The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-02-05
SPIRIT TO YIN
 WAR KEPT UP
 BY RED CROSS
AMERICAN AID HEARTENS
 FRANCE AND HER ALLIES.
Major Murphy, Who Had Charge of Relief Work Abroad, Describes
 Seven Months Achievements.
By MAJ. CRIMSON M. p. MURPHY

hCO SiSoS SOEIIihSSiOslSE to Europe, who was in charge of war | relief operations abroad for seven l months. Major Murphy soon will re- turn to France to join General Persh- | lng's staff in a purely military capa- city.)
 This is a war not of armies. It is l a war of nations. There is not a man or woman or child in Great Britain, in Belgium, in France or in Italy that is not a factor in this war. It is not the armies of France that are the essen tial thing to France in this war, nor the armies of England, nor the armies of the other allies
 Those armies will do their part and do it to a finish if they are supported by the people behind. The great cry ing need in Europe today is to build up the spirit and keep up the spirit of the people behind the lines. It is that great work which the Red Cross thanks not to those on the other side, but to the people on this side-has performed. It is this work that has made the American Red Cross the lar gest known single factor since our entry into the war.
 The American Red Cross, beginning Its operations in France, went into country that was stripped by three years of war. There is very little that can be bought on the other side in the way of supplies and material. There is very little that can be had in the way of human power: The Red Cross had to import practically all the labor needed in its undertaking. It had also to get together supplies from places other than in Europe itself.
 The Red Cross on arriving in France started immediately the construction of a great system of transportation and warehouses. This system is very complicated. The government had oc- cupied practically all the points de sirable for warehouse sites.
 Warehouses Crammed With Stuff"
 But the Red Cross has a system of warehouses, beginning at eight of the principal ports in France. In Paris it has great base warehouses. All along the front, particularly in Belgium, all the way down to and along the French line, along that down to Italy and along the Italian line, at the seaports and along railway routes the Red Cross has warehouses, crammed with stuff at points where it can get hold of 1t when trouble comes.
 To supplement this warehouse sys- tenn, 1t has about 500 ambulances and motor trucks concentrated in Paris and others distributed at various | points so that in case of an emergency the Red Cross can use them to get quick action anywhere along the, front. The Department of Civil Affairs Is working among the children of France. It hopes, in cooperation with the French government, to be able to re duce, in due course, the number of deaths of young infants in France from 8O,OOO year to 10000 year. These little tots are brought back | from the districts where they are un- i der gas fire They are too small to wear a gas mask and consequently they would be killed. From Toule ambulances move around in the coun- try. There are clinics where our doc tors and nurses care for the sick, par | ticuIarly children, who cannot other wise get treatment because all the doc tors have been called into the service. Fighting Tuberculosis.
 In conjunction with the Rockefeller Foundation it is conducting a work against tuberculosis, which is certain 1 ly unparalleled in the history of the world. France has suffered greatly from tuberculosis as a result of the people living in unwholesome dugouts. Tuberculosis has developed in the trenches too.
 Working with the Rockefeller Foun- dation, the Red Cross has put into ef- feet system of education in France, a system to care for bad cases in sani- toriums and a system which will lead to the establishment of 300 dispensa- ries throughout France, with visiting nurses attached.
 In the military division the Red Cross is carrying on an extraordinary work with the French, with the Bel gians, with the Italians and, to a cer- tain minor extent, with the British, and with our own people. It has a system of canteens. It has rolling canteens which are operating right up in the trenches, where the soldiers are giyen hot drinks. In December 225,- GOO soldiers were served hot drinks in this way. Red Cross men worked under shell fire all the time. When
 the gas comes over them they wear gas masks. They are great pals with the soldiers.
 In conjunction with the French gov ernment the Red Cross is feeding-not
 giving drinks and sandwiches, but giv- irg hot meals-to 100000 French sol
 diers every month These men sit and
 have their dinners and talk and make AL c