The Elbert County tribune., 1917-12-14

WILL take not fewer than 10000
!. J !: !. ! !
= 600 members of the American Red
Cross to take of the sick and
m IN wounded soldiers look utter their
Ia N families, and relieve the sufferings
Wh w of the and children and old
~ of war-trodden lands. Fifteen
NRAF million members That means TO-.
HI1 100000 new members, and the Red
| d Cross has set out to get them before
u the sets Christmas day
Ihey are to be known Christmas members,
these 100000 ones, and 1t is in the Christ
mas spirit that they to be recruted-the spirit
OF unselfishness. of caring for the afflicted, of
alleviatlng suffering
While 1t is getting these new members. the
100000 who now the Red Cross emblem
are giving all the Christmas cheer they to the
boys in khaki. They need it. Tens of thousands
of them. and 1t may be hundreds of thousands.
now In France with Pershing, facing the terrible
Germans across the desoate waste of No Mans
Land. Millions more are to go after them, and
other and still other millions until the foe which
claims the world for Germany Is willing to go
home and behave MS n civilized nation.
They will have CHEEKY Christmas this year.
Every man In France will have little packet
from home" with the love and good wishes of the
American peope-and that means lot to the
young fellow who perhaps never before spent
Christmas away from his home folks II will put
'tc~r snrit into him for the task ahead
The men on this side, waiting In the training
camps for their turn to go across, will also have
as merry n Christmas as the Red Cross pro-
vide. Christmas trees, with gifts of some kind,
bearing world of cheer and hope from the great
heart of the American people will greet every
man in uniform, wherever he may be.
This Christmas will be merry one for the
whole of the army and navy. The boys have
not been long away from home they have had
almost none of the hardships of war. and they
come to the feast with light hearts.
War has taken almost toll from them thus
far Belgium and France. Serbia and Roumnnia
rtfnfv
have borne the brunt of frlghtfulness and our
boys have been spared. SO 1t will be merry
Christmas for them.
Next year It will be different. The pinch of
privation will be felt In the land-voluntnry, to
great extent, but 1t wiz he felt There will be less
to eat and less to wear, and mii,sons to be fed
and clothed who no longer produce and all the
nation will save all 1t to give to those who
are fighting, and to those defenseless on the
other side who have nothing.
And there will be gaps in the ranks. and there
Will be full hospitals There Is where the Red
Cross comes in-wherever there Is disaster. The
hospital buildings the equipment, the surgical sup
piles, the surgeons and nurses and orderlies, the
nmbulances and the drivers and the stretcher
shoulders Of the Red Cross. It will carry 1t. be-
cause 1t has the backing of the American people;
and in the meantime 1t must carry the load Of
the nations which have already suffered more
than three years of frightfulness.
Here are some of the things the American Red
Cross is tight now doing in France; where 1t has
spent S10.0OO000. These extracts were taken from
n report by the Paris headquarters 10 Henry p.
Dawson, chairman of the Red Cross war council.
which raised fund of S10O00000O for its work:
I'VE have Just given 81 100000 for needy sick
and wounded French soldiers and their families.
Our hospital distributing service sends supplies
to 3,423 French military hospitals, and is laying
In large stock for future needs.
"Our surgical dressings service supplies 1000
French hospitals. and is preparing immense sup
plies for armies
"We SIRE onaratin@ nj the front line. in coopera-
Hon with the French Red Cross, ten canteens
and are preparing for 20 more and at six can
teens for French soldiers at railway stations we
are serving about 10000 day.
eve have opened n childrcn's refuge and hos
pital at point where several hundred children
nave been gathered to keep them from danger of
gas and shell fire. At another point have
established medical center and travelling dis
pensary to accommodate 1000 children.
I'VE are making arrangements a large scale
to help refugee families through the winter with
clothing. beds, shelter, and for this work the
lire devastated portion of France has been divided
into s'y ""'rctT with resident Red Cross dele
gnte In each Warehouses have been established
Mt four points to which shipped food clothing
bedding, beds household utensils and agricultural
implements
I'VE have large central warehouse in Paris
and distribution warehouses at important points
from the Swiss border to the sea. Two hundred
tons of supplies arriving In Paris daily. md
J25 tons shipped to branch warehouses"
FROM other authorities word has that the
Germans driving back into France, through
!;witzerand, the ragged, sick. hungry and home
less women and children of the conquered districts
of France ut the rate of 10000 month. Held in
captivity for than three years, they
,pa driven forth even from the ruins in which