Imperial Valley press., 1918-06-07
vMER|CAN RED CROSS
HELPS ITALIAN ARMY

Headquarters, Italian Army, May 3.
| I-(Correspondence of The Associated
Press. .)-Throughout Italy and partic-
ularly in this section near the fighting
front. the work of American relief ac-
complished by American Red Cross
workers has served as q medium Tor
stirring the spirit of resistance among
the people and soldiers. 1t has con-
tributed toward keeping them heart :
ened for the trials of the war and let
ting them know that America was un-
tied with them in it.
1t 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 figh-
ting line, with masses of troops bill
leted iii towns, villages and country i
districts, and vast wave of refugees
swept south and west from the in
vaded regions, settling down with all
their misery like swarm of locusts
on the local communities.
In such section the work is some
thing more than one of relief, for
while 100000 has been distributed in :
this one section yet the main purpose
has been to stimulate and hearten the
spirit of the peasantry, to arouse
their ardor and support for the men
on the fighting line, and to let them (
know that America and all her re- 6
sources are. with, them to the end. 5
These provinces of Treviso, Venetia t
and Padua lie just back of the Piave
and mountin fighting fronts Trevi- c
so province is on the border line, with 6
half its communes occupied by the en- q
emy and half by the Italians and the a
Piave running between the two sew S
cred parts of the province. Every t
one of the SO Treviso communes re- b
under Italian control have S
been visited by American Red Cross ',
the 103 communes of Padua
province have been similarly visited; ,
and some Is communes in Venetia
privince. AEIKW
Stirring scenes have been witnessed
in these country districts as the Am
erican workers have carried on their
work, under the general direction of
Captain Thwaits, in charge of civilian
relief in the war zone. At Este, for
example, a public holiday was de-
creed, the town was placarded with
posters announcing that -'the Ameri-.
cans are coming" school children and :,
the mayor gave dinner with speech =
es. The same wave Of appreciation :,
with what the Americans are doing.
The tour today lay due north to the :,
and enthusiasm has spread every u
where, until the whole region rings n
vary margin of the fighting country, 1
and one could see side by side the stir u
Of intense military preparation, the
spring awakening of a great agricul- II
5ural region, and the squalid misery +
If the unfortunate mass swept out of o.
The invaded region and settled down .
mere, unable to get any faEther On ''
the right was the Piave river, with $
the defenses on the heights of Asole
and the Monticello region, and ahead
was the snow covered peaks of Mount d
Grappa and its line of mountain de- g
fenses stretching west to the Brenta II
river.
The signs of military preparation u
and defense wer on every hand, even
at this distance of ten or fifteen miles u
back of the actual fighting line, for l
everything is prepared for the posi- d
BILE eventuality Of the conflict surging J