The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-12-19
FRIENDS IN FRANCE
ISAAC sHARPLEss TELLS OF RE
CONSTRUCTION WORK.

known educators among the Friends
in America, complimented Oskaloosa
with a personal visit last Sunday and
gave an address at the Friends church
upon Reconstruction Work in
France"
Mr.. Sharpless is a man, seventy
years of age. He was for thirty years
at the head of Haverford College, in
fact he made the institution and is to-
day President Emeritus. He is one OF
the leading figures in the Five Years
Meeting of the Friends of America. To
use the words of an acquaintance, "he
is one of those ripe, old men OF the
east. blessed with broad vision and
means that enable him to go about the
works doing good. And just now he
lis interested in the reconstruction
work carried on by the Friends in de-
vastated France.
In his address Mr.. Sharpless said in
part:
After the war of 1901 a body of
English Quakers worked to restore
Iliyable conditions in the devastated
area. Early in the present war the old
organization was revived to be later
ioined by American Friends. The
American Friends Service Committee
with Headquarters in Philadelphia but
representing Friends of all branches
lover the whole United States, now
has charge Of about 500 workers IN
France. 300 American and 200 English
who are rebuilding in the war zone
The French government which aids IN
every wav possible supplies lumber to
two factories near the SWISS DoraeI
, from which the men of the FRIENDS
Unit make houses in sections. These
are shipped to the war zone and quick
w erected as needed. Another grouL
, of our men work on the farms, plow
= ing, threshing, repairing the broken
farm machinery and getting the shell
torn fields in shape for cultivation
, Another managed by doctors nave
:. established eight hospitals where the'
! can attend to sickness and WOUNDS
+ among the civilian people whose doc
+ tors and nurses are all oil to IN
r army, Others have attended to the re
: noyal of the civilians in the face OF I;
$ German drive, a work not UNATTENDED
by danger, for the people are devoted
ly attached to their ancestral homes
e and will not leave till the last moment
: They return Immediately after eVacu
/ ,tion to find their homes destroyed
heir fields torn up by shell holes
: their furniture ands machinery broker
md their stock gone.
The Friends Unit is working unde'
+ he civilian branch of the America
:. Red Cross which aids in many ways
4 w money and supplies, and by per
mits to enter the war zone. The wori
T. vas organized so far as the American
!. MANAGEMENT was concerned about L
). months ago when Mayor Murphy an
: two representatives of the Friend'
+ vent to France and planned the cam
:. Daign. The first year the expense
), amounted to over 100000, contribute
; Nv Friends and Mennonites in Amer
J. Ca. 1t is proposed to eXpend doubl'
: his amount per year in the future i
+ he funds are supplied and Friend
/ are being asked to increase their sur
l. 7criptions.
AS the workers receive only board
,lothing and transportation and tn
eaders give their services the Who'll
l. movement is conducted on wonderful
= economical lines. The head in Franc
|, Charles J. Rhoads, late Governor o
\ he Federal Reserve Bank of Phil9
l. 1elphia, who gave up his high positio'
Z o work without pay in France. Tn
head Of the Sevmaize Hospital is DR.
James A. Babbitt, whose surgica
practice in Philadelphia amounted t
= many thousand dollars who gives hi
services to the relief of the Frenc'
people. 1t is therefore easily to be eH
g planned that the administrative eT
a Denses are only 31k per cent of tn
4 'otal expended-that is, of every $40
n contributed $9G1s goes to the work o
I relief and reconstruction, recor'
Q which no other organization can show
4 There are many testimonials t.
a efficiency. There is room only t'
:. 1uote one. Capt. Fletcher Steel of th'
n army says: Every where I go wheth
5 ar up 20 the front or down to the bab'
J. show at Lyons, always find thu
e Quakers and they are always thu
- hardest working, simplest, most mod
= est crowd on the place. They rarely dt
the big spectacular things, so they are
r not so much talked about as the
e should be- But when you get down t.
4 the people on the ground who know
: what's going on. you find everybod!
: from top to bottom blessing the Qua
kers." .,....rs ..... .
The work among the French will bt
; completed when they are able to stanc
, upon their feet. The Service Commit
: tee is considering openings in Serbia
and Russia as soon AS they can mt
entrance to these distracted countries
: Here are unlimited opportunities, anf
: there seems to be something in Rus
| sian character, which will make /
peculiarly susceptible to the Quaker