The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-12-26
FATHER TO SICK
Henry Allen VIII Have Unique
Job in France.
He Will Be Special Red Cross
Representative.
WILL LET CAMPAIGN SLIDE
800
He Considers His Duty To Help
- the Sammies.
will Probably Be "Over There"
for Eight Months.
WILL LET CAMPAIGN SLIDE

wichita Kan, Dec. 26.-Aenry Al
-, on an errand of mercy to
+ba American soldiers in France ne
g Going to be the special representa-
eve of the mothers of America to their
t,o,,s in the trenches. He goes as the
,-s2resentative of the American Fed
cross to carry a human toucn 10 eiie
,,iristratfons of the most efficient ma
chine in the world. 1t is his little Joo
- saa that the boys in the trenches
~ bosDitals and the convalescent
wards in France get just little more
f,-iendliness and kindness than the
routine of the average busy Red cross
surgeon and nurses
Allen is a candidate for the Repub-
Hcan nomination for governor OF Kan
sas. During the period when he ought
TO be at home campaigning in the way
politicians usually campaign, he VIII
he in France ministering to the
wounded, the sick and the crippled
His opponents are now out beating
the tom-t pms and getting the boys
lined up. Henry Allen is not going TO
be able to see many of the boys TINS
year. He is not going to be able TO
make many speeches. He is going TO
be right at the front in France, where
the American soldiers are going to be
fighting the Tautons.
Service First Thought.
IT can't help it." said Allen, when
asked what he was going to do IN the
campaign for the governOrsh1p noml-
nation Here is a call that 1 feel
needs me 1t is a chance to do some
thing to get into this war as l want
int rO he bows
trenches. If the war needs me. there
I will be- 1t may be that my work
will be completed in time for me to
come back anG do some campaigning
If it isn't done I will not he back"
. Allen is going to be a representa-
tive of the American people, who
have contributed so largely of their
funds TO the Red Cross, to the soldiers
in France. 1t is an entirely new work.
No man has ever done anything like
it before. 1t is going to keep him ex-
ceptionally busy for four, six or eight
months, maybe longer. GraySon M.
P. Murphy the representative of the
American Red Cross in France, made
a special plea with Allen to take
charge of the work and in a telegram
to Henry p. Dawson, head of the Red
Cross, said that he felt that Henry
Allen was the best man in America
who could do the special work Muir
ply had mapped out.
Father to the Sick
1T is a peculiar job I have" said
Allen. TT is to make more efficient
the most efficient machine of mercy
in the world. The Red Cross is a most
thoroly organized institution, Every
little detail seemingly has been
thought of by the workers. They are
getting the supplies, and the hospitals,
and the transportation, and the sur
geons and nurses, and every bit of
equipment that may be needed. All
of the thousand and one things which
Red Cross needs as apart of it's work
have been thought of and provided.
Il am to be a sort of father to every
sick and wounded American soldier in
France and see to it that these boys
have the little attentions, the little
acts of kindness that only a father
could give and which every father
and mother would like to give to their
sons.
You know when the boys left for
the training camps the mothers and
fathers went to the captains of the
companies and asked the officers tC
keep an eye on their boys. The cap
tains will do this. But 1 am going
over to keep an eye on the boys
when they are wounded or sick, tc
see that they have as nearly the
same care in France as they would
have in their own homes in America >