Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 304, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1920 — WILL YOU HEED MERCY’S CALL? [ARTICLE]

WILL YOU HEED MERCY’S CALL?

A GREAT UNION OF FORCES TO SAVE THE CHILDREN OF EUROPE. ! The supreme need of the moment, agree the eight most active and experienced relief organizations in this country, is to “preserve the foundation of society in the East, and keep open the love of humanity in the West.” In other words, to quote the New York Evening “to save a whole generation of potential m,en and women in Central Europe who are doomed to death from starvation this winter unless the long and mighty arm of America is stretched out across the ocean to feed them.” The first act of these organizations, after coming to the conclusion that the need was urgent and immediate, was to get together, and the next was to elect Herbert Hoover chairman of the newly formed union of the eight —the European Relief Council— and Franklin K. Lane, treasurer. The combined forces of the Council will be devoted to caring for the children who, in the words of Mr. Hoover, “twenty years from now will form the basis of civilization in Europe.” “The advantages of such an organization and such a plan,” says the Milwaukee Sentinel, “all under the supervision of such a man as Mr. Hoover, are obvious.” “The work planned is not religious, nor sectarian, but humanitarian,” points out the Boston Herald. That the need of these millions of fatherless and motherless children is desperate is attested in a bulletin of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, one of the eight members of the federation. No fewer than forty-seven members of this active religious organization testify in this bulletin that they “have personally visited Europe and investigated conditions there,” and that “the description of these pitiable conditions have not been exaggerated, and are, and are so extreme that they can not be exaggerated.” Of the amalgamation of relief organizations into the European Relief Council and the council’s purposes the New York Evening Mail says: “History offers no precedent for such a performance; it records no opportunity for supreme well-doing on so large a scale and promising so splendid a result —the saving of a generation.” “This relief is for the emergency of Europe’s existing confusion, not a permanent charge,” notes the Chicago Tribune, “and if these black months can be passed, the situation will be cleared.”

“The European Relief Council is the largest co-operative benevolent organization ever attempted in the United States,” said Mr. Hoover immediately after the amalgamation. “The eight organizations forming it came to the ’ unanimous, tho independently formed, conclusion that nothing but prompt and united action by the whole American people can avert incredible tragedy for the helpless children involved.” Dr. Royal S. Copeland, New York’s Commissioner of Health, says the New .York Tribune, “earnestly advocates support of Mr. Hoover’s program on the ground that diseases developed overseas because of lack of food, poor housing, and bad sanitation might spread to the United States.” “Every ceiit raised will be ‘expended for food, clothing, and medicines; none of it will go for salaries or other overhead charges,” the Milwaukee Wisconsin News assures its readers. And in a resume of conditions in Central Europe and of the Council’s plans Mr. Hoover says in the New York World, after pointing out that “no other nation in the world can undertake this work at this time,” that—- “ There are approximately seventeen thousand canteens, orphan asylums, hospitals, and children’s homes of different types in Central Europe to which American charity contributes. “In Roumania we had 1,500,000 children in 1919., They had a harvest in the summer that gave them a surplus, and we pulled out entirely, leaving the local organization in charge. This year Serbia -has a surplus of 2,000,000 tons, and we have -Withdrawn our supplies of foodstuffs and clothing. In Czechoslovakia, local support has increased. “Poland has made no progress, the Bolshevik invasion having thrown the Poles back to where they were before; nor has Austria progressed. We have 350,000 children in Vienna alone, and there will be 450,000 by midwinter, or 85 per cent of all the children of the cisy to be fed by American charity. “The view of this Council is that, until this children’s relief is financed, until it can come through the next year, all American charity should go to that end. It should have complete priority, and is the thing that ought to be concentrated on from the American point of view. All other forms of relief are so secondary that Europe is not going to break down if they do not go on.”

Forty-seven members of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America who have firsthand knowledge of in

Central Europe tell us that—- “ Millions of little ones are actually starving and millions more are so retarded in their growth that there is imminent danger of a rising generation of anemic and underdeveloped men and women. The approaching winter will bring added horrors. We find that the policy governing the child-feeding is based on self-help and local resources, both in personal service and commodities, and that everything possible is being done to promote responsibility and avoid pauperizing.” In recent months this “land of plenty turned its eyes away from a land of want,” declares the Lincoln (Nebr.) State Journal, “but that after-war reaction is now evidently passing. America is getting back to normal; its normal sympathy for all the world.” And, points out the Chicago Daily News, “there is no better way to observe the gracious holiday season than by contributing to Hoover’s fund in conscientious proportion to one’s means.” Emphasizing the “great moral issue” involved in this child-saving work, Mr. Hoover said, in a recent address: “I would rather have the American flag implanted in the hearts of the children of Europe than flying over any citadel of victory “We are today feeding enemy as well as friend. We are today replacing hate in the minds of this next generation. With the completion of this final effort we shall have given to American character a lift in pride of a great duty well done; a pride in a practical helpfulness that distinguishes our people. We shall have given to Europe her foothold back to life again. “These children are the obligation of every man and woman who has a ‘penny more than his own children . and his neighbors’ children require.”—Literary Digest. Every organization in Jasper county is urged to contribute freely to this great relief work. A few hours after our first appeal we found a check in our post office box. The Presbyteyian church made a $97.00 free wifi offering Sunday evening for the work. The appeal is too pitiful to be withstood. Nothing but a heart of stone could stand out and refuse or fail to make a contribution. Every church, every lodge, every club, every federation of any kind or character in the county is urged to act, act liberally and quickly. - There will not be- a cent of expense and money raised in this county will be sent to the Indianapolis headquarters. e Hand or c mail all contribution to Judson J. Hunt, secretary-treasurer of the Trust & Savings Bank, Rensselaer, who consented to act for the Jasper county European Relief Council.