Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 286, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1914 — ARMY OF COMPASSION FOLLOWS ARMY OF DESTRUCTION IN BATTLE [ARTICLE]

ARMY OF COMPASSION FOLLOWS ARMY OF DESTRUCTION IN BATTLE

V ' V System That Has Made the Kaiser’s Fighting Forces a Military Marvel Is Applied Also to the Organization Devoted to the Alleviation of Pain and Misery—Empress and Peasant Women Alike Engaged in Work,.

Berlin. —In the year 1864 the "Prussian Men’s Society for the Care of the Sick and Wounded In War” was founded in Berlin, King Wilhelm and Queen Augusta accepting its protectorate. Two years later Queen Augusta issued a proclamation calling on the women in her realm to stand side by side with the men in this noble work. The “Fatherland’s Women’s Club” (“Vaterlandische Frauenverein") was the result. Following Prussia’s lead, a great many similar societies were called to life throughout Germany. In 1869, finally, they all were united ip the great “German General Union of the Red Cross.” The Red Cross 96cieties of all nations, in their turn, are tied together and governed by the laws laid down at the international conference held at Geneva in 1865, which provides that “all hospitals and hospital officials and all in any way engaged in attending the sick and wounded in war are to be treated as neutral parties.” \

By the time the Franco-Prussian war broke out the German Red Cross had developed in such a manner that more than two thousand committees formed at once, with a central committee at Berlin, and over $14,000,000 was raised and used. At present all the volunteer societies of the Red Cross, as well as the Protestant and Catholic orders of St. John, Maltese and St. George’s knights, all associations of professional nurses (male and female) and deacons and deaconesses (Protestant Brothers and Sisters of Mercy) have all been united to the German army. Since 1897 they have been subject to military inspection, Prince Frederic Solms-Baruth holding the position of* military inspector of volunteer nursing. Red Cross Follows Fighters. When the German army was being mobilized for the present war, another mobilization immediately took place also —that of the Red Cross —the one as the other being prepared fully and equipped perfectly. It is a comforting thpught for Germany’s mothers to know that thiß army of compassion and brotherly love is efficient and ready to do its utmost in healing the wounds inflicted in war. And it is a beautiful thought for anybody to see the nations join hands in this brotherhood that no war can break, that Btands high above political accidents and local restrictions, high as civilization Itself —the universal brotherhood of the Red Cross. “In medical matters there must be no secrets” —these words of the unforgotten Doctor von Coler are the motto also of His Excellency von Schjerning, present chief of the German army’s medical department Accordingly all Germany’s experience in medical and sanitary matters is at the disposal of every other nation. And it is with satisfaction that Germany recently beheld several countries revising their methods of military sanitation according to Gerinan ideas. The Field Equipment In the German army each troop or. company has its owfa physicians. These are either regular army physicians or civilians of high standing in the medical world. Under them is the staff of nurses—men trained for years, both theoretically and practically. As the personnel, so the material is selected with greatest care and forethought;

the newest scientific inventions, the purest drugs, bandages, medical implements, general equipment, food for the patients—everything up to the most modern standards. All ambulances are well suplied with alleviate and anodyne remedies, an especial aim being to diminish suffering, even if other help should be out of the question. Staff Physician Doctor Neumann of Elberfeld claims that modern weapons are more humane than the oldfashioned lead projectiles, in that those who are not killed outright are better off than in former wars. In addition to complete equipment of the Red Cross, each individual soldier of the German army is fitted out with two packages of antiseptic dressing and carefully drilled in its application. This enables him to dress his wounds himself In case of And already reports are coming in of the success of these precautions in averting infection of wounds. During a battle the physicians of each company establish first-aid stations, “Verbandplatze,” as near as possible to the immediate front, in a position shielded from rifle fire and artillery fire and easily accessible, where the men can lie down protected by windshields, portable tents and sheltering ramparts. The Red Cross of Geneva flutters above these little havens of rest and shows the way to those who are but slightly injured and still able to walk.. The others are brought in on stretchers by the nurses, who continually plunge into the fray to succor the wounded. The nurses are all fitted out with first-aid appliances so that in case of supreme need they can minister help right on. the battlefield. Urgent operations are performed, wounds dressed and examinations made at the first-aid stations. The wounded are at once divided into three classes: First Class —Wounded able to walk. Second Class —Wounded able to stand transportation. Third Class —Wounded unable tof stand transportation. * Tagging the Wounded. Each patient receives a tag, the shape and color of which denotes in which of the three classes he belongs. On this tag the phjrslcian makes a detailed note of the nature of his injury, thus saving the man the paig. of renewed examination as he passes from one hospital on to another, and in addition saving the physicians much valuable time. From these first-aid stations the wounded are later conveyed every army corps having 12 field hospitals, each with a capacity of at least two hundred patients. In the present war, with its pathetic accompaniment of civilian warfare, which\ respects no Red Cross, it has become necessary to give the ambulance transports their armed body-guards, who take terrible revenge on all “francstireurs," shooting them at sight and blowing up their homes. Night for the Red Cross soldiers brings an arduous task. When the scenes of horror an about them have been covered with a blackness torn only by the fitful gleam of some burn- 1 ing village on the horizon, these men again leave their station by the red lanterns of Geneva and disperse o ver the battlefield, searching for the wounded, as well as for the hyenas

