Patriotic Policing of the Home Front
A Kennewick teacher resigns under pressure after wearing a Red Cross sweater, sparking a community-wide investigation into her loyalty during the Great War.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The wearing of a sweater which she claimed had been knitted by the Red Cross resulted last week in Miss Marguerite Lynch’s resignation as teacher in the city grade schools. The young lady, who was recently engaged to teach a room made up from an overflow from two other grades at the Washington building, showed a noticeable lack of interest in the work of the local branch of the Red Cross. She was the only one of the local teachers who did not actively and enthusiastically support the local work and her indifference naturally irritated the other teachers. This feeling of irritation was aggravated when Miss Lynch appeared at the boarding house wearing a sweater which she said had been knitted for the Red Cross. According to Miss Lynch's story, it had been sent her by a soldier of Camp Lewis, to whom it had been issued by the Red Cross. The young man, she said, had at Christmas time received five sweaters knit and sent him direct by relatives. He didn't need the Red Cross one so he sent it to her. The climax came when she wore the sweater to school. She was reprimanded by Mrs. Bone, principal of the Washington building, and resigned. Mrs. Bone's action received the endorsement of Superintendent M. S. Lewis and the school board, who felt such incidents were capitalized by pro-German propagandists. The incident was reported to the Northwestern Division of the Red Cross, and Leslie W. Getchell, director of military relief, wrote that the young lady should be severely censured, as Red Cross sweaters are accounted for daily and could not be privately gifted.
“It is just such incidents as these that are capitalized by pro-German propagandists and used to hinder the work of the American Red Cross.”
This incident illustrates how quickly local social norms could turn punitive during wartime, with school boards and local organizations acting as arbiters of civic virtue. It serves as a stark reminder of the intense pressure to conform on the home front, where private life was often subordinated to performative displays of patriotism.
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