Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 288, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1918 — Wilson Asks Every American To Unite With the Red Cross [ARTICLE]

Wilson Asks Every American To Unite With the Red Cross

Washington, December 9.—Every American is asked to help send a Christmas greeting to the whole human family by joining the American Red Cross during the Christmas roll call week, December 16 to 23, in a proclamation, prepared by President Wilson 'before he sailed for Europe. The proclamation follows: • sii_!*To the American people: x < .“One year ago 22,000,000 Americans, by enrolling as members of the Red Cross ait Christmas time, sent to the men who were fighting out battle oversea a stimulating message of cheer and good will. They , made it dear that our people were of their own free choice united with their •govamnwut in the determination not only to wage war with the instruments of destruction, but also by every means in their power to repay the ravages of the invader and sustain, anew the spirit of the army and of the homes which they represented. The friends of the American Red Cross in Italy/ Belgium and France have told, and will tell again, the story of how the Red Cross workers restored morale in the hospitals, in the camps, and at the cantonments, and we ought to be very proud we have been permitted to be of service to those whose sufferings and whose glory are the heritage of humanity. * “Now, by God's grace, the Red Cross Christmas message of 1918 is to be a message of peace as well as a message of good will. But peace does not mean that we can fold our hands. It means further sacrifice. We must prove conclusively to an attentive world that America is permanently aroused to the needs of the new era, our old indifference gone forever. “The exact nature of the future service of the Red Cross will depend upon programs of the associated governments, but there is am-mediate need Wajr for every heartening word and for every helpful sendee. We must lot forgeMhat our soldiers and our sailors are still under orders and still ■nave duties to perform of the highest consequence, and that the Red Cross Christmas membership means a great deal to them. The people of the saddened lands, moreover returning home today, where there are no homes, must have the assurance that the hearts of our people are with them in the dark and doubtful days ahead. Let us, so far as we can, help them back to faith in mercy'and in future happiness. “As president of the Red Cross, conscious in this great hour of the value of such a message from the American people, I should be glad if every American would join the Red Cross for 1919, and thus send forth to the whole human family the Christmas greeting for which it waits and for which it stands in greatest need. WOODROW WILSON.”