A systematic allotment of each Province's share of the total contribution was made. Ontario was asked for $4,500,000; Quebec, $1,500,000; Maritime Provinces, $700,000; and Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia, $500,000. Every Province was subdivided; each city or town was asked to assume its share. Publicity was given the campaign through newspapers, posters, leaflets, buttons, the Speakers' Patriotic League, and skilled organizers of campaigns. The close of the year showed an increase of 20 per cent in demands on the Fund and an increase of 50 per cent in the amount contributed over the amount asked in the campaign. On New Year's Day the Governor General, the Duke of Connaught, asked for $8,000,000; Canada's answer was $11,375,345. Since June, 1916, the fund has expended an average of $900,000, which is quite timely help to 165,000 individuals."

Following the campaign of 1916 the responses became more and more generous. The Provinces and the larger cities reached great heights in giving. But while individuals contributed checks for princely amounts, the bulk of the Fund was provided by the small wage earners. "This showed," said Sir Herbert Ames, "how thoroughly the Fund represented Canada's war spirit."

British Columbia led all other Provinces in recruiting according to population. It was essentially a Province of wage earners; yet its contributions to the Fund, sustained year after year, were remarkable. In the mountain districts it was the established practice among miners and smelters to contribute "a shift a month" to the fund. The town of Trail, with a population of 4,000, contributed $50,000 a year, or $12.50 per capita. Rossland, with a similar population, gave $36,000 a year. Headly, with a population of 400, gave $9,000 a year or $22.50 per head. Greenwood, numbering 600, donated $15,000, or $25 per head; Phoenix, with 1,200, yielded $18,000, while Silverton, with 800, produced $16,000 a year. In some districts the workmen instructed the superintendents to deduct 3-½ per cent, or one day's pay, per month, from their wages.

The response from sparsely settled districts was no less generous; but there was a difficulty in gathering collections over scattered rural communities. They did not, however, allow this obstacle to deprive them from sharing in the good work, and accordingly requested their councils to levy assessments for the fund, whereby rural contributions could be gathered and equalized. The contribution of such rural council, thus obtained, represented the various individual contributions of the constituents and was voluntary. In this way the rural communities contributed in 1917 the sum of $3,000,000.

Besides these collective efforts, there was scarcely a community that did not furnish examples of self-denying generosity by individuals or groups, some of whom could not afford the sacrifice. The shareholders of an Ontario fire insurance company voted its entire dividend of $50,000 to the Patriotic Fund. Near Vancouver an old lighthouse keeper raised flowers and sold them to tourists, raising therefrom nearly $1,000, which he presented to the Fund. Among contributors who found their highest gratification in denying themselves in order to help the Fund were the Gaspe fishermen, lumberjacks from the Quebec bush, cheese makers, road makers, Indians, and an Eskimo. Nearly $12,500 was sent in by Indians on the reserves. From Herschell's Island, within the Arctic Circle came a gift of $20 from the Eskimo Chikchagalook. Canadianized people of German birth and descent were equally liberal.

The "million a month" which the Fund organizers aimed at was approached by voluntary individual generosity like the instances cited and countless others. The nation-wide support given to the Fund constituted a free-will offering of the whole people standing behind its soldiers. It was a people's own movement, close to their hearts, and was successfully conducted without Government control or participation, an achievement in which the Fund's executives took pride, as efforts had been made to bring it under federal supervision.