The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1917-12-14

| @2 Cross has set out to get them BEFORE
the sets Christmas day
They to be known Christmas members
these 100000 new ones. and II is in the Christ
mns spirit that they to be recruited-the spirit
of unsefshness, of caring for the afflicted. OF
nlleviatng suffering.
While 1t Is getting these members. the
5000 600 who now wear the Red Cross emblem
giving all the Christmas cheer they can to the
boys In khaki They need It. Tens OF thousands
of them, and 1t may be hundreds OF thousands. are
now In France with Pershng. facing the terrible
Germans across the desoate waste OF No Mans
Land. Millions 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 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 people-and that means a lot to the
Young fellow who perhaps before spent
Christmas away from his home folks. It will put
l,"r' spirit into him for the task ahead.
The this side, waiting in the training
camps for their turn to go across, will also have
merry Christmas the Red Cross can pro
vide. Christmas trees. with gifts Of some kind,
bearing a 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 a 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
to the feast with light hearts
War has taken almost toll from them thus
far. Belgium and France. Serbia and Roumania,
Great Britain and her colonies, Russia and Italy.
have borne the brunt of frightfulness and our
boys have been spared. So 1t will be merry
Christmas for them
Next year 1t will be different. The pinch OF
privation will be felt In the land-voluntnry, to
great extent but 1t will be felt. There will be less
10 eat and less to wear. and millions to be FED
and clothed who no longer produce, and all the
,,.siII anil tn yf
are fighting, and to those defenseess ones on the
other side who have nothing.
And there will he gaps in the ranks, and there
Win be fun hospitals There Is where the Red
Cross comes in-wherever there Is disaster. the
hospital buildings the equipment the surgical sup
plies. the surgeons and nurses and orderes. the
ambulances and the drivers and the stretcher
shoulders of the Red Cross. 1t will carry 1t, be-
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 frightfuness
Here are some of the things the American Red
Cross Is right doing In France; where 1t has
spent s1oOOooOO These extracts were taken from
n report by the Paris headquarters to Henry T.
Dawson chairman of the Red Cross war council,
which raised fund Of s1OoOOO0O0 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 n large stock for future needs.
"Our surgical dressings service supplies 2,OOO
French hospitals and Is preparing immense sup
plies for our own armies.
I'VE operating Mt the front line In coopera-
uon with the French Red Cross, ten canteens,
and are preparing for 90 more: and at six cam
teens for French soldiers at railway stations we
re serving about 80 900 men day.
1--WE have opened children's refuge and hos
pital at point where several hundred children
laye been gathered to keep them from danger of
ras and shell fire. At another point we have
established a medical center and travelling dis
pensary to accommodate 200 children.
I'VE making arrangements on large scaie
10 help refugee families through the winter Win
Iothng. beds shelter, and for this work the en-
lire devastated portion of France has been divided
'nto six districts with resident Red Cross dele
gate in each. Warehouses have been established
at four points to which shipped food, clothing
bedding beds household utensils and agricultural
implements.
1--WE have a 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 ano
1925 tons are shipped to branch warehouses"
From other authorities word has come that thu
Germans are driving back into France, through
Switzerland the ragged, sick, hungry and home
less women and children Of the conquered districts
Of France at the rate Of 10000 a month. Held ID
captivity for more than three years, they an
now driven forth even from the ruins IN whicl