Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-10-17
Editorial Comment
seditiaps Rumor. Monsers

We are requested to publish the follow
ing editorial from another newspaper
(Which our correspondent failed to name)
and to say that the story has been circu-
lated about Mrs. Laura <. Richards, the
famous Maine authoress: that is, that
she received a letter from a soldier say
ing that he had been obliged to pay eight
dollars for a sweater sent by her through
the Red Cross:
HOW BASELESs RuMORs INJURE
THE RED CROSS.
Tales that grow into positive asser-
lions, spread by unthinking or designing
people, injure the Red Cross greatly in
its performance of the most s%tupendous
work which it has ever undertaken.
Stories of the selling of sweaters by SOL
dlers and sailors, and stories of the Red
Cross's charging soldiers and sailors for
such articles circulate persistently, but
whenever run down" they prove either
without foundation or essentially unrelat-
ed to Red Cross activities.
1t is true that occasionally a soldier or
a sailor will find himself the possessor of
two sweaters-one given him by his fam
lily and another by the Red Cross. Some
men have been known to sell the extra
one. But the Red Cross cannot be held
responsible for such a transaction How
ever, somebody jumps to the conclusion
that the organization has resorted to
sharp practices.
A sailor, for example, pawned a Red
Cross sweater on Atlantic avenue, and.
not meeting the obligation, the pawn
broker offered the sweater for sale. What
has the Red Cross to do with such a
transaction? Nothing. The
recently credited a Brookline man with
the assertion that his wife had received a
letter from a soldier in France thanking
her for the sweater in which he found her
card, but adding that he had to pay a
good price for II. On investigation the
Brooklyn woman denied that she ever
made such a statement, and her husband
now declares that he was misunderstood
by the man who quoted him. All such
rumors, when Investigated, end just about
where that one ended
But-and here is the serious part Of this
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS stories p passing from
mouth to mouth tend to weaken the en-
thusiasm Of man. excellent people for
the Red Cross. These stories tend to dull
the fine edge of endeavor at a time when
the organization needs every bit Of help.
The Red Cross has been working for
months on a herculean task for the
American soldiers INC sailors; for the
hospitals at the front, and for the suffer
ing women and children in the devastated
regions of France. The character and
quantity Of this work becomes public
from week to week. but we rarely apprec-
ciate its full significance.
Col. Grayson Murphy. the American
Red Cross commissioner in France, asked
several months ago for 100000 sweaters.
helmets. socks. wristers and scarfs to be
delivered In the trenches before ''snowA
flies" The New England division alone
has 10000 of this order to fill, and has al
ready forwarded a large part of Its allot-
ment, to say nothing of other work i'm
posed on 1t in supplying the soldiers In
New England camps and forts. The ship
ments from the headquarters Of the New
England division 70 New York for Europe
average IS standard cases a day. valued
at more than 5000. This gives some idea
Of what New England Is doing.