Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 225, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 October 1917 — Falsehoods About the Red Cross Hurt America and Help Enemy [ARTICLE]

Falsehoods About the Red Cross Hurt America and Help Enemy

By Stuart H. Perry

' Is it not suspicious the number of false report, unfounded rumors, misunderstandings and falsehoods that spring up with regarc] to the Red Cross? It keeps the officers and workers busy denying them and explaining them away. There was a story that enormous sums of money were to be given away to foreign countries, and that a great marble palace was to be erected in Washington, both equally false. -. Some start from a misunderstanding, or are mere distortions of harmless facts. Somd are known to have started from disloyal (Sources with the deliberate purpose of crippling the work of the Red Cross. The malicious sort will be dealt with in due time in the proper way. It will not be long before it will be unsafe for any disloyal person to start such a story or pass it along. But in the meantime the Red Crossmembers themselves can do a great deal toward stopping all false reports. When you hear a harmful rumor about the Red Cross, remember: 1. It is a lie. There is nothing wrong about the Red Cross. It is admirably organized, efficiently managed; it is doing exactly what is best and wisest, in the light of the most far-reaching experience. It has been free from all serious blunders, incompetency, unfairness or scandal. 2. It is your duty to stop it. It is not enough to keep still. Speak out instantly, telling your auditors that the rumor is false, showing them why it must be so, and warning them not to play the enemy’s game by spreading it. ' ~ J \ 3. Report the matter at once to Red Cross headquarters. If the story was an innocent misunderstanding, steps will at once be taken to correct it. If it bears earmarks of malice, it will*%e dealt with in another wav. * ; If it hurts the Red Cross, it hurts America and helps. Germany.