As is already well known, the Central Polish Relief Committee, which is composed of all the large Polish immigrant organizations [in this country], has set aside January 24 of next year [1915] as Polish Day throughout the United States. This means that on this day public collections will be instituted in all the Polish settlements, so numerously scattered all over America, for the purpose of collecting as large a fund as possible for our hungry and poverty-stricken brethren throughout Poland.

Polish Day, as we shall call it, is to give proof of how generous our people here are. This is to be a sort of manifestation with which everyone must become acquainted, especially those who have not yet understood that our contributions for purposes of the homeland are not only a voluntary act of almsgiving, or a single quarter donation, but that these contributions 2are a duty, a command of national conscience, and must be constant and continuous. They should increase with each day as the needs and suffering of thousands and millions of Polish people in the Kingdom of Poland and Galicia increase.

In order to complete our task properly and make a success of this Polish Day, we must prepare for it in advance. Since all the organizations represented by the Central Polish Relief Committee will take part in Polish Day and are authorized to take up collections separately or to join forces and appoint a joint committee for a given settlement and district, it is necessary to make a few remarks on how to prepare for this Polish Day.

We want in the first place to direct several remarks to the members of the Polish National Alliance, which should, Naturally, together with the Alliance of Polish Falcons, lead in the Polish Day drive. It should be added that the collections should not take place in Polish districts 3exclusively but should also take place downtown, in the factories, and in the principal streets of a given settlement or city, in order also to interest the American public, which, knowing the needs and poverty on Polish soil, this "Belgium of the East," as it is generally called, will not be ungenerous and will surely help augment the fund.

Members of the Alliance should therefore begin the work in the communes of the Polish National Alliance wherever such exist. At the next meeting, that is, if it will occur during the early part of January, a committee should be appointed for the purpose of making all the arrangements for Polish Day. The officers of those communes which are not having a regular meeting during the early part of January should call a special meeting for the purpose of discussing this matter and appointing a committee. In localities where communes either do not exist or are widely scattered this should be done by the groups and societies of the Polish National Alliance, if, of course, an agreement with other organizations is not reached and a joint committee is not appointed.

The first problem of the appointed committee is to arrange a work schedule. It must, in the first place, obtain a permit from the chief of police or mayor of the city for making a public collection on January 24 for the unfortunate people of Poland.

Next it must get the proper amount of collectors who can be enlisted from among the women members of the Polish National Alliance, wives and daughters of members, and finally volunteer young ladies and women. The number of collectors should be settled beforehand. There should be at least two collectors to each box, who should alternate, so that the work will not be interrupted even for a moment. The locality should be divided into districts and permanent collectors should be appointed to certain posts. The collectors should not be allowed to change their posts at will, regardless of how the contributions are coming in at this or that place. We believe that no Polish woman will try to get out of the obligation which she assumes, because she must undertake it.

The question of cans or paper containers which the collectors will use should 5be settled in advance. These containers must, of course, be sealed, and it would be well to have inscriptions on them in two languages, that is, in Polish and English, for instance "Dla Polski," "For Poland."

Next, tags should be given out everywhere, which also should be printed in two languages. The Polish Day committee will decide what kind of tags will be issued, but at any rate each committee should limit itself to only the most necessary and smallest possible expenditures, so that the cost of this Polish Day may be as low as possible.

It would also be well to try to obtain, through influential people from among the Poles, notices in the American press, this would greatly facilitate the work of the collectors later.

These are the initial tasks which must be done everywhere, and which cannot be postponed. Of course many small matters and details will come up about 6which one can ask the secretaries of specific treasury centers. For instance, Alliance members can apply for information to the secretary of the Independence Fund, Mr. M. Kmieciak, 1406-08 West Division Street, or to the Polish newspapers, all of which have ardently promised their support.

We close for the present with these few severe remarks, which we make solely for the purpose of getting the activity for Polish Day in America started now, since we will no doubt have to return to this subject several times. Since every treasury center belonging to the Central Polish Relief Committee was left an absolutely free hand in its arrangements for Polish Day, Alliance members should begin their work now in order not to allow any other group to get ahead of us, and so that we can show at least that the Independence Fund of the Polish National Alliance will be able to boast the largest sum of money collected.