USA > California > Alameda County > History of Alameda County, California. Volume I > Part 34
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WOUNDED SOLDIERS STANDING IN FRONT OF THE OAKLAND AND ALA- MEDA CANTEEN OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, OAKLAND, EN ROUTE TO THE LETTERMAN GENERAL HOSPITAL, PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO
WOUNDED MEN AT BREAKFAST IN THE OAKLAND CANTEEN OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS, EN ROUTE TO THE LETTERMAN GENERAL HOS- PITAL, PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
Barclay Stephens served as vice chairmen. Both were described by their colleagues as philanthropic and efficient women. Mrs. Stephens cut garments by hand and machine almost daily for months. Miss Sue Dyer served as secretary from the organization of the chapter until April, 1918, when she went overseas in command of the Stanford University unit. Miss Mary Chappel was elected to fill the place made vacant by Miss Dyer's resignation and served as secretary during the year when military relief and home service work were most extensive. P. H. Cohn, cashier of the Citizens Bank of Alameda, served as treasurer.
The following figures of garments finished and shipped by Ala- meda Chapter from May 12, 1917, to April 1, 1919, will indicate the extent of the work done by the women and men of this organization. At least 8,611 garments of various sorts were made according to the requisition of the national organization, while more than one thousand five hundred baby layettes and similar articles were furnished. A total of 541 fracture and comfort pillows were supplied as well as 1,769 miscellaneous articles not in requisition but desired. More than seventy- one thousand five hundred surgical dressings were made according to specifications. A total of 10,027 knitted articles was turned out by fif- teen auxiliaries working in knitting, including in their membership 700 active knitters.
The zeal of Red Cross workers and the generosity of citizens made it possible for Alameda Chapter to make a brilliant showing in the va- rious drives for funds. During the second War Fund Drive in June, 1918, the local chapter in one week banked $46,839.06, whereas the Alameda quota was only $25,000. A total of $3,356.70 was collected in the membership drive of December, 1917, while $5,421.15 was the showing for that of December, 1918, the chapter in each instance almost doubling its quota.
On May 22, 1917, a Civilian Relief Committee was organized. Members were: Mrs. D. E. Dyer, Mrs. A. J. Burgner, Rev. Charles L. Mears, Sam H. Cohn, John Lowman, and G. E. Furbush. For sev- eral months, although the Committee was in readiness to serve, no op- portunity for work presented itself. At a second meeting held on September 21, 1917, John Lowman was elected chairman. From this time on, the Committee found it possible to assist many families and individuals. Others besides those already mentioned who served from time to time on the committee were: Mrs. F. S. Greenlee, Mrs. G. E. Furbush, Mrs. Kearney, Mrs. Baker, Mrs. Judd, and M. Sheeran.
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
Military Relief and Home Service were the activities which de- manded everything until the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in the fall of 1918. Mrs. Fred C. Baker served as chairman of the Military Relief department, while John A. Lowman directed Home Service work .. In Alameda, as elsewhere, the test of ability to cope with a des- perate situation came with the beginning of the influenza scourge. Be- fore this demand confronted Red Cross workers, they thought that they were doing their utmost in responding to the needs of the soldiers abroad and the civilians at home. But when the call for nurses and supplies came in October, 1918, they found that they could do still more, and yet joyfully because of the realization that they were alleviating suffering.
The next two months were busy ones for the Alameda and other East Bay Chapters. More than one hundred nurses labored among 115 families, making 576 visits in all, while 287 patients were cared for, according to the records of the Alameda chapter. Volunteer seam- stresses turned out hundreds of pneumonia jackets and thousands of influenza masks. Housewives were appealed to for jellies and pre- served fruits, which were sent to the Letterman General Hospital at the Presidio of San Francisco and hospitals at Fremont and other camps. The chapter established a diet kitchen over which Miss Gretchen Nelsen presided with a corps of efficient assistants.
Not only adults worked for the success of the Alameda Red Cross but also children. Excellent service was rendered by the juniors, under the inspiring leadership of C. J. Du Four, City Superintendent of Schools. The boys made bedside tables in the manual training classes and performed cheerfully any other work assigned them.
