Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1919-07-18
RELIEF SHIPS
PLYING OCEAN .
TRADE ROUTES.
Red Cross Transporting With
Despatch Supplies for War
Destitute Abroad.

Ocean carriers plying between the
United States and European ports still
are transporting American Red Cross
supplies for the relief Of persons who
have suffered because of the war, prin-
cfpally in the Balkan countries, which
practically were inaccessible while the
fighting was in progress.
Word recently was received Of the
arrival of the Red Cross relief ship
Lake Elizabeth at Galatz with 100000
pounds of supplies for the Rouma-
mans, the tenth Red Cross relief ves4
sci to reach that country. The vessel,
chartered from the United States Ship
ping Board, was accorded a welcome
that was both enthusiastic and pa.
thetic.
Ninety per cent. of the exports OF
Red Cross supplies for sufferers in Eu-
rope pass through the Red Cross Ma
tional Clearing House, situated at Pier
1, North river, in New York city. From
every chapter in every division the
country over come the comforts and
necessities which the organization is
shipping to the devastated regions of
Europe and the east-refugee gar
ments, condensed milk, canned fruits,
chocolate and textiles, the last named
serving the double purpose of clothing
the war sufferers and giving
alive work to women among them who
are employed in making up the ma
terial into garments.
For so large an enterprise there is
extraordinarily little confusion and an
amazingly small accumulation of boxes,
bundles and bales.
Nothing Lingers.
"Nothing ever a~ccumulates here; 1t
comes in and it passes out" explained
the Red Cross director at the clearing
house. Nothing fingers. We are the
bottles neck, the bottle being the
United States, which contains the
thousands of things the Red Cross is
constantly sending overseas. Being
the neck we are much smaller than the
bottle proper, and the one thing that
we must do, above all others, is to
keep a clear passage that there may
be no stoppage in the steady flow Of
supplies"
A statement which was well borne
out by the condition of h pier Not
a tenth Of the storage space was
cupied. There were boxes of every
size and shape, boxes for Syria, for
Greece, for Russia and Siberia and
Palestine, as well as the chief French
and Italian ports, but there were not
many for any n place. At the mo-
ment that you peer forward TO note
the address on some especially inter-
esting box up ONE a boy with a truck
and whisks the box off to the edge of
the pier, where 1t is lightered TO the
waiting transport, which in turn will
take it overseas.
Many Rec Cross relief cargoes have
been handled by the government, being
taken over on army transports that
were crossing, with comparatively
empty holds, for the purpose of bring
ing back troops. In the instances in
which government transportation could
not be arranged shipments were made
in the regular business way through
steamship companies and paid for ac-
cordingly.
Increased Shipments.
After all is said and done, after IA
has inspected every nook and corner
and seen every export from a paper
of pins to a motor truck, the outStand-
ing feature of this extraordinary ware
house is that SO much goes through and
so little is in it. During January and
February Of this year the Red Cross
shipped abroad more foodstuffs, cloth
ing and miscellaneous articles than
during any corresponding period since
the outbreak of the war in 1914.
After the signing OF the arBisdce
arrangements were made for tie snIp-
ment of more than $4,000 coo wsclh Of
textiles to be made into refus gar
ments for the destitute w0ue and
children of Europe. ShiDnahrS Z these
materials practically have been com-
pleted.
But you see little of this if yen
chance to look into the clearing house.
keep it moving is the motto Of the
director and his assistants, and so welI
do they live up to their slogan that
nothing "stays put" 1t ONE in aad
it goes out, but it doesn't linger.
(Which is obviously necessary" the
director explains. For every day that
a box lies here waiting somebody who
is hungry or ill-clad over there is kept
one day longer without the necessities
of existence. The Red Cross believes
in keeping things going-nations, COM
munities, individuals. 1t couldn't very
consistently fall down in the matter Of
its own exports, could it?'
RED CROSS HAS NEW