The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1918-08-13
RED CROSS MEMBERSHIP

: ago, the Interpreter of the create
movement then taking from unde
! the emblem Of mercy might have bee
| regarded by many as a zealot, who's
|. utterances were to be weighed &C
cordingly. Although the people o
the country had just responded to
call for SlOO,OOO,OOO to finance IN
, projected Red Cross work, by top
, ping that figure, probably not ever
, the subscribers to that fund full,
realized the meaning of the new
movement which they had launched
The nation was in the first flush Of
patriotic enthusiasm following the
} entry of the United States in tn,
world war; impulse, added to conf
denee in the organization which was
undertaking the tasks that doomed
ahead, may have been no small fac
tor in the spontaneous response to
the call.
But a few months later more than
22.000,000 Americans-well towards
one fourth of the population of the
United States-had enrolled as mem
bers of the Red Cross. Five million
persons, approximately, had contrib
uted to the original war fund. In
May 1918, when the call for the Sec
ond war fund went out and another
$1OO,OOO,OOO was requested, the res
ponse was an amount more than
| SIG, 900, 900 in excess of that asked
for. BETWEEN FORTY SEVEN
MILLION AND FIFTY MILLION
PERSONS CONTRIBUTED TO THE
SECOND WAR FUND. This was in
an hour of soberer Judgment; when
there was a record of action before
the public; when the true Red Cross
spirit had taken deeper root, and
when opportunity had been afforded
fdf an appreciation of the meaning
of the American Red Cross in the
fullest sense.
Now membership in the American
Red Cross is something as obvious
with respect to its meaning as Amer
lean citizenship itself. Yet to dwell
on its significance is no more trite
than to reiterate the glory of patriot
ism, or of the ideals for which Amer
lean citizenship is symbolic. There
are obvious things that can not be
too prominently kept before the pub
lie mind; and, at this particular
time, this is one of them.
Everybody knows that our allies
across the sea have been deeply i'm
pressed by the showing America has
made in connection with the Red
Cross drives. What everybody does
not realize, however, but something
which has been made plain to all who
have visited the other side, is that
it is not the millions in the funds that
amaze, but the many millions of in
dividuals who have contributed to
them. Mere sums Of money have
ceased to stagger or astound in these
days. But the spirit of a people is
a never ending inspiration. And the
American Red Cross stands for a
spirit translated into terms of mighty
action.
The American Red Cross no long
err is merely a society. 1t is not an
institution-for it is greater than
such. A movement that might exist
without any name at all happens to
have crystalized into a tremendous
human force under it's banner. A
certain something in the American
understanding that lies in the
soul of every American man and wo-
new inward and spiritual
desire to serve humanity, which has
sought a composite form of actual
human influence, along with the
other and older influences that are
,xerted in the saving of civilization,
has found its channel for expression.
Membership in the American Red
cross is the outward and visible