THE JUNIOR RED CROSS
In September, 1917, President Wilson sent out a letter from the White House in Washington to the school children of the United States. He called this letter a proclamation. To proclaim anything is to tell it to everybody.
So in this proclamation, President Wilson told the children that he was also president of the American Red Cross, and that he would like to have them all join the Red Cross as Junior Members and help in the work.
This letter meant that the twenty-two million school children of the United States would not have to wait to grow up before doing actual Red Cross work, but would be able to begin right away to take their part as young citizens. If a story were written telling of the services of the children during the war, it would fill a book larger than the biggest dictionary. Two years later, the president sent out a new proclamation, urging the children to continue the work of the Junior Red Cross.