Banner". The Creston Drum Corps, composed of three veterans of the Civil War, played stirring martial airs, and the church rang with cheers and applause. The following clear explanation of what the men in deferred classification were to do was made by Secretary Hart, of the War Savings Committee. Up to the present time the Government has placed certain registered men in deferred classification for the reason that it was thought they were of more benefit to the government in war work at home than they would be in the army or navy. Now the time has come when it must be known whether these men really are of more benefit at home and whether they really are doing government war work. It is necessary that certain war work be done to provide the government with money to supply the men who are taking our places and fighting for us. Every man in deferred classification is expected to actively assist in the defense of the country by being personally responsible for the sale of 60 War Savings Stamps of a total face value of $300.00. He is expected to sell these to his personal friends, neighbors and relatives, and in this manner prove his active service in Government War Work. Each man has received a record card for his use upon which each person who purchases war savings stamps from him or who is induced to purchase war savings stamps by him, will certify to the same by signing his name together with the number of stamps purchased. Each registered man in deferred classification will in this way get due credit on his record card for the war work he has done. Every true Americn, every friend, and every relative of these men is asked to give every assistance to these men in this work. Buy war savings stamps from them, urge your friends and neighbors to buy war savings stamps from them, and then keep on buying them. They are the safest and best investment in the World. They are a direct ten day demand obligation of the Government, returning 4.27 per cent. to the investor, principal and interest due January 1, 1923, guaranteed on the face of the stamp. They can be registered in the same manner as any other government bond. For sale at every Post Office and every Bank. Selling price of War Savings Stamps is for June $4.17, July $4.18, August $4.19, September $4.20, October $4.21, November $4.22, December $4.23. Help our Boys. The auditorium had been divided into sections, so that the men from each Township sat together during the meeting. Following the decision to volunteer their services the men of each Township organized by electing a Captain and a First and Second Lieutenant. These officers had general supervision over the work of the men in their townships, and the workers reported to them regularly during the three weeks of the campaign. The Township Officers were: Baughman township-Howard T. Pontius, captain; S. R. Brenneman, 1st. lieutenant; H. D. Graber, 2nd. lieutenant. Canaan township-Roy S. Grunder, captain; Carl Jordan, 1st. lieutenant; Roy Kinion, 2nd. lieutenant. Chester township-Parvin F. Swinehart, captain; G. B. Harmon, 1st. lieutenant; Frank Butler, 2nd. lieutenant. Chippewa township J. A. Barnett, captain; Ed Koehler, 1st. lieutenant; 2nd. lieutenant (not reported.) Clinton township-P. A. Woods, captain; T. E. Brenneman, 1st. lieutenant; H. E. Sprowl, 2nd. lieutenant. Congress township-J. W. Haggans, captain; Fred Fishburn, 1st. lieutenant; R. C. Yost, 2nd. lieutenant. East Union township-Fred C. Troxel, captain; Melvin Parker, 1st. lieutenant; Cy Geitgey, 2nd. lieutenant. Franklin township-William H. Talbert, captain; Carl James, 1st. lieutenant; Elmer Franks, 2nd. lieutenant. Green township-W. S. Geiger, captain; Rev. W. W. Johnson, 1st. lieutenant; Emmet Steiner, 2nd. lieutenant. Milton township—G. H. Clippinger, captain; E. V. Schaffter, 1st. lieutenant; E. G. Branigan, 2nd. lieutenant. Paint township-Lee I. Schaffter, captain; C. C. Boss, 1st. lieutenant; W. L. Beals, 2nd. lieutenant. Plain township-George W. Plasterer, captain; Clark Aber, 1st. lieutenant; Charles Cannankamp, 2nd. lieutenant. Saltcreek township-Frank Boling, captain; Harry McKelvey, 1st. lieutenant; Darl Amiet, 2nd. lieutenant. Sugarcreek township-C. L. Arnold, captain; C. R. McDowell, 1st. lieutenant; Lloyd C. Hoffman, 2nd. lieutenant. Wayne township-Chat Redick, captain; W. F. Glasgow, 1st. lieutenant; L. R. Shoemaker, 2nd. lieutenant. Wooster township-Dr. J. R. Weimer, captain; Walter C. Foster, 1st. lieutenant; Walter J. Buss, 2nd. lieutenant. The meeting then adjourned by the men singing the doxology and receiving the benediction. During the next three weeks, it is pretty safe to say that no man or woman in Wayne County escaped without being asked many times to purchase War Savings Stamps. It was a hit and miss campaign, with every draftee asking every acquaintance to purchase Stamps. Medina County War Savings Stamp workers telephoned a protest that Wayne County men were invading that county in their sale of Stamps. The story was spread broadcast that any man who failed to sell his quota of sixty stamps would lose his deferred classification. This story was immediately denied by the County Draft Board and the County War Savings Committee, and a statement was issued that the work was volunteer work of the draftees, with no penalty attached in case of failure. War Savings Stamps were sold right and left, and although the county quota was not fully raised during the three weeks work, yet the county committee began to see light ahead and recognized that the attainment of the quota was possible. Salt Creek township, East Union township, and Wayne township were the first to reach their quotas, and other townships began to follow until all the country districts were "Over the Top". The work started in January to organize the school children of the county was carried on successfully throughout the school year and during the summer vacation. The appended list of Wayne County