New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1918-05-22

the Red Cross = thanks not to us on
the other side, but to you on this side -
has performed and which has been the
largest single factor of our help since our
entry into the war. -. ~
Now, I am. going to sketch for you
very briefly, since I have given you the
| fundamental facts, what we have done,
and you will now understand why we
did it. -r
Working in Country Stripped
! by War
In the first place we came to country
that was stripped by three years of war
There is very little you can buy on the
other side in the way of supplies and
material. There is very little you car
get hold of in the way Of human power
There are no stenographers, no telephone
operators, no people to run elrands OF
keep furnace fires going or anything Of
that sort. We had therefore to import
practically all the labor we had to use
in our undertaking. We also had to set
together supplies from places otEer than
in Europe itself.
We started Immediately the con-
struction of great system OF transporta-
ton and warehouses. TIE theory OF the
organization was this: That there were
only two things which were essential
to our success you could strip every
thing else away but two things We had
to- have - one Of them was goods,
materials, supplies, on the grounds; and
the other was some way to move them.
And if we had those two things, well,
we could put it up to anybody to do the
rest. So we started our warehouse sys-
tenn.
In Paris we have great base ware
houses, and all along the front, particu-
larly in Belgium where they are under
shell fire some of the time, all along there
and all the way down to and along the
French line; from there down to Italy
and along the Italian line; at the sea-
ports and railway routes we have our
advance warehouses; all of which are
crammed with stuff at points where we
can get hold of it when trouble comes.
Ambulances and Motor Trucks TO,
Quick Action
Tho supplement this warehouse system
we have about five hundred ambulances
and motor trucks which are concentrated
also in Paris and at various points in
our territory so that in an emergency
we can use them to get quick action at
any point on that front.
We had to establish purchasing de.
partment which has been magnifcently
built up under Mr.. Stanley Field, OIL
Chicago.
We had to establish great department
to keep track of all the funds we had tc
handle.
We have an engineering and architect
ural department which planned the build
ings and hospitals and rest stations which
we have to erect.
You may not know it, but we have
actually under construction now about
100 great barracks in different parts OF
France which are used partly by our own
army as recreation huts in connection
with hospitals, for storehouses, and in
! connection with our work with the
various foreign armies.
Our department Of civil affairs today
is carrying through the following things
LIST, our work with the children of France
1t is our hope that in cooperation with
the French Government we may be able
to reduce in due course the number Of
deaths Of young infants in France from
$4,000 a year to 10000 a year. Oul
experts think it can be done. Oul
people are caring today, in one way o.
another, for $4,000 children in France
We have hospitals where they are carec
for.