Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-07
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INIn-TTI71 sFlSL at4s4gfstGH NItg YggeH.-tE
The Red Cross q Helper.
In saying this much,gsweE must keep
things in perspective. The part which
the American Red Cross played in
|these first weeks of emergency must
be seen against the backgrouidaof vol
untary effort put forward by italian
agencies; the part which these
agencies have played must be seen
asaliirrast the background Of govern
national and the part which all to-
|gether have played must be seen
against the tremendous rush Of emer-
gent need. @ 1a sff
The brunt Of it fell on the refugees,
they bore 1t, hungry, athirst drenched
to their skins. packed in cattle ars
or sleeping. on stone floors when bet
circulating experience of their slow
|southbound transport is but the first
chapter in q situation, which If we are,
to judge by the experience OF, French
and Belgian refugees NOf three years
ago, will tax the competence and gem
erosity Of all the agencies concerned
for months to come.
The part which the Red Cross has.
been able to play has been larger and
more effective with every day that has
passed. and o only the spirit OF the
doing. but the things done were made
the subject, nomore than a month.
from the date the Red Cross Commits
|sioner in Europe reached, Rome, OF
|apprecfatiye reference by the italian
premier in hissaddress at the opening
of parliament early.in December.
He said: Our soul is stirred again
with appreciation and with admira-
ton, for the magnificent dash with
which the American Red Gross has
brought us powerful aid in our recent
misfortune. We attribute great value
to the cooperation which will be
given usJagainst h escommon enemy
by the prodigious activity and by the
exuberant and consistent force which
are peculiar to the American peo-
pie"
Provided Funds at Once.
Take a>Nngle example, dram
attic than most, but by no means un-
representative Of the way Italians and
Americans have breasted together
minor emergencies as they arose. The
first two Red Cross men reached
Rome on November S, and the first
step they took was to appropriate
money to the American Relief Clear
Ing House, which enabled it to open
that very night the first of two can
teens for refugees at the railroad sta
tons IN? Rome. incidentally this was
four days before Italian canteens' were
opened there.
Alta O'Clock one afternoon, the vol
unteers who manned the canteen-
American residents in Rome who have
since become active members of the
Red Cross staf-had "a wire that 12,-
900 southbound refugees would pass
through the Portonaccio' station, six
or eight miles out on the Rbman
|Campagna. The first train would arr
rive at s O'clock. The. refugees had
been fed at Florence before leaving,
ten hours before, and had had moth
ing to eat enroute. The italian au-
thorities could supply the children
with hot milk, the adults with bread
and soup. They turned the rest over
to the Americans.
There was just two hours leeway.
The canteen workers jumped into mo-
tor cars They bought 4, 300 blankets,
they bought hams, they bought saus-
ages, they bought chocolate. they piled
them into the cars and made repeat
ed trips to the aTermini station, where
they secured permission to dump
then n the baggage q of the
Florence. express which left Ion it's
|northbound "trip between s and 6
O'Clock. In this way they had their
ton before the arrival Of the first ref
|ugee train.
Soldiers Mndc Sandwiches.
Here they found squad Z of the
IGranatieri, an Italian regiment dating
back to the seventeenth century. In
the present war, SO heavy has been
their part in the fighting that it has
taken $4,000 men to keep filled their
ranks of 5000. Tonight the Grana-
|tieri We're armed with big knives and
from now until 9 o'clock the next
morning, when the last train went
through, they turned huge stacks Of
bread into sandwiches. cutting the
loaves into big chunks, slicing them,
and stuffing them with ham and saus-
age.
Each train carried about 1000 ref
ugees, and the Granatieri would no
more than get a thousand sandwiches
made up than q train would roll in.