Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1914-07-05
GREAT WORK OF
 THE RED CROSS
Organization Has Expended $730,000 in Relieving
 Thousands in China.

1 humanitarian work under considera- tioa in the world today-the draining, canalization and retaining of the l tlood-devastated, famine-stricken Huai river region in Central China is told in the American Red Cross magazine for July by Mabel T. Eoardmal, chairman of the national relief board of the American Red Cross.
 In the last half dozen years, the American Red Cross has expended approximately $730,0OO, including the value of donated supplies, in trying to afford some measure of relief for hundreds of thousands of emaclated, starving, misery-ridden human be- i2gs in that area where, according to tine official Chinese records covering twenty-five centuries, periodical floods have laid waste vast stretches Of richly productive agricultural I lands.
 In as much as the act of congress | incorporating the American Red Cross provides that it shall devise and carry on measures for the pre- vention of distress and suffering, as
 
 the Red Cross, in cooperation with the republic of China, is financing al. investigation by board of emi- nent American civil engineers in the afflicted territory with the intention ultimately to prosecute reclamation and conservancy scheme which will cost approximately $2O,000,000 to be paid by China. The present investi- gation will entail al expenditure by the Red Cross and China of about $75,000.
 The members of the board are: Lieut.. Col. William L. Sibert engi- ncer corps, United States army, build CT of the Gatun locks and dam of the Panma canal, chairman; Arthur Pow ell Davis, chief of the vm. .vka ell Davis, chief engineer of the Unit ed States reclamation servlce, and Daniel Webster Mead, professor of hydraulic engineering Tn the uni versity of Wisconsin. Charles Davis Jameson, tine Red Cross engineer who made the preliminary survey, is ac- companylng the board as general ad- visory engineer. Several assistant ell gineers, including brilliant young Chinese, Sylvanus T. Suen, are With the conservancy board.
 Miss Boardmans article, under the caption, "The Proof of Friendship" says ia part:
 "The great master, Confucius, was once asked by one of his disciples, IS there one word that may serve as a rule of practise for all ones life?' The master replied, Is not Reel procity" such a word? Another time the same master said, At first it was my way to hear mans words and | give him credit for his conduct. Now l hear a mans words and look at his conduct
 Wise, indeed, was old Confucius. Il acts, not words, is to be found the proof of true friendship. The great opportunity to do an act of friend ship for China, an act of humanity for her people, has been Offered by the Chinese government to the Unit ed States through the medium of the American Red Cross. This oppor- tunity lies in the line of being of i assistance in the work of flood pre- vention in the central part of China, thus doing away with the untold suf- fcrings of hundreds of thousands of famine victims; and furthermore. of reclaiming large amount of rich agricultural land in a district where every square foot is needed for food production"
 Speaking of the general plan, Miss Boardman continues:
 "A dam has been created by the high dikes of the Grand Canal. Sew eral large, shallow lakes, some back ing directly up against the canal dikes, have thus resulted on the west side from the back waters of the Huai river, which. flowing first into the Hungtse lake, have not sufficient outlet to the sea. Much of the land not actually under water in the lakes 1 is still of a useless, marshy charac- ter. At times of heavy rainfall, these l shallow lakes and the swamp land cannot take care of the water. which. | finding no adequate outlet to the sea, spreads out for hundreds of square miles over the surrounding country, ruining the crops and reducing the large population to utter destltution and starvation. The plan of the Red Cross engineer, MT. Jameson, is to carry the water of the Huai river and the Hungtse lake through g. we'll built channel across the grand canal into the old, now unoccupied, bed of the Yellow river, with it's high dikes;
 to shut off this water from the lakes to the southeast; and to drain these lakes by another channel mot the Yangtse river. This plan. if feasible, as the land elevation and other topo- I graphical features indicate, will not
 only prevent all floods save those caused by absolutely abnormal rain
 falls, but will reclam million acres, and improve probably about nine mil- l lions mOre. .--- ...-
 "The Ye and the Shu, other rlvers farther north, and improvements on
 the Grand canal, are included In the
 e nservancy plans.
 "The first step in this important
 work is. the sending of board of
 eminent engineers to China to study
 MT. Jameson's plan, report upon it's
 value and practicability. and" make
 such changes as a more extensive
 survey may suggest. The Chinese rofk k,,,o q n