The Waterloo town council became increasingly concerned about the role of local farmers as contributors to the war effort. Not only were there questions posed regarding the lack of manpower to bring in the harvests due to volunteerism but also the role the rural areas would have in supporting the Funds being raised for the war effort.
On 19 November, the Waterloo Chronicle-Telegraph announced that the local farmers were willing to collaborate to raise monetary support for the Patriotic Fund and Belgian Relief Fund. Farmers committed to join the Patriotic Fund as a sign of good faith for the war effort. This commitment demonstrated that rural areas of the Waterloo Region would also to be heavily involved in the donation and industrial phase of the war effort.
(“To the Men of the Village of Ayr,” Waterloo Chronicle-Telegraph, 19 November 1914)
