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MANILA DAILY BULLETIN 



MISS TRINIDAD FERNANDEZ WHO WAS PROMINENT IN 

 ALL WAR WORK CAMPAIGNS 



and equip a Philippine Guard Division of 

 25,000 men which could be offered to Pres- 

 ident Wilson and the American people for 

 active war service, was put forward by 

 Senate President Manuel L. Quezon. The 

 proposal was enthusiastically received by 

 the legislature and other branches of the 

 Insular Government. Without delay a bill 

 providing for the immediate creation of the 

 proposed organization was drafted, presented, 

 passed by the legislature and signed by the 

 Governor General. In the meantime Mr. 

 Quezon, then in Washington, communicated 

 the offer to President Wilson in person. 



Despite continued uncertainty as to the 

 manner in which the federal government 

 would make use of the troops offered, there 

 was no hesitation in perfecting plans for the 

 completion of the organization. In the 

 summer of 1917, an officers' training school 

 was opened in Manila, and through the co- 

 operation of the United States Army de- 

 partment of the Philippines, steps were taken 

 to prepare an efficient nucleus around which 

 a complete division could later be built. 



Further delays in ascertaining the wishes 

 of Washington with regard to the disposi- 

 tion of the guard and with regard to its 

 federalization were encountered in 1918, due 

 largely to the fact that cable communication 

 was difficult, tedious and unsatisfactory, and 

 also to the fact that the government of the 

 United States during those months was 

 completely absorbed in the problem of 

 placing the men already in American canton- 

 ments on the battle line in France. 



Enthusiasm was not lost, however, and by 

 the latter part of the summer a second Offi- 

 cers' Training School, of sufficient capacity 

 to provide officers for a . full division, was 

 organized. 



A three months' course of training for 

 these officers was followed by assurances 

 from Washington that federalization of the 

 division, which in the meantime had 

 been recruited to maintain its authorized 

 strength, would be authorized immediately. 

 Nevertheless, it was not until November 

 first that the division was mobilized at the 

 big cantonment erected on the outskirts of 

 Manila, and where the division officers were 

 undergoing training in the interim. It was 

 not until November 19, 1918, that authority 

 for federalization was received. By this 

 time the armistice had been signed, but the 

 division officials not only did not slacken 

 their efforts to make the opportunity afforded 

 by Washington count for the most during 

 the months of federal training, but steps 

 were at once taken to secure from the Phil- 

 ippine legislature the necessary authorities 

 for maintaining the division at full strength 

 on an insular basis for sixty days after the 

 month's federal service was ended. 



As a result, while the Philippine Islands, 

 due to conditions over which neither its 

 government nor its people could exercise 

 control, was not able to place an official or- 

 ganization in France, February 19, 1919, 

 saw the mustering out of service of a divi- 

 sion of well trained Filipino soldiers, each 

 of them whose service was prompted by deep 

 loyalty to the United States and a firm 

 conviction in the righteousness of the allied 

 cause. 



RED CROSS 



On April .6, 1917, the Red Cross organiza- 

 tion in the Philippine Islands consisted of 

 what was known as the Philippine Board of 

 the American Red Cross, and aside from the 

 supervision of relief work in connection with 



A COMPANY OF AMERICAN RED CROSS WORKERS, MANILA 



MRS. TERESA VAMENTA. PROMINENT MEMBER 

 OF WOMAN'S CLUB AND DAMAS DE FILIPINAS 



public disasters of a local or Oriental nature 

 its activities were decidedly limited. It 

 immediately became apparent that the 

 American Red Cross was to play a part in 

 the war only second, if second at all, as that 

 of the armies in the Philippines. To co- 

 operate most effectively in this great work 

 the Philippine organization was notified to 

 be reconstituted as the Philippines Chapter 

 of the American Red Cross. Red Cross 

 membership campaigns and subscription 

 campaigns, simultaneous with those held jn 

 the United States, were launched in the Phil- 

 ippine Islands. By the end of 1918, local 

 chapter memberships had passed the 100,000 

 mark, while the junior Red Cross, organized 

 among the children of the public schools 

 with the effective aid of the Bureau of Educa- 

 tion organization, on the same date boasts 

 over 215,000 memberships. 



Funds were not alone secured through 

 the membership and subscription campaigns. 

 The 1918 Philippine Carnival turned over 

 its profits to the Red Cross; various local 

 organizations headed by the Manila Lodge 

 of Elks, staged benefits which netted many 

 thousands of pesos to the chapters' treasury. 

 As in the United States the sporting frater- 

 nity proved an important factor in aiding 

 the Red Cross Work. Boxing, racing, 

 tennis, and baseball were the largest con- 

 tributors in the Philippine Islands. 



Some comprehension of the work which 

 the Philippines Chapter has done during the 

 periods of America's participation in the 

 war may be got from the fact that up to 

 December 31, 1918, shipments of Red Cross 

 supplies alone from the Philippine Islands 



