The Alaska citizen., 1917-08-13
SWISS NATION, FRIEND OF HUMANITY,
 ASKS JUSTICE FROM UNITED STATES

1 prisoners in Germany. Thus Lar We
 plead guilty o. provisioning German! IL Is interesting to note that these
 pacAuges represent the offering ol
 women m Switzerland to those prIs- Uners ill Germany whom they have adopted and taken under their pro
 tccuon They mean that many d ne
 ccsslJous poor devil would have near
 ly starved had il not been for this
 devotion The free transportation
 and postal service has cost the Swiss confederation many millions ot
 dollars
 Al Bernc private initiative orga , nized the service for the repatrla- l tion ot civil prisoners those per
 sons who found themselves at the
 beginning ol the hostilitie5 i'll a bel 1 HgcIent state, and who were held there by force, most of them in con- ceutratIOn camps. The situation ot | these civil prisoners is quite as pain | Iul as that Of the prisoners of war, and often much sadder, because they count so many women and children among them Seven months after the opening of the war Switzerland succeeded in her negotiations, and | the Berne bureau, through Switzer- land. had changed 20455 of these victims ot war from France to Ger l many and from Germany to France. Since then many thousands have passed through. By the Italian and Austrian frontier over 20,OU0 Italians and Austrians have been received, | fed, and often clothed by the Swiss | population. In passing, l must also mention the work for the search and protection of young girls who have been separated from their fami- 1 lies ana the ltSedltlltS lO ilSCON'A and reunite families who have been scattered by the war, the search fol hostages, and the committee for the relief of university students in cap tiyity in 23O prisoners camps. It was Switzerland who brought about the exchange of the grieyously wounded or mutilated prisoners, through the efforts of the Agency for Prisoners of War and the inter mediary of the Swiss government They pass almost necessarily, these poor remnants of men, transported from one frontier to another in the Swiss Red Cross trains, tenderly cared for and cheered upon thelr way by the Swiss reception commit tees and the Swiss Red Cross doe tors and nurses. We have, besides, actually living in Switzerland ana under our care, over 30,00O soldiers,
 
 prisoners of war of all natlOnalitles, in ill health whom We are nurs- ing back to strength as best we may. It is Switzerland who has received, fed, clothed and given medical as sisrance to over 120,000 inhabitants who were deported by Germany from
 the north of France. All Of these committees have been in active and
 constant service since the beginning of the war, and all of this would
 have been impossible had Switzerland
 been forced into the war.
 l could cite you still more statis-
 ties to prove to you that Switzerland,
 small as she is, is trying to do her
 duty (she also) to humanity. But
 my letter is already too long and l | conclude:
 Switzerland is particularly anxious | to have the good opinion and sym
 pathetic understanding of the unlteu 1 States. There is no country toward | whom we look with more confidence | or hope We are are the oldest or | republics and the most ancient o1
 democracies, the only neutral de
 mocracy in Europe.
 The principles which have been
 voiced with such eloquence by MT. l Wilson and which are dear to every l American heart are ours also, ana
 we also believe that they are the only ones which can serve as a
 basis for future peace, the reorganl- zation of Europe and the assurances
 of the existence of small states such
 as ours, constantly menaced by the
 conflicts and rivalries of great pow
 CTS.
 And this is the reason why II
 would be particularly painful to us | .bo, rrbl;c pnipion chpu1i be mlSln- |