Early In The Century The War Effort Brought Savings And Sacrifice

By Jan Howard

World War I was raging in Europe, and the United States government was asking people on the home front to do their bit to help win the war. Unlike the rationing imposed during World War II, these efforts were voluntary.

Conserving meat, wheat, and butter, and buying Liberty Bonds were some of the ways in which Americans supported the war effort and aid to the people in war-torn Europe.

In Newtown, residents were urged to conserve resources and to make sacrifices with “speeches and exhortations.” Dr Charles H. Peck, whose son died in the service of pneumonia at the age of 18, was one of the local residents who campaigned tirelessly for the war effort. He gave public lectures accompanied by many remarkable pictures he was able to obtain.

Three hundred people attending a war supper that raised $213.70 to benefit French children heard T. Milton Hull of Danbury give a graphic account his six months in the French Ambulance Corps.

The Rev Mr Charles Tibbals of St John’s Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook wrote impassioned sermons against “slackers” on the front page of The Newtown Bee. In one, he launched a diatribe against war profiteers.

Ads and cartoons in the newspapers continually urged residents to do the right thing and not be slackers. “Do your bit! Plant a potato and onion patch. Do not waste food and labor by buying poor seeds,” read a garden supply ad.

Housewives were urged to enroll in the Connecticut Canning Corps and “to make war jam for soldiers.” They were also urged to mail in pledge cards on which they promised “to purchase no more than ½ pound of wheat flour per week” and to limit themselves to one-half loaf of “Victory Bread for the next 40 days.”

Residents responded with home front spirit. On April 12, 1918, Newtown received the right to fly the “Honor Flag” and have a gold star placed by its name in the state Capitol for being the first town to be officially credited with going over its allotment for Liberty Loans. This was the popular name for the series of war bonds issued to fund the war effort.

According to The Bee, the flag was constructed of material used by the Navy. It had a red border, white center, and three vertical blue stripes. It was noted a blue star would be added to the center of the flag if the town would increase its quota by 100 percent, from $46,200 to $92,400.

The townspeople rose to the challenge. By September the paper proudly reported that at $1,000 apiece, Newtown had funded 92 16-inch shells with which to “pay our compliments to the Kaiser.”

In February of 1918, the Red Cross Chapter reported being “positively thrilled” that volunteers had produced 576 completed garments for soldiers, including 99 sweaters, 26 helmets, 61 hospital shirts, and 30 pairs of wristlets.

Responding to an appeal for “Eyes for the Navy,” Mrs J.W. Gordon of Newtown sent the government a pair of binoculars. She was rewarded with a thank-you letter from Assistant Navy Secretary Franklin D. Roosevelt, which was printed in full on the front page of The Bee.

In the kitchen, townspeople were urged to use an alternate fat to butter. Wheat was a food product that was easily shipped to the armies and allies abroad so residents were asked to combine wheat with other flours and grains or substitute others for it in baking.

Meatless and wheatless days were urged. Eggs, fish, and cheese dishes were suggested as substitutes for meat.

House-To-House Canvass

On October 26, 1917, the Hoover pledge card campaign was the subject of a house-to-house canvass. The government was asking all those who handled food to help win the war by pledging themselves to conserve to the best of their ability. Edith Mitchell was chairman of the committee. By November 9, 492 cards had been signed.

Prior to that campaign, a Bee story called attention to a “malicious attempt to injure the United States food administration and defeat the Hoover Pledge Card Campaign.” According to the Connecticut State Council of Defense there were persons posing as government inspectors who were visiting houses in the state and demanding that people give a portion of their canned goods to the government. The government promised that people would not be asked to donate any of their home-canned products to the war effort.

In October 1917, about 40 women attended a lecture on “war breads,” sponsored by the Farm Bureau and a local Committee of Home Economics. The ladies were so delighted with the talk by Gladys Green of Danbury that they hoped she would lecture on “meat substitutes” the next month, which she did. Miss Green lectured on the need to save sugar, wheat, fat, and meat to help win the war. Recipes were given to all those who attended. They were published in The Bee the following week.

In the July 5, 1918, Bee, a special canning campaign was announced for July 7 to 14. Connecticut women and juniors were urged to put up enough fruit and vegetables to last their family during the coming year. The United States government had already requisitioned 65 percent of the factory canned goods for the military. The remaining 35 percent would be left for the families of women working in factories and those unable to have the necessary canning equipment in their homes.

A house-to-house canvass took place in Newtown during which each woman was asked to estimate the number of quarts of fruits and vegetables her family would require during the winter and to sign up for what she could possibly do. Edith Mitchell was the chairman.

The Farm Bureau invited women in Newtown to send in recipes for “conservation cookery” that they had found to be good. Particularly in demand were recipes that would conserve wheat, meat, sugar, or animal fats. Good, tested recipes, the Farm Bureau said, would help the housewife in her most important job of conserving the exportable foods.

A recipe for potato flour that could be made at home appeared in the January 12, 1918, paper. It was described as “just as useful a wheat substitute as many of the more expensive commercial flours.”

Cartoons in The Newtown Bee emphasized the need to save food to help win the war.

On July 12, 1918, The Bee reported that the results of the war savings enlistment campaign showed “conclusively” that Newtown people were behind the war. There were very few refusals to buy Liberty Bonds. The 640 pledges, with a cash value in stamps of $11,390.42, covered 1,900 people, Chairman Robert T. Bradley reported.

On September 6, 1918, a fourth Liberty Loan campaign was announced for September 28 to October 19 in which the American people were called upon to raise a larger sum of money in a shorter period of time. “There is no shirking, no shifting, of the individual burden, no selfishness by American soldiers in France; there should be none here,” it was noted.

A war relic train that stopped in Newtown on October 4, 1918, for two hours drew a large crowd and $19,300 worth of bonds were subscribed, making Newtown’s total subscription to the loan $165,000.

Sponsored by the Central Committee in Washington, the train carried war relics to promote the sale of Fighting Fourth Liberty Loan Bonds. There were speeches by Liberty Loan representatives and a talk by a returned soldier as well as providing residents with a look at weaponry seized from the enemy.

The total in Newtown for the fourth Liberty Loan appeal reached $192,000, representing 724 different purchasers, which more than doubled the town’s quota. The total for the four loans in Newtown was $509,000.

On November 11, 1918, The Bee noted that “the news that Germany had signed the peace terms was received at 3:45 am. Miss Mary Troy, the night operator at the telegraph office, aroused the sleeping residents. The first person to get the news was R.H. Beers.”

By 5 am George Stuart, a clerk at the Savings Bank, was spreading the news. W.T. Cole, an employee of the fire hose factory in Sandy Hook, reportedly “threw his hat in the air and danced around like a boy…”

A procession headed by 80-year-old Grandma Olmstead, teacher Jennie Honan, Mrs Michael Honan, and others marched down Briscoe Street. There were bonfires on Main Street, the Sandy Hook band played, businesses were closed down, and the town rejoiced. The war, and the sacrifices that it had required, was over.

(Some of the information for this story was found in the League of Women Voters’ Newtown Directions & Images.)