The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-12-20
Always Travels in Troubled
Waters and Answers Every
Cry Of Distress.
REST OF WORLD IS TOO BUSY
Christmas Roll Call Gives Every One
q Chance to Take Part In
Rebuilding Our Broken
World.

The American Red cross Is perhaps
like nothing so much as a stanch and
loyal ship in a storm. 1t goes its way
with senses tuned to catch any cry for
help. And when that cry comes, 1t
drives instantly and without fear
straight to the place of distress, in
food and fire and disaster, just as the
ship braves the perils OF tumbling
seas and hazardous rescue work. And.
again, like the ship, 1t STANDS BY
till those endangered are helped to
safety.
Meanwhile the rest of the world,
busy with it's own problems. hurries
home during these times Of storm and
stress. and draws down the blinds.
At least that is the way it has been
in the past. But now comes the Christ.
mas Roll Call. And 1t Is privilege,
not a pest. It has no preferences. It
plays no favorites. 1t makes no ex'
ceptions. 1t summons every man.
woman and child in the country. II
holds out to each one the blessed op'
portunity to ride on every Red Cross
ship Of mercy, to speed with every
Red Cross train of relief that encir.
cles the earth on their errands OF
mercy.
The only way for anyone to escape
the possibility Of some time having to
accept CHARITY from the Red Gross
is to become ONE with the Red Cross
For terrible calamity may come to US
all. The money wealth OF the Belgians
was as nothing when they were stripped
of clothing and food. And that feel
ing OF oneness with the Organization
that our men on the other side have
had during the war was not merely 8
great. but was the GREATEST, factor
In enabling the Red Cross to give the
efficient aid that 1t did.
Let us remember what Mrs. Mar
garet Iaing, canteen worker in France
told about our boys who came out OF
the hospitals without money:
"Sometimes they would be able te
make up few cents between them
she said, "and sometimes they did not
have anything. They would hang be
hind those who could pay. And they
would look at the food so wistfully
that 1t made one fight back the tears
The only way we could get them tt
take what they needed and craved was
by saying: You know, boys, this was
all paid for by your own people al
home.' Then Immediately their attt
tude would change and they would
say: why, yes, my mother or my sis
ter gives to the Red Cross And thel
how they would pitch in"
We are proud, we Americans. W.
do not want something for nothing
And here Is our glorious opportunit!
to take the rest Of our nation by thu
hand, and with all pride and dignity in
sure ourselves Of our own help In tint
Of adversely. &.
This Christmas Roll Call gives every
one a chance to be "Dollar Man.
And most Of us can be one right al
home. For by joining the Red Cross
now and paying the dollar we become
as actively engaged in the great work
as If we were giving all Of our tint
to it. We are merely making our dol
lar substitute for those of us who art
too busy to give all Of our time to the
Red Cross.
Some Of the great achievements O.,
the Red Cross have been told over ani
over, until the facts may seem old K
you. But on this occasion they art
worth telling again. We should moi
forget, for instance, how the womer
of this nation, like our first Colonial
mothers, turned suddenly into great
manufacturers and made garments and
supplies worth $5O,OOO,OOO last year
Nor let us forget how Sill 600. 900 wal
sent into the devastated countries dur
ing the time while men and women
giving their time for nothing, went
with those dollars to see that they
were used in the way they were most
needed. And the American Red Cross
sent medicines and anesthetics to the
hospitals Of France when they were
almost unobtainable, SO that our boys
and their allies might have some re
lief from the torment Of their wounds
and a chance at ultimate recovery.
There ere so many things to tell
that 1t Is impossible to spread the
whole story in this limited space. But
each worker will know. For the let
ters that have come from the boys In
the camps "over here" and from the
fields "over there" have been full OF
the reasons. Ask the mother Of any
boy who was imprisoned behind the
cruel lines where food was scarce even
for the enemy army, but who got his
20 pounds Of biscuits, pork and beans