Pupils in 65 Parades Today

From The Indianapolis Star, Thursday, June 13: The spirit of loyalty in the fight for freedom and democracy will dominate today as more than 40,000 Indianapolis public school pupils and their teachers demonstrate in 65 parades through the immediate neighborhoods of their schools as part of the $5,000,000 (2017: $82,960,434) War Savings Stamps pledge campaign. Over 1,000 banners bearing War Savings slogans have been prepared for the event, and these demonstrations by school children, if thrown together, would be a parade of more than 100 city blocks, which would be by far the greatest parade in the city’s history. It is predicted that today’s neighborhood demonstrations will be seen by more people in one day than have ever before witnessed a city parade. Former President Theodore Roosevelt opened the campaign Tuesday night with an address at the Fair Ground Coliseum.

“Pupils in 65 Parades Today,” The Indianapolis Star, 13 June 1918, p. 9:1

#worldwarone #parade #schoolchildren #WarSavingsStamp #patriotism

Flag Day Plans Include Double Program Friday

From The Indianapolis Star, Sunday, June 9: Flag Day in Indianapolis will be observed with two events. Following a parade from the Elks clubhouse, 30 E. Vermont St, featuring the Boy Scouts drum corps and the Newsboys’ Band, the Indianapolis Lodge No. 13, B.P.O.E., will hold an afternoon celebration in University Park featuring a “patriotic address” by United States Senator James Watson. The Masonic Quartet will sing and the American flag will be raised by sailors from the U. S. Navy Recruiting Service. In the evening a community sing, on the north side of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, led by the seven hundred voices of the People’s Chorus and singers from the three city high schools will take place below the buildings on the Circle “profusely decorated with flags of the United States and the nations of the allies.”

“Flag Day Plans Include Double Program Friday,” The Indianapolis Star, 9 June 1918, Part 2, p. 11:5

#onehundredyearsago #parade #flag #patriotism #music #boyscouts #masons

Coffin Promises to Arrest All Loafers

From The Indianapolis News, Tuesday, June 4: At the urging of Mayor Jewett, the Indianapolis city council passed the “war loafer” ordinance last night providing loafers with the alternatives of entering military service, working on farms, engaging in war or munition work, or going to jail. The police department was given discretion in making arrests, but police chief George Coffin promised a thorough cleaning of the city as far as loafers are concerned. A recent census produced the “names of seven or eight hundred men who frequent street corners and poolrooms, all apparently able to work.” Chief Coffin said, “Every able-bodied man or woman must apply himself to some useful occupation, regardless of whether they have money to live on without working. Every one of these men will get an opportunity to go to work before an arrest is made.”

“Coffin Promises to Arrest All Loafers,” The Indianapolis News, 4 June 1918, p. 24:3

#onehundredyearsago #loafers #police #MayorJewett #transients #publicorder