Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-11-29
Utmost Efficiency Used in Crum-
American Red Cross Is Ajdinu
bling French ToWns-How the
in Rebuilding.
BY William Allen White.

ollSt tihtt lI0 1VIlIlaIS were pTeDar-
ing to evacuate Ostend. The outward
and visible signs of a German evacua-
ton of AN enemy city are obvious to
the air men. Trains of plumber begin
moving out of the place long before
the guns are moved Then fires begin to
and munitions pass III The Ostend
movement reported by the air men
seemed to be in it's first stages.
1t may interest Americans to know
something of those first stages, for
they are entirely German in their
assembled i'm some hal Tor some neigh
borhood under guard. That means
everNone-men, women and children,
rich and poor. Then the German Of
Ulcers go through the houses and pick
out such things as they care for-per-
musical instruments n the life and
these things are carefully packed and
sent back to Germany. Then the private
soldiers are sent in to loot and cloth
ing, furniture. carpets and hangings are
taken and sent back to Germany. Then
the houses are stripped of woodwork,
rough furniture and any articles that
may be of use in the trenche for fuel
or other comfort, and finally, as fast
asa house is stripped a chunk of dy-
Mantle is placed in the center of the
building and the place is wrecked.
The bigger and more beautiful the
house. the more carefully and com
pletely it is wrecked. Often huts of the
poor escape with a mere fire, but the
chateaux. the factories. the big shops,
the cathedrals. the places of public in
terest. about which loving civic tradf-
tions cluster-always they are wrecked
as totally as a wise expenditure of dy-
Mantle will do it's work. In some places,
one looking at the ruins feels that
rather more dynamite was wasted than
the V9l1lp of tho u,rorE ron,lira6 Rnt
such wanton waste of German powder
is rare. They manage their wrecking
with rare efficiency. And after a town
is wrecked. after the gun are ready to
move back. the population of the place
is released from the pale and is per-
mitted to view the ruins of it's homes
and shops and industries and places of
public pride.
Tho Problem Of Reconstruction.
After a town is wrecked, after the
German troops withdraw and the troops
of the allies move in. the problem of
reconstruction begins. And one of the
most important activities OF the Red
Cross is. the reconstruction work in
Belgium and northern France.
The American Red Cross in Europe
has two important bureaus in its organ
ization. one bureau is under M. L.
many years in America as a mining
engineer at Cripple Creek, Colo, and
was with Mr.. Hoover in his work in
Belgium. This bureau considers only
the physical difficulties-the engineer |
ing part of the work. The other bureau, |
under DR.. p. p. Hunt, devoted itself
to the human part of the job.
For example: When the American
Red Cross decides to help in the re-
storation of a wrecked village a group
OF engineers under NJ. Chevrillon goes
to the town and picks out four or five
of it's i,olISac that NOV ho r,ncf ooCilv
restored to human habitation-not re-
built as they were, but turned quickly
and cheaply into abodes for human
beings. Frequently the engineers find
a two story house. Its slate or tiled
roof is sllattered; It's windows and
castings are gone; its doors removed;
its floor generally torn out. Blu often
It's walls are fairly strong. at least so
far as the lower story goes. No at
tention is paid to the top story, nor to
the root. But plans are a to put
a temporary roof where. the first floor
ceiling joins the walls. This roofing is
either of corrugated iron or compost
ton roofing. 1t furnishes shelter for
the first floor. Doors. windows and a
floor are put in the house. the simplest
furniture is provided, II the engineer
ing department turns that house and
the four or five others like 1t in the
village over to it's companion bureau
the bureau Of rehabilament, The human |
end of the work.
Then it becomes the business of the
bureau Of establishment to find the
original owner of the house. IL he Is
alive. II he is alive and not in the
army, he and his family are probably
refugees in Paris or In England. or in
some other city or village In southern
or western France outside OF the war
zone. The Red Cross brings the family
bach to h partially restored house;
and with four or five other families. the
work of rebuilding this community be-
gins. In rance the village liz usually
an agricultural village. All tho farm
workers within a fivc-mile radious live
In the village. There arc no farm
after restoring the village is to get
ready to plant crops. That means pro-
viding farm implements. bringing In
seed, restocking the %barnynrd, and
provisioning the family. When half n
dozen families are reinstated I'm their
homes, plans for restoring other houses
are furnished and some materials also.
Then other families are located and
brought back as their homes are ready
and their neighbors help the new COM
ers to begin life.
Four Types Of Villages.
OF course. all the thousands of ruined
French villages. towns n cities are
not Of the type above described. But
they do fall into four general types:
Those evacuated by the Germans after
occupation since the summer of 1914;
those on the line of defense which have
been bombed to powder by the German
guns (of this type Verdun 10 an ex-
ampje-A ruin as complete ~ that OF
Pompeii. yet no German has entered
the town.; those places which have