The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-03-16
PASSENGERS HOLD
FETE AS VESSEL
ENTERS SUB Zone
Henry Allen One of so Workers
on Red Cross Ship.
Is Impressed by Huge Task OF
Humane Organization.
CARE FOR so, 900 FRENCH TOTS
Passengers Shivered Until Ship
Entered the Gulf Stream.
L. S. Woman Aboard Raised
100000 for French Relief.


toria' candidate for the Republican
where in France as 4 volunteer
worker 70 the Red Cross, writes the
following letter, describing his voy-
age and Red Cross work in France
to ais newspaper. the Wichita Bea-
con:
This is to be the sociological log
book of the ship ''Touraine" from the
time we struck the gulf stream and
thawed out. on thru our progress thru
Il danger zone thru the Bay OF Bis
cay and up the Gironde river to Bor-
deauX
The process OF thawing out the pas
senyers was intensely interesting. II
was three days before we emerged
from the chill which seemed to lock
the Iius of every passenger and hold
us all shivering in the same dlsre-
gard of the normal activities or llfe
We were utterly indifferent to each
other If you stepped on a passen-
gers foot you did not stop TO aPoIo-
gize You scov-led and passed, real
izi1lg that you had merely added an
other discornfor to the voyage. Then,
all Mt once we struck the gulf stream,
and human, nature emerged as IeaVes
co in tie springtime. Faces that hao
to wear kindly look. We brushed
Up cur manners. We became con-
sid+~ate of each other, and now, as
the cunne-s have taken the covers
off the five-inci pieces and men nave
climbed into the crows nest with
powerful glasses to scan the ocean,
we seem to be a great family OF
cheerful people. differing in no re-
spect from other families except that
we d. not quarrel. There are no
contentious on board the ship. we
seer to he held together not only
by the common purpose, but by the
common danger which menaces us
during the next three. days. danger
to which we pretend to be Indifferent,
but which we all think about.
Sixty Red .Crossers Aboard.
1t would be impossible in normal
days to collect ships personnel such
as inhabits this boat. The largest sin
over to serve the Red Cross in France
and in Italy. There are over sixty
men and women from every walk in
life who have enlisted under the Red
Cross banner, some for six months.
some for the duration of the war
One interesting group of women on
board ship is under the direction of
Mrs Lathrop, an Aemrican woman
who lived in Europe when the war
broke out. and who organized the
merican fund for French wounded.
She has been lecturing in America
in the interest of this work, and is
taking back. in addition to 100000
contributed at her meetings, a per-
sonnet of several girls who will work
with her in plan she has formed
to enlarge the activities of this society.
There are possibly a dozen doctors
who have been specialists and gen.
eral practitioners in various commun-
tiles anywhere from San Francisco to
Boston. Many of them are going to
France t. work under Doctor Lucas
in the child welfare department.
Out of German Bondage.
One cannot contemplate the per-
sonnet of this ship without being i'm
pressed with the broad activities I'M
dertaken by the American Red Cross
for the civil population in France.
Some of the doctors who are going
to specialize in childhood work will
be located at Evien, French village
located on the shores of Lake Geneva
near the border of France. At this
place we have been receiving for sew
eral months the repatries from be-
hind the German lines. These are
French people who were caught be-
hind the German lines in France and
Belgium when the war came They
have lived under a condition of Ger
man slavery for three and a half
years. Germany has exacted from
them every ounce of energy, and now,
over-worked, ill from rheumatism.
tuberculosis and the results of under
feeding and bad housing, they are be-
ing sent back to France by the con-
sent and assistance of the French
government. Germany would rather
have them sick and dying in France
than dead in Germany. 1t is esti-
mated that within the last four
months the American Red Cross has
taken the responsibility of caring for
at least 10000 men, women and chill
dren from behind the German lines
We will be placing. before this
winter is over. the stamp of the
$4,000 French children; we will be
placing it there for the better hope OF
Frenchmen in the future. Many OF