school children was certified to the Ohio Director of War Savings as having sold the highest amount of War Savings Stamps from May 1, to September 10, 1918 OLIVE BURGER, Orrville, $5762.18 CLARENCE LEINER, Fredricksburg, $2240.00 MARGARET SHERRED, Wooster, $108.35 BERTHA KOHLER, Wooster, $89.78 The influenza epidemic in the fall, which closed nearly all of the schools in the county, prevented a final intensive campaign which had been planned through the public schools. In December the figures in the hands of the county organization showed that everywhere, save in Wooster and Orrville, the quotas had been met and passed. In both of these districts a final effort was made. In Wooster the Liberty Bond salesmen were interested, and made a final canvas which was most successful. Special work in Orrville put that district well over the quota. Christmas time brought happiness to Mr. Schwartz and Mr. Hart, who had carried the burden and borne the brunt of the War Savings Stamp campaign for the year, when reports from all districts, banks and Postoffices showed that Wayne County had more than reached its Quota for War Savings Stamps, the sales being $800,000.00. On the night of January 16, 1919, Thomas H. Clark, a Columbus attorney, in an eloquent address at Memorial Hall, presented Wayne county with a bronze tablet, in recognition of the county having oversubscribed its quota. The tablet was later placed at the southeast corner of the court house where it occupies a conspicuous place. Mr. Clark, on behalf of the state organization, also presented gold medals to George J. Schwartz, chairman, and Wayne Hart, secretary, of the Wayne county organization, and bronze medals to the following workers: Dr. J. R. Weimer, Chat Redick, C. R. McDowell, Frank Boling, Lee I. Schaffter, Wm. H. Talbert, P. F. Swinehart, Geo. W. Plasterer, J. W. Hagans, G. H. Clippinger, Roy S. Grunder, W. S. Geiger, Howard T. Pontius, Fred C. Troxel, P. A. Woods, I. A. Barnett, W. H. Zaugg, James A. Shamp, G. C. Maurer, G. U. Baumgardner, W. C. Avery, Harry Flinn, C. R. Kilgore, Frank Beazell, T. C. Hunsicker, Gus Tuttle, W. O. Stauffer, Wiley K. Miller, C. A. Hostetler, Ira Amiet, Eugene Merkle and K. E. Hoover. In 1919 G. U. Baumgardner, superintendent of the county schools, acted as chairman of the War Savings organization. The first determined effort to sell the 1919 issue of stamps was made during the latter part of August and the first part of September. CHAPTER XV. FACTORIES HELPED WIN THE WAR The manufacturing institutions of Wayne county played a considerable part in winning the war. Although no city in Wayne county is widely known as a manufacturing center, still the leading concerns in Wooster and Orrville worked on war contracts of much importance. Upwards of 500 men were employed during the period of the war on war contract work in Wayne county factories. The biggest war orders filled by Wayne county institutions were those handled by The Woodard Machine Co., and The Buckeye Aluminum company, both of Wooster. The former was engaged for many months in manufacturing machinery used in the nation's shipbuilding program, or to be more specific, for torpedo craft. Men working at the Woodard plant received special exemption from military service because they were engaged in this work, and the company had priority orders second to none in the matter of getting material shipped here to fulfill these orders. At the Aluminum company's plant, both men and women were engaged in the manufacture of army canteens, not only for the U. S. war department, but for the allied nations overseas. The plant was operated day and night during the war period, with many of the men working many hours extra time. The Wooster Brush Co. also handled a considerable number of war contracts in their line of work. Factories at Orrville engaged in war contracts were: The Cyclone Drill Co., machinery; The Ohio Blower Co., machinery for shipyards; The Will-Burt Co., casting for submarine destroyers; the EllsworthHaffner Co., harness for army use FARMERS BOOST FOOD PRODUCTION Although no definite figures were compiled, it is a recognized fact that crop production in Wayne count ywas increased during the war. This was stimulated by higher prices as well as by patriotic impulse. Reports of the assessors of Wayne county how that the wheat acreage was increased from approximately 48,000 acres in 1914, to 60,000 acres in 1919. There was probably a falling off in the production of hay and oats, but an increase in corn. THE OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT The coal-mining business is now secondary to the oil and gas industry in Wayne county, the latter having advanced by leaps and bounds during the past six years. Efforts to develop the vast treasure of oil and gas beneath Wayne county's crop-producing soil had been made on several occasions in the past. As early as March 5, 1815, Joseph Eichar, who resided west of Wooster, headed a project to relieve the people of Wayne county from the high price of salt by boring down to the salt strata, using a chisel-shaped augur. He sunk a well to a depth of 465 feet in the Killbuck Valley. Salt was obtained in great quantities at first, but the production soon decreased, and later the industry was wholly abandoned. It was a sad blow, not only to the promoters of the enterprise, but to the residents of the vicinity, who paid $4.00 per bushel for salt transported here from the east, largely by water, via the Ohio and Muskingum rivers to Coshocton, thence to Walhonding, and from there up the Killbuck in dugouts. An old letter which for many years was in the possession of Mrs. Joseph Lake, of New York City, a daughter of Joseph Eichar, tells the story of how the salt project in the Killbuck valley was the real start of the oil and gas development in this vicinity. A paragraph from the letter says: "One of the greatest obstacles they met in boring was the striking |