Arizona republican., 1918-01-21
RED GROSS FUND
 IF MANY MILLIONS
 SPENT FUR MERCY

WASHINGTON, D- C.. Jar. IT, The work of the American Red Cross is going forward on both sides of the Atlantic on an enormous scale. The last detailed report of the or EaniZation on November l, showed appropriations totalling s4o,esS, 900. Since that date tho sums approved for expenditure have risen 10 a fig ure estimated at sSo, 900, 000. Certain items in this total will eventually he credited again to the war fund: for example. the money spent for articles for re-ale to local chapters, and a sum of s4,0O0,96 which represents supplies for France. included in the budget of the French commission, but the size of the net appropriations is a significant index of the magnitude of the work being carried or.
 The public has backed up the Red Cross in a way that exceeded ex- pectsticns- The total membership to- day is over 22,eOo,Oo It has become "everybody's Red Cross" to a greater extent than even the sanguine hoped for, and every body is interested in the way its scores of millions are being spent The record of the work done at home and abroad is such that criticism, which has for the most part confined itself to such picayune matters as the misdelivery of pair of knitted socks, is pretty effectively silenced-
 Perhaps the most striking feature of the appropriations is the fact that more than half of the money is spent in France. This is due partly to the fact that the needs of the French civilians in the war zone are particularly great, and partly because of the continually increasing number of American troops in that country. Broadly speaking" says the Red Cross, the first and supreme ozject of the American Red Cross is to care for our own army and navy"
 But almost every other country in Europe Is a field of operations Bel siurn, Russia, Runa mia, Serbia, Italy, Poland, Great Britain, Armenia and Syria are included in the list of major appropriations The amount of money to be expended in each of these countries Is no measure of the conditions there, but rather represents the effectiveness with which the American organization can apply a relief program in view ot local con- ditions.
 The work in Poland, for example, has only called for a sum of S20o,00e so far, although conditions in Poland are perhaps the worst in the world. In the words of a recent report from the field, The entire present gen. cration in Poland is facing immediate starvation" American money allotted to Poland was used in the purchase of emergency food supplies. The fact that the territory is held by the Ger mans makes it impossible to deal with the problem in the way that is being applied to the destitute re- gions of France. Moreover, the British Red Cross, since the begin ming of the war, has raised enormous sums for the Polish sufferers.
 The work in France promises to become the most elaborately organ ized and comprehensive thing of it's kind that the world has ever seen. A valuable service is rendered the war cause even by civilian relief work, for much of it benefits the families of men in the French army. The consciousness that his kindred are being adequately cared for is an important factor in keeping up the morale of a man in the front line.
 Expenditures in France so far have been divided quite evenly be- tween civilian and military relief. The care of the war orphans and homeless children of the northern provinces, and the fight against tuberculosis are the most striking features of the civilian work. Both of these are of cital importance to the future of France. Even before the war. the French birth rate and death rate were approximately equal In 1916 the death rate, even aside from war casualties. had reached 20 per thousand, and the birth rate had fallen to per thousand. There was 2 net loss in population of almost two per cent in a single year. This was largely due to the enormous mortality among young children-S circumstance at once\ the most pa thetic and the most serious econom- ically that the war has brought tc France. The Red Cross is taking charge of great numbers of "repatri- ated' children from the occupied northern districts, gathering together the homeless of the war zone-msny of them little tots living in caves an6 ruins-and establishing relief centers