Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-02-11

and by individual organizations at
railroad stations, but here again the
provision is inadequate, and there IS
! opportunity for the Red Cross to IN
augurate a large work.
It's Genoa committee has turned its
chalet into a canteen for the British.
French and Italian soldiers, and the
Milan committee has undertaken to
equip and maintain a rest room. can
teen and reading room in barracks
! erected in the station yard by the
municipality for the service of allied
troops passing through the city. The
military affairs department of the Red
Cross has gone into the work which
the Italian Red Cross is doing in can
teens as we'll as their systematic pro-
vision of f1rst-aid rooms at the rail-
road stations, studied the troop move
ment in Italy, and outlined for the
consideration of the permanent COM
mission a project for installing can
teens and rest rooms at eight import
ant lines running up both coasts
from Reggie and Messina to the front.
Stores.
All these activities fall back on the
supply service, serving both civil and
military. departments. and here again
engineering in the face of almost i'm
possible obstacles of distance. rail
congestion and depleted markets.
Within .thirty-six hours from the time
word came from the Red Cross clear
ing house conference at the embassy
in Rome on November 5, twenty-four
cars had been loaded at the Red Gross
stables on h Chemin Vert had never
known sue activity, and 10000
blankets, 10000 mattresses, pillows
and clothing made up the c%onsign-
ment.
The main lines of rail into italy
were laden with a freightage of troops
and army paraphernalia, and the train
was held up for an entire week. The
superintendent of the warehouse was
detailed to accompany it, slept on the
cars and brought his train into Rome
five days later-remarkable time un-
der the circumstances. 1t was plaster
ed with Red Cross labels. and decked
with American and Italian flags which
were stripped by souvenir hunters en-
route.
Once in Rome. the cars were trans
shipped without being unloaded to
points designated by the civil and
military affairs Observation-Disclosures
na, Florence. Palermo, Naples, Rimi-
nj. Catania. In cases where a carload
lot did not fit the needs, one car was
run alongside another in the yards,
half n goods were removed, the
empty half filled from the next car
or from stores gotten together in
Rome. and off it would go. A second
shipment of ten cars of food, and a
third of sixteen Of food and blankets
reached Rome in early December,
were handled in like manner
Purchasing Supplies.
Meanwhile purchasing was going
forward in Rome. Milan, Genoa and
other points-condensed milk in thou
sands of cases, hundreds of thousands
of lires' worth of women's and chill
dren's underwear (much of which did
not come to the warehouses at all or
was rammed into new gunnysacks and
house foor). $4,000 shirts, $4,000
blankets, $4,000 wooden drawers, CO.,
600 jerseys. 100000 drawers and
, vests. socks, thermometers, medical
supplies of all sorts.
In Rome the Red Cross secured
through h Italian government two
of the top floors of the Magazzini Cen
erali, served by direct rail and water,
with electric cranes. and carriers,
Agents were despatched to arrange
for storage at ports of entry and the
two top f1oors,of the Magazzipi.G Gen
) erai at Naples were secured, With Edi-
rept.rail and water connections, cleo
trio hoists from boats into the ware
house or into cars. Similar facilities
have been secured in Genoa, and plan
ned in Palermo. At the same time
storage space was taken over at CEN
tiers of need-in Florence a building
given by the custom house; in Bolog-
ma the basement of a large Palazzo;
In Milan, a warehouse lent by an
American firm; and lesser provisions
elsewhere.
Within n month from the start
h Red Cross had $4,000 tons of
warehouse space in Italy, and had it
practically empty. SO rapid had been
the movement of shipments and pur-
chases, but ready for the large in
voices under order by it's purchasing
department, for further and longer
shipments en- route from it's stores
center in France. and for $4,000 tons
of shipping space, sailing from
America prior to January /. arranged
by its Washington headquarters, and
to be filed in line with cabled ~instruc-
tons sent late in November from
10