New-York tribune., 1917-12-16

Some moral ght possibly B. A.
duced from the asinine stories hsr.
quoted; az least, no harm beyopd
straining Of our guliibility and A.
to our simple faith; but these III.
that have 70 40 with and briry ~.
Red Cross organization into distress.
are mischievous and maliciou, 49,
tend to do incalculable harm. He,S..
knows where or when they start
and no one can foresee the end
II is precisely as though m,.
malefcent imp whispered in a willis.
ear: "Tell this ridiculous lie sor
cerning the selling Of Red Cros. IN,
TO the soldiers 10 seven guIbkl,
friends and soon and soon, 70 ~.
end that a noble organization ma,
fall into disrepute and be looked upa,
with suspicion. Do not break -
chain." You know the stories that A.,
going the rounds now Of the wor.,
tin a hundred different citiesl Wa
recognized a sweater she had MA,
for her son worn by some one IA ~
thority in a Red Cross workroom AZ
ter a heated argument the moth,
triumphantly proves her claim bv pro.
ducing in the pocket Of the sgests,
the ten-dollar, or one-dollar. or IN,
dollar bill she had placed there n.
week before. Remember when Va.
hear this-as you will, that the poi,.,
of the Red Cross prevents ia 1et.
TO accept gifts for individual soldisr,.
also that any mother alive would sssi
her gift to her son direct.
Founded on Lies
There are many tales Of this calhr,
one Of the more prevalent being Ia,
the Red Cross gifts are, in many ca,ss
not given, but sold 10 the soldiers rI,'
startling untruth may have It's veal
foundation in the fact that a soldier
possessing two sweaters or pairs AZ
socks might sell or trade one Of them
to a sweaterless, T.pckless mate An
honorable transaction, in no fasalon
affecting the Red Cross except in the
implied demand for more and eve.
more articles. Surely. one canno. b.
too emphatic in urging that no sttsr.
ton be given to these fantastic tales.
Remember the bridge story. the poi-
son needle mysteries and the rest-snd
call to mind that game, popular in our
youth, known as gossip. You may re-.
call that the players sat in a circle end
each repeated in his right-hand reigh.
boris ear a statement hissed in his ovr
left ear-the object of this intellectual
entertainment being TO see how mutt
lated a simple sentence might grow By
repetition. | have no doubt that many
a Red Cross tale has developed in this
fashion.
| cannot imagine any woman taking
these stories seriously. | mean to tx
extent of stopping her work for ths.
fine organization that seeks 10 mother
Ito the best Of its ability eyey
mothers son in our army. But q ms-
llcious lie, even a mischievous one, iss
germ of evil in the wind and the con.
munity is the better for its destrus.
tion.
May quote in conclu lion the is,.
lines of some clever verse 2ublishsd
recently in "The London Spectator" AZ
a protest against various fairy tale
enent spies and their doings goirg
about London? Ii is . quotation that
I think the REALTORS Of Red Cross seas
dals might be edited TO hear:
Absolute evidence have ! none,
But my aunt's charwoman's sisters son
Heard a policeman on mis- beat
Say TO a housemaid in Downing Street
That he had brother who had friend
Who knew for a fact when the war
would end"