Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-06-20

Never in all the years of the world,
has the appeal for sympathy and sue
cor from suffering humanity sWelled
to such a volume as now. Never has
the American heart throbbed so warm
ly in response or yearned so strongly
to do the work of relief.
The organization for the attainment
Of these ends is the Red Cross. 1t
alone Of all the organizations of relief
and mercy is the legally contributed
engine authorized to work with the
government itself to aid the stricken
and dependent.
The Red Cross in all its branches in
many nations is one of the greatest OF
human organizations. More persons
are working for it and to achieve its
ends than for any other single organ
izaton in the world. They number
millions and are approaching two mil
lions in America alone. The funds it
Its ships plough all the seas. its trains,
its motors and other means of con-
veyance are in every land.
Since the opening of the great war
the Red Cross has grown at rate
hitherto unprecedented. In America
alone it has sprung from less than
$4,000 to more than a million.
The President Of the United States is
head of the Red Cross, and the people
giving their mites to the Red Cross
must have the utmost confidence, in not
only the ability of its administrators,
but in their s.ngleness Of mind and
purity of purpose. To select such adj
ministrators for the Red Cross in
it's new work was the problem Of
the President. 1t was the greatest hu-
manitarian responsibility ever to be
placed on the shoulders of any group
Of men, 1t is really new Red Cross
so greatly have conditions changed.
The personnel of this body is eff
cheney concentrated. At its head is
Henry p. Davidson of the banking firm
Of J. P. Morgan & Co. Like the fellow
members of the war council. Mr.. Da-
wilson has dropped his regular business
to do his part in working for America
and for mankind. The right hand man
of the new order is Eliot Wadsworth of
Boston, the chairman of the Red Cross
central committee. Others engaged in
the work of administration are William
Howard Taft. former president of the
United States Charles D. Norton. first
vice president OF the First National
bank of New York City; Cornelius \.
Bliss, Jr.. head of several large corpor
ations; Edward n. Hurley of Chicago.
manufacturer Of pneumatic tools and
one time member of the federal trade
commission.
The executive head Of the American
Red Cross in France will be Grayson +.
Murphy, the first vice president of the
Guaranty Trust Co. of New York. He
is a graduate of West Point and has
seen active military service in both
Cuba and the Philippines. He has the
rank of major. With him in France,
where they will stay during the war,
are engineers sanitarians and others to
act for the Red Cross in the recon-
struction and relief work abroad. The
task of coordinating the work of the
Red Cross chapters and that of other
organizations under one head is being
worked out by Judge Robert S. Loveitt.
formerly chairman OF the Union Pacific
railroad, Like members Of the war
council he is giving his time free of
charge to this work.
And that is the spirit of the whole
Red Cross. 1t is served by more talent
given free than probably any other or