The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1917-12-15

these 10000 900 new ones and 1t is In the Christ
mas spirit that they are to be recruted-the spirit
of unselfshness, OF caring for the afflicted, OF
alternating suffering.
While it is getting these new members, the
100000 who now wear the Red Cross emblem
are giving all the Christmas cheer they Ian to the
boys In khaki. They need 1t. Tens of thousands
of them. and 1t may be hundreds Of thousands are
now In France with Pershing, facing the terrible
Germans across the desolate waste of No Mans
Land. Millions more to go after them, and
other and still other millions until the foe which
claims the world for Germany is willing to go
home and behave as a civilized nation.
They will have CHEEKY Christmas this year.
Every man In France will have little packet
from 'home" with the love and good wishes of the
American people-and that means n lot to the
young fellow who perhaps never before spent
Christmas away from his home folks 1t will put
r'"'"' sn'"it into him for the task ahead
The men on this side, waiting in the training
camps for their turn to 60 across, will also have
AZ merry q Christmas as the Red Cross can pro-
vide. Christmas trees with gifts of some kind,
bearing world of cheer and hope from the great
heart Of the American people, VIII greet every
man In uniform, wherever he may be.
This Christmas will be merry one for the
whole Of the army and navy. The boys have
not been long away from home, they have had
almost none of the hardships Of war; and they
come to the feast with light hearts
War has taken almost no toll from them thus
far. Belgium and France Serbia and Roumania
Great Britain and her colonies, Russia and ITALY,
have borne the brunt Of frightfulness and our
boys have been spared. SO 1t will be merry
Christmas for them.
Next year it will be different. The pinch Of
prlvaton Will be felt in the land-voluntary, to
great extent but It will be felt. There will he less
to eat and less to wear, and millions to be fed
and clothed who no longer produce, and all the
nation will save all 1t can to give to those who
fighting, and to those defenseess ones on the
other side who have nothing
And there will be gaps in the ranks, and there
Will be full hospitals. There is where the Red
Cross comes in-wherever there Is disaster. The
hospital buildings, the equipment the surgical sup
plies the surgeons and nurses and Orderlies, the
ambulAnces and the drivers and the stretcher
shoulders Of the Red Cross. 1t will carry 1t, be-
cause II has the backing Of the American people;
and In the meantime 1t must carry the load OF
the nations which have already suffered more
than three years of frIghtfulness.
Here are some Of the things the American Red
Cross is right now doing in France; where It has
spent $10000,O00. These extracts were taken from
report by the Paris headquarters to Henry P.
Dawson, chairman of the Red Cross war council,
which raised fund of $1OO.OOO,000 for its work:
1--WE have just given $1,OO00O0 for needy sick
and wounded French soldiers and their families
sour hospital distributing service sends supplies
to 3.423 French military hospitals, and is laying
In a large Stock Tor future needs.
"Our surgical dressings service supplies 1000
French hospitals, and is preparing immense sup
plies for our own armies
1--WE gre oDerating at the front line, in co-opera-
tion with the French Red Cross, ten canteens,
and are preparing for 20 more; and at six cam
teens fof French soldiers at railway stations we
ere serving about 10000 men a day.
eve have opened children's refuge and hos
pital at a point where several hundred children
lave been gathered to keep them from danger OF
gas and shell fire. At another point we have
established medical center and a travelling dis
pensary to accommodate 1900 children.
eve IRE making arrangements on a large scale
TO help refugee families through the winter with
clothing BEDS shelter, and for this work the en-
tire devastated portion of France has been divided
into SIX districts with resident Red Cross dele
gate In each. Warehouses have been established
at four points to which shipped food, clothing,
bedding, beds, household utensils and agricultural
implements.
1--WE hive large central warehouse In Paris,
and distribution warehouses at important points
from the Swiss border to the sea. Two hundred
tons Of supplies are arriving In Paris daily, and
126 tons are shipped to branch warehouses;"
From other authorities word has come that the
Germans are driving back into France, through
Switzerland the ragged, sick, hungry and home
Less women and children Of the conquered districts
Of France at the rate Of $4,000 month. Held In
captivity for more than three years. they are
now driven forth even from the ruins In which