The Cordele dispatch. (Cordele, Ga.) 19??-1971, 1918-06-05
AMERICAN EFFORT
STIRS ITALIANS

1
Correspondence of The Associated
Press) Throughout Italy and parti-
cularly in the section near the fight
ing front, the work of American relief
accomplished by American Red Cross
workers has served as a medium for
stirring the spirit of resistance among
the people and soldiers. 1t has contri
buted toward keeping them heartened
fer the trials Of the war and letting
know that America was united with
them in it. Hs. st..s,5s
is work going on all over Italy,
but here near the front it deals with
| actual fighting conditions, in a belt
of country lying just back of the fight
ing line, with masses of troops billet
| ted in towns, villages and country dis
tricts, and vast wave Of refugees,
swept south and west from the inVad-
ed regions, settling down with all
their misery like a swan of locuSts
on the local communities.
In such a section the work is some,
thing more than one of relief, for
| while 100000 has been distributed
in this one section yet the main pur-
pose has been to stimulate and heart
en- the spirit of the peasantry, to
trouse their order and support for
the men on the fighting line, and to
let them know that America and all
her resources are with them to the
end
These provinces of "reviso, Vcnetia
and Padua lie just back of the Pave
and mountain fighting fronts. Treviso
province is not the border line. with
half its communcs occupied hy the
enemy and half by the Italians, and
the Piave running between the two
severed parts of the province. Every
one of the 80 Treyiso ccmmunes &C.
naming under Italian control have
been visited by the American Red
Cross workers; the 1913 communcs of
Padua proince have been similarly
visited; and some rs communes in
Venotia province.
Stirring scenes have been witness
cd IN these country districts as the
American workers have carried on
their work, under the general dircc-
ton of Captain Thwaits, in charge Of
civilian relief in the war zone. At
Sste, for example, a public holiday
was decreed, ) the town was placardcd
with posters announcing that "tho
Americans are coming" school chill
dren and the. mayor gave dinner
with speeches. The same wave of ap-
probation and enthusiasm has spread
everywhere, until the whole region
rings with what the Americans are
doing. ~
The tour today lay due north due to
the very margin of the fighting cCun-
try, and one could see side by side
the stir Of intense military prepare
ton, the spring awakening of great
agriculture region, and the squalid
misery of the unfortunate mass swept
out of the invaded reiOn and settled
down here unable to get any further
On the right was the Piave river with
the defenses on the heights of As0lo
and the MontelIa region, and ahead
was the snow-covercd peaks of Mount
Grappa and its line of mountain de
lenses stretching west to the Brenta
river.
Sentinels were on guard every hun
dred feet along the Brenta canal guard
ing this precious artery of communicH-
ton. Across the fields new trenches
were being dug up, so that the farm
country was gradually taking on the
aspect of an armed camp, Barbed
wire entanglements criss-crossed the
fields. Some of the emplacements for
batteries and machine-guns looked
very solid and might well serve as a
permanent fertilization. Soldiers
marched along the roads in endless
lines, with great parks OF horses,
mules, ammunition and supplies and
all the village streets were thick with
soldiers and the mixture Of ragged
and impoverished refugees. At all the
places visited there was the same pro
cedure: the important officials and
citizens of the town were gathered for
conference On the cOmmunityS
needs the mayor, assessor head-school
teacher, and the parish priest They
furnished the exact statistics of FAM
lies in need. conducting the party to
the chief centers of distress when this
was possible, and then the Red Cross
started them on a plan of relief work,
with a substantial contribution ac-
cording to the need.
at is not only the donation that
counts explained Captain Thwaits,
"for that is only a token of the soil