The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-09-14
HIGHER MORALE
FOR YANKS KIN
Red Cross Home Service Sec.
ton win Look After Folks
at Home.
TAKE BURDEN FROM SOLDIERS
Men In Service Are often Disheart.
ened by Distressing News From
Home-Cheerful Letters From
Folks Is Greatest Need.

Folks Is Greatest Need.
Washington.--The American Red
Cross has issued the Red Cross Hand
book. The book which is intended,
among other things, to strengthen the
morale of the people at home was
written by w. Frank Persons, the di-
rector general of civilian relief of the
American Red Cross.
"Again and again word comes from
overseas of men d~isheartened by bad
news from home, making a brave eff
fort to go on with their work but
with no zest to it." Mr.. Persons says.
"It is the task of the home service
sections of the Red Cross to see to 1t
that there are in the families of these
soldiers no anxieties or problems which
are likely to get into letters and bring
distress to the soldiers overseas and
no loneliness which we could help
meet here.
Want Letters From Home.
will so warm the hearts of our boys
as the letter from home saying that
all Is well and that the home service
of the Red Cross is standing by"
Mr.. Persons recently returned from
France where he organized the bureau
of home service in the American Red
Cross organization in that country. He
asserted that his observations in
France made him more firmly con
WINGED than ever that proper condi-
tions In the homes of soldiers and sail
ors and the maintenance of close con-
tact between the men and their FAM
lilies was necessary to preserve the
morale of the soldiers.
"The fighting man wants to know
all about what is going on at home"
Mr.. Persons continues. she wants to
know all the details about his family
and then about his friends and his
community generally. He wants to be
kept i'm touch with local civil affairs
and what is going on in his town and
state. We are coming to see that this
interest is a powerful support to a
mans stamina. 1t keeps him sane and
healthy. 1t braces him up to know
that those with whom he has lived
and who mean so much to him appre-
ciate the sacrifice he Is making.
"Any worry about the condition of
his dependents or relatives tends to
put a soldier into a condition where
he Is subject to shell shock. / have
this on the authority of eminent spe-
cialists who are dealing with such
cases in the military hospitals. A sol
der who is untouched by bullet or
shell may, from shell shock, return to
his trench In such nervous condition
as to require hospital treatment and
a long rest. The best insurance
against this serious by-product of mod
ern warfare, the physicians say, Is
for the man to go over the top or meet
a charge in a buoyaEt, u~ntroubled
frame of mind I'm which his sole con
Germ is the grim business at hand.
Cheerful letters from home help to
produce the proper mental attitude,
but confidence that the home folks
lack for nothing is an essential foup-
dalton.
Red Gross viii Help.
SOLDIERS become concerned when
letters fail to come regularly, anxious
and uneasy when disquieting rumors
arrive, and worried and d~istraught
when they learn of troubles at home.
An American commander at the front
and a leading military surgeon In
Paris both stated that the Red Cross
could do nothing more important from
a military point of view than to main
tain the welfare of the homes of our
fighting men.
"There ear be no more certain
means of steadying his morale han to
give him the assurance that, whatever
may happen to his folks at home the
home service section Of the Red Cross
chapter In his own town may be de
pended upon to act promptly, sympa'
thetically and adequately to maintain
the comfort and peace of mind OF
those he has left behind.
"Home service must be as reliable
and as considerable, as capable and
as effective in helping soldiers and
sailors families as Is the trust com.
pany that looks after their worldly
goods. That is just what home serv.
Ice should be-a huge trust company
IN which fhp soldier NAV rplvn