Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-13

lecture are carrying on at Messina, Or
better than any Of these, a we'll
rounded health center with various
special services by American doctors
and nurses who could famtliarize the
communities in which they work with
the methods and ideas Of American
preventative health work.
This again pc IN line with
MANS which the American Red Cross
has already worked out in Paris ana
other French communities and II such
health centers could be established
with the cordial approval and CO.
oneration Of sanitary officials and
musicians Of the local community
they might become the most import.
ant lasting contribution which the
American Red Gross could make in
Italy. No doubt local Italian institu.
tons could be found around which
snch Red Cross activities could be or. .
Iganized.
The Housing Problem.
Next to health the most urgent
refugee problem is that OF housing.
We find refugees living in hotels,
hospitals. ven o all kinds
of converted buildings, some admir-
able as far as physical comfort is con-
cerned, others leaving much to be
desired even in this respect. This
manner of life is one which should be
ended as soon as possible. Even if
clean and warm and commodious.
they seldom afford possibility for a
normal home life, for privacy. for
natural employment. In one city, for
example, n four hundred men,
women and children were living in
the wards of a hospital under condi-
lions as institutionalized as those Of
Ian almshouse, as promiscuous as
those of the steerage of an ocean liner.
"They had excellent beds, COM
forIablc mattresses and the constant
|%attention of a doctor. Men, women
and children were living, eating and
sleeping in the same large ward. If
they had been in need of hospital care
it was Immediately forthcoming: but
they we're quite well and able-bodied.
Here they had been for more than
three weeks with nothing to do except
to make their beds and keep the ward
in order. This is only an extreme in
stance of the refuge life from which
lii is obviously desirable to distribute
the refugees into houses or tenements
as soon as they can find suitable en-
ployment and a place to live selected
with reference to their employment
dn0 OIHeT COliSlucIdllOlIo "AlSAA oAAOulA
naturally be taken into account.
Conditions in Tenements.
"Of course the worse conditions are
not to he found in the refugee. but in
overcrowded rooms in private tene-
ments or in old and filthy hotels. We
ihave frequently seen eight or ten, and
in one instance as many as fifteen.
persons in a single living-room, and
it is an urgent part Of the housing
'problem to enable such families to
move from their congested and I'M
saritary Furnished" rooms into de-
cent dwellings. We must bear in
mind that the refugee families have in
many instances been accustomed to
very much higher standards OF living
than those even Of the self-supporting
working people in the communities
where they now are. Many of them
own property and All of them house
!ho:l goods which they have had to
leave behind. They are in the posi-
ton of people who have lost every
thing by "A. fire Of a flood. They are
not in danger of being injured by
Iprompt and generous assistance i'll
such an emergency.
They are in danger Of demoraliza-
ton from being left in their destitute
condition without employment. with
IOUL liz pIlkdCS diIu ~l4O'CSOilS az
mosphere Of family life, and withou!
the social environment of the neigh
DO, hcod, to which they have been &C
cus,omed. The best form Of relief,
therefore. would seem to be assistance
with furniture such as would enable
them to take suitable accommodations
, in a place whereby their own labor
. supplemented by the government al.
~lowanccs. they can become self-sup'
porting. To make good some part Of
their war losses in this way, would b.
analogous to, social insurance.
: Cost Of Refurnishing.
~ "Various estimates made for US b,
: practical people have put the cost o
e supplying beds. tables. chairs, cooking
0 utensils. etc, at from two hundred ant
! fifty to five hundred lire per family
: In two cities, Naples n Palermo. we
e appropriated fifty thousand lire eacf
: to be used in this way in aiding 'refu
q own homes. We think that some sucf
: work as this should be developed il
every community in which the refu'
e gees are likely to remain. In some
2 localities an intermediate step is nee
: essary--from congregate shelters
S cheap hotels and barracks. in the
z neighborhood of stations. into better
r class hotels or other buildings.
while there is some objection, i
t does improve immediate =. condition.
n and as carried on by an active com
t mittee Of hotel men in Naples thu
n considerations in favor of it are con,
vlncing. Appreciation should be ex
pressed Of the action Of the American
: Radiator company in Milan in helping
to meet the need for beds for refu'
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