Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-12-12

before have the means OF
dealing death been so numerous or so
ingenious, or 50 terrible.
Yet he has a better chance of coming
back home. safe and sound, than he
would have had in any great war that
has been fought. Base hospitals, as they
have been evolved in the present war.
together with superior methods of
surgery, are responsible for that
Roger Babson, the statistician, 10
quoted as saying that fourteen out OF
fifteen men have been safe hitherto in
the Great War-ard the losses at first
were vastly greater than the losses now.
Tie continues:
Under present conditions, where man
power is being saved, not more than one
in thirty is killed. Only one man in 500
loses a limb, a chance no greater than
in hazardous conditions at home"
M. Andre Tardieu, French High Com
missioner to the United States, has
given out figures showing that the per-
centage of casualties in proportion to
the mohilized strength of France has
fallen from 239 for the first six months
of 1915 to l28 in the last six months
Of 1916.
How does it happen that soldiers to-
day are safer than ever before3
Learning How to Care for the
Wcunded
The answer, as suggested above, Is
that the nations have learned how 70
take care of their soldiers. Camp sani-
tation, scientific rationing, business or
ganization of the supply service-these
things count, but the big vital factor IN
saving husbands and sons for the
women who wait at home IS the eth
.,ency of the medical service.
The second answer, also, is the Red
Cross. As Lord Vantage, father OF the
British Red Cross movement. said
However we'll organized an Army
Medical Service may he, it never has
been, and never will be, able to cope
adequately with the sudden emergencies
of war on a large scale, and voluntary
organizations, unimpeded by official re-
strictions, are alone capable of giving
auxiliary relief and of providing extra
comforts and luxuries with the requisite
promptitude and rapidly"
That is why, when America entered
the war, the first organized forces OF
the United States to go abroad were
Red Cross base hospital units which hat
been mustered into the United State!
Army Medical Corps. That II VIII,
right now you would find American
doctors and nurses desperately hart
at work behind the lines in France
trying to keep British and Frenc1
soldiers from slipping out Of tn
"Wounded" into the death" lists. Be
cause of the Red Cross they are ready
lust as soon as they are needed, to per
form the same service for America,
boys.
How the Red Cross Prepared
Two years before America entered tn
war, and thus suddenly had need OF y
the medical service at her command, tn
Red Cross began the organization OF il
base hospital and ambulance compan
units
Under the direction Of Colonel Jei
ferson R. Kean, who had been detaile
to the Red Cross from the Medic;
Corps of the Army, the Military Relic
Department set out to enlist the aid {
the Red Cross chapters throughout Il
country in providing trained personne
of doctors and nurses available for !,
slant duty in time of war or nation
disaster.
Altogether total of forty-seven ba'
hospitals we're organized, financed, ar
= largely equipped. The national treasu,
of the Red Cross was scarcely draw
upon at all in this work. Not only d
the chapters recruit the stats for ca.
of these units from their city hospital
but in several cases they undertook
purchase the necessary equipment Al
to make the required amount of he
pital supplies in the chapter workroon
In New York six hospitals were q
gained, in Chicago four, and in Phil
delphia four. The New York Coun
chapter, not content with the minimu
requirements laid down by the Depa'
ment of Military Relief and the medic
authorities of the Army, went abe
on experiments to develop improveme,
in equipment With some of the m,
prominent surgeons and doctors in I
United States enlisted on the STATS, ,
chapter organized a committee on
r. search and Standardization. The We
of this committee has now resulted
the development of 4 new type of m.
!, able food kitchen to be attached a
trailer to ambulances or field colum
It has made similar experiments in
field kitchen attached to base hospit,
Other cities show the same init:ati
All over the country the greatest
Il terest was shown III the organization
these 0reat reserve relief agencieA