The New York Times/1918/11/11/A Message From John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
A MESSAGE FROM
John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
To the People of Greater New York:
To-day the United War Work Campaign begins. It starts at a supreme moment in human history.
Victory is in the air!
The triumph of all we have been hoping for and all that our boys have been fighting and dying for, may be finally achieved this very day.
****
Think what all this will mean to the soldiers of our Allies.
Their home folks will sureliy "take the lid off" when their boys come home. Street lights, dimmed now for several years in a thousand cities and towns, to avoid giving direction to enemy air raids, will shine out as never before. Window shades ordered by law to be down at night in millions ofhomes in France and England, will be raised.
The boys of France and Italy can get home immediately. They will march through Paris and Rome to the sound of a nation's cheers. Nothing will be good enough for them; and oh! what it will mean to them to be there among those they love.
And the Tommies! What a time they will have hurrying to the first boat, and, only a few hours later, jumping off at railroad stations and swinging through the streets of their home towns, while bands play and all England shouts its welcome.
Even the Tommies who must stay in France awaiting their turn to go home will get the home papers next morning. Mails next day will be full of letters packed with love and joy. Every Tommy will immediately hear and feel the sense of England's happiness and pride.
****
One day our boys will come home. It will be the biggest day New York has ever seen. But that day is not yet; 3,000 miles of ocean lie between us.
A few of the boys can return immediately; but hundreds of thousands of them must stay behind―and wait. It will seem a very long time both to them and to us.
What wouldn't we have given―what wouldn't they have given―if they could have been here last Thursday and seen that marvellous celebration. It was premature, to be sure, but the public instinct was sound. The people knew they weren't celebrating a fake; they were celebrating a victory they knew had been won.
And if our own boys could come swinging down the Avenue, those boys who have slept in the mud, who have endured every discomfort, who have faced death in every form―what wouldn't we want to do for them!
No one would count the dollars then; not one of us would stint in his giving.
****
There is only one real way we can celebrate this victory in a manner which can tangibly express our feelings toward those in the service of Our Country either abroad or in camps in the United States.
The United War Work Campaign gives us this opportunity. Through giving to it we can show our boys the feeling which is in our hearts, and send them our message of gratitude, not at some future time when they return―but now.
****
The sum of at least $170,500,000 is to be raised for our soldiers and sailors, to add to their comfort and happiness, to help them in the temptations and difficulties, during the period which must elapse until they are safe home again.
The purpose for which this money is to be used, and the methods whereby it is to be spent, have been approved by the Government. The President of the United States has requested that in this campaign a united effort be made by the Y.M.C.A., the Y.W.C.A., the National Catholic War Council, the Jewish Welfare Board, the Salvation Army, the War Camp Community Service and the American Library Association.
****
Surely one other thought is in our minds at this vital moment; that is, of gratitude that the victory has been won so much sooner than many thought possible.
How anxious we were as these splendid fellows went out from our homes; how thankful we feel now that so many of them will come back again safe and sound.
****
Let us, then, make the United War Work Campaign both a thank offering and a celebration of Victory.
Let the cables carry a message to the men over there of what we have done to warm their huts and warm their hearts against the cold and the loneliness of this coming winter.
Let our message be expressed not along in the amount contributed, but in the number of those who give.
Let us in New York join the whole American people, and in this hour of victory, by our act of giving, say:
We are proud of, and we stand back of, every man serving in the uniform of Our Country.
Chairman, Greater New York Committee,
UNITED WAR WORK CAMPAIGN.