who plunder and mutilate the dead A soldier of the Red Cross risks his life over and over again day and night He needs as much daring, endurance .and sacrificial spirit as the soldier of the Iron Cross. Onpe in the field hospital (Which, following in the wake of the army, is always quite a distance from the actual battlefield), the wounded soldiers receive regular treatment. They remain there until the “field hospital” Is replaced by the “war hospital”—which change takes place automatically as soon as the army proceeds, for the field hospital follows the troops. The patients remain where they are, while the personnel and material about them are changing from the wandering field hospital to the stationary war hospital. From there the wounded eventually are sent back into Germany for complete recovery In one of the splendidly appointed city of military hospitals.

The city hospital of Frankfort-on-the-Main, for instance, having prepared 5,000 beds, had 3,000 patients by the beginning of September. In most cases the soldiere were but slightly injured, suffering from wounds in the arms or legs. They were accommodated in large, light, airy, flower-be-decked rooms and attended by female nurses. On August 27 the German empress passed through Frankfort, and, escorted by the physician in chief, Doctor Voss, stopped at each bed in turn. The much-beloved, white-haired first lady of the land, who herself has given six sons to the army, did not have to simulate sympathy. She talked with each man in her gentle, sincere, sympathetic way the huge bunch she carried left roses in many a hand.

Empress Takes Part. It is easily understood that the empress plays an important part in the Red Cross work.-4A.Her influence in Germany is great, for the wife of their chief executive is very dear to the hearts of the German people. Most of us have read of her appeal to the German women to supply her with 1,000,000 pairs of hand-knitted woolen socks for the soldiers, and how old and young, rich and poor, high and low, took to knitting, until such an avalanche of woolen socks descended upon her palace In Berlin that she had to send out another appeal beggihlg them to desist. Naturally, the German women and girls, who have seen their dear ones go to meet innumerable dangers and horrors, are eager In their turn to do something for the common cause. To sit inactive would be unbearable. And here the Red Cross blesses doubly —those who give, as those who receive. There is any amount of volunteer work to be done, from sewing and knitting, taking but an hour or two a day, to nursing and the care of the widowed and fatherless, which claims one’s whole time. And in every department the supply is even greater than the demand. An amusing story is told apropos of the many young girls who flock to take courses in nursing. An eminent old professor, who had accepted the teaching of some such raw material, preliminary to beginning his course called upon the young women to divide in two sections —those who wish to nurse officers only and those willing to nurse any wounded soldier. A few romantio goosies gracefully entered his trap by stepping on the side "for officers only.” He watched the proceedings, glared at them above his spectacles, his very hair bristling with contempt. Then: “You can go right home,” he addressed the dumfounded elite. “I won’t waste my time on such as you.”

Many reports from. Germany tell of the active part Americans there take in the Red Cross work. In Munich the American women of that city have rented as large hall in the Hotel Bayrischer Hos, and there meet daily to do their part with knittihg needles and sewing machines. Other Americans have donated sums for the Red Cross, and many individually assist in enthusiastic work. ( On the other hand, just as strangers help in the great work, so do strangers benefit by it —ipjthis case the wounded among the prisoners from Belgium, France, England and Russia They' are treated with such efficacy and humaneness that some French prisoners in Stuttgart, in token of their gratitude, made a large donation to the German Red Cross. A curious account is published'by the Vossiche Zeitung, Berlin, on September 4. It relates to the strange behavior of the wounded Russian prisoners. "When the physicians approach them with scissors to cut open the uniform about a wound \)r try to make an incision or apply a bandage, the Russians resist to the utmost of their forces. Not that they are faint hearted, afraid of the operation—but they expect to be mutilated, blinded, murdered. A Russian colonel even refused all nourishment 36 hours for fear of being poisoned. Finally one of his fellow prisoners, who happened to a man of education and intelligence, succeeded in convincing him of his folly.” The paper adds, whimsically: “What lies these poor fools must have been told about üb, to take us for such cannibals!” No doubt, in a way, their terror of the Germans will explain many of the Russian “atrocities" —because fear and ignorance always bpget cruelty. alone can lead the way to a Utopia of brotherly add neighborly love. In the meantime we must be satisfied with the Red Cross. t