The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-02-13
FOOD TO OUR
men IN GERMANY
The Red Cross is Making Arrange
ments to Aid Prisoners That
Are Taken by the Foe.
WARM HEARTERNEss RED CROSS
Society Doing Much for Our Boys
Aside From Making Bandages
and Knitting Sweaters.


Parents who have thought of prison
life in Germany as perhaps the worst
experience that could befall their sons
in the American army will find in the
service that the American Red Cross
has provided to supply prisoners with
food further proof of the great value
of this organization.
The plan briefly is this: The
American Red Cross committee sta
toned in Berne, Switzerland, will send
each American prisoner three ten
pound packages Of food every two
weeks. Already enough supplies are
in Switzerland or on their way there
to care for 10000 American prisoners
for a period of six months.
Naturally General Pershing is not
planning to let the Germans capture
that many American soldiers, but the
Red Cross is measuring the prospects
by what has happened to the French
and English in gigantic engagements
when both sides lose heavily.
This same Red Cross bureau will
be the sole agency licensed by the war
trade board to transmit money to the
American and allied prisoners in Ger
many. The German government never
yet has had occasion to doubt the
good faith of the American Red Cross,
so tht ats relief plans are certain Of
execution.
Stories about the starvation of pris-
oners in Germany have been printed
so, frequently in this country that
many parents will consider the Red
Cross plan worth all the money they
have contributed to it il it did not at
tempt anyother form of war relief
work. The kind and amount of food
to be sent every two weeks to each
American prisoner will be determined
by expert dietitians. .
Proof of the warm hearted contact
of the American Red Cross with the
enlisted man is furnished in number
less instances, of which the following
is typical.
A farm youth enlisted from Ken
lucky and was sent to an Atlanic
training camp Of the, regular. army. II
was the longest trip he ever had made
and the first Christmas he was to be
separated from the family.
He was looking forward to the box
which he knew mother and sister
would send to him, but three days be-
fore Christmas he was ordered to
Washington to do guard duty. The
young soldier was immensely proud
at being assigned to guard the white
house.
But his sudden change in address
resulted in his Christmas box going
70 HI irsn al rSo ~ vS1uS
day found him with neither letter nor
package from home or friends. 1t
was in this mood Of depression that a
Red Cross Christmas package reached
him.
Il sure did appreciate that remem-
brance,' he wrote home. In due time
the army forwarded his Christmas
mail from home, but it reached him
from one to two weeks after the holi-
days. The Red Cross gift contributed
to sustaining his spirits and not only
to him but thousands situated like
him.
General Pershing and other high
officers consider such work by the Red
Cross a vital factor in winning the
war. 1t makes all the difference in the
world how a soldier feels. When a
whole army becomes depressed, disas-
ter follows. 7u ,s=a.. ,.-. .... .
How the American Red Cross foiled
German propaganda in Italy and
changed the attitude of tine people of
that country from hostility to friend
illness for the United States is one of
the most important and interesting
achievements of this humanitarian
agency.
The Red Cross, of course, does not
include the foiling of enemy propa-
ganda in its aims directly. What hap
pened in Italy came about as a by
product of the regular Red Cross relief
work. German and Austrian spies had
spread reports throughout Italy, at the
time Of the retreat OF the Italian army,
that the United States was Indifferent
to the fate of Italy. ,
But when the Red Cross arrived and
began feeding the hungry. ministering
to the sick, housing the homeless,
clothing the naked and otherwise re-
lieving distress, the Italian people got
an entirely new viewpoint and the Ger
man propaganda was nipped in the
bud.
Now the people of Italy love the
United States and henceforth it does
not seem likely that German cunning
can devise any lies and so sugar coat
them as to induce the Italian people to
swallow them to the detriment OF the
United States.
The Red Cross in relieving suffer-
ing in Italy and other allied nations is
building future peace among nations
and creating for the United States a
good will which will work out for the
benefit of generations yet unborn.
Perry Tribune: 1t is encouraging to
note that in all the German communi-
ties in Iowa they are gradually be.
coming more patriotic and in some
places enthusiastically so. The older