The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-02-19
rhis Is One Of the Things That the
Home Service Section of Red
Cross Can Help In
Doing.
DETAILS TO BE GIVEN
sed Cross Committees in other Lands
viii BE Called on to Aid
in Getting This
Data.

The following information copied
from the New York Times canot fail
10 be of vital interest to relatives
and families of enlisted men. If you
want at any time to take advantage
Of This service and are uncertain
now to do it, notify "The Home Ser
vice Section" which will gladly ad-
wise YOU or write for you:
TO give relatives OF American sol
diers details of casualties at the
front, the American Red Cross has
organized at national Headquarters
bureau of communication, of which
William r. Castle, Jr.. formerly as
sistant dean of Harvard, is director.
This bureau supplements in per
sonal and humanitarian way the re-
ports of the statistical division of the
war department, which gives to rela-
tjves official notice when a soldier is
reported killed, wounded, or missing.
1.-THE anxiety" says Red Cross
statement, which naturally results
from the official report to relatives
that a soldier has been wounded OF
is missing will, as far as possible,
be dispelled by the bureau. which
viii advise in detail the nature and
extent of the wound and will gather
evidence from comrades in arms and
at the hospitals and rest camps re-
garding those reported missing
.Any information of interest or
consolation to relatives thus obtain
ed will be transmitted to them
through personal letters, while mes
sages from the wounded will be con-
veyed through this same agency. The
information on which the bureau will
base its reports is gathered through
q central office in Paris, under the
direction of E. Gerry Chadwick Of
New York, aided by the Rev Robert
Davis of Englewood, N. j., and thirty
assistants stationed at the base hos
pitfalls and rest camps to which sol
dlers are generally returned follow
Ing important engagements.
Will Trace Soldiers.
with the increase of American
forces and participation in the war,
this number will have to be greatly
increased The information will for
the most part be forwarded from the
Paris office to this country by mail.
For the present the bureau is re-
porting on all cases that come to it's
attention. However, it is probable
that with the increase of reports from
the front, information will be sent
only to relatives requesting it, ex-
cept in cases of those imprisoned or
reported missing
This is a Red Cross service in
Great Britain. France, Italy, Ger
many, and Austria. In the London
office of the British Red Cross more
than 200 women are constantly en-
ployed in communicating with rela-
uyes of soldiers, and their card in
dex already covers more than 3,O0O,-
oOo cases reported on.
The bureau will receive through
the International Red Cross office at
Geneva, Switzerland. the list of
american prisoners supplied official
~ by the German government. In
cases of Imprisonment the bureau
reports TO relatives, after which the
case is referred to the Red Cross
bureau OF American prisoners relief,
vi which Franklin Abbott is director
me American Red Cross commit
zee In Berne sends each American
prisoner every two weeks three ten
pound food packages. These subsis.
.ent stores are provided by the gov
81 and the American Red
. , A sufficient quantity Of sup
riles is now on the way to Switzer-
aaa to care for 10000 American
p MI for a period of six months
), ! MS bureau is also the sole agency
licensed by the war trade board to
, ,iiansmit money to American and al
Neu prisoners in Germany.