Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-11-29
HUN ARMIES SURPASS
IN DESTRUCTIVENESS

fewer signs of the wreck of the war
storm than others. though frequently
the even in their hasty retreat
TOOK m to burn II bomb and
plumber AS they hurried away.
With few exceptions the villages de-
Stfoyed IN 1914 nave been restored, at
least partially. But back of these viii
lages are hundreds of desolate towns.
some are mere heaps of ruins. Restora-
ton Will be a waste of time and energy.
But hundreds of villages may be re-
built. And the urgent need for the
restoration of these villages-the need
that has put the American Red Cross
lnto the work with energy-is The fact
Belgium and France, are living abnor-
maj lives i'm other peoples homes, UNI
able to find work, and they are rapidly
becoming used TO the life of refugees.
Aside from the economic burden they
nave become, they have created Il seri-
Gus social problem, and with their
fathers and brothers and husbands in
the war, the whole unnatural situa-
ton demands a wholesome change.
The dozen villages which the Ameri-
that the former inhabitants of these
Villages, nearly 100000 people, from
can REQ ross Is yin to restore to
he used as models of reconstruction
methods. and the hundred other villages
10 whose reconstruction the American
lied Cross is furnishing substantial aid.
VIII hardly touch this miserable social
and economic problem in France ere
ated by the refugees. For mostly the
villages under construction are rural
villages. and a considerable portion of
tfe refugees are from industrial cities
ana towns. And most of these indus
trlal refugees are i'm Paris.
So the American Red Cross has a
bureau OF refugees and home relief in
Pafls under the management of Miss
Nl2fD21'af Nt1rti L., -: = -
DAILY problems: She found i'm a schoo,
building in a suburb OF Paris 40 refu-
gee families. not 40 people, but over
900. The French cared for these fam
Ines last winter and cared for them
we'll. but this year French funds are
running low. 1t has become an Amer
icaE Rec Cross problem. Gradually the
refugees We're moved from the school
mouse and duartered in other places,
some in the homes of other French peo,
PIE: some in little apartments, and the
SICK in hospitals. 1t took money
American money n American organ
lzlng talent-and it will take more.
VIII have to be clad. fed. housed and
warmed. Their men folk are either sol
alers. or are dead in soldiers graves.
and In either case Americas debt to
the refugees is plain. Yet the Red
cross Is the only American ~organiza-
~ IN HE'S tIle scope TO handle that
DEBT; And If it is not paid-if the men
at the front. starving, shivering and
lighting. find that their families are
starving. shivering and dying-how
long viii those soldiers fight-and how
Well? And if these French soldiers
weaken If they do not fight we'll, what
OF our million American BOYS who are
to fight in France next spring? Their
work will be that much harder and
blccdier. civ
So i'll Paris the bureau of home relief
Tor the refugees in Jaris is a most i'm
portant outpost on the American mill
.aiy slluallon. No brigadier general in
mas a more important work mapped out
for him than has Miss Margaret Cur
tbs. Her bureau is establishing con
tldentlal relations with all the relief
agencies of Paris and a splendid CO.
ordination of all the relief work in Paris
cation. Food has been bought whole
sale by the RED Cross n the American
army and distributed systematically.
fuel also has been handled the same
way. Clothing from America will be
distributed under this bureau. and
housing conditions will be improved.
Visiting nurses wearing American Red
Cross uniforms are visiting the sick,
teaching mothers the care OF children
and taking those who have Infectious
diseases To hospitals provided for them.
The hostels for the broken and infirm,
establishing through the efforts of Mrs.
Edith Wharton, have been taken over
by the American Red Cross and i'm
these hostels hundreds of underfed.
poorly housed, ill-clad and battered
creatures are being rebuilt and turned
into effective, self-supporting citizens.
Tact in Helping tho French.
1t is a big job. And in doing the
work, tact is needed rather before
money and brains. For the moment
the F'renchman feels that the smart
Americans are coming yer there to
show France how to do tive don't
do it. Or the moment France gets an
rich Americans-she puts up the bars.
France has her pride. She will not ac-
cept help as a fool. nor aid as a pauper
But she will accept the hand Of a
friend and 1t must be always as a
friend that America comes to France
I'm the hour of need. The American Red
Cross understands the situation. It is
not going about France poking it's
Yankee nose into the benevolent activi-
ties of the French and gasping how
shlftless" like a Miss Ophelia" at UNI
American conditions disclosed. The
French run their ~benevolences one way
the French way. We have expressed
oNt SiIOtioiS VI lIdleIIdl ASPIRATION
quite another way. We have our as
sociated charities. and we have or
ganized down to h gnat's heel, every
benevolent energy. just as we organize
commercial and educational and religf-
II energies or political machines.
And we lose a certain individual hu-
man expression in II super-organiza-
ton and individualism which the
French like. They know al, about or
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. organization il
you will, but they knowing about IL.