The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-06-07
THE GREAT RED CROSS

A week from mex Monday will conf
mence a week of strenuous effort on
the part of everyone in the whole
country, whose heart is filed with love
for his fellow man, to raise for the
greatest organization Of mercy that has
ever been known to the worlds his
tory, an endowment for immediate use.
During the week of June 18th to June
25th, 1t is proposed to raise one hun-
dred million dollars for the Red Cross
of America. Not a whole dollar an in
habitaut. Just a trife to some and TO
others a real sacrifice, to give. And If
the history of all giving is repeated n
this campaign, then the gifts that
come from those who stint themselves
to give, will be the widows mite that
will make this great gift for humanity
possible, through divers largest help
to swell the total.
Other calls for money at this time
have a different aspect to the n who
has a certain amount of this money
power within his control. When he is
approached to buy Liberty Bonds he
knows that he is simply putting his
money out at interest. When he is
called on to help the destitute In Bel
GUM or provide for a French orphan.
it seems to him like the call of distress
that he has been hearing all the years,
and to which he has always given. But
this Red Cross Is a personal matter.
1t is the giving Of a personal part into
the accomplishment of a personal act
of mercy. 1t Is the putting of our
selves right into contact with the suf-
fering and needs of our own folk.
Every bandage that is rolled, every
surgical dressing that is folded, every
penny that goes to their purchase or
the paying of any expense incident to
their final use, is an actual point of
contact between us, the whole people,
and those, the chosen few, who fight
for us on the field of conflict, who suf-
fer for us on the beds of pain and pay
for us the price that our nations hon
or may be upheld. In the years gone
by you may have given money for the
cause of missions; may have denied
yourself that some sufferer might be
easier; may have carried an extra bur-
den that some others load might be
lighter; all these gave you pleasure in
the doing, gave you moral strength,
made O a better man. But in this
giving to the Red Cross there is
something deeper, something more Wit
al than any other giving you have ever
been called upon to do. 1t is the giving
of yourself into every battle field, into
every trench, into every hospital, where
duty calls the soldier and sailor of the
Stars and Stripes. Every dollar spent
in this work means not, just so much
money. Rather it means, just that
much love, comfort, and sympathy;
just that much tenderness by the bed
Of pain; just that much warmth on the
icy field Of battle. Though the big
money takes with it the power to
reach Over a greater space. yet the
little money carries as much of its
love and tenderness to the wounded
and the sick.
Be you "bit" little or be it big, give
it gladly. and remember that it takes
with 1t more than a MONEY value to the
support Of the boys who are carrying
Old Glory in the fight for a worlds
freedom.
The Red Cross chapter has collected
the views of some Of best citizens
on this matter. Read them in the Red
Cross notes. These mems ideas must
be yours, remember them during the
week Of June 18th to June 25th.