The Alameda Chapter was very successful in its drives for clothes for the relief of the plucky citizens of Belgium. In the first campaign twelve cases of garments were collected; in the second, this was about doubled; while the third drive brought seventy-nine cases which weighed eight tons and filled an entire car.
FOOD CONSERVATION
Long before the Federal Food Administration had introduced the practice throughout the nation of refraining from using meat or wheat on given days in an effort to conserve the food supply and thus keep the troops well fed, the citizens of Alameda County had cooperated with the rest of the state in the food pledge campaign which brought
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
in more than 60,000 food pledges to the California Council of De- fense. It is a matter of record that the suggestion for "Wheatless and Meatless Days" originated in California and that the results obtained were sufficiently gratifying to cause this movement to be taken up and pushed everywhere on a nation wide scale by the Federal Food Admin- istration and through the efforts of the Council of Defense in each of the several states. An effort was made in the three large cities of the county by the Women's Committee of the State Council of Defense to reduce household waste by the utilization of kitchen scraps and other good food ordinarily thrown away by prodigal Americans. These en- deavors yielded pleasing results, for in Oakland the garbage decrease in the first six months of 1917 was 8 per cent; in Berkeley it was 101/2 per cent, and in the City of Alameda at least 25 per cent.
The work of the Women's Committee of the State Council of De- fense, as well as that of the College of Agriculture of the University of California are described elsewhere in this history. The school chil- dren were also active in the work of conservation. Many of the children raised vegetables in vacant plots. Luther Burbank, the "sage of Santa Rosa" came down to instruct the children in the cultivation of garden truck. The records of the Fremont High School in Oakland show that "A survey of the students who contributed in a substantial way to the conservation of food and production of crops shows that eight boys and 212 girls and teachers were engaged, putting in an amount of time which in the aggregate amounted to 1,000 weeks and earning a total amount of at least $3,750." From the Technical High School in Oakland seventy girls and thirty boys with ten teachers and mothers went to the San Benito Valley to help the orchardists harvest the fruit crop. According to the principal's report, "On the whole, the project was put through so successfully that the farmers who had prophesied failure acknowledged their agreeable and astonished disappointment. Trees were not destroyed, nor was fruit spoiled or wasted. There was no vandalism, no destruction, no neglect. On the contrary, there was recorded another illustration of the capability of American youth when intelligently directed, reasonably trusted, and sympathetically cared for." W. E. Moore was appointed by the Oakland Board of Education to encourage home gardening by the school children. The school gar- dens were faithfully tended by the youngsters.
The following regulations distributed by the Alameda County Coun- cil of Defense pursuant to instructions from Ralph Merritt, State Food Director, will give an idea of the sort of restrictions to which citizens
HARMON BELL Food Administrator for Oakland
LUTHER BURBANK TEACHING OAKLAND SCHOOL CHILDREN WAR GARDEN WORK
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were subjected during the war in an effort to utilize the available food supply and to guard against a shortage. According to the announce- ment published in the Oakland Tribune under date of January 30, 1918, Oakland dealers were forbidden to sell pork, ham, bacon, or pork sau- sage on Tuesday or Saturday. The flour limit imposed on grocers was fifty pounds to a customer, and this bread-stuff was to be sold only in equal quantity with cereal substitutes. Sugar could be sold only at the rate of two and five pounds to each householder, according to the size of the family. The sale of a sack was possible only in the case of country customers. These regulations were interpreted by the Grocers' Association and members were warned that their violation would mean the loss of their licenses.
Harmon Bell, attorney, and president of the Oakland War Service League, which in February, 1918, had a membership of more than 8,000, was selected as food administrator for Oakland February 2, 1918, by State Food Director Ralph Merritt.
During the remainder of the year, Bell discharged the exacting and often delicate duties of this office with credit and in every respect his tact and patience justified Merritt's choice. Food conservation in Oakland involved supervision of every kind of factory from corner candy stands to institutions doing an inter-state business; it also touched the housewife who put up a few jars of jelly as well as the can- nery using tons of sugar. The regulation of the output of the small bakeshop was as important in the long run as that of the product of the biggest manufacturer of cereal foods in the state.
Throughout this trying time Bell handled many difficult cases with diplomacy and justice. Because of his good judgment the persons sub- ject to his administration willingly yielded to his rules and gave him their hearty support. Enforcement of the Government regulations by Bell were characterized by an absence of any suggestion of arbitrar- iness. The administrator, whenever possible, called a conference of those affected by a new ruling and endeavored to reach an amicable understanding.
