The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1917-12-28

misery which more tragic
than the cabled dispatches which we
Jecsa1ps,oa are accustomed to read under the
{HR6*SU vague date line, Somewhere in
lokA$ France"
Many of these narratives have been
brought by men and women who, under the aus
pieces of the American Red Cross, have been inves
tigatng conditions created by the invasion of the
Hun. The range of vision Of these investigators
extends from the battle front to the cottage hun
areds of miles away where wars misery-more in
sidous than bombs on the fighting front-has pene-
trated
Woven together these accounts make composite
story of devastation and suffering on the part of
noncombatants comparable with the torture
dured by the soldiers I'm the trenches of refugees
staring blankly at cratered areas where villages
fourished of thousands of children too
young to understand, crying for mothers who can
not hear their cries; of children poisoned by gas
bombs thrown from German mOrtars of emaciated
children sent by hundreds from behind the German
line; of crippled soldiers to reeducate and of
civilian men and women to comfort and provide
with the necessaries of life-a story of battling
against disease and of the heroism of mercy.
Sometimes the cable supplements tales told by
returned travellers. A day two ago. the
council of the American Red Cross received cable
gram from the Paris headquarters of that organiza-
ton containing simple statement of everyday
occurrence the French frontier,-yet graphic In
it's portrayal of phase Of wars frghtfulness
1t read:
The Red Cross at Evian.
There arrived last week at Evian where the
fepatres from France and Belgium received
back into France a train loaded with Belgian chill
dren. There were $50 of them. thin, sickly, alone
all between ages of four and twelve children or
men who refused to work for the Germans and of
mothers who let their children go rather than let
them starve. They poured off the train. little
clingng the oldest ones, girls all crying, boys
trying to cheer. They had come all the long way
nIo Tho Pod (Nrncc
ers to meet them, doctors and nurses with ambu-
lances for the little sick waiting out
side the station. The children poured out of the
station, marched along the street shouting Meat,
meat; we are going to have meat, to the Casino,
where they given a square meal, the first In
many months Again and again. while they ate,
they broke spontaneously into songs in French
against the German songs which they had evidently
learned in secret. The Red Cross doctor examined
them. Their little clawlke hands were significant
of their undernourished bodies but the doctor said
1--WE have them in time. A few weeks Of proper
feeding and they will pull up.
Evan is French resort on Lake Geneva ana
every day one thousand homeless people arrive
there, 60 per cent of whom are children. Thirty
per cent of the older people die the first month
from exhaustion They were the occupants
Of happy homes In northern France. The Huns
invaded their country, swept on past their homes
and left them behind the enemys line The invaders
now their masters, impressed them into labor ana
transported thousands OF them 10 WORK III
fields and factories. Those who are returned by
the thousand daily by train through Switzerland
are all that are left of these men and women and
chdren-manhood and womanhood Slapped until
the vital spark is almost out and, no longer of use
ms German captives sent back to die to be
cared for i'm their helpless condition by their own
people from whom they had been ruthessly taken
away in their health and strength.
Hope for kaiser's Victims.
Thanks to the American Red cross, coming 10
the assistance of the overburdened French aeeh-
cies for mercy, there is hope for these unfortuh-
ntes. Besides hospital and convalescent nome
for children at Evian, the Red Cross is operating
an ambulance service for the returning repatrieS.
Ten automobiles are in commission for hahu'hs
sick and infirm persons, and tuberculosis nos
pital near by Is planned When the returning re-
matrices reach the railroad station and have been
cheeringly greeted by crowds of compatriots, they
are taken In charge by Red Cross workers. Nour-
,jshment Is provided and medical attention De-
slowed. Baths are made available ana fresh coth-
ing Is supplied. According to American eye WIZ
nesses of scenes ut the railway station at Evinh,
there are men in the ranks who have suffered
broken arms the bones of which have been SCI by
the Germans so that the hand is turned the wrong
way. They present horrible deformity, denotlng
q form of cruelty which excuses itseit on ,ie
:, ground that the man, should he ever regain ms
former strength, will be unfit for military duty
In many of these American Red cross doc
tors hnve been put TO the doubly painful task Oh
again breaking the arm and resetting IT, so as
to remove the terrible deformity purposely IN
flcted.
William Allen White of Kansas and Henry >. AL
dan who is prominent In the public life Of the
same state are among the Red Cross workers
who recently have returned from tours OF nspec-
ton In France. According to their statements IS
scarcely possible to exaggerate the suffering
brought upon the civilian population OF the coun.
try; suffering, however, that Is being ai'evla.eu
xtanf Inv
Red Cross. which Is sending its experts, It's army
Of volunteers and It's treasure without stint Ac-
corting to Mr.. White, the real work OF the war; so
fur as Amercr is concerned. will be carried on oy
the Red Cross in France this winter mol on'y