The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1917-12-14

is Its sole object. and 1t has never withheld
its hand when there was anguish to be
soothed But in this case there is another object to
be attaned-cal 1t selfish II you will. In backing
up France, and making her people stronger to en-
dure the Red Cross is saving the lives Of Ameri-
can soldiers. This was admirably expressed In the
great Chicago Red Cross conference by Henry r.
Dawson. chairman Of the Red Cross war council.
you may ask how all this work among the
French people is of any help to our boys-how 1t
is aving their lives" said Mr. Dawson I'll tell
YOU: We ask General Pershing what he wants,
and he says, don't want anything, for our boys
but for Gods sake buck up the French. Give them
courage Hearten them They have been lighting
for three years. and II you want to do anything
for me and our boys make the people understand
that we are here and going to take our places
In the line soon as we can get ready"
Then Mr.. Dawson went on to show the strain
under which the French have lived for more than
three years, with the German terror holding much
of their land and hammering night and day at
their lines to break through and take Paris.
"And If that French line should break" he said.
"you know what that means. There's nobody but
those boys of Pershing's to stop the Germans.
and. ready or not. they'll have to fl the gap II
we can help the French line to hold, we save our
own boys until they are all ready to take their
part"
Mr. Dawson pictured the weary French soldier
coming out Of the trenches for a ten-day rest. He
Is tired half death covered with dirt and vermn,
his clothing Does he go home? He has no
home,
away before the German tide. His home is gone.
He says II can live in hell In the trenches, but
don't why my family should be in hell too
But now the American Red Cross is in France
II meets the soldier when he comes from the
trenches takes him to a house prepared with your
money, and he Is made comfortable. He Is given
a bath his clothing Is cleaned and sterilized his
hair cut, his whskers trimmed and he sleeps for
an hour-maybe ten hours
Then he is taken to his family II the Red Cross
hoo hoan nah1a IN nd lie mi i1v Ha Ind In
wife and babes. or his old mother. in n house
shelter of some kind supplied and furnished BY
the Red Cross.
When the days Of his leave are up, that soldier
goes back to the trenches man. He knows
that America with her millions and millions
OF fighting men, and her billions and billions Of
money, and the tender care of her Red Cross are
behind him. And he goes back into the with
new determination, and says, $50 long ms live,
will fight"
And so long as he holds that line, he is taking
the place of some American boy who is not yet
trained to take the trenches. That line must be
made to hold for months yet, for General Pershing
has said that If he can help 1t, his boys shall not
go into the hard fighting before February.
When they do 90 in, then will come the real
test Of the American Red Cross-then will be the
days OF harvest of which today is the day OF SOW
ing. For when the wounded begin to stream from
the evacuation hospitals back to the bases, the
warehouses of bandages and pads and gauze and
splints and hospital garments and surgical sup
plies will melt away like mist before the sun. And
in that day. If the Red Cross have not member
ship of something the desired 100000,
trained to make and ship all these supplies In a
great, never-fatering stream, the American soldier
will be ashamed of the land for which he Is fight
Ing and many will lose limb life which could
have been saved.
These are not the opinions OF novice-they
are the convictions OF men who are now at the
front In France and Belgium and who see. every
day the horrors Of war which 1t Is the work OF
the Red Cross to mitigate. 1t is only few weeks
since Maj. Grayson NJ. P. Murphy, an officer OF
the regular army Of wide experience and great
ability, now Red Cross commissioner for France
cabled his convictions on this subject. And what
he said was, in substance, that unless the Red
Cross Immediately sent a vast supply OF all man
uer Of hospital supplies, the American army would
stand in danger Of disaster and disgrace. he
used those words-"disaster and disgrace"
Few who have not been through a modern r1ili
tary hospital can conceive what enormous
amount of supplies 1t requires. French surgeons
report that 1t often requires an entire box OF 7OU
gauze dressings for single patient. There hai
been such a scarcity Of dressings in France tina
they have been driven to use these dressings ovel
and over, trying to boil and clean and sterilizt
them as well as they can, instead Of throwing
them away and putting on fresh ones.
There has at times, been such dearth tina
wounded soldiers have had their bleeding wounds
stanched with old newspapers, with the result tina
they have always been infected and gangrene an'
lockjaw have claimed many poor fellow wh'
could have been saved.
Terrible us it is to think Of they have at time
been driven to operate in France without chloro
form ether-none was to be had.
These, no doubt, are the things which Majo
Murphy had in mind when he said that dsaste
and disgrace awaited America less the supply o
surgical necessities ,s hastened.
Even II the lads who s<e about to go into tn