The flour question, for example, was always a delicate one, and Bell made patient efforts to convince the master bakers of the reason- ableness of the measure. The bakers, in turn, had to convince the re- tailers, and the dealers, their patrons. An interesting development was the discovery by a local baker of a palatable loaf made entirely of sub- stitutes ; yet the experiment itself had been engendered by initial opposi-
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tion of Oakland bakers to Bell's regulations, the bakers having main- tained that bread could not be made with the required proportion of substitutes. In the matter of sugar conservation, too, the "sweet rea- sonableness" of Bell finally overcame all objections on the part of home canners as well as manufacturing confectioners. There were some vio- lations, as might be expected in a community the size of Oakland, but whenever fines were imposed, Bell always had a convincing argument with which to meet the objection of the offender.
WAR WORK AND ALLIED ORGANIZATIONS
The number and variety of organizations of civilians in the county during the war period is roughly suggested by the following list which is by no means complete. The names of the organizations and their officers and the brief notes concerning the nature of their activities, were compiled by Miss Ruth Barmby, Alameda County Librarian at that time.
City of Alameda
Women's Committee, Council of Defense-Chairman, Mrs. Henry Rosenthal. Thirty-four members. Supported by contributions from women's clubs.
War Relief Work Council-Chairman, Green Majors. Ten mem- bers. Supervised and directed all war and war work subscriptions, bond sales, and all movements and efforts to solicit or raise funds from the public.
City of Berkeley
Berkeley Community Council-Chairman, F. G. Athearn. Supported by contributions and dues from organizations. Formed to secure con- certed action of all organized forces in the city to carry on war work. For a time sponsored community meetings and held a Fourth of July celebration. Directed and aided Liberty Loan and Food Conservation campaigns.
National Defender's Club-Mrs. S. M. Marks, chairman. 150 mem- bers. Organized to provide entertainment and club life for enlisted men. It was started primarily for the thousand aviators at the Uni-
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
versity of California ground school. Rent, light, and heating expenses were paid by the War Camp Community Service. Private contribu- tions of members also helped.
Berkeley Unit, United States Food Administration-Charles D. Hey- wood, Food Administrator.
Women's Committee, Council of Defense-Mrs. Lewis A. Hicks, chairman. 12,000 members. Clearing house for all war activities. Carried out the work of various departments as requested by the Nat- ional and State Councils of Defense.
Children's Year Committee-Miss Jessie E. Watson, chairman. Sup- ported by voluntary contributions. Established to organize a campaign of education for better care of infants and children, for universal birth registration, for clean milk, and for the establishment of Children's Health Centers throughout the county.
War Work Council-The Rev. E. L. Parsons, chairman. Supported by appropriations of Public Charities. The council was appointed by a commission of the Public Charities representing the conference of war work activities of Berkeley, the War Drives Committee of the Community Council, and through the Charity Commission, the munic- ipality. Organized to investigate war work activities and to regulate solicitation of funds, to coordinate war work, and to prevent duplica- tion. Acted as representative for Berkeley on the Alameda County War Donations Committee.
City of Hayward
Alameda County Farm Bureau-C. A. Rinderspacher, chairman. With 400 members, this organization met monthly in fourteen centers throughout the county. Organized before the outbreak of the war, under direction of the United States Department of Agriculture and the University of California, the bureau was an active promoter of agricultural production during the war. Attention was directed to in- creasing crops and to the elimination of loss of food through pests, disease, and fire. The work was carried on under County Farm Advisor M. A. M. Lee, Assistant Farm Advisor G. W. Kretsinger, and Emer- gency Home Demonstration Agent, Myrtle I. Millward.
Hayward District War Work Council-Chairman, Thomas B. Rus- sell. 750 members. This organization was in readiness to assume all war duties as they occurred.
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
Town of Niles
Niles Woman's Club-Nineteen members. Mrs. C. B. Overacker, chairman. During the early part of 1917 the club organized and con- ducted the Red Cross; and throughout the war gave entertainments to aid all war funds. It also worked in behalf of Belgian Relief. During the influenza epidemic it organized a committee that cared for more than thirty-five influenza patients.
