World War I 100 Years Ago: March 15-21

From The Indianapolis Star, Thursday, March 20, 1919: Indiana ranked second among all the states in the percentage of women who registered for war service according to a letter from the national headquarters of the Council of Defense in Washington, DC. The number of registrations totaled 626,292 with occupations ranging from trained wrestlers to raising canaries. The home took precedence with 236,812 women registering for housekeeping and 34,699 women registering for the care of children. Women registered as drivers of horses was 3,418 narrowly edging out the 3,403 women registered as drivers of motor cars. A bountiful harvest can be expected if all the 35,886 registered women gardeners get to work this summer. Only 4,729 of the women who registered listed themselves as “unoccupied.” Michigan was the only state that outranked Indiana in the percentage of registrations.