Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 43, Number 159, 16 May 1918 — Page 8

VAGE EIGHT

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAII. THURSDAY, MAY. 16, 1918

The

Soldier

the

ailor

and the Red Gross

The health, comfort and peace of mind of our fighting men is a national obligation. In its thorough care of our men the Government reflects the country's determination that ours shall be the best-cared-for soldiers and sailors in the world. The whole nation stands pledged to every sacrifice that will add to the happiness or effectiveness of our men. The Red Cross is the people's agent in this, as it is authorized by Congress to be the 'medium of communication between the people of the United States and its Army and Navy." The Red Cross supplements, in every practical way, the excellent care which is taken of each boy by the Army and Navy. There is the closest cooperation between the Government and the Red Cross; the two Surgeon-Generals are members of the Red Cross Executive Committee; Army and Navy office are assigned to Red Cross headquarters; a Red Cross Field-Director with necessary assistants is stationed at every cantonment or naval station.

Canteen Service rA troop train rolls in at four o'clock, three hours late. No one has had dinner. It isn't any one's fault. There has heen a freight wreck or something has delayed it. Everyone is tired; everyone is hungry. A soldier in the first coach passes along the word, Here they arel Down the yard come the Red Cross women; the coffee is ready and hot, trays of sandwiches, a portion for every man, for lied Cross knew they were coming and is ready for them. Best of all there is a word of cheer. In five minutes all hands are in good spirits. The post-cards are ready for the men to write home, the Red Cross Motor Corps stands beside to take the one sick soldier to the hospital, end there will be Red Cross women to see tha t he is not forgotten there. All is conducted in an orderly way in full co-operation with the Army authorities and railway management. This is typical of what the Red Cross is dt:ng at 700 important railroad points in the United States to-day. t Camp Service The great army cantonment or naval station is a new kind of city. Here are 40,000 young rocn, in a new environment, living a new kind of life.' There is every problem of the city of 40,00C, always with some novel phase. The Red Cress has filled a real place in these new cities, helping the Army and Navy in keeping tt.e mn healthy, comfortable and happy. In the camp the young soldier finds that elaborate preparation had been made for liis arrival. The site has been made healthy and comfortable by the Army or Navy. The area surrounding the camp has been in charge of the United States Sanitary Service, the Red

Cross Sanitary Service, and the local health authorities. If an epidemic threatens the camp, as during the recent wiater, and the hard-worked Army Medical Staff is baffled, they may call for a Red Cross laboratory car to be rushed to the scene with its expert bacteriologists and scientific equipment to study the situation and help protect the men. In every camp there are the Red Cross Storehouses filled with emergency medical and surgical supplies. Then there are the knitted goods made by the devoted women of America, and there were few of our men who were not thankful to those women for additional comfort during the trying winter months. If the soldier falls ill in the cantonment he is put in an ambulance, perhaps the gift of a Red Cross chapter, its driver quite possibly a member of a Red Cross ambulance unit which has been given to the Army; he is taken to the base hospital, operated by the Army Medical Corps ; possibly the doctor attending him is an officer of a Hospital Unit organized and equipped by the Red Cross; his nurse in all probability is 1 one of the thousands of Red Cross nurses recruited by the Red Cross for service in the Army and Navy. When he begins to recover, he has the Red Cross Convalescent Houses. Here are reading and lounging rooms, an entertainment auditorium, a place to meet his friends and hasten his recovery. Then there are sleeping accommodations for his mother who may. have been summoned in the critical stage of his illness. In every camp there are Red Cross Home Service representatives to keep the man in touch with his home folks, to advise them of the details of his sickness, to counsel him about

