"Patriotic Enlightenment" (May 10, 1917)

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Church.

Throughout the war, the clergy of all confessions have already worked in exemplary fashion on behalf of enlightenment. Closer contact between the Corps Command and the clergy would certainly make this enlightenment activity even more fruitful. The military enlightenment activity could learn from the experiences of the clergy, and clergymen could in turn draw from the rich materials offered by military agencies and extend their activity – beyond matters of feeding the population, the need for cooperation between the city and the countryside, between producers and consumers, [and] promoting war bonds – to questions like the cause of the war and the need to stay the course until victory.

School.

The schools have already contributed to a great degree to increasing the population’s understanding of many of the difficulties in our war economy. Furthermore, to mention only one practical example, they have – working together with the clergy – undertaken praiseworthy, practical work by means of their enlightenment activity in finding lodging in the countryside for urban children. Enlightenment in the schools is so important because it affects parents through their children. In some areas the schools have been very successful in setting up so-called “parents’ evenings.”

Parents’ Evenings.

The Corps Command would be grateful if school authorities would continue to promote the development of these events.

Voluntary Relief Committees.

In many localities there already exist voluntary associations, under the name of the “Patriotic Lecture Association,” “Welfare Committee,” and the like, which have distinguished themselves in raising morale and enlightening the populace; these organizations should naturally continue to exist. On a case-to-case basis, it must be asked whether their composition is comprehensive enough to generate the confidence necessary within the broad population, or whether one might co-opt new members, in order to bring together in these organizations all classes of the people, all parties and all confessions, employers and employees, men and women in cooperative, fruitful work.

Cooperation with Women.

Women of all classes, who in this war have had to carry a special measure of worries, burdens, privations and sacrifices, deserve consideration above all in our efforts. The Corps Command will therefore be happy if it were able to enlist the cooperation of women’s organizations for purpose of enlightenment.