A PROCLAMATION
To the School Children of the United States:
Two years ago, as President of the United States and as President of the American Red Cross, I addressed to you a letter in which I advised you to enroll in the newly organized Junior Red Cross, and I explained to you some of the ways in which the Junior Red Cross would help you to be useful to your country and to the children of those countries which were associated with us in a great war against a powerful enemy. Millions of you did join the Junior Red Cross and worked hard, and what you did is warmly appreciated by the whole country.
Now, by the blessings of God and through the faithful performance of duty by our soldiers and sailors and the soldiers and sailors of the countries by whose side we fought, a great victory has been won and the war is over, but I am sure that you wish to continue to be useful to your country and to children less fortunate than yourselves. Therefore, I am writing to you at the opening of the new school year to advise you again to join the Junior Red Cross, which has planned a work for peace times even larger and more systematic than the work done during the war.
The Junior Red Cross will instruct you in ideals and habits of service, will show you how to be useful to your school, how to aid the older people in your community in their efforts to promote the health and comfort of the people among whom you live, and how to help children who are still suffering from the effects of the great war in foreign lands invaded by the enemy.
The recent war was the greatest of all wars, not only because more men and nations were engaged in it than in any other war of history, but also because, as a result of it, people have seen a vision of a different kind of world from the world of the past, a world in which nations shall unite for purposes of peace and good will as they formerly united only for war against an armed foe. In working for the children of other nations you will come to understand them better and they will understand and appreciate you more.
Your education will not be complete unless you learn how to be good citizens, and the Junior Red Cross plans to teach you simple lessons of citizenship through its organization and its activities. It is your generation which must carry on the work of our generation at home and abroad and you cannot begin too soon to train your minds and habits for this responsibility. By doing what you can to make happier the people of your own neighborhood, your state, your country, and also the people of other lands, you will make yourselves happier.
(Signed) Woodrow Wilson,
President.September, 1919.
WHAT THE CHILDREN DID
You know what they did.
They helped in the great work that the Red Cross was doing in the World War.
They made bandages and splints and clothing for the wounded soldiers and sailors.
The girls knitted sweaters and mufflers and mittens to keep them warm.