City of Pleasanton
War Board of Pleasanton-C. L. Lale, chairman. Meeting at the town hall on the call of the chairman, this organization had for its primary purpose the raising of all war funds. Its membership included all persons interested in war work. On its executive committee were represented organizations such as the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Knights of Columbus, and the Liberty Loan Committees.
City of Oakland
Alameda County Division of the State Council of Defense-Superior Judge T. W. Harris, chairman. County division of the State Council. Both are described at length elsewhere in this history.
Non-War Construction Committee, State Council of Defense-W. H. L. Hynes, chairman. Three members. This committee endeavored to prevent the construction of unnecessary buildings and the performance of any other non-essential work during the war.
Alameda County Women's Committee of the National and State Coun- cils of Defense-Mrs. Frederick C. Turner, chairman. The various activities of this committee are described elsewhere in this history. There were eight units in cities and towns of the county, each with its own chairman and committee and also its Women's Army. There were also fourteen county departments, each with its chairman and sub- chairman. This elaborate organization was used to inform all women of Alameda County of the war work asked by the Federal or State Government and to urge them to carry it out.
War Donations Committee, Alameda County Division, State Council of Defense-Chairman, Rev. E. L. Parsons. This committee acted as
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
a clearinghouse for all activities and appeals to the public for funds other than for Governmental activities.
Business and Professional Women's Club, War Service Committee- Miss Marte C. Clement, chairman. This committee listed all women actively engaged in business who were willing to volunteer their services for war work after business hours. Those available included sten- ographers, bookkeepers, filing clerks and clerical employees from nearly every office in Oakland. Workers were furnished by this com- mittee for Liberty Loan and other campaigns.
Alameda County United War Work Campaign Victory Boys and Vic- tory Girls-Chairmen, Lewis Avery and Ruth Wilder. Through this organization the youth of the county was enlisted in war work.
American Red Cross, Home Service-Richard H. Kessler, chairman. This organization cared for the families of enlisted men.
Americanization Committee-Lewis Avery, chairman.
Armenian and Syrian Relief-Chairman, Mrs. Henry Wetherbee. Funds were collected by this committee for the relief of suffering Armenians. The committee worked under direction of the San Fran- cisco Committee headed by William H. Crocker.
California Committee for Relief in Belgium and France-Marion Ran- some, chairman. This committee took subscriptions and gave enter- tainments to raise money for relief work, operating under direction of the national committee headed by Herbert Hoover.
Defenders' Recreation Club-Mrs. Thomas Mitchell Potter, chair- man. This organization had 250 members and was associated with the War Camp Community Service. It was supported by the national committee from national contributions. The clubhouse, described else- where in this history, was open to all men in uniform from 10:30 a. m. to 12:30 p. m. every day in the year. Sleeping quarters were provided at a "barracks." The purpose of the club was "to keep up the morale of our fighting men and to make them fit to fight and for the future to receive all returning Defenders."
Home Guard (89th Company of the California Military Reserve)- W. E. Haley, Captain. H. H. Stein, First Lieutenant. E. F. Bruener, Second Lieutenant. For description of this organization see the chap- ter on military activities.
Junior Red Cross-J. W. McClymonds, president. This organiza- tion, supported by membership dues, included 40,000 members. Its purpose was primarily educational.
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HISTORY OF ALAMEDA COUNTY
Liberty Loan Committee-W. W. Garthwaite, chairman; J. H. King executive chairman.
National League for Woman's Service-Miss Clara Maxwell Taft, chairman. Numbering 1,250 members, the purpose of this league was to coordinate and standardize the work of women. It aimed to develop the resources of women, to provide organized groups of women, pre- pared to cooperate with other agencies or to supplement their work. The general plan included (1) registration of women for service; (2) education of women for service; (3) actual service of women, both paid and volunteer.
Oakland Chapter, American Red Cross-Joseph R. Knowland, chair- man. Vice chairmen : R. B. Ayer, J. W. Garthwaite, Charles L. Smith; Dr. Herbert J. Samuels, secretary; John Davids, treasurer. This or- ganization had charge of the many activities of the American Red Cross in Oakland. Headquarters were maintained at 1560 Broadway.
