Hammond Times, Volume 12, Number 4, Hammond, Lake County, 21 June 1917 — Page 7

Thursdav. June 21, 1917

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Josl What the Red Cross Is fcf from an itinu B. i. Bill.

Stf 1J0J, when Congress specially char- , vtJ tbe American Red Cross, every eesi-irr.i-k-.b, woman and child in America, U t. title.! to hold membership in it. The A.utriras' Red Croia, while purely a volMtwr organization, is officially designated ky t. government to supply the work of ynj and navy medical corps, and to ef ii-'.-iiiy receive an.H distribute on behalf s the government all moneys and supplies required to relieve communities overwhelmed by disaster, and to co-operate through its bae hospitals and other military units, with the army and navy.

The machinery of the Society interlocVa elose'y with that of the government. The President of the Society is the President of the United St-ites; its Treasurer is the Federal Comptrollerof Currency; the War Department audits its accounts; the Surgeon General of the United States Medical Corps and an Admiral of the Navy head its committees on military and naval relief.

In tme of war the government takes ever the equipment and personnel organized by the Society, and every physician, curse and officer on its roll is automat ically given proper military rank.

So. you see, it is not a mere incidental piece of relief machinery which the American Red Crosa is building.

Twenty-five movable base hospitals, each of them capable of providing for the needs ot an army division of twenty thousand men, have been organized during the past twelve months. Five have been provided 'or the Navy. The equipment for these hospitals, costing something like thirtyone thousand dollars each, nas been provided and stored in orderiv fashion, where t is instantly available. The trained personnel, consisting of 261 surgeons, pharmacists, dentists, nurses, assistant nurses, stretcher bearers, orderlies, clerks, hospital cooks, csrpsnters. etc.. has been drawn irem the strongest hospitals and Red Crass Chapters in twenty-five of our great American cities, and, for a period ot two ytars. is pledged to respond to the call of the " government for active field service.

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HEN a grreat sorrow befalls a household the bonds of relationship grow-

stronger. In the brilliant revival of half-forgotten memories, joys and griefs of early life stand forth on the screen of memory, to remind us of the close ties of family. And so it is with our nation in this time

when our big American family is gathered in council.

Q We count the cost, but we dare not shrink while we remember our traditions. fl Some will suffer physical agony, and no one of us may hope to escape untouched by sorrow. Hardly do we wish for such immunity. With the time for sacrifice at hand, suffering in forms which in normal times we dread will almost be welcomed. J And yet there are limits beyond which it has not been granted to.humanity to endure. Lest those limits be reached we seek now to prepare in ways which later opportunity may not offer, J Friend and foe will find the men in whom the nation reposes its trust have not been wanting in the will and the courage to do their appointed tasks on field and sea. Nor shall those men find that the men and women with whom they place their hope for solace when they fall, shall have done less than their utmost to prepare for their tasks. To many a stout loyal heart the call of humanity and of country will be more peremptory than the sighs of those dependent upon them. Regardless of the fact that our Government seeks to absolve from risk of battle many of those who leave dependents, is there a man worthy of the Great Call of Country to whom some one does not, at least occasionally, look with confidence for some sort of necessarv aid?

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Here in r3?I? there may be many too young or too old or too weak to fight their own or their nation's battles, who will feel most heavily the merciless thrust depriving them of fond protection. I Whatever else we may be doing to help our country, and whatever else we may be willing and waiting to do, let us not lose this opportunity to help along the work of the Red Cross. Let us realize that every penny contributed to it will ease the throb of pain in some human breast, somewhere, some time, in war or peace. Let us not stop our contributions at one dollar if we can give one dollar and one cent, nor at two dollars if we can give ten, nor at twenty-five dollars if we may, in fairness to ourselves, make it one hundred dollars. The men and women of IH?4 and of America to whose wisdom we look for guidance in affairs of State, in affairs of religion, in affairs of science, in affairs of business, and in affairs of all other human activity, unite in saying: "This is a worthy cause," and if you and I need more authoritative emiorsement, it is not lacking. To have faith we must have hope, to have hope we must have charity, and it has been said: The greatest of these is charity

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There is no chanty more practical than the work of The American Red

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The American Red Cross is designated to take charge, under supervision of the Medical Corps, of all patients turned over to it in what we know as the second zone the tone of the military base. Here, in the great base hospitals organized and. equipped by the people in times of peace, the wounded soldier and sailor meet for the first time what is comparable to a regular hospital establishment. Here he receives expert surgical attention and the best care and nursing that a grateful people can provide. Letters from his dear ones at home are received and read to him here, and his letters home are written for him by clerks provided in the hospital. Here he stays until well enough to b transported to one of the great general hospitals commandeered by the government, back many miles frcm the war front, or until he is discharged to his home. Let us build our machinery now commensurate with our other resources. No organization holding a membership of two or three hundred thousand can truly reSect the generous impulses of our pecpie. Japan has more than two millibn members enrolled in her Red Cross. May there, not be vital connection between this fact and the fighting fitness of her armies and navies in her recent war? Germany had, at the outbreak of the war, nearly a million and a half members in her Red Cross. Does this not partially explain the fact that her military- and civilian population have been cared for as no other nation in Europe has been cared for in this terrible war? Austria's Red Cros, with a membership of 385,000, broke down in the ear'.y stages of the war; her machinery was not adequate. While men died on the battlefield and in her hospitals, she had to stop, as Cod grant we may not be compelled to stop, to patch her machinery, to expand it, and to bring into being what every nation should have tetore the call to the flag goes out.

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o Help Tike RED CRO

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Name of City.

Ind. June.

.1917.

For th purpose of providing for the relief wnrk ef the American Red Cross to be administered by the War Council appointed by the President of the United States, and in consideration of the subscriptions ..f others. I promise to pay to the American Rel Cross War Fund. William G. McAdoo, Treasurer, Dollars payable as follow: one-fourth July 1, 1917: one-fourth Augrust 1. 1917; pr.e-fourth September 1, 1917; the balance October 1, 197. or as follows:

If contributor is not a member of the Red Crosa and desirea to have J1.00 of thla contribution used as dues for Annual Membership, please ao indicate on thia card. Yea or No

Signed

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This page advertisement is donated to the Red Cross by The Times Newspapers