The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-08

viii show YOU the $40 bill that I sewed
in the collar Which she triumph
antly does.
( The Bill in the Collar?
There are several holes in this tale.
The largest one is the fact that no Red
Cross sweater has collar They
aren't made that way. Another Is,
! that the policy of the Red Cross is not
| to accent gifts for individual soldiers
but to reserve the right to give theIn
where they will do the most Sooo.
I Anvone who wants to send present
! or anything else to a particular sol
der has only to address the package
affix a postage stamp, and make use
/ of the well known parcel post
| And yet, this $10-bill-in-the-collar
story is going up and down in the
! land. and thouands of women are
hearing that it happened to a friend
of a friend of a friend of theirs, ana
/ are writing to the Red Cross about it.
1t does not encourage the knitting
| campaign. Who started 1t?
| There are five or six of these tales,
and they are always whispered SO
much alike that the Red Cross Off
| Gals know them all by heart. the
other day a Washington man heard
| one of them, and feeling that he mao
uncovered something important, ne
1 fastened to national headquarters to
/ tell an officer of the Red Cross. When
| he had gotten about ten words out
| the officer interrupted Let me tell
| YOU the rest of it," said the officer
And he did.
| The Enchanted Pajamas.
| Whoever evolved the stories, seems
to have been fascinated by the idea
| of sewing I'D cash in hidden places.
Did you ever, as Scheherazade said to
| the sultan. here the tale of the Red
| Cross packer and the Enchanted Pa
! ianas? The packer in question was
Il T1r17 c
| for a Red Cross hospital in France.
when he felt something hard in one
| of the seams. He investigated, and
l. 10! it was a $40 gold piece that some
kind soul had thus secreted for a
wounded soldier. What followed? !
Why, the word went abroad among
the packers, and since then they rip
up all the seams in all the pajamas
| before they pack them, looking for
more gold pieces, and hence it is no
use making pajamas for the Red
Cross. Whoever conceived this tale
may have been German agent, but
| he had literary ability.
| Another common tale is that Ameri-
can soldiers in France have to pay
heavy import duties on the things the
Red Cross sends them. This is such
gratuitous SANDER of friendly
power that it deserves to be nailed
seriously and nailed hard. France
has suspended all import duties on
gifts TO American soldiers, even the
| duties on tobacco and playing cards,
both of which are stiffly protected
| government monopolies and among
| the principal sources of the national
revenue.
The Red Cross has never been able
to trace a single one of these stories
to it's origin. Tho there are only a
! few of them, they crop up thousands
of times; yet they are always things
that "a friend of mine heard" or
| some one I know knows a woman
who" and SO forth.
Sometimes you will hear a more Sc
rious charge brought forward to the
effect that a large part of the $780,
100000 war fund raised by popular
subscription is being used to pay large
salaries and heavy administrative ex-
penses. AS a matter of fact, practi-
cally all of the principal officials al
headquarters and all over the country
as well as abroad not only work with
out salaries, but bear all of their own
expenses and are large contributors
to the Red Cross besides.
Now and again, too, some one raises
the question of the Red Cross and re
ligion. There have been charges, i'm
possible to trace to their origin, to the
effect that the organization favors or
opposes certain -creeds. The Red
Cross is absolutely non-sectarian. Its
contributors come from all denomina-
tons, and it never inquiries into
creeds when help is needed.
There is nothing wrong or unpatri-
otto about criticising the Red Cross
1t ought to be as open to criticism
as any department of the government.
1t is spending a lot of public money,
and public criticism is a salutary in
fluence for any institution which does
that. The Red Cross has been hastily
and enormously expanded. 1t doubt
less makes mistakes, and it is anyone S
duty as an American citizen to point
out mistakes and his privilege to de-
nounce them as fiercely as he will
But the stock slanderous stories that
have gotten afloat belong in another
class entirely
They are malicious, mischievous and
mysterious Insofar as they hinder
the work to supply our soldiers with
comforts, they are almost reasonable
None of them has any foundation in
fact Their very triviality seems to
make absurd the idea that they are
started by agents of the enemy, but
the widespread and the absolute
sameness OF these trivial tales seems
to make IL certain that there is an
organized movement to get them I'M
der way. The next time you hear one
try to find the person who was actu-
ally victimiZed. The Red Cross would
like to get at least one of the accounts
at first hand.
Questions on the above or any sub
tect upon which the reader desires in
formation, should be addressed the To-
peka State Journal Information Blu.
reau. Frederic J. Haskin Director
Washington, D. c., with a Seen
stamp enclosed for reply.
~~
Is GLOBE SIGHTS
Iron the Atchison Globe.l