United States Food Administration-Rena S. Gibson, chairman. The organization had 140 members and maintained headquarters at Starr King Hall, Fourteenth and Castro streets. Food conservation was its chief business. It endeavored to give as wide publicity as possible to the need for food saving.
War Camp Community Service-Joseph N. Burroughs, chairman; Mrs. John H. Perine, vice president, secretary; Alexander Stewart, executive secretary, War Camp Community Service. Arthur S. Moore, treasurer. Fifteen members. This organization is mentioned more fully elsewhere in this history.
Woman's Liberty Loan Committee-Mrs. Edgar L. Ormsby, chair- man. Mrs. A. B. Glasier, secretary. This committee is described else- where in this history.
San Lorenzo
Unit Woman's Committee, National and State Councils of Defense- Mary Olsen, chairman. Mrs. George Mead, secretary; Mrs. R. P. King, treasurer. This committee, through the local Woman's Army, cooper- ated in county and state work with the larger councils.
Washington Township
United War Work Campaign-G. W. Wright, chairman; R. O. Moyer, secretary; F. T. Dusternerry, treasurer. This was a commit- tee which had charge of all local war work.
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SHIPBUILDING
Alameda County gave men and treasure to the American cause in the World war, but undoubtedly her most spectacular contribution was the fleet of steel and concrete ships that sprang as if by magic from once despised "mud flats" and within the short space of a year put the Oakland estuary in the national limelight. In 1914 the estuary was but the graveyard of abandoned hulks; in March, 1918 it was the flag- bedecked scene of the first triple launching of steel ships in the history of the world, and in July of the same year, the prodigious feats of its master-builders brought the director general of the United States Emergency Fleet Corporation to the Pacific Coast to direct the launch- ing of six huge freighters in one day, while the keels of another half dozen were immediately started in the vacant ways.
Long before the United States entered the war the demand for merchant ships had reached Pacific Coast yards and Estuary ways were turning out craft for the Allies and neutral powers. From as early as 1860, when Birdsall, Oakland's pioneer shipwright had built a wooden schooner of ninety tons' register, "the Creek" had built and rigged many a staunch craft. During the next three decades wooden sailing vessels were turned out by several small shipyards which fol- lowed Birdsall. In 1900 the Dickies, Scotch builders, first established a plant on the Alameda side of the harbor. George W. Dickie, who died in 1918, was long the dean of marine architects and engineers on this coast. In 1903 the United Engineering Works established a ship- yard and marine railway on the Alameda side of the Estuary. About this time Daniel J. Hanlon began business as a contractor repairing ships. The story of "Dan" Hanlon's rise from the humble position of ship's carpenter to owner of one of the largest yards on the Pacific Coast is one of the romances of the war. In 1909 the Moore Ship- building Company laid the keel for the first steel vessel ever built in Oakland harbor. In that same year the Moore and Scott Ironworks of San Francisco had taken over and rehabilitated the Boole Shipyard. The San Francisco earthquake of 1906 had given impetus to East Bay shipbuilding and harbor development which was furthered by the es- tablishment by the municipality of title to certain parts of the water- front. New wharves were built and the harbor floor dredged.
But on the whole, the years from 1900 to 1915 were dark ones for American shipping. Hampered by Congress' unfavorable legislation, American shipowners transferred their vessels to foreign registry, and
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European shipyards flourished on account of cheap labor and stand- ardized construction. The Oakland Estuary, a repository for aban- doned hulks, was eloquent of the decline of the American merchant marine. Hundreds of craft, from humble schooners to stately clipper ships, gathered barnacles in what was sadly termed the "boneyard" by seafaring men.
The assassination of an Austrian Archduke in the Bosnian town of Serajevo seemed far removed from this "graveyard" of ships in 1914, but it was linked by destiny to the future of Oakland harbor. The connection was soon apparent when the remarkable war-born de- mand for tonnage brought the resurrection of many an old hulk in . Alameda Creek. Fortunes were made by pressing these abandoned ships into service. The old Pacific Mail liner City of Sydney was lifted from the mud, patched and rigged by an Alaska salmon packer, and made seaworthy for something like $100,000. The first trip to Australia netted him $125,000, much more than his initial outlay. Many other famous hulks were salvaged and converted into money-making carriers of war commerce.
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