Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-02-01
TEARING WHITE RAGS
TO SAVE SOLDIERS
The Big Neutral Enterprise of Sending
Bandages TO the Hospitals of War
stricken Europe-The Law of Help
Put Into Practice.
By N

that law In operation.
No. Al West SSth street, New York-it Is
not far from Fifth avenue. You will see In
the shop window q great black and white
sign which reads:
SURGICAL DRESSINGS COMMITTEE"
And through the window you will get a
glimpse Of n long counter at which many
women stand-hour after hour-folding up
pieces of white cloth. That is all you can see
from without and 1t has an air of mystery.
II you are a practical minded person you
will go In and ask what 1t Is all about. Then
you will learn these things:
The Surgical Dressings Committee Is an
outgrowth-a towering growth now-of Miss
Anne Morgan's Vacation war Relief Work.
1t began early in November, when the re-
ports from our American hospitals In France
began to come in. What was wanted most
over there was a supply of properly steril-
ICED bandages. In that sort of thing we are
far ahead of all the Continental nations and
even of England, where antiseptic science
had its birth. In the American Hospital In
Paris, in the hundreds upon hundreds of
hospitals that have been created ~everywher
in France, there was a demand for what are
technically called "dressings"-scientifcally
folded pads of linen, muslin, cotton; for
bandages OF all shapes and sizes, for frac-
IuTe DlllOWS dIlu dDSOI pllNS Buiot W Aehiii'S
bindings and all the other cloths wherewith
wounds are dressed.
So the ommitte was formed, with Mrs.
Mary Hatch Willard as chairman and Miss
Carita Spencer as secretary. They raided
their own linen closets and the linen rooms
of their friends. ]. B.. Corbin, a kindly man,
who had already taken degrees in the Law
OF Help, gave them rent free the huge floor
In West 3sth street and the cellars beneath.
A first lot of rags was cut and folded. The
Waters Chemical Laboratory sterilized the
packages: of course, in a fine gratuitous
way. And November is tho first shipment
went to the American Hospital in Paris.
That was the beginning.
Many Women Volunteer
DR.. Joseph Blake, in charge over there,
cabled for more. In addition he sent over
one of his associates, DR.. ]. Peter Hoguet,
to act as consultant surgeon for the COM
mittee. Doctor Hoguet knows, of course,
exactly what Is wanted, both in the ward
room and in tho operating room. And now
the work marches" as they say in France,
with military precision. Many women volun-
teered to help-a scorce, two score. Should I
print a complete lis it would look as though
I had torn q page or two from the society
blue book.
Then a Mere Man Helped
When things have to be made possible
there Is always a Man. Mr.. del Grella, at
tracted by the sign, went in one day and they
put him to work. In a mauve colored silk
shirt and overalls you may see him any day
mailing up boxes, building tables and cup
boards, hauling goods. He is, they say, an
efficient exponent of the Law of Help!
The great difficulty in the beginning-as it
l. ---- - -@I ---,rI Is-nr Az. VA
lard, in his motorcar, was sent out to raid
New England. He had adventures, I assure
you, but they have no place in this relation
of plain facts. The women of New England
listened 10 him and opened their linen rooms.
They filled his motorcar. They filled the
farm wagons. Linen that had lain a hun
dred years in Observation-Disclosures
bridal Sheets" in one instance-were given
to stanch the wounds of strangers 5000 miles
away
And the thing grew. 1t grew amazingly.
There are today rs sections" contributing
to the work. They are scattered all over the
country-in Philadelphia, in Pittsburgh, as
far west as Kansas City and as far south as
Florida. Under competent local surgeons the
sections make the dressings and forward
them to New York, where they are sterllized.
repacked and sent on to the clearing house in
Paris.
How many do you think they have sent?
10000 Dressings
Since November 10, the date of the first
shipment, 10000 sterilized dressings, pads,
pillows, bandages and all the rest, arranged
in orderly wardroom kits or operating kits,
It's a fair record, Ell? Most OF them have
gone to France, because that is where the
demand came from. One lot was sent TO
Siberia and another to Budapest. But that
is chance. The Law OF Help knows no from
tiers. It's warrant runs across the world of
war. And the committee (here is the point
will send these kits to any hospital, in any
country, II a properly authenticated request
is made. Notably they are glad to send them
to the small hospitals which have been ex-
temporized all over Europe in these dire
days.
Everything is donated. Nothing is bought.
The cloth, the rent, the letter paper, the
stamps, the pretty stenographer the pack
ing cases, are all free gifts. The express
vans cart the goods for nothing; the steam
ships carry them free; in Havre Miss Anne
Morgan's agents take them from the dock
and rush them to the hospitals-all free. So,
IL you win send in your old sheets and pillow
cases, your tablecloths and undergarments-
all your white goods" as they say in the
trade-they will be made into dressings and
dispatched tmark you'd to any authentic
hospital in any country you name; and the
gift goes free. The kits have been sent to
France heretofore because In the invaded
countries the need is direst and most imme-
dlate; but you may send your gifts where
your sympathy wills. II is a neutral work.
Jobs for the Unemployed
How fast 1t has grown in New York alone