The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-03

bureau of child welfare under DR..
VIM. P. Lucas is one of the liyeliest
departments of the Paris organization.
Nurses doctors, ambulanceS, medi-
cines and other hospital supplies, toys
and children's clothing are sent out to
these refugees, and everything that
money can do the American Red Cross
| is doing to make these refugees COM
Portable and attractive for the chill
dren.
Fresh Air and Bathing.
In passing, it may be noted that
the chief difficulty the American
nurses find in working with French
peasant mothers is to convert them
to fresh air and bathing. The french
baby of the peasant is rarely bathed
and that with a slip on. A naked bath
is regarded as highly improper. And
an open window in a sleeping room is
conside cred deadly. But the Ameri-
can nurses at these refugees grimly
proceed to strip the kids, souse them
in bath tub and put them to pea
by open windows, and when the chill
dren survive and then thrive under
the treatment, the mothers relent, be-
come interested and finally converted
AS these baby refugees multiply In
France the doctrine of hot water and
fresh air may spread broadcast
Now all this work for the preVen--
+ior of tuberculosis and for child well
fare in France forms but a small part
of the work of our American Red
Cross in France. There are seven
other bureaux under the department
of civil affairs alone, as, for instance,
the bureau of the reconstruction OF
devastated French villages, the bureau
of relief and economic reha ollltatlon
of the French villages. the bureau Tor
the blind, the bureau OF refugee anu
home relief in Paris and a similar pu-
reau for relief work outside OF Pafls,
and the bureau for the re-educatlon
of the crippled, the one-handed, one
| armed, armless one-legged or leg
less. And then there is the big de-
pa rtment of military affairs-devoted
| exclusively to the physical care OF our
| own American soldiers who are sick
| or wounded or in danger OF lnfectlon
But stress has been laid in TINS ar
| ticle upon the work which America
| thru the American Red Cross is doing
/ this winter for the French. And this
| work for the French is of the utmost
practical value to the mother OF
| father of every American soldier.
! For if the French soldier sees that
| his own sick comrade,. or his own sick
| wife or mother or sister is cared for,
| or that his babies are being looked
| after, he is going to stick with GRIM
| mer determination to his work.
| American soldiers cannot get on to
! the firing line this winter They can
! not help the French soldiers fight
/ But Americans thru the Red Cross are
! helping the French soldiers f1ght by
| taking from them the worry of home.
| And every French soldier who sticks
| to his trench this winter and comes
! out for the spring drive to stand by
I his American comrade, viii make life
| that much surer for his American
! comrade. We can save ourselves best
! by helping our allies thru the winter.
/ put hi vic a a a
! 1t is sordid and cunning and unworthy
/ of the fine spirit which has urged US
| into this war. Our chief aim in en-
| tering the war should be to save hu-
mainly from the curse of the gross
| materia1isrn which has blinded the
/ German autocracy in its struggle for
| world conquest. That gross material
| ism justifies war for its own sake;
| justifies destruction for the sake of
| the larger good in reconstruction
| We who oppose this view believe that
| life as it is, is worth saving; that each
l expression of civilization-that of the
| Belgians, the British, the French, the
| Italians. the Russians, the South
| Slavs, has in it something human
which is entitled to a free course in
| its development.
| So we should salvage in the waste
| of war what We can-men, women,
| institutions, countries peoples. The
war is wasting France with disease
and famine worse than with powder
and shell. Without our help France
will reap ashes in her victory. But if
we can stop the ravages of tubercu-
| losis. If we can help the mothers to
rear their babies thru these war con-
/ ditions to strong men and women, we
/ have indeed been a neighbor and a
| friend. Our self interest in our work,
which is large enough to justify US in
/ our endeavor, should only make US
/ ashamed to accept gratitude
| Copyright, 1917, by The Wheeler syn
dictate. Iuc.)
fAnother article from France by William
Allen White will appear next Saturday.