family or financial complications, to take home worries from his shoulders, and through the Red Cross Chapter in his home town to remove the cause of those worries. Home Service The care of the soldier's family is as necessary as the care of the soldier himself if the spirit so necessary to his effectiveness as a fighting man is to be maintained. . If be is harassed by anxiety about those dearest to him at home he cannot be on fighting edge. Red Cross Home Service meets this problem. Jt is a new condition that such a large percentage of its young men should be removed from a town with all they have meant in moral and financial support. Their absence creates new problems, in the aggregate so large they must be coped with in a large way. Red Cross Home Service makes the sympathy, interest and help of the whole community available to the family in a practical manner. It is playing the part of the old neighbor in a new way. To see that the family is not disorganized while he is absent; to give temporary financial aid when necessary; to care for those who, though they are related to him, have no legal claim upon the Government; to give informa--tion about pay-allotments, terms of enlistment, war risk insurance; to co-operate with the Government in the after-care of the disabled soldier and his readjustment to life; to act as the good neighbor and friend of the family in troubles large and small when the soldier is absent these are the aims of Red Cross Home Service, established in every section of the country, and already serving one hundred thousand dependent families of soldiers and sailors. Home Service is not a charity; it is as much the soldier's right as any protection which the people give him. Foreign Service American troops are now in France in great numbers greater numbers will follow day by day and America's task abroad will become sterner. The need for the Red Cross abroad is but greater for the distance. Red Cross preparation for the reception of our troops in France has been going on since the first month of the war. The Red Cross Commission in France has built a great, extensive organization in people and material, to assure that our men will have every care the Red Cross can give them. Through all the months since war began, Red Cross supplies have occupied a part of many ships; piling up in the great Red Cross warehouses in France against the arrival of our men. The great Red Cross motor fleet has been organized to transport Red Cross supplies. All through these months, the organization has been studying and training, so that it would be able to cope effectively with the problems created by the arrival of our men. Red Cross in France is supporting our Army and is ready for any further task that may, within reason, fall to it. On the way to his camp in France, the American soldier, gets food and rest at the Red Cross canteens. On the way from the trenches to his camp, he meets the great Red Cross canteens on the lines of communication. Here the tired, nerve-worn soldier, covered

with vermin, gets food, a bath, rest, and clean clothes. The great canteen at Chalons is typical. As he goes into the front line trenches and as he comes out, he is met by the Red Cross rolling canteens operating right behind the front line, giving him hot or cold drinks. If the soldier is wounded, a Red Cross bandage, made by Red Cross women at home, binds the wound. The Red Cross man follows him to the hospital, sees to his welfare, and supplements the prompt cable advice of the Government to his folks at home, by the full story of his condition and progress. Abroad, it is a great comfort to him to know that Red Cross Home Service is seeing to it that his family is not in want. ' Red Cross is anticipating the soldier's possible permanent disablement, by an institution already established where the best methods of rehabilitation work are being studied, the results of the experiments to be put at the disposal of the Government, which is making adequate plans for the care of mutilated men. If the worst befalls him, the Red Cross representative talks with the men who fought beside him in the battle, and, supplementing the Government's cable advice, sends his people the story of his final heroic sacrifice. Prisoners' Service If the soldier is taken prisoner he still finds the Red Cross caring for him. The Red Cross, in co-operation with the Quartermaster General of the Army, furnishes all American prisoners in Germany with food, clothing and tobacco. These supplies are shipped to the Red Cross warehouses in Berne, Switzerland, and from there twenty pounds of food are sent to each prisoner every week. The prisoners receipt for the packages, so that delivery is almost certain. The notations on the receipts, "With all my heart I thank you," "There is an American touch to that parcel," are the best evidence of the importance of this work. Then, too, the Red Cross is able to correspond with the prisoners' families, keeping them informed of their condition and whereabouts. Letters are sent back and forth, gifts of money and individual packages from friends and relatives are forwarded. The Red Cress alone has permission from both the United States Government and Germany to conduct this service. SECRETARY BAKER, in making recent inspection tour of Red Cross activities in France, said: I "When one is in the zone of the armies o; in the supply areas, words of appreciation ot. praise for the American Red Cross seem superfluous. The foresight that has characterized its present and prospective operations has been a source of jpride to the commanding officer of the American forces and should be a source of comfort to the people of the United States, who,' I know, enabled it to carry on its work and to expand." This is the third of a series of five announcements covering the work of the Red Cross. Red Cross Chapters have statements showing in detail how the War Fund is being expended. Ask your Chapter for one of these statements.

O The American Red Cross O

The space for this announcement has been contributed by ADAM H. BARTEL CO., JENKINS VULCAN SPRING CO., INDIANAPOLIS GLOVE CO. and ELLIOTT & REID MFG. CO. i To aid the work of the Red Cross