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Show Preparations Made j For Sale of Poppies On their way to work and other duties Saturday morning, May 26, the people of Milford will be offered little red poppies to wear in memory of the World War dead. They will also be offered an opportunity to contribute to the welfare of the war's living victims. All day-, Saturday members of the American Legion Auxilary will be on the streets with baskets of poppies and with coin boxes to receive contributions in exchange ex-change for the memorial flower. This custom of wearing poppies in memory of the war dead is fifteen years old this year, and is generally observed throughout the English-speaking English-speaking world. In the United States the women of the American Legion Auxiliary have developed it into a great national program for commemorating com-memorating the services of those who died and for bringing aid to those who sacrificed health and strength in the nation's service. Explaning the program, Mrs. Willard Nichols, poppy chairman of the Milford unit of the Auxiliary, said: i "Nearly ten million Americans wear the American Legion and American Tgion Auxiliary poppy' each year on 'Poppy Day', the Satur-1 day before Memorial day, and con-1 tribute nearly one million dollars fori the relief of the war disabled,. the widows and fatherless children. All of the poppies are made by disabled .veterans, as the label on each poppy shows. j "Early in th winter the making of the poppies which will be worn, the following May, begins in government 'hospitals and in special workrooms maintained by the Auxiliary throughout through-out the country. Hands of disabled veterans, weary of idleness, are given employment shaping the little paper flowers. Discouraged men whose spirits have sunk to despair from months and years of unemployment are given' the reviving experience of again earning money. "A penny apiece is paid for each poppy made. A veteran, if he is not too badly disabled, can easily turn out 300 of the flowers in a short working day. This is usually the maximum number the disabled men are permitted to make in a day to prevent them from overtaxing their , strength, and means earning of three dollars a day. ' "For men who have lain in hos-: pitals for months feeling that theyj were useless incumbrances on the earth, three one-dollar bills actually earned are worth a fortune. For the amilies of these men the poppy makers are all men who receive little or no government compensation the money earned often means food, shelter and fuel for the winter. For the men without families the poppy earnings provide a 'stake' for the day when they must go out and attempt at-tempt to re-establish themselves in life against the handicap of their disabilities. "Veterans too badly disabled to make complete flowers sometimes form what they call 'Poppy corporations'. corpora-tions'. Several of them work together to-gether on the same flowers, each performing the operation which he can and passing the flower on to the others to be completed. Even blinded veterans can take part in the work under this arrangement. "Manufacturing the poppies involves in-volves large problems of financing, management and distribution for the Auxiliary women directing the project. pro-ject. This year wages paid to the disabled veterans will total nearly $100,000. Employment has been given to many hundreds in 58 different dif-ferent hospitals and workrooms in 40 states. "The funds derived from the poppies pop-pies are used by the Auxiliary and American Legion in giving aid to disabled veterans, their families and families of the dead for whom no other aid is available. Groceries for the family of a veteran too sick to work, shoes for the children of a veteran lying ill in a distant government govern-ment hospital, a loan to a convalescent convales-cent veteran struggling to get back on his feet these are typical of the purposes for which the poppy contributions con-tributions are used. The money is expended largely in the community in which it is raised under the direction direc-tion of the rehabilitation and child j welfare commitees of the local Auxi-j liary unit and Legion post. j "The wearing of the poppy draws its wide appeal from its dual purpose , of honoring the dead and serving the living. Every red flower on a lapel on 'Poppy day' means that the wearer wear-er has thought of the men who lie beneath the poppies in France, and has contributed something to the relief re-lief and rehabilitation of the men, women and children who are still fighting the long battle against physica'n and financial handicaps resulting re-sulting from war service." " i i ! nil